The second week of session was definitely eventful. Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) delivered his seventh State of State to a joint session of the Legislature on Tuesday night. The House quickly passed a resolution urging the federal government to keep the name Denali instead of Mt. McKinley. The House is quickly moving a bill to raise per student funding by $1,800 over three years. In response, Governor Dunleavy held a very loose press conference outlining his own ideas for education. The Municipality of Anchorage’s chief equity officer took to Facebook to post a long rant about how Donald Trump is not her boss and she’s not leaving! Representative Andrew Gray (D – Anchorage) won $40,383 in the PFD Education Raffle. And some politicos are on the move. 

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Education Heating Up

Like last session, education is once again heating up early. A bill from Representative Rebecca Himschoot’s (I – Sitka), House Bill 69, aims to increase the Base Student Allocation (BSA) by $1,800 over three years, and indexes it for inflation. That’s more than $460 million a year in total. The $1,800 amount is nearly three times the $680 the Legislature agreed to last year. That bill was vetoed by Dunleavy. The override vote failed by one vote. 

There was actually serious talk this week of Dunleavy calling a special session within the session so the Legislature could focus solely on education. Several legislators I spoke to seemed to really think it was going to happen, but it didn’t come to be. That would have been wild. 

The House Education Committee, which Himschoot co-chairs, heard several hours of public testimony on Wednesday in the morning and evening. Representative Andi Story (D – Juneau), the other co-chair, set an amendment deadline for Friday (1/31/2025). A meeting is scheduled for tomorrow morning. And a finance committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday. This indicates they are looking to quickly move the bill. 

It’s likely Himschoot’s bill will likely be amended in either the education or finance committee before it hits the House floor. I doubt all 21 members of the House majority are good with an $1,800 increase to the BSA. But when it does hit the House floor, it will definitely be lively. 

The Senate does not yet have a bill to raise the BSA. They seem to be waiting to see what the House sends them. The main reason is there are wide ranging views within the 14-member Senate majority on how much the increase should be. Sources tell me it’s anywhere from $680 all the way to $1,800. 

The only Senate bill so far addressing education funding, Senate Bill 46, was introduced by Senator Matt Claman (D – Anchorage). Rather than adjust the BSA, the bill would remove the per-student funding amount but retain the formula only as a mechanism to distribute the amount appropriated each year. If passed, SB 46 would have the Legislature annually debate changes in funding from the prior year similar to the way other state agency budgets are addressed.

But everything changed on Friday. Governor Dunleavy held a press conference announcing a bill with his own education reforms. IT WAS LOOSE!  

Dunleavy made a compelling argument about how Mississippi, a state with high poverty rates and comparatively low education funding, is in the middle of states for test scores. He said after Mississippi introduced education reforms years ago, they went from the bottom of the ranking to the middle. Alaska is dead last. 

But then Dunleavy started getting really animated. He repeatedly asked ADN reported Sean Maguire that if he ever has a son (Dunleavy called hypothetical Maguire son Johnny) if Maguire would be happy with Alaska’s education performance. He also asked Maguire what a subscription to the ADN costs, and said he would buy a subscription if they wrote a certain headline. The whole thing was super loose. But it’s nice seeing that version of Dunleavy rather than the boring and unexciting one. 

I highly recommend watchin the press conference. Start halfway through and buckle up. 

Dunleavy left town after the press conference. He did not say where he was going and I have not been able to find out. But sources now tell me that each of the four legislative caucuses are choosing two negotiators each to negotiate some kind of education deal with Jordan Shilling, Dunleavy’s legislative director. Apparently Shilling is authorized to negotiate a deal on Dunleavy’s behalf. But that was tried last year with Dunleavy’s staff and it blew up. 

It’s hard to say what will happen. Both majorities, and some in the minorities, want more funding. But Dunleavy, and the minorities, want reforms. Dunleavy can veto a funding bill if they don’t pass reforms. And even if the Legislature can override it with 40 votes (both majorities only have 35 members combined), Dunleavy could still veto the appropriation in the budget. And that would take 45 votes to override. 

Their best bet is to work out a deal. But the NEA and many education advocates are against many of Dunleavy’s reforms. It’s a complex political problem. If it falls apart again, the Democrats will be happy to run on that issue again next year for legislative races and the governor’s race.   

Other Happenings

Governor Dunleavy delivered his seventh, and second to last, State of the State on Tuesday night. He was getting over a cold and was coughing a lot. The speech was ok but it was a lot more of the same – we have all these opportunities if we just seize them. But he’s been saying that for six years. And many governors before him have too. Meanwhile we are not building any new infrastructure projects, working age people continue to leave, we can’t plow the roads (luckily it’s a low snow year), school results suck, and we have spent most of our savings. This state needs a bold leader and some radical changes to turn things around. 

The House passed House Joint Resolution 4 this week 31-8. This is the resolution that calls for leaving Denali and not going back to Mt. McKinley. It’s in the Senate now. I imagine they will quickly pass it too. Not that it will do anything to change President Donald Trump’s mind. I guess no one liked my idea, keep the name Denali but change the name of the Denali Mac back to the McKinley Mac. Everyone could have got behind that!

Representative Andrew Gray’s name was drawn as second place in the annual PDF Education Raffle this week. The prize, $40,383! At first it was unclear if it was him because there are eight Andrew Grays in Alaska. He did quickly confirm he bought one ticket. The Department of Revenue originally said it would be a week to verify. Classis government run operation. But after this Landmine article came out, it was confirmed that Representative Gray was the winner. Good for him! That’s a great hit on a $100 ticket.     

This is some very loose behavior. Her post has since been deleted or hidden, and many other political posts of hers on Facebook have also disappeared. I really love the “I will not resign” part.  

That was a very nice bi-partisan ceremony. 

Longtime legislative staffer Edra Morledge is leaving her role in Representative Julie Coulombe’s (R – Anchorage) office. She’s going to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority to be their legislative liaison, a newly created position. She will definitely be busy this session!

Environmental Conservation Commissioner Emma Pokon has been chosen to serve as the next Region 10 Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency. Great news for an Alaskan!

Palmer sure does elect some beauties to their city council.

This Week’s Loose Unit 

There were a LOT of great candidates this week. I could have done a daily Loose Unit. But two people really stood out. This week’s Loose Unit is a tie between Richard Peterson and Emily Edenshaw. Petersen and Edenshaw went full Loose Unit this week when their Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) went to another level. 

First, it’s important to note that Petersen is the president of the Central Tribes of Tlingit and Haida. Edenshaw is the president of the Alaska Native Heritage Center. These are high profile people, not just randoms on the internet. 

Petersen and Edenshaw were under the delusion that Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration was going to result in Alaska Natives being detained or even deported. Maximum loose. No idea where they think they are going to be deported to! 

Petersen actually alerted the mayor of Juneau about this! He is also encouraging people to carry their tribal ID cards so they can protect themselves from the imaginary ICE agents roaming around Juneau. Petersen had to post this weak retraction about his TDS. I tried getting his original post but he deleted it. If you have it, please send to me! 

Edenshaw was at it too. “Remain calm.” She also had to retract her deranged post. Classic Loose Unit behavior. 

This is what their very loose behavior lead to. The Juneau Police Department actually put out a press release saying there are no ICE agents in Juneau rounding people up. It doesn’t get much more loose than that. 

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.