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

Senate Increases Public School Funding

(JUNEAU) - The Senate passed legislation today that improves the state education funding formula, and significantly increases funding to schools across Alaska.

"Senate Bill 174 changes the base student allocation in the education foundation funding formula to $4010, an increase of $70 per student, and over $14 million in total appropriations," said Sen. Dave Donley (R-Anchorage), co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee. "This is a historic increase in education funding for our public schools and is considerably more than the last increase provided in 1998."

The education foundation funding formula is the method by which the state calculates the amount of money it grants to individual public schools across Alaska. The formula was reformed in 1998, and SB 174 fine-tunes the changes made by the 20th Alaska Legislature.

The bill also contains a provision that provides some tax payer relief for communities that contribute to the cost of local public education. If the property value in a community increases from the value determined in 1999, only 50 percent of the annual increase in assessed value may be used in determining the districts required local funding contribution.

"By limiting the increase in financial responsibility for those communities that are actively growing, we are providing some tax relief for the Alaskans that contribute local taxes to pay for their children's education," said Donley.

SB 174 also lowers the threshold for determining how many schools a district may count individually to an average daily membership of 425. Because each individual school in a district receives funding on top of its student allocation, communities with an ADM between 425 and 750 will now qualify for additional funding.

There is more than $34 million in increased funding for public schools contained in several bills including SB 174:

• Fiscal Year 2002 Operating Budget - $6.1 million for education, and an additional $5.9 million for pupil transportation that allows schools to shift money back into the classroom
• House Bill 101 - $ 2 million for charter school support
• Fiscal Year 2001 Supplemental Budget - $2.1 million to cover extra costs in the last year's budget
• Senate Bill 174 - $18.3 million, including the per student increase, the assessed value property tax relief, and school size adjustment

"The increased funding provided in all of these bills will give all of our schools more resources to help our students excel and help all Alaska's children receive an outstanding education," said Donley.

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