Juneau – House Bill 69, the education funding bill, is finally making its way to the floor, after stalling in closed door negotiations. After weeks of closed-door negotiations that eventually excluded House Republicans and the public, the House Democrat Majority has quickly unveiled a new version of HB 69 in House Rules committee packed with major policy changes.
We’ve asked—twice—for HB 69 to be brought to the floor for debate but those requests were denied in the name of “needing more time.” After much delay, the Majority advanced their own version of the bill today through the House Rules Committee, pushing through last-minute changes that the public had no opportunity to review. Several amendments by House Republicans were offered and only one amendment, offered by Representative Mia Costello (R-Anchorage) that expanded the READS Act by adding incentive based funding determined by reading proficiency levels and reading proficiency improvement for grades K-6th , was passed and placed into the bill. HB 69 is expected to be heard on the floor on Monday, March 10th.
Alaska spends 36% more per student than the national average, yet our students continue to struggle. Graduation rates are among the lowest in the country, and our test scores consistently rank near the bottom. Now, HB 69 proposes a $250 million increase in education spending, raising the BSA by $1,000 per student in FY26. While the bill now includes minor policy changes, no funding source has been identified to cover the additional costs.
“My amendment was simple. It would have treated Alaska’s correspondence students, in terms of funding, the same as their brick-and-mortar counterparts. There is no justification for discriminating against our correspondence students and my amendment would have rectified that. Of course, that doesn’t fit with the NEA narrative embraced by the House Majority.”Representative Cathy Tilton (R-Wasilla).