About 85 percent of Dunleavy vetoes fell on education services, projects
The headline number about Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s vetoes—that he trimmed more than $200 million from the operating and capital budgets—is misleading. It disguises his focus on cutting education at all levels.
More than 85 percent of the real reductions in programs and facility maintenance are in budget items related to education, the most important public service for families in Alaska.
This contradicts the hollow claims by Dunleavy that he wants to make Alaska the most pro-family state in the nation. Dunleavy has refused to explain this latest attack on public education.
The rest of state government was largely spared. Here is the full list of vetoes.
Dunleavy cut education programs by about $140 million in the combined operating and capital budgets.
About $87 million of that amount was to increase the base level of education funding for K-12 schools, while most of the rest was for school maintenance, school repairs, University of Alaska programs and UA maintenance and repairs.
Here is why I say the “more than $200 million” phrase is misleading. There are two vetoes in particular worth noting.
This $30 million veto, a transfer from one account to another, did not reduce community assistance.
Dunleavy vetoed $30 million that the Legislature approved as a deposit into the “community assistance fund.” That veto will not reduce the amount of community assistance in the next fiscal year, so it is not a real reduction. The veto prevents a transfer of funds from one state account to another.
Dunleavy claims that $10 million in contingency funds to qualify for a federal ferry system grant could be vetoed because the money was not necessary.
Dunleavy also vetoed $10 million as a “backstop” for federal grant funds for the Alaska Marine Highway System. Dunleavy claims the money was “unnecessary” and will be “reevaluated after federal grant award.” That may or may not be a real reduction.
Subtract those two big ticket items from the veto list and the vetoed services and program total drops to about $160 million, with about $140 million of that amount from education.
That means about 87.5 percent of the funds Dunleavy vetoed came from education.
Veto totals
It should not surprise anyone that the size of the Dunleavy vetoes has more to do with the final budget numbers that the governor uses for publicity purposes than with any serious examination about the level of state services.
He wants to claim he did not increase spending and that the overall unrestricted general fund state budget went from $4.797.8 billion to $4.729.4 billion, a decline of $68.5 million.
But the unrestricted general fund budget for agency operations went up from $4,220.8 billion to $4,367.1 billion, an increase of $146 million. The budget for the next fiscal year funds 20,817 employees, which is 20 employees fewer than this year.
The biggest financial difference between the fiscal year that ends June 30 and the one that begins July 1 is in the size of the Permanent Fund Dividend. The state spent $2.1 billion on dividends this fiscal year, or $3,284 per person.
For the fiscal year that begins July 1, the state will spend $881.6 million on dividends or about $1,304 per person.
That is close to the unrestricted general fund spending on the University of Alaska, the Department of Corrections, the court system and the Legislature combined.
While Dunleavy continues to claim he wants “a long-term sustainable fiscal plan,” he has never backed up those words with actions.
He claimed he would introduce a sales tax two months ago, after revealing the folly of depending on oil income, speaking as if he had just discovered the law of gravity.
“To simply ride oil in a do-or-die situation for the state of Alaska is folly. It’s probably not a good idea,” he confessed.
He gathered some news coverage for himself, but that’s it. There has been no detailed new coverage on the sales tax he did not propose.
As I wrote here May 15, “Dunleavy’s comments generated headlines about his alleged new attitudes about taxes and paying for government, but all we really have are new platitudes about what he insists on calling the ‘fiscals.’”
The biggest obstacle to a fiscal plan remains the lack of commitment from Dunleavy, who says he might be OK with this, that, and any number of other things.
He suggested the Legislature would need a special session later this year to approve the fiscal plan that does not exist.
But among the items Dunleavy vetoed Monday was $581,000 that the Legislature approved to pay for a 30-day special session later this year.
Dunleavy said it was “unnecessary funding.”
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