House wrangles over education and municipal sharing money

The Alaska State House yesterday failed to pass a provision of the state’s operating budget, which would have drawn funds held in the constitutional budget reserve account. A three-quarter vote is necessary to tap the state’s reserve account. The bill would have authorized the draw of $1.13 billion from the state’s savings account to be put in the fiscal year 2011 education fund, and $230 million to go towards the municipal revenue sharing fund.The Republican controlled House majority contends that the guaranteed amount would have given school districts a measure of security when planning their budgets.

The House minority bad precedent to dip into the state’s savings account and that it risks an over-sized drain on the state’s savings in difficult economic times. The constitutional budget reserve is a savings account designed to balance the budget in lean revenue years. House minority leader Beth Kerttula said that if money is taken from that account before the markets rebound, the losses will be permanent.

The proposed budget for the Mat-Su Borough school district for fiscal year 2009/2010 is a total of $245 million.

Story by Diana Haecker