Board committee hears proposal to reclassify 3K to full ADM; advocates ask board to back SB93

Finance Committee member Don Lessons and district Pre-K staff discussed options to increase Anchorage School District's 3K funding classification from 0.5 ADM to 1.0 ADM. Staff presented a financial estimate: moving a .5 ADM allocation to a full 1.0 ADM would bring roughly $2.4 million to the district (staff gave figures in the meeting ranging $2.4M–$2.5M), which staff estimated could support roughly 11 to 12 additional preschool classrooms serving about 17 students each.

The committee heard that the district currently operates 37 general-education preschool classrooms and 54 special-education preschool classrooms; about 10 general-education preschools are funded out of the general fund (with federal Title I funding and municipal taxes supplementing operations). Staff said the district runs a centralized lottery — about 1,400 preschool applications in the most recent round produced roughly 600 placements — and that demand exceeds current capacity.

Presenters explained that many of the discretionary and dedicated funding streams that have supported preschool (municipal alcohol or marijuana tax funds, ACT grants, Mental Health Trust funds) require demonstration of student need (for example, families meeting income thresholds or housing instability acquire higher priority through risk-factor point systems used in the lottery). Staff said the district uses a risk-factor rubric (including measures such as frequent moves or household crowding) to prioritize placements.

Committee members asked for follow-up numbers: if the district could add roughly 170 preschool seats, how many fewer students would be in the "well below benchmark" category by kindergarten? Staff agreed to run projections based on district data. Staff also said they are piloting an early-learning assessment this spring so the district can report live preschool-level outcome data rather than comparing preschool attendance to kindergarten benchmark results.

Board member Don Lessons requested that the board consider a letter of support for SB93, a bill discussed in the Senate Education Committee. Lessons said he would draft a letter and run it through the board process; the committee expressed support and asked staff to share the briefing materials with the Anchorage delegation.

Ending: Staff said they will provide the committee with updated projections showing how additional classrooms and seats would alter the district's kindergarten benchmark distributions and will provide a firm cost/projection document for the board and for legislators.