Liz Harpold, staff to Senator Olson, told the Alaska Senate Finance Committee in April that Senate Bill 146 would amend the Regional Education Attendance Area (REAA) Fund to "include major maintenance and construction at Mount Edgecumbe High School and major maintenance for teacher housing in REAA or small municipal areas as allowable uses for this fund" and would remove the $70,000,000 cap on the fund so balances would not lapse to the general fund.

The bill drew a series of committee comments emphasizing Mount Edgecumbe's unique maintenance and housing needs. Senator Gary Stedman said the school competes for funding along with other state facilities and lacks an advocate in the current funding structure, saying students there are "kind of out there by themselves as a third wheel." He noted the school's dormitories date from around World War II and described cramped conditions he saw on a recent visit. "The girls and boys dormitories were built in World War II," Stedman said, and refurbishments over time have not fully addressed the facilities' age.

Senator Kiehl (committee member) reviewed a fiscal note from the Department of Education and Early Development, School Finance and Facilities (OMB component 2,737). The fiscal note requests $313,300 of unrestricted general funds and two new full‑time positions in the first fiscal year, dropping to $297,300 in ongoing costs after startup. Committee members asked whether existing state programs or the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation might be able to help reduce staffing needs reported in the fiscal note.

The committee opened and closed a public hearing with no in‑room or online testimony and then set the bill aside pending further work on fiscal notes. Liz Harpold told the committee the bill had been introduced in a prior legislature as SB113 and had passed the Senate 18–0 before failing to advance in the House.

Why it matters: Mount Edgecumbe High School is administered under the REAA structure and has boarders and teacher housing tied to its operations; changes to allowable uses of the REAA Fund could change how the school's long‑deferred maintenance and housing needs are prioritized and funded.

Next steps: Committee staff said they will follow up on fiscal questions and return with tightened fiscal estimates before the committee takes final action.