Senators Joe Paskvan, Dennis Egan, and Gary Stevens during the closeout hearing of the Senate Finance DEED Subcommittee, March 20, 2012
This blog contains highlights from the Alaska Education Update. The update is issued daily during session and contains detailed summaries of education issues under consideration by the Alaska State Legislature. If there is a hearing on a Monday, a report will, with few exceptions, be released by Tuesday morning. There is also a weekly edition of the update. During interim, reports are issued only when there has been action. Interim action may include hearings, bill signings, the release of the Governor's proposed budget for the next fiscal year, and other items that may be of interest to the education community.

To subscribe to full reports, contact Shana Crondahl at (907) 500-7069 or akedupdate@gci.net. To subscribe to blog posts, submit your email:

Monday, February 7, 2011

House Education Committee

Reps. Sharon Cissna, Peggy Wilson, Lance Pruitt, Chairman Alan Dick, and Committee Aide Sheila Peterson (background) shortly after adjournment of this morning’s committee hearing

SB 84 – Vocational Education Funding/Base Student Allocation

SB 84 – Vocational Education Funding/Base Student Allocation
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=27&bill=SB84
Introduced 2/4/2011, by the Senate Education Committee
Referred to the Senate Education & Finance Committees

SB 84 increases the base student allocation and adds a separate vocational education component to the BSA. The BSA is increased to $5,790 for FY 12, to $5,905 for FY 13, and to $6,025 for FY 14. Under SB 84, vocational education remains part of the 20 percent block grant funding for special needs, but also adds 2.5 percent for high school vocation education instruction. The additional funding cannot be spent on administrative expenses or instruction in general literacy, mathematics, and job readiness skills.