Sen. Dave Donley State Capitol, Room 508 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-3892 Fax: (907) 465-6595

Sen. Pete Kelly State Capitol, Room 518 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-2327 Fax: (907) 465-5241

Legislature Wants State
to Control Education Funds

(JUNEAU) - The Alaska House unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday urging Congress to give states greater control over the federal education dollars they receive.

The federal government currently earmarks the education funding it distributes for specific purposes. Senate Joint Resolution 6, sponsored by the Senate Finance Committee, encourages Congress to disburse this money directly to the states, including the State of Alaska as block grants.

"We have done very well with welfare funding being transformed from specific individual programs to a block grant system to the state," said Senator Dave Donley (R-Anchorage), co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee. "It's allowed great cost efficiencies in that process and delivered much more dollars directly where they need to be. That's what we need to be working on in education."

Donley said the current system of administering federal education funds the state and school districts are required to go through has too much red tape, adding considerable costs to the process.

"If this process were simplified through block grants, a lot more dollars would go right into our classrooms where our students can use them, rather than going to just filling out federal paperwork," said Donley.

President George W. Bush campaigned in support of this issue during last year's presidential election. Consolidation of federal education funds for states is an element of the president's education bill currently before congress.

SJR 6 returns to the Senate for consideration of a House amendment.

# # #

Attachments:

• Sponsor Statement for SJR 6
  
• Print Friendly Version
  requires Adobe Acrobat Reader - 1 page(s) - 78 K

Broadcasters Note: Audio comments are available on the Majority Actuality line:
1-800-478-6540 or below.

| Sen. Donley's Page | Sen. Kelly's Page |
| Senate Finance Committee's Page |

| Top | Home | Site Search | Breaking News | Legislators | Bills |
| Committees | E-Newsletter | Surveys | Research | Help |

The Official Web Site of the House and Senate Legislative Majorities
for the 22nd Alaska State Legislature
To Report Technical Problems or Contact Webmasters