Gov. Mike Dunleavy is demanding the Legislature quickly pass additional legislation addressing his priorities before he will sign a bipartisan education bill that passed the House and SenateThe education bill, Senate Bill 140, is a top priority for leaders of the state House and Senate and would provide the first substantial boost to state funding for public schools since 2016. But Dunleavy said at a news conference Tuesday that the bill needs work.
Senate Bill 140 includes a $680 increase in the base student allocation, an 11% bump to the largest part of the state’s education funding formula. It also includes additional funding for young students struggling to read, a new education department position tasked with assisting charter schools, support for faster broadband at rural and low-income schools and an increase in student transportation funding. It’s estimated to cost some $246 million per year.
The charter school provision backed by Dunleavy would have allowed the state to directly authorize new charter schools instead of waiting for an application or appeal from the district level. Instead, legislators agreed to create a charter school coordinator position within the Department of Education and Early Development and a new appeals process for charter schools whose contracts are canceled by their local school district.
He and other Senate leaders cited the estimated $59 million yearly cost of the bonus program and fears about conflicts between state and local education officials as reasons they opposed Dunleavy’s charter school and bonus provisions. “I mean, in some ways, I don’t know what will be different this time — except they will have to decide if they want the work, some of the work they did, to get across the finish line,” he said.
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