Update: October 9, 2025

The Anchorage School District (ASD) thanks the Alaska State Board of Education for voting not to move forward with the proposed regulation that could have put more than $15 million of Anchorage’s local school funding at risk. This decision comes at a time when ASD is already facing a deficit of more than $75 million. By sending the proposal back to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development for more work, the Board listened to Alaskans. ASD will continue working with state and local partners in a professional manner to protect local control and ensure stability for students.

Update: October 7, 2025

After receiving more than 600 comments on the proposed changes to the Local Contribution, the Department of Education and Early Development is now asking the state board to take no action and return the proposed regulation back to DEED for further development. Thank you to our community for engaging in this process. The District will provide an update when next steps are announced.

The Issue

The Alaska State Board of Education is considering a regulation that changes how “local contributions” and in-kind donations to schools are defined. While it may sound technical, it would give the state excessive access to further limit how much money local communities would be able to contribute to their own community’s schools. For ASD, this could mean $15 million in lost funding next year alone.

What’s at Stake

• Fewer services for students across Alaska
• Reduced bus routes and transportation options
• Less funding for charter schools and correspondence programs
• Lost flexibility for communities to invest in their own schools

The Details

• The Alaska Department of Education is putting forward a proposed regulation as a solution to its failure on a federal Impact Aid Disparity Test. In reality, the test failure was simply due to reporting errors and was in no relation to “local contributions.” The state acknowledged reporting adjustments in its appeal of the failure and made no reference to any need for changes to “local contributions.”
• The regulation vaguely redefines “local contributions” and in-kind donations. This could now include things like student fees, donations and volunteer work. In doing so, the regulation would then reduce the amount of actual dollars communities could legally contribute to support their own schools.
• The proposed regulation could strip more than $15 million from Anchorage schools this year alone, with the potential of tens of millions of dollars lost in the future.

The Bottom Line

The regulation change could strip millions of dollars from local schools and limit how communities can support their students, all while failing to fix what actually caused the state’s reporting problem.

• This proposed regulation does not solve the problem it claims to fix. 
• Students will lose if this change is adopted.
• Communities deserve the flexibility to support their schools.
• A legislative solution is needed, not a rushed regulation.

What to Do – by Oct. 8!

✅ Share your opinion: Submit written comments to the State Board of Education, eed.stateboard@alaska.gov.

✅ Testify: Phone or Zoom testimony is available at the State Board of Education meeting.

✅ Spread the word: Share this information with parents and community groups.

✅ Ask questions: If community contributions count against schools, what will that mean for students?

Additional Information

Proposed Regulation

State’s Appeal Letter

Anchorage Assembly-School Board Joint Resolution

ASD Letter to Board of Education

Letter to DEED from Alaska Association of School Business Officials