Soldotna Republican Justin Ruffridge broke caucus ranks Wednesday to help get a large education funding and policy bill through the State House. House Bill 69 now heads to the Senate, after dozens of amendments, several hours of debate and a somewhat unusual committee process.
Ruffridge says he has problems with the bill, but that he ultimately wants it to move forward.
“I don’t want it to be impeded in any way – I want it to continue through,” he said. “I disagree with the process that it went through and I have significant concerns over some of the language, but the next step will be the next step and that will be, you know, in the Senate.”
The version of the bill approved by House members includes a $1,000 increase to the base amount of money school districts get per student. It also includes some of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s education priorities, like cash incentives paid to school districts per student reading at grade level or who boosts their reading scores.
A $1,000 per-student funding increase would mean the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District could avoid some of the deeper budget cuts it’s been considering. The district’s facing a $17 million deficit if it wants to implement a status quo budget next year. Earlier this month, peninsula school board members approved three budget scenarios, including one that assumes a $1,000 base student allocation increase from the state.
And the House successfully made other changes to the bill through amendments debated earlier this week. One of those directs the governor to prepare a separate education funding budget alongside the existing operating, capital and mental health budgets. And the bill requires state lawmakers to pass that education budget by March 15 each year.
Ruffridge, Homer Republican Rep. Sarah Vance and Nikiski Soldotna Republican Rep. Bill Elam all criticized what they said was the bill’s unknown price tag.
As the bill took an atypical route from its sponsor’s office to the House floor, its scope and associated price tag changed. At the time of Wednesday’s floor vote, the cost of the bill’s final House iteration, including with the latest committee changes and floor amendments, had not been officially calculated, but was estimated to be around $275 million. That’s lower than the bill’s initial iteration, which started around $326 million.
The three Republican lawmakers representing most of the Kenai Peninsula are all part of the House Minority Caucus, which tried and failed several dozen times to add their own education priorities to the bill through amendments. Kodiak Republican Louise Stutes, who represents Seward, also voted in favor of the bill.
Ruffridge says he kept bringing proposals forward because he saw it as the only chance he’d get to try and put some of his priorities in the bill.
“That really should not be the process where you are, you know, amending things on the floor that have large policy components to it,” he said.
Ruffridge did successfully amend the bill to shift the way the state reports a school’s standardized testing results to emphasize student performance over time. Here he is speaking on Monday.
“We talk about this till we're blue in the face when I'm in-district, out-of-district, everywhere, which is, we need to stop talking about our schools as failing institutions, and more about, ‘Hey, our students, you know, started here, and now they're growing,’ and use that in our conversations about our schools,” he said.
Another of his amendments put charter school initiatives in the bill. Those include a Dunleavy-backed statewide charter school coordinator position and an appeal process for charter schools whose renewal applications are rejected by a local school board.
Kenai Peninsula charter schools have received a lot of legislative attention in recent sessions. Last fall, peninsula school board members approved a new charter school set to open later this year, and questioned the principal of a separate charter school seeking renewal.
In a final attempt to give the latest version of the bill another opportunity for public testimony, Ruffridge tried to send it back to the House Education Committee ahead of Wednesday’s vote. But that effort also failed 21-19 along caucus lines.
Ruffridge was the only central Kenai Peninsula Representative to vote yes on the bill.
In his own floor comments, Soldotna Republican Bill Elam said the vote was tough. He says the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District needs stable funding, but that the bill doesn’t address school maintenance and doubles administrative costs for charter schools, like the one his own children attend.
“So while we do need to stabilize the funding – I completely agree with that – we also have to address some of these issues when we talk about facilities, what this is ultimately going to cost and are we being responsible with how we’re doing this?” he said. “So I’m not done with the fight, so I’m going to be a ‘no’ vote.”
Homer Republican Sarah Vance says the latest version of the bill isn’t an adequate compromise, pointing to the dozens of rejected amendments.
“I fully support adequate funding for education in Alaska, but funding alone, without meaningful reform, is insufficient,” she said. “Our students deserve better than the continuation of the status quo, and we must commit ourselves to substantial reform that addresses the many concerns that you heard in the amendments that were brought forward.”
Vance proposed an amendment requiring school districts to publish their annual budget and audit on their website as a way to make districts more transparent and accountable. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District already publishes its current and historical budget documents, as well as their annual audits and financial reports.
Lawmakers ultimately passed the bill by a vote of 24-16. In addition to Ruffridge, Republicans Jeremy Bynum of Ketchikan and Julie Coulombe of Anchorage voted in favor.
On the Senate side, Nikiski Republican Jesse Bjorkman says he doesn’t know how the policy changes would impact the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District and is waiting for more information.
“It’s clear that if we want K-12 education to improve, the state must provide the resources needed to deliver better results,” Bjorkman said via text.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office pointed to a post shared by Dunleavy’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter. The statement indicated his support for the House's addition of open enrollment and literacy initiatives to the bill.
“When the bill goes to the Senate, there is an opportunity to continue making improvements, both in cost and policy,” he wrote.”
