Opinion ID: 2631894
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Overview of the Mayoral Veto Power and the School Budget Process

Text: The Alaska Constitution vests all local government powers in boroughs and cities. [10] It authorizes the voters of a first class city or borough to adopt a home rule charter [11] and provides that [a] home rule borough or city may exercise all legislative powers not prohibited by law or by charter. [12] Title 29 of the Alaska Statutes delineates both the powers and structures of local governments. The Municipality of Anchorage is a home rule municipality. [13] It was incorporated as a unified municipality in September 1975, when voters adopted by referendum its constitutional document, the Home Rule Charter for the Municipality of Anchorage. [14] Its executive and administrative power is vested in the mayor. [15] Its legislative power is vested in the assembly. [16] Since 1990 subsection 5.02(c) of the charter has expressly granted the mayor both a general and a line item veto power. [17] As we will see, it is important to the outcome of these cases that Anchorage is a home rule municipality.
Article VII, section 1 of the Alaska Constitution mandates that [t]he legislature shall by general law establish and maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the state.... To this end, Title 14 of the Alaska Statutes creates Alaska's public education system. [18] The legislature delegated the state's authority to manage the operations of the schools to local school districts. [19] The Anchorage School District is geographically coextensive with the Municipality of Anchorage. [20] The municipality, as required by statute, [21] established the Anchorage School Board [22] and charged it with operating the municipality's schools. [23] Although the school board is elected by the same voters who elect the municipal assembly, and is part of the municipality, it is a legislative body with legal responsibilities which in important respects are distinct from those exercised by the assembly. [24] Further, while the legislature has delegated significant local control over education, this court has made it clear that the Alaska Constitution mandates pervasive state authority in the field of education. [25] The relationship between the school board and the assembly in the school district budget process is established by AS 14.14.060, [26] which corresponds to Anchorage charter section 6.05 [27] and Anchorage Municipal Code section 6.10.050. These provisions require the school board to submit the district's annual budget to the assembly for approval. [28] Within thirty days after receiving the budget, the assembly may approve, reduce, or increase the total amount of the district's budget. [29] The assembly may modify the budget only as to the total amount; it may not modify individual items within the budget. [30] The assembly must approve the budget as amended and must determine the total amount of local source money [31] and appropriate the necessary funds. [32] If the assembly does not act in a timely manner, the amounts the school board proposes become the school district's budget and local source appropriation. [33] The municipality by ordinance has added a School Budget Advisory Commission to this process. [34] Composed of members appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the assembly, the commission advises the assembly on the details of the school budget and recommends what action should be taken on the budget. [35]