'Funding is a policy.'

It's Tuesday, Alaska.

In this edition: The education bill had its first hearing in front of the Senate Education Committee on Monday, setting the stage for the next steps for the bill. Going by the senators' questions on the bill, it seems that there's very little interest in the Dunleavy Republicans' platform of boosting some students at the expense of others or any relaxed oversight of public charter programs. There is interest in ensuring that the state's education dollars are being spent wisely.

Current mood: ☃️

Also check out: Pat Race did a very interesting look at the 2026 gubernatorial election with a survey of Alaskans' attitudes on the race with a report titled "Let's not mess this up again."

'Funding is a policy.'

House Bill 69, the school funding and policy bill that passed the House last week, had its first hearing in the Senate Education Committee on Monday, where senators set the stage for the next step of the legislation as they poked and prodded the various policies that have been tacked onto the bill. In the big picture, we heard some skepticism about the measures that were included as an attempt at compromise with Dunleavy Republicans, particularly around charter appeals and open enrollment, but nothing that seemed fatal for the bill. What was particularly interesting is that senators also signaled very little interest in the Dunleavy Republicans' favored approach of "targeted investments" that funnel funding into programs that serve a small segment of students. While there wasn't much discussion about the $1,000 increase to the base student allocation and its collision course with the state's budget deficit, it does seem like there's interest in keeping the funding inside the BSA because it flows out to all students.

"People are telling me that we're talking about a BSA increase and that people are saying it's not going to face charter schools or homeschool," said Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, during the bill overview, "but my understanding is this would follow every student, wherever you are, whatever program you're in our in our school system."

"It absolutely supports every type of school," replied Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, the Sitka independent who authored the original bill. "So if we infuse the system with a little bit more support, that will go to homeschool students, that will go to charter students, and that will go to neighborhood schools."

Himschoot also added that funding schools through the BSA rather than "targeted investments" or one-time money gives school districts more dependability in investing money in teachers and the classroom. She said the strategy of one-time money in recent years makes it less likely that the money will actually make it into the classroom because districts can't plan on the money being there next year.

"Funding is a policy," said Himschoot, addressing the Dunleavy Republican claims that funding should be paired with policy changes. "When we don't fund, that's a policy as well."

As for the Dunleavy Republicans' demands that funding be targeted toward homeschool programs, despite testimony that the programs aren't facing the same kind of financial crisis as neighborhood schools, there was very little interest. Instead, senators signaled interest in increased accountability for homeschool programs, given that only about 14% of homeschool students participate in standardized tests. Recent headlines and lawsuits about how relaxed rules on homeschool allotments can be used to pay tuition for private schools or pay for private school students' extracurriculars also don't appear to be sitting well.

Stevens noted he had heard concerns from parents about how changes to the homeschool allotments might cause them to lose their horseback riding lessons.

"I think, wow, my kids never had horseback riding classes in school," he remarked. "So I'm concerned about if that money is being spent wisely. Are we getting the results that Alaskans demand of all our students? Whether they're in correspondence or our charter schools or are in a brick and mortar school."

That's a critical point for the debate ahead, especially if Dunleavy and his Republicans are going to continue to push to boost homeschooling at the expense of everyone else. While Dunleavy Republicans have flamed brick-and-mortar schools over their academic performance and pushed for "accountability" measures that essentially punish underperforming schools while rewarding top performers (ignoring the fact that academic performance is driven more by socioeconomic factors outside the schools' control), they have conspicuously not called for the same accountability measures for homeschool or charter programs.

There certainly seems to be interest in changing that, but just what that would look like and whether there's broad enough buy-in for those measures is unknown.

On the public charter school front, the House also added language that would give the Education Commissioner and the Board of Education greater control over appeals of terminated charter programs and rejected applications. Stevens and Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, both raised concerns that the process currently outlined in the bill would lead to a fair and balanced review or leave decisions in the hands of political appointees. Rep. Himschoot, who didn't seem thrilled with many of the compromise measures added to her bill, noted that the commissioner could effectively override local concerns about the legitimacy of a charter program and force them to run it anyway.

Education Committee Chair Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, noted that based on some recent legal analysis, there might be existing protections in state law over terminated contracts that are more effective and spelled out than the bill.

There were also many questions and few answers about the bill's open enrollment provisions. While Dunleavy Republicans have asked for a blanket open enrollment policy that would allow any student to attend any school in the state, the House opted for a more limited approach that would enable students to attend any physical school within their school district. Dunleavy Republicans opposed the measure on the floor, claiming incorrectly that it would stop students from enrolling in homeschool programs run in other districts, but it's solely focused on local schools. Still, there were questions about how that application process would work and how it would impact students' ability to attend neighborhood schools. It didn't seem like outright opposition to the measure, but more work could be needed to fine-tune the idea and understand its logistics.

What's next

The Senate Education Committee has already scheduled a pair of public hearings on the legislation for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and Friday of this week. Sen. Tobin said that everyone who signs up by 4:15 p.m. will have a chance to be heard.

Stay tuned.