From Sean Cockerham in Juneau –

There’s some good news for Anchorage School Superintendent Carol Comeau, who is arriving in Juneau this weekend to lobby for money to help stop serious program cuts.

The co-chairs of the Senate education committee said today they’ll be putting in a bill to increase school funding. They want state money for schools to go up in the range of $100 for every Alaskan student for each of the coming three years.

The co-chairs, Anchorage Republican Kevin Meyer and Fairbanks Democrat Joe Thomas, also said they want to create a separate funding stream for vocational education.

There is a lot of skepticism in the Legislature about giving schools more money -- given the increases of recent years.

But this proposal gives school advocates a chance. And Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bettye Davis introduced her own bill today that proposes to increase school funding by $200 per student next year.