An education proposal by House Republicans failed to clear a procedural hurdle in a 20-20 vote.
Rep. Laddie Shaw, R-Anchorage, walks between supporters of a substantial public school funding boost on his way to the House floor to debate an education package in Juneau on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024.
The 20 Republicans in the majority on Monday painted a picture of all-or-nothing. A vote against their omnibus bill, they said, was a vote against education funding altogether.“To stop now is to surrender and I am not prepared to surrender,” said Rep. Craig Johnson, an Anchorage Republican, waving a white sheet of paper in the air as he called on House members to reconsider their position on a proposal he has championed.
Opponents of the GOP’s plan pointed to the unusual process that had been used to bring the proposal to a vote. Republicans had tried to tack on their ideas to a bill that had already passed the Senate and gone through a committee hearing process in the House, circumventing the possibility for lengthy public comment or scrutiny of the bill’s impacts on the state’s finances.
But both Dunleavy and House Republicans have said that a straight increase to school funding — without a change to how the money is spent — is unacceptable to them. They cite Alaska students’ low scores in reading and math assessments. Alaska educators say that flat funding is in part to blame for those scores.
After “a whole bunch of soul searching” and conversations with other members of the Bush Caucus — which represents rural districts — Edgmon said he decided he could not vote for a bill that had not gone through the traditional vetting process. During a lunch break that began at 1 p.m. and lasted past 5 p.m., House members behind closed doors tried to hammer out a deal that would satisfy a majority of members. When they failed to do so, they adjourned until 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
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