Legislature(2025 - 2026)DAVIS 106
02/26/2025 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Alaska's Per Pupil Spending in Context | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
February 26, 2025
8:13 a.m.
DRAFT
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Rebecca Himschoot, Co-Chair
Representative Andi Story, Co-Chair
Representative Ted Eischeid
Representative Jubilee Underwood
Representative Bill Elam
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Maxine Dibert
Representative Rebecca Schwanke
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): ALASKA'S PER PUPIL SPENDING IN CONTEXT
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
DAYNA DEFEO, Director
Center for Alaska Education Policy Research
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave the presentation titled "Alaska's Per
Pupil Spending in Context"
MATTHEW BERMAN, Professor of Economics
Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave the presentation titled "Alaska's Per
Pupil Spending in Context"
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:13:33 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY called the House Education Standing Committee
meeting to order at 8:13 a.m. Representatives Eischeid,
Underwood, Elam, Story, and Himschoot were present at the call
to order. Representatives * arrived as the meeting was in
progress.
^PRESENTATION(S): Alaska's Per Pupil Spending in Context
PRESENTATION(S): Alaska's Per Pupil Spending in Context
8:14:35 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY announced that the only order of business would
be a presentation titled "Alaska's Per Pupil Spending in
Context."
8:15:44 AM
DAYNA DEFEO, Director, Center for Alaska Education Policy
Research, gave the presentation titled "Alaska's Per Pupil
Spending in Context." She began on slide 2, which outlined the 5
questions that the presentation would aim to answer by its
conclusion. She continued to slide 3, which listed three key
findings of the Center for Alaska Education Policy's Research
work on the current state of education funding in Alaska. She
skipped to slide 5, which compared the per-pupil funding between
Alaska and the United States national average per-pupil funding.
She skipped to slide 7, which displayed a bar graph that
compared Alaska's overall per-pupil funding in 2017, 2019, and
2022. She backtracked to slide 6, which displayed a map of
Alaska's school districts that emphasized the differing cost of
education throughout its different regions.
8:24:03 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked how many schools are in each category
mentioned during the presentation.
MS. DEFEO replied that she couldn't point to any specific
numbers and deferred her answer to Matthew Berman.
8:24:41 AM
MATTHEW BERMAN, Professor of Economics, Institute of Social and
Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage, Gave the
presentation titled "Alaska's Per Pupil Spending in Context".
He said that he does not have the numbers in front of him
currently and would follow up later.
8:24:56 AM
REPRESENTATIVE EISCHEID asked what data was used to generate the
foundation factor map that was displayed on slide 7.
MS. DEFEO answered that the numbers displayed on slide 7 were
obtained using figures found by the Institute of Social and
Economic Research (ISER) in 2024.
MR. BERMAN clarified that the numbers used from the ISER
research were from 2004-2005 and emphasized that the cost of
energy has gone up exponentially since 2005.
8:28:44 AM
MS. DEFEO resumed the presentation on slide 8, which emphasized
the lower cost of education in the Anchorage School District
(ASD) and continued to slides 9 and 10, which compared the ASD's
per-pupil spending to the national average per-pupil spending.
She moved to slide 11, which displayed a graph that highlighted
Alaska's lower per-pupil spending when compared to the rest of
the United States.
8:31:33 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ELAM asked if the per-pupil spending figures
being mentioned during the presentation included spending on
student extracurricular activities.
MR. BERMAN confirmed that extracurricular activities funding is
included in the total per-pupil allocation figures being
mentioned throughout the presentation.
8:33:35 AM
MS. DEFEO resumed the presentation on slide 12, which posed the
second of the five questions displayed on slide 2 and skipped to
slide 14, which displayed a graph that compared the average &
current spending per student in the top 20 states in the United
States.
8:35:59 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ELAM asked where New York, Vermont, And
Washington D.C. rank when compared to other states' per-pupil
funding.
MS. DEFEO said that she doesn't know off the top of her head and
clarified that the institute she works for is only looking at
the amount of dollars going into a public education system, not
also the outcomes.
MR. BERMAN added his understanding that the motivation of
Representative Elam's question was to determine if there were
better educational outcomes in the states that received more
public education funding and pointed to a series of other
factors that might influence both a student's success and the
cost of public education in any given state.
8:40:40 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT commented that most school districts in the
contiguous U.S. are governed by a county system and said that
over half of the schools within the public school system in
Washington, D.C. are charter schools.
8:41:40 AM
MS. DEFEO resumed the presentation on slide 15, which posed the
third of the five questions displayed on slide 2 and moved to
slide 16, which displayed two pie charts that highlighted the
difference in Alaska's public education funding portfolio
between 2017 and 2023. She continued to slide 17, which posed
the fourth of the five questions displayed on slide 2 and moved
to slide 18, which displayed two pie charts that compared
Alaska's public education funding with the United States average
funding. She continued to slide 19, which compared Alaska's
salaries and wages as are included in its per-pupil spending and
compared that portion of the per-pupil spending to the United
States average.
8:46:27 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ELAM asked if salary schedules are accounted for
on the graph displayed on slide 19.
MS. DEFEO replied that the salary and wage figures used on slide
19 are based off of an average teacher earnings figure.
MR. BERMAN added that the numbers used on slide 19 were obtained
by a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey.
8:49:20 AM
MS. DEFEO resumed the presentation on slide 20, which emphasized
the higher cost of benefits and healthcare that makes up a
larger portion of per-pupil spending in Alaska compared to the
national average. She moved to slide 21, which highlighted the
higher cost of the operation and maintenance of school districts
in Alaska when compared to the national average. She moved to
slide 22, which posed the final of the five questions displayed
on slide 2. She continued to slide 23, which compared the per-
pupil spending in 2017 and 2022 to the Consumer Price Index
(CPI). She moved to slide 24, which displayed a graph that
highlighted the changes in per-pupil spending relative to
inflation in a specific time period highlighted on the left of
the graph. She concluded the presentation on slide 26, which
highlighted that the per-pupil spending in Alaska has fallen
since 2017. She emphasized that Alaska has higher operating
costs and hires from a national market of teachers and therefore
must keep its salaries competitive. She said "how much Alaska
should be spending on its education is a matter of input and
output".
8:57:47 AM
REPRESENTATIVE UNDERWOOD asked if the salary and wages figures
displayed on slide 19 included the cost of administrative staff.
MS. DEFEO answered that the study used for the information on
slide 19 did include a differentiation between the cost of
instructional staff and administrative staff.
8:59:09 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ELAM asked if the data used throughout the
presentation was budgeted data or actually spent data.
MR. BERMAN answered that the data used was actual expenditures
and said that he would follow up with more information later.
9:01:04 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Education Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 9:01 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Presentation Institute of Social and Economic Research.pdf |
HEDC 2/26/2025 8:00:00 AM |
ISER25 |
| (ISER) Per pupil spending update February 2025 final report.pdf |
HEDC 2/26/2025 8:00:00 AM |
ISER Report |