Legislature narrowly votes to override education funding veto

With not a vote to spare, the Alaska Legislature on Saturday voted to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of education funding in the state budget, on the first day of a special session he called.

The Alaska Legislature on May 2 passed a bill increasing per-student funding by $700. They fended off a veto of the bill by Gov. Mike Dunleavy on May 20. Dunleavy vetoed funding to schools inside the state’s budget on June 12 — slashing $50 million in education funding and reducing the per-student funding increase to $500 while citing declining oil revenues. That cut represented a reduction of $50 million in education spending and would have been a reduction in funding from last year, when Alaska schools received one-time funding equal to a $680 increase to the BSA. After the successful override,