Alaska Schools Get $82M Boost, Teacher Loan Forgiveness

0:00It's April 27th. This is Anchorage News Today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story. Alaska schools are hurting from big budget gaps, but lawmakers just push forward a revised House Bill 28 with nearly 82 million dollars in one time funding and some key policy tweaks. It's got bipartisan backing and includes a new three-year teacher loan forgiveness program offering up to $15,000 for specialists in. Special Ed, English Learners, and STEM fields who return to teach here. The bill packs in $21.8 million for reading grants, $9.7 million for career tech training, $7.3 million for student transport, and $43 million to cover spiking energy costs, so more cash stays in classrooms. Districts like Anchorage, Matsu, Kenai, and Ketchikan are eyeing at least 11 school closures amid staff cuts and program slashes during tough. Budget talks Lawmakers say teacher shortages in turnover are brutal, and this bill aims to keep educators

1:03in state while dodging a possible veto from the governor. Bigger pushes for ongoing per student funding boost, like $158 million or nearly $100 million have hit roadblocks over. Policy fights, including homeschool reporting rules that roud folks up. The new version adds district reporting on homeschoolers and calls for a funding adequacy audit to fix the old formula exposed by the pandemic. Now the bill heads to senate finance as the session winds down by May 20th, with conference talks reconciling house and senate budgets that could. Pub up to 158 million more into schools if oil stays high, fingers crossed for kids and teachers getting real relief soon.