Gary Morgan, the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s contracted legislative lobbyist with Morgan Partnership LLC, told the assembly at a June 25 work session in the borough chambers that the 2025 Alaska legislative session was difficult and produced mixed results for borough priorities.

Morgan said House Bill 57 passed with an increase to the Base Student Allocation and related education provisions. He said the legislature “passed and vetoed and then overridden” measures that together increased education funding and that an added allocation in the final day equated to roughly $16 million in the budget, tied to a roughly $700 per-student BSA increase. Morgan also told the assembly the decade-long moratorium on school debt reimbursement ends July 1.

Those changes matter to Fairbanks North Star Borough because the borough’s local contribution to schools has risen while student counts have fallen, Morgan said. “Contributions from our community have increased near 50% of the same period of time,” he told the assembly, and that local contribution pressure remains one of the borough’s top legislative priorities.

Morgan described the overall state budget as constrained by lower petroleum revenues and a continued reliance on the Permanent Fund draw. He said capital spending was small this session, with limited discretionary projects for the borough or its delegation, although the legislature appropriated roughly $38 million for school maintenance statewide and listed North Pole High School’s mechanical upgrade on the department priority list.

He reviewed other bills of borough interest that passed or were debated this year, including tax and campaign-finance measures and bills addressing housing affordability, municipal participation in state-managed health plans, and retirement/benefit changes. Morgan warned that federal funding uncertainty and potential federal liabilities could affect the FY2026 outlook.

Assembly members asked for clarification on the federal disparity test affecting school funding and on specific revenue estimates. Morgan said details on the disparity test were not yet clear and that the state may appeal decisions that could create an $80 million liability. He encouraged assembly members to contact him about priorities for the coming year.

The presentation was informational; the assembly did not take formal action at the meeting.