Anchorage schools draft legislative priorities emphasize purchasing power, retirement and transport reform

The Anchorage School District Communications Committee reviewed a draft of legislative priorities on Aug. 28 that the district plans to present at a Sept. 1 legislative luncheon at King Tech. Committee members and administrators framed priorities around restoring purchasing power, a state fiscal plan, retirement-and-retention measures and reforms to the state transportation funding statute.

Dora Wilson, communications committee chair and school board member, opened discussion and MJ (communications staff) said the priorities were developed in collaboration with the school board president and the superintendent. MJ said the priorities will be refined before the district’s legislative luncheon and asked committee members for feedback.

Committee members emphasized the nuance of messaging on funding. Dr. Bryant, the superintendent, and others said a recent increase in the Base Student Allocation was meaningful but incomplete; one board member noted that the earlier increase “partially restored” stability and does not compensate for long-term inflationary erosion. A staff presenter pointed committee members to a legislative task force slide deck that shows a 20‑year funding trend and urged the language to reflect that restoration is partial.

The draft priorities named four areas: (1) a state fiscal plan to restore stability, (2) protecting purchasing power and inflation proofing BSA increases, (3) retirement and retention (including attention to defined-benefit retirement structure), and (4) transportation funding and transfers. Several speakers urged clearer drafting so legislators understand the district’s ask is tied to state budget choices and to avoid implying the district alone can solve the structural funding shortfall.

Dave Donnelly, a board member, pressed to include two specific technical fixes: a district-cost-differential (area-cost) study and reform of the transportation funding statute. Another committee member said Anchorage’s transportation shortfall is large and urged language to highlight that the current transportation formula is out of date; a speaker stated Anchorage is about $4,000,000 short of full state transportation funding under the existing formula.

Committee members suggested the priorities be framed to tie funding requests to student outcomes — for example, specifying that dollars would be used to reduce class sizes, provide tutoring, or improve student supports — so the public and legislators can see the link between funds and classroom outcomes. Several participants recommended the communications team finalize language and circulate it for a brief email-based consensus, with a proposed pullback deadline.

Next steps recorded in the meeting were direction (not a formal vote): communications staff will circulate a revised draft and committee members will provide feedback by email ahead of the Sept. 1 legislative luncheon. Board member Donnelly volunteered to send a follow-up email reiterating his technical priorities for inclusion.