Members of the minority Alaska Senate Republican Caucus say they are open to increasing education funding across the board, including for homeschoolers and charter schools, so long as the Democrat-controlled majority agrees to pass meaningful education reform.
So far, Democrats have only proposed a massive increase in education spending with no accountability measures in terms of student achievement. This is the stance favored by the teachers’ union and entrenched educational bureaucrats.
On Feb. 14, Senate Minority Leader Mike Shower, of Wasilla, was joined by fellow Republican caucus members Senators Mike Cronk of Tok/Northway and Palmer’s Shelley Hughes to discuss the need to link education funding to proven reform measures.
Conservative educational experts have been leery of massive education funding increases that fail to address the status quo, especially given Alaska’s disastrous student achievement results over the past decade.
During time span thousands of students have simply left brick-and-mortar public schools in favor of homeschooling, charter schools and private educational options. This has forced districts across the state to shutter underused school buildings.
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“We do agree [as a caucus] that we need policy as well as a BSA increase,” Sen. Shower said, referring to the Base Student Allotment, which is the amount of money the state spends per student. “It’s not one or the other. The answer is somewhere in the middle.”
Democrats are pushing a proposal that would increase the BSA from $5,960 to $8,510 per student over three years. That’s a $1,800 jump (or 43% increase), with the added cost to the state being nearly $1.5 billion over that time span.
Currently, a group of Democrats and Republican lawmakers are negotiating with Gov. Mike Dunleavy on a compromise. Senators Cronk and Hughes were part of the negotiations, which are on a temporary pause.
“Nothing is set in stone,” explained Sen. Cronk, a retired teacher. “We haven’t agreed to do anything.”
Minority Republicans are pushing for policy changes in addition to more funding for all types of public schools, including neighborhood brick-and-mortar schools, as well as homeschool programs, charter schools, and correspondence schools.
