AKLEG Day 77: 'High-risk'

‘We’re all trying to find the guy who did this.’

Happy Monday, Alaska.

In this edition: Between a half-hearted hearing on a second education bill and the news that the state of Alaska had been labeled a “high-risk grantee” for failing to equitably fund school districts during the pandemic, it was another week of gloomy news for the public school system. Millions of dollars of federal education funding could be hanging in the balance over the Dunleavy administration’s insistence they don’t have to pay back the $29 million the feds say four districts are owed. Meanwhile, the governor continues to insist that he really does want to fund schools. Just ignore the veto, the line-item veto and the threat of another veto. Also, the belated reading list, bylines and weekend watching.

Current mood: 🐣

Alaska labeled a ‘high-risk grantee’

Comic by Pat Race/Alaska Robotics

A common thread throughout this year’s debate on education funding is Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Department of Education Commissioner Deena Bishop’s insistence that all the financial woes facing schools are a product of their financial mismanagement rather than a matter of inflation eroding the buying power of six years of nearly status quo state funding. At hearings about school funding, Bishop has suggested that things would be just fine if districts did better at managing their priorities — seemingly forgetting that she was the person controlling those decisions for the state’s largest school districts for many years. When the Juneau School District got its bad news about its larger-than-expected shortfall, a result of accounting errors and declining enrollment, the governor couldn’t help himself but make digs at a news conference, using it to criticize the notion of local control and suggesting it made the case for a more top-down approach to education policy in Alaska.

Little of that has ever been convincing, but the latest revelation about the Dunleavy administration’s potentially multimillion-dollar fumble ought to put that to bed.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced it had labeled the state of Alaska a “high-risk grantee” after the Dunleavy administration refused to correct its failure to fairly fund high-needs schools during the pandemic. At issue is a stipulation connected to nearly $400 million in federal pandemic relief money the state received that required it to maintain its funding for schools with high concentrations of kids from lower-income families.

The feds say the state shortchanged four of its largest school districts by $29 million over two years and demand they devise a plan to repay the districts. The state hasn’t done that, writing to the feds that they could request the money from the Legislature but has refused to actually commit to doing so.

In comments following the news of the “high-risk” designation, Commissioner Bishop accused the feds of pulling the rug out from under the state, calling the decision “incredibly surprising.” Per a news release, the state insists it did nothing wrong, suggesting it plans to negotiate or sue its way out of paying districts back.

Here’s what’s owed, according to the feds:

• Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, FY2022 — $7,186,852

• Anchorage School District, FY2022 — $15,202,289

• Juneau Borough School District, FY2023 — $204,309

• Anchorage School District, FY2023 — $1,391,681

• Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, FY2023 — $2,494,871

• Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, FY2023 — $3,097,911

The number is already down from the initial demand, which the state argues is evidence that it can get out of the rest. Never mind that Alaska is once again the lone state not to have resolved these problems, a point outlined in the U.S. Department of Education letter, which notes that some reports were delivered more than two years past due. However, where the state sees some hope in weaseling their way out of the payment, the changes have left the affected school districts scratching their heads.

“It seems as if there have been some significant data revisions during this process, and I think, like all districts involved, we’d like to understand those swings and understand the process,” said Juneau School District Superintendent Frank Hauser told the Anchorage Daily News.

The letter doesn’t state a specific cost or penalty for the state, but it says that if it doesn’t come up with a better answer in the next 30 days, it could move to withholding future funds or recovering the $359 million in pandemic funds.

The news landed with a thud for legislators. Senate leadership was irate, warning it could endanger the $425 million in federal funding set to be delivered on July 1. In statements following the news, Senate leadership said the Dunleavy administration had assured them that things had been resolved. Now, it appears that was not the case, and the Senate has called an emergency Education Committee hearing on the issue next Wednesday, where legislators say they hope to get answers.

“During a period where we are already doing everything we can to provide school districts with the resources they need, because of the lack of quality oversight and management, the state is on the hook for an additional $29 million while putting in jeopardy hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants,” said Senate Education Chair Löki Tobin. “Despite being assured by the Department and Commissioner that a resolution was in the works, the state has failed its duties.”

However, according to the ADN’s reporting, the state plans to skip that meeting.

Moving forward, the Legislature could move to put the funding in the budget itself, but the House has, thus far, taken its marching orders from the governor and is waiting to see how the next steps of federal brinksmanship play out.

‘We’re all trying to find the guy who did this.’

Perhaps sensing he’s on the losing end of the education debate following the veto of the education bill, the half-hearted attempt by House Republicans to conjure up a second bill, and the latest news about its multimillion-dollar fumble, Dunleavy penned an op-ed insisting that he has always supported adequately funding public schools. His veto of the education bill, his line-item veto of last year’s education funding, and his looming threat that he’ll veto whatever education funding the Legislature produces in this year’s budget are not mentioned anywhere.

Instead, he implores Alaskans to disregard the alarm bells at local schools and “Rest assured; public schools will be adequately funded” — just so long as legislators first sign off on education reforms. Reforms, which he conveniently neglects to mention, would centralize power over education policy in his hands. Again, this is all about his charter school provisions that do nothing to actually solve issues around charter school access but would simply allow Dunleavy’s Board of Education to unilaterally create new charter programs.

A statement released by the Association of Alaska School Board Executive Director Lon Garrison cut to the quick on the charter school play: “This reform would allow charter schools to bypass the approval of local school districts and instead go directly to the State Board of Education. It is the first and most significant step in a plan to reduce the power of local authorities and provide opportunities for private and religious schools to access public funds. AASB strongly opposes this reform through its resolutions.”

The op-ed’s logical conflicts were so wild that my partner in occasional podcast crime, Pat Race, was inspired to draw the comic that headlines this newsletter. If you’re wondering about the reference, I’m honored to introduce you to Tim Robinson.

Stay tuned.

Reading list

• House spending plan includes funding for experimental Alaska reading institute despite lawmakers’ misgivings

• Friction affects Alaska’s influential Bush Caucus

• Alaska among Republican states suing to scrap Biden student loan repayment plan

• Alaska House committee advances bill to expand state trans girls’ sports ban

• Alaska-owned corporation asks Legislature to borrow $300 million for mining projects

• Murkowski says she remains a Republican after drawing attention for anti-Trump stance

My bylines with The Alaska Current

• In a bizarre twist, House Finance Committee backs down from full PFD

• Federal school funding at risk after Dunleavy administration fumble

• House flirts with overspending Permanent Fund to pay bigger PFD

• The Dunleavy administration still has few answers on education priorities

• House Republicans pull the plug on hearing about prison deaths, citing ACLU involvement

Weekend watching

B-b-b-b-b-basketball! Here’s a really cool video talking about the engineering that goes into making sporting events sound so great.

Have a nice week, y’all.