Alaska House passes education package with teacher loan repayment, energy relief

The Alaska House voted 34-6 Wednesday to accept Senate changes to an omnibus education bill that combines teacher loan repayment, school energy-cost reporting and relief, correspondence study provisions, and a cap on growth in required local school contributions.

House Bill 28 now heads out of the Legislature after final concurrence on the last day of the regular session. The House also adopted a title-change resolution tied to the bill on a 40-0 vote.

Andi Story, D-Juneau, said the Senate narrowed the student loan repayment program to teachers in hard-to-fill areas, including special education, English language learners, science, technology, engineering, and math. The Senate version also changed the benefit structure to up to $5,000 per year for three years.

The bill also creates a school district energy-cost reimbursement program, subject to appropriation, based on a district's three-year average cost for heating, fuel, and electricity. It also requires school districts to report energy costs and make reasonable efforts not to increase energy use year over year.

Another provision caps annual growth in a city or borough school district's required local contribution at 4% over the prior year.

Supporters described the package as a set of structural education changes aimed at teacher retention, rural school energy costs, and property-tax pressure. Opponents objected to the loan repayment program and warned that the bill bundled too many policies into one final-day vote.