School bond plan looks to stay alive
The Alaska Legislature is getting ready to do something it's done every two years since 1976: renew the state's school bond reimbursement program.
Juneau has been a big beneficiary of the school building program in the last two years, winning support for $48 million in new projects, including the new Thunder Mountain High School and school renovations.
It's a program that provides state money to communities wealthy enough to afford new schools, and with voters willing to support them.
"Some communities can afford things that others can't," said Rep. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, who nevertheless supports the program.
When the state approves a project, it become eligible for reimbursement of some of its debt. If the project can be shown to meet a need for the additional space, it gets 70 percent reimbursement. Other projects, such as the new Mendenhall Valley pool, get 60 percent reimbursement.
Statewide, $222 million in projects were approved for reimbursement during the last two years. That reimbursement is a big selling point for school districts that can use it to convince their taxpayers to support new school buildings.
"Plus, the state will foot more than half the bill," according to a TV advertisement running now for the Anchorage School District's bond request in April.
The reimbursement program is subject to legislative appropriation every year, and renewal every two years.
The program has been fully funded every year since 1992, but during some low-revenue years that amount dropped to 80 percent, according to the Anchorage School District.
Chances of renewal look good this year as well. The renewal passed the House of Representatives unanimously last week. It is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Finance Committee on Saturday.
In some rural areas without tax bases that allow school construction, the state sometimes picks up the entire cost of the project. While Juneau voters have approved several building projects, a series of proposals have failed elsewhere, including in the fast-growing Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
That's led to an unfair situation, Kerttula said. The Alaska Constitution requires an adequate public education for every child, but the allocation of construction resources is somewhat haphazard, she said.
"It's something we need to back up and take a good, hard look at," she said.
The current system was created as a compromise that allowed desperately needed schools to finally be built, Kerttula said, but it may not be fair now.
"I think we need to back all the way up and take a holistic view on how we are going to fund education in Alaska," she said.
For now, however, Kerttula said she was compelled to support a program which has been good for Juneau, and could help other cities in the future.
Kodiak Island Mayor Jerome Selby, a past president of the Alaska Municipal League, urged the Senate to extend the program to 2010, both to allow his local schools to complete projects from earlier and look for other needs.
• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 486-5816 or e-mail patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.