April 25, 2007
Wednesday

Tuesday morning the Alaska House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation to forward fund one of the Legislature's top priorities, education. Senate Bill 61 deposits a billion dollars of surplus general fund revenue into the Public Education Fund for the fiscal year 2009 operating budget.

Forward funding provides school districts with a firm amount of money to base their budgets on instead of having to estimate how much money will be coming from Juneau.

"Every member of the Legislature made good on their commitment to Alaska's school children with this bill," said Senate Finance Committee Co-Chair Sen. Lyman Hoffman (D - Bethel). "Senator Bert Stedman and I worked with the House Finance Committee Co-Chair's Mike Chenault and Kevin Meyer to craft a bill that gives school administrators some peace of mind about next year's school budget."

"We have been working for a couple of years on a plan to forward fund education fully," said House Finance Committee Co-Chair Rep. Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski). "With the declining revenues forecast on the horizon, this year's surplus provided the opportunity to show, first and foremost, our commitment to save funds for education in FY 09."

SB 61 now goes to Governor Sarah Palin for her signature.

Source of News:

The Alaska House & Senate Majority
www.legis.state.ak.us

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