Senate education substitute targets teacher retention, one-time school energy relief

Senator Tobin, describing the Senate Education Committee substitute to House Bill 28, said the package is ‘‘a teacher retention and recruitment tool’’ that would create a three-year pilot allowing loan forgiveness for educators working in special education, English-language-learner instruction and STEM fields.

The bill also updates statutory accreditation language to align with federal changes to institutional accreditation, authorizes education resource centers to hire retired educators without jeopardizing retirement benefits, and decouples certain reading and career-and-technical-education grants from a prior business-tax linkage that failed in the legislature. Tobin said the committee included one-time energy-relief payments so schools would not have to divert classroom operating dollars to heating costs, and added resources for pupil transportation to offset high gasoline prices.

Tobin said the CS also prioritizes an adequacy study: an RFP that would bring school-finance experts to evaluate Alaska’s foundation formula and recommend inputs to improve outcomes after pandemic-era learning losses.

What happens next: the CS passed out of Senate Education and is awaiting scheduling for Senate Finance; sponsors said they are designing the package to secure enough votes to survive a potential gubernatorial veto.