The Anchorage School Board voted Tuesday night to spend $26 million on rebuilding Inlet View Elementary School in the city’s South Addition neighborhood.
It’s not enough to complete the controversial rebuild, which is estimated to cost more than $34 million total.
Anchorage residents in 2022 voted down a bond package to rebuild the school. It was built in 1957, and the Anchorage School District said it has maintenance needs and not enough space for students.
Dave Donley was the lone board member to vote against the funding.
“I’m very concerned that we’re going to hear from parents about increased class sizes and the loss of educational programs because of this vote that may spend this money right now,” Donley said.
The Inlet View rebuild was the largest single item of more than $45 million in capital improvements the school board approved, including front-door buzzer systems, roof repairs, playgrounds, library repairs and the rebuild of Ursa Major Elementary, which was damaged in the November 2018 magnitude 7.1 earthquake.
School board member Dora Wilson noted that 20 of 24 legislative districts in Anchorage were represented in the maintenance package. Most of the funding comes in the form of School Bond Debt Reimbursement from the Alaska Legislature.
“We have the opportunity to address many of the capital needs around the district,” Wilson said. “Also what’s important to me is we’ll keep the next school bond at a similar size than our 2023 bond that the community did pass, they did support.”
Most of the 17 people who offered public testimony spoke in favor of the Inlet View rebuild.
Tim Rockey is the producer of Alaska News Nightly and covers education for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at trockey@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8487. Read more about Tim here.
