The Anchorage School District faces a roughly $90 million budget gap next school year, and district leaders have proposed cutting more than 500 positions and many programs to close it.
School board members will decide later this month which of those cuts move forward.
Here’s what to know about how the district got here and what’s next.
Why is the budget gap so large this year, even after last year’s state funding increase?
ASD officials point to two main issues leading to this year’s dramatic budget gap.
The first is the decade of flat funding from the state. Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said that even though legislators approved a $700 increase to the base student allocation, the state’s per-student funding formula, it didn’t fully restore what districts lost due to things like rising health care costs and inflation.
“When the BSA is flat for 10 years, the impact for ASD was that we had lost purchasing power by about $1,800 per student prior to the BSA increase,” Bryantt said. “Post the BSA increase, we're still behind about $1,400 per student than where we were back in 2011.”
The second issue is there is not outside funding or savings to lean on anymore. In the past, Bryantt said, the district was able to soften the impacts of stagnant state funding by relying on other sources, including COVID-19 pandemic relief money from the federal government and one-time education funding from the Legislature. Additionally, the district drew about $50 million from its savings accounts last year to address that year’s deficit, reducing its reserves to the lowest amount allowed by state statute.
How does the district propose to close the $90 million gap — and how much would each cut save?
- The biggest cut is to school staffing, with a proposed cut of about 388 positions. That includes roughly 317 teachers, 25 nurses, nine principals and eight counselors. District officials estimate those cuts would save the district about $56.8 million.
- The next largest cut comes from administrative staff cuts, which total about 57 positions. Those include custodians, human resources officials and IT staff. Those cuts would save the district about $13.7 million.
- Another roughly $9.4 million in savings comes from cutting about 69 special support staff. Those include staff who provide services for deaf, blind and special education students, as well as cutting the district’s IGNITE gifted program.
How many jobs and services could be cut under the proposed budget?
In total, the proposed cuts would eliminate over 500 ASD positions. With those positions gone, several programs would be eliminated, including summer school for elementary students, middle school sports and a number of high school sports, like hockey, swimming and diving, wrestling, Nordic skiing and volleyball. It would also increase class sizes by an average of four across the district.
Are school closures or consolidations on the table?
Maybe.
Last year, district officials proposed closing two Anchorage schools — Lake Otis and Fire Lake elementary schools. However, school board members voted against the closures.
ASD Chief Financial Officer Andy Ratliff said the average amount the district would save by closing a school is around $900,000.
At a special meeting on Feb. 9, school board members approved a resolution asking the district to come up with additional school closure or consolidation opportunities, in addition to the closures the board previously voted against. In response, Bryantt said it’d be easier for the district to lean on prior proposals and analyses, rather than come up with new alternatives.
“The feasibility of producing new schools for consideration would be very difficult and would highly increase the risk to the school board,” he said. “So I do want to be clear about what is feasible and practical in the very condensed timeline that we’re operating in.”
The resolution gives the district until Saturday, Feb. 14, to come up with new closure or consolidation proposals.
How are families, teachers and the broader community responding?
Dozens of people have provided public testimony to the school board since the proposed budget was released, many expressing concerns for the programs that their students or children rely on. Many testifiers were students themselves.
On Monday night, South Anchorage High School junior Jacob Morris said he’s wrestled since he was seven years old, and participating in the sport taught him work ethic and discipline.
“That mindset didn’t stay on the mat,” he said. “It followed me into the classroom and into my goals for the future.”
Jan Gilbert, a nurse at Eagle Academy Charter School, criticized the district’s proposed regional model for nurses, introduced in the budget as a cost-saving measure. She said she and other nurses in the district were not consulted on the change.
“If the board is being maneuvered into accepting this less-than-effective model of nursing care because it meets a budget number, such as cutting 25 school nurses, then meet with us,” Gilbert said.
Testimony was more mixed on the idea of revisiting school closures that were previously voted down by the board. While some said revisiting the closures would help to find more permanent homes for two ASD charter schools, others described it as creating more uncertainty for families of children at the two schools.
How would the proposed one-time Anchorage education tax levy help?
Bryantt said that if Anchorage voters approve the $11.8 million tax levy on the April ballot, he’s committed to using that money to hire about 80 teachers. He said that would lower the projected class size increases from four students to two.
Are other Alaska school districts in a similar position?
Yes, districts across the state are planning for next school year’s budget and bracing for multi-million-dollar deficits. Some, including in Mat-Su and Juneau, are asking the public to weigh in on what to cut. Like Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula School District is also weighing the potential of school closures.
Do we expect the Legislature to increase public school funding?
Bryantt isn’t holding his breath.
“I have to be aware of the possibility that our revenue could be flat for another two to three years,” he said in an interview earlier this month. “So if that's the case, it doesn't make sense to preserve things that will potentially be cut next year or the year after that.”
Legislators have expressed concern and floated some proposals, but they would likely require spending from savings, and senators who lead budget development say they oppose spending savings to pay for ongoing costs.
However, the heads of the Senate Finance Committee have said they'd like to make school and state facility maintenance a priority in the state's limited capital budget.
How can people weigh in?
The Anchorage School Board is holding its next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 6 p.m. where members of the public can provide public testimony.
What’s next?
School district officials are set to discuss any new proposed school closures and additional financial issues at a school board worksession, between 3 and 5 p.m. before the full board meeting on Feb. 17. Beyond that, the board is set to vote on the budget during a special meeting on Feb. 24. If approved, the budget would then go to the Anchorage Assembly, to be voted on in March.
Alaska Public Media’s Eric Stone contributed to this report.
What other questions do you have about the Anchorage School District’s budget that we missed? Email reporter Wesley Early at wearly@alaskapublic.org.
