Mat-Su Valley lawmakers comment on upcoming special legislative session

Earlier this month, Governor Dunleavy called for a special legislative session for August. The 30-day special session is meant to get lawmakers to address education reform among other topics.

The upcoming session follows Governor Dunleavy’s line item vetoes, which include reducing an increase in the Base Student Allocation from $700 to $500. That amounts to a cut of $50 million to Alaska schools. In an email, Mat-Su Borough School District Public Information Officer John Notestine stated that the reduction in funding leaves the district with over $7 million less than it had initially budgeted. This reduction is in addition to the Trump administration’s freeze on various federal education grants, which increases the school district’s budget deficit by an additional $8 million.

Notestine said that to account for the possible $15 million loss, the district is considering staff reductions, cuts to extracurricular programs, possible bus route changes, and more.

Representative McCabe says Dunleavy’s decision to veto was partially due to a lack of policy included in the legislation. McCabe says the main policies lacking were expansions to charter-school authorizations.

“The $200 of the BSA that was cut is leverage, for want of a better word, but it’s a way to get people to the table and get them talking about what we need for our children,” he said, “The governor has clearly said we need more charter school authorizers, period.”

Senator Shower echoed McCabe’s sentiments about including the charter-school authorizations, saying Governor Dunleavy could sign off on a $700 increase to the BSA if policies like it were included in the legislation. 

“I think the governor is trying to find a way to get that $200 back into the BSA that he doesn’t have to veto,” Shower said, “And he was very clear that he would be quite happy to allow the $200 of BSA in.”

The special legislative session is set to begin on August 2nd, where legislators will discuss education reform and the creation of a Department of Agriculture separate from the Department of Natural Resources. Governor Dunleavy has asked republican members of the House not to attend the first five days of the session to prevent his vetoes from being overridden.