Anchorage schools face 380 fewer teachers under budget gap; superintendent urges lawmakers to pass House Bill 69

Superintendent Dr. Bridal told the Anchorage School District board on April 8 that the district faces “about a hundred plus million dollar structural deficit,” and that unless the state acts the district will implement a budget that increases the pupil-to-teacher ratio by four students and eliminates roughly 380 teaching positions for next school year.

The district’s deficit is “structural,” Dr. Bridal said, meaning recurring revenues fall short of recurring expenses; federal COVID-relief funds and the district’s reserve (fund balance) previously masked the shortfall but are no longer available. He said ASD’s fund balance has been drawn down to about 5% of operating expenses — roughly two weeks’ worth of spending — and that prior one-time federal relief and repeated use of reserves have hidden the underlying gap.

Why it matters: The superintendent said the district can trim administrative costs but those cuts would not close the shortfall. “Even if we fired myself and everybody who works for me … we still would have had 77,000,000 more dollars to go,” he said. In practical terms the district budget as proposed would increase class sizes, trigger a districtwide teacher displacement process and reduce services such as nurses and certain…