JUNEAU - The state Senate this morning approved a major plan to help build schools in rural, unincorporated communities and extend construction aid for elementary, middle and high schools in urban areas.

The measure explicitly cites a 1997 court order that found state laws fail to give villages and rural communities "adequate or equitable funding" for school construction and repair.

The bill, introduced early this morning in place of a smaller education plan, outlines an annual grant program for regional education areas. Grants would be formula driven and based on the amount of education money going to urban areas.

Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, said lawmakers could need to tweak the program over the coming two weeks to cover all of rural Alaska, much of which lacks the organized local government structure to borrow for school projects. But he said the current draft covers the bulk of the state.

The measure would also extend to perpetuity a state promise to subsidize school construction in Fairbanks, Anchorage and urban areas. The Legislature has traditionally reviewed and reauthorized the three-decade-old promise, where the state picks up 70 percent of the tab for community-level school-construction loans, every few years.

The Senate unanimously approved the plan hours after the measure emerged during a Finance Committee meeting this morning.

"It's a good day for Alaska's kids," Senate Majority Leader Johnny Ellis said.

The bill, Senate Bill 237, now goes to the House for review.