00Enrolled SJR 31                                                                                                         
01 Relating to urging the United States Congress to compensate the State of Alaska for the effect                          
02 of federal land ownership on the state's ability to fund public education.                                              
03                                         _______________                                                                 
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                             
05      WHEREAS, for many years, western states, including Alaska, have grappled with the                                  
06 challenge of providing the best education for their citizens; and                                                       
07            WHEREAS western states face unique challenges in achieving this goal; and                                    
08      WHEREAS, from 1979 to 1998, the percentage change in expenditure per pupil in 13                                   
09 western states was 28 percent, compared to 57 percent in the remaining states; and                                      
10      WHEREAS, in 2000 - 2001, the pupil per teacher ratio in 13 western states averaged                                 
11 17.9 to one compared with 14.8 to one in the remaining states; and                                                      
12      WHEREAS the conditions in western states are exacerbated by projections that                                       
13 enrollment will increase by an average of 7.1 percent, compared to an average decrease of 2.6                           
14 percent in the rest of the nation; and                                                                                  
15      WHEREAS, despite the wide disparities in expenditures per pupil and in pupil per                                   
16 teacher ratios, western states tax at a comparable rate and allocate as much of their budgets to                        
17 public education as the rest of the nation; and                                                                         

01      WHEREAS the ability of western states to fund education is directly related to federal                             
02 ownership of state land; and                                                                                            
03      WHEREAS the federal government owns an average of 51.9 percent of the land in 13                                   
04 western states, compared to 4.1 percent in the remaining states; and                                                    
05      WHEREAS the enabling acts of most western states promise that five percent of the                                  
06 proceeds from the sale of federal land will go to the states for public education; and                                  
07      WHEREAS a federal policy change in 1977 ended these sales, resulting in an                                         
08 estimated $14,000,000,000 in lost public education funding for western states; and                                      
09      WHEREAS the ability of western states to fund public education is further affected                                 
10 by the fact that state and local property taxes, which public education relies heavily upon to                          
11 fund education, cannot be assessed on federal land; and                                                                 
12      WHEREAS the estimated annual impact of this property tax prohibition on western                                    
13 states is more than $4,000,000,000; and                                                                                 
14      WHEREAS royalties to the western states are reduced because federal land is less                                   
15 likely to be developed and federal laws often place stipulations on the use of state royalty                            
16 payments; and                                                                                                           
17      WHEREAS the estimated annual impact of royalty payment policies on western                                         
18 states is more than $1,860,000,000; and                                                                                 
19      WHEREAS much of the land that the federal government transferred to states upon                                    
20 statehood as a trust for public education is difficult to administer and to make productive                             
21 because it is surrounded by federal land; and                                                                           
22      WHEREAS federal land ownership greatly hinders the ability of western states to                                    
23 fund public education; and                                                                                              
24      WHEREAS the federal government should compensate western states for the                                            
25 significant impact federal land ownership has on the ability of western states to educate their                         
26 citizens; and                                                                                                           
27      WHEREAS Alaska joins the 12 other member states of the Council of State                                            
28 Governments-West that have passed or are in the process of passing joint resolutions                                    
29 addressing the effect of federal land ownership on the states' ability to fund public education;                        
30 and                                                                                                                     
31      WHEREAS just compensation will allow western states to be on equal footing with                                    

01 the rest of the nation in their efforts to provide education for their citizens;                                        
02      BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                           
03 Congress to appropriate just compensation to the State of Alaska for the effect of federal land                         
04 ownership on the state's ability to fund public education.                                                              
05      COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the                                       
06 Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                              
07 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.