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Alaska lawmakers fail to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy's education bill veto

Sean Maguire and Iris Samuels, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska on

Published in News & Features

JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska lawmakers were one vote short Monday of overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of $200 million in education funding.

Dunleavy vetoed the bill Thursday night, two weeks after lawmakers passed it with 56 out 60 lawmakers voting in favor of the package, which was broadly seen as a compromise.

The bill included $175 million in extra funding for Alaska’s public schools, $13 million for home-schooled students, $7 million for student transportation, $5 million for assisting Alaska students in learning to read, a new charter school coordinator position and a provision to increase internet speeds in rural schools.

Dunleavy said he vetoed the bill because it did not include his priorities, among them a three-year plan to provide teachers with annual bonuses at a cost of $60 million per year, and a path to increase the number of Alaska’s charter schools by empowering a governor-appointed board to approve new charter schools.

Lawmakers voted to sustain Dunleavy’s veto in a 39-20 vote on Monday afternoon.

In the Senate, 16 lawmakers voted to override the veto, all in the bipartisan majority.

 

In the House, 23 lawmakers voted to override the veto. That includes all 16 members of the minority and seven members of the majority — including four House Republicans.

Sutton Republican Rep. George Rauscher was the only lawmaker absent on Monday. It wasn’t immediately clear why he was absent.

Dozens of school advocates lined the hallways in the Juneau Capitol ahead of the Monday vote, wearing red to signify their support for schools and chanting “Override.”

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Tom Klaameyer, president of the National Education Association of Alaska, a union representing more than 12,000 educators. “I’m afraid that pink slips are going to go out, schools are going to close, and our kids have yet to feel the depth of this crisis.”

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