Education Task Force Wraps Up

Juneau – The Joint Legislative Education Funding Task Force met for a final time Thursday, August 30 to finalize the report it is mandated to submit to the Governor by Sept. 1.

The Task Force made several recommendations for policies to be implemented during the second regular session of the Twenty-fifth Legislature, including the creation of a standing Education Committee that would be separate from the current Health, Education and Social Services Committee. The Task Force referred many of the more contentious items to this Committee.

Sen. Gary Wilken, who represented the Senate Minority on the Task Force, authored a dissenting opinion that is included in the final report. Among his concerns is a recommendation to phase in funding over four years to cover district cost factors as outlined in a report by the University of Alaska’s Institute of Social and Economic Research. Sen. Wilken believes that the artificial deadline of Sept. 1 established by the resolution creating the Task Force resulted in the dismissal of all long-term options that would have included reviewing the entire K-12 education funding formula in total, rather than recommending a substantial adjustment to a single component. Sen. Wilken hopes that the entire Legislature, in cooperation with the Governor, will take the time necessary to thoroughly review the ISER study and question some of its basic assumptions.

Task Force Final Report – Adobe Acrobat file is 28 megs:
http://www.housemajority.org/coms/hlef/final_report_20070831.pdf
Dissenting Opinion by Senator Wilken:
http://www.aksenateminority.com/pdfs/25/wilken_20070829.pdf