Anchorage School District warns of $75M shortfall, asks assembly to press state on proposed local contribution rule

Anchorage — Anchorage School District officials told a joint meeting of the Anchorage Assembly and the Anchorage School Board on Sept. 26 that the district closed FY26 with a $700 base student allocation (BSA) increase but remains dependent on reserves and faces a roughly $75 million projected shortfall for FY27. Andy Ratliff, the district’s chief financial officer, outlined last year’s budget changes, the effects of HB 57, and an uncertain regulatory change at the state level that could reduce up to an estimated $15 million in local support for transportation and other programs.

The district emphasized the scale of the problem and asked the assembly to press the State Board of Education to delay implementation of the new regulation. “We are requesting the assembly’s help in advocating for a sensible way forward, which is to postpone discussing this until further notice,” Dr. Bryant, the district superintendent, said during the meeting.

The BSA increase in HB 57 provided a one‑time $700 per student lift for FY26 and a $48 per‑pupil increase in transportation funding, Ratliff said. The school board allocated the $700 in stages: earlier memos used about $560 per student to restore some position reductions and the remainder was allocated after the veto was overridden in August. That funding allowed the district to add back holdback positions — unhired budgeted positions that principals can fill as enrollment or class‑size pressures require — and to restore…