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Sen. Bjorkman pitches 2% cap on local school contribution; Anchorage board hears fiscal trade-offs
Summary
At an April 27 Anchorage School District work session, Sen. Bjorkman described Senate Bill 278, which would limit growth of the "required local contribution" to 2% and have the state cover any excess; district and legislative staff debated whether the change preserves district funding or shifts costs across the state.
Sen. Bjorkman told the Anchorage School District board on April 27 that Senate Bill 278 would limit growth of the state formula’s "required local contribution" (RLC) to 2% per year and require the state to make up any amount above that cap, a change he said is meant to stop a long-running cost shift that has reduced state aid to districts as property values rise.
The senator said the RLC is tied to full-value property assessments and that "for every dollar that the required local contribution increases, that means that state aid decreases by that same dollar." He told the board Anchorage’s chief financial officer, Katie Perra, estimated the district received about $7,200,000 less in state aid recently because of rising local contribution requirements; he also said the statewide impact was roughly $20,000,000.
Why it matters: Bjorkman and board members…
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