Joint Session Of Legislature Fails To Override Governor's Veto Of Education Bill

A Joint Session Of The Legislature Upholds Governor Dunleavy's Veto Of A Bipartisan Education Bill 

Monday March 18, 2024 

Joint Session Held This Monday Afternoon Sees Legislators Buckle 

On Monday afternoon, March 18th, 2024, the Alaska State Legislature convened a joint session in an attempt to override the governor's veto of an education bill the legislature passed on February 27th. 

Their efforts failed. The vote was 39 votes to override the veto – to 20 no votes. The bill only needed one more vote – 40 – to succeed.

This was an important $246 million dollar education funding bill that was the result of a tremendous effort of compromise between the House and the Senate – in both parties. Work on the bill had taken up the majority of time in this legislative session. 

Supporters say the bill would have helped every school district across the state in many ways – including speeding up internet connections at many rural schools. 

The per-student funding increase in the bill would have helped schools retain teachers and keep classroom sizes smaller at both urban and rural schools, proponents said. 

House members who voted to sustain the governor's veto were afraid to vote against the governor now – even though they had voted in favor of the bill when it passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities just three weeks ago,

The governor, who was once a teacher and superintendent, has consistently cut into education priorities across the state. Last year, he vetoed half the money the legislature had appropriated to the student base allocation. His first budget slashed the University of Alaska's funding. As a result, many Alaskan students say they were forced to attend college out of state.