With one member out battling an illness, the majority could not pass the bill out of the Education Committee along caucus lines. They did so with a floor vote instead.

Bipartisan House majority members say a big school funding boost is urgently needed, with the state’s education system in crisis.

Minority-caucus Republicans said the funding bill wasn’t worth discussing in committee because the majority hasn’t said how to pay for it.

A key House panel unexpectedly advanced a major rewrite of Alaska’s per-student funding formula for public schools on Thursday. Without objection, the House Finance Committee advanced House Bill 69 to a vote of the full House without discussing amendments or hearing public testimony.