The Senate Finance Committee has advanced an amendment that would boost the per-student amount of funding in public school. The bill is now going to the entire Senate to be voted on.
On Monday the day before, the senator. Loki Tobin, D-Anchorage requested the finance committee to vote in favor of the bill which will increase the base allocation for students by $680 beginning in July.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”After 99 days of public hearings, public testimony and meetings, it’s evident that Alaska school system for public instruction is not doing well,” Tobin said. “We have to take action. We must make a change that is drastic. This bill is exactly this .”
The Senate Finance Committee added two amendments to the bill.
The first raises each month the amount of room and board for students attending residential schools.
The second amendment will increase the amount of school transportation funds. Ken Alper, a staff member of the committee’s co-chair, Sen. Donny Olson, D-Nome The amendment would provide $8 million to annual transportation funding, which is an 11% increase over the amount that was set in 2016.
Tobin stated that the flat funding provided by the state has forced schools across the state to use the base allocation of students to pay for buses. The districts across Ohio are facing shortages of drivers as well as rising cost of fuel.
“This will greatly contribute to aid our schools in bringing children into their classrooms,” Tobin told the committee.
It is believed that the House version of the BSA bill is still under the House Finance Committee. If the Senate approves the measure, then it’ll be sent to the House and the House will then send this bill to the House Finance Committee.
