Alaska hearing on HB 69 draws hours of testimony as school leaders warn of program cuts and staff layoffs

Juneau — The Alaska Senate Education Committee held a public hearing March 21 on House Bill 69, the education funding bill that would raise the state'wide base student allocation (BSA) by $1,000 and change how some programs are funded.

The hearing drew more than two hours of invited and public testimony from superintendents, parents, teachers, school-board members and charter and correspondence program representatives. Many speakers described planned reductions that districts would implement under current funding levels and urged the committee to pass the $1,000 BSA increase; other speakers supported the concept but raised concerns about specific provisions in the bill.

Why it matters: Alaska'wide school districts say flat funding has eroded purchasing power for more than a decade and forced recurring one-time fixes. Andy Ratliff, chief financial officer for the Anchorage School District, said the district faces a structural shortfall and that the current statutory BSA leaves districts with little ability to absorb emergencies or avoid deep cuts.

"Education, as you know, is a people heavy business with about 87% of our cost going to salaries and benefits," Ratliff said. He described what ASD would do to balance a FY26 budget under the current statute: use nearly $50,000,000 of savings, implement more than $60,000,000 in reductions, increase class sizes by about four students, close two schools, and cut nurses, counselors, librarians and many extracurriculars. Ratliff said the district's deferred maintenance backlog has surpassed about $1.5 billion and that the proposed $1,000 BSA increase "will go a long way in ensuring these drastic reductions aren't realized."

What supporters said: Superintendents and parents across the state repeated similar themes. Cindy Mika, superintendent of Kodiak Island Borough School District, said KIBSD faces an $8,000,000 FY26 deficit, has cut dozens of positions since 2023, and warned that recruitment often requires hiring from abroad. Parents and teachers described larger class sizes, canceled sports and extracurriculars, loss of language-immersion and Ignite gifted programs, and rising vacancies that make it hard to start the school year with full staffs.

Several speakers framed the increase as both educational policy and workforce policy: business owners and workforce-development representatives said stable school funding affects employers' ability to recruit employees and families' decisions to move to Alaska. "If you need to add a tax or do something, then that's what you should do," said Steve Rowe, a parent and construction business owner from Anchorage, arguing that stable funding is needed to retain and attract workers.

Concerns and caveats raised: Multiple testifiers supported an increase but objected to parts of the bill they said would hurt charter schools or correspondence (homeschool) programs. Kathleen Yurbich, a charter-school teacher, said, "Doubling the indirect rate from 4% to 8% means even more of our limited resources are taken from our classrooms." Several charter-school parents and APC members warned that a new cap on carryforward balances (10% of the unreserved budget) would restrict schools'ability to plan for known large expenses such as technology refreshes, building repairs and program start-ups.

Opponents and fiscal questions: Some speakers opposed the bill on fiscal grounds or objected to the legislative process. David Boyle said, "I oppose HB 69 as it's currently written," arguing the bill "merely perpetuates the current system" and criticizing provisions that affect correspondence programs and charter funding. Other speakers urged the committee to identify a sustainable revenue source and pushed back against proposals that would fund the measure by reducing the Permanent Fund Dividend.

Committee process and next steps: Chair Tobin (Senator Tobin) closed public testimony and announced the committee will continue consideration next week. The committee scheduled a presentation from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development on capital needs for facilities and indicated additional hearings will follow on related bills. No committee vote or formal action on HB 69 occurred at the hearing.

Context and implications: Testimony repeatedly stressed that districts have been balancing flat or eroded state funding with one-time allocations, federal relief dollars and local savings, and that those stopgap measures are nearing exhaustion. Representatives of Anchorage, Kodiak, Unalaska, Fairbanks and many rural districts detailed planned staffing and program cuts for FY26 in the absence of a BSA increase. Several testifiers asked for an inflation-indexing mechanism so the BSA will not require the annual emergency debate staff and districts now face.

Ending note: The committee heard more than 80 individual speakers during the hearing and indicated it will receive further information from DEED and continue deliberations. Testifiers urged prompt action so districts can finalize staffing decisions and visa processes for language-immersion teachers before the next school year.