The Anchorage School Board on June 12 adopted a joint resolution with the Anchorage Municipal Assembly urging state officials not to adopt emergency changes to 4 AAC 09 that would alter how required local contributions to school districts are defined and counted.

Member Lessons introduced the four-page resolution, which the board discussed as a follow-up to a June 6 joint meeting with three Assembly members. The resolution says proposed Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) regulation changes were inadequately noticed, inadequately justified and could reduce local control or threaten municipal investments that the district relies on.

The board’s finance staff told the State Board of Education during earlier testimony that emergency approval of the proposed regulations could immediately put "$15,000,000 at minimum" of Anchorage local contributions at risk. The resolution documents the district's view that the federal Department of Education's recent letter about the state's disparity test failure concerned an accounting treatment of transportation transfers, not local contributions, and therefore did not justify emergency rulemaking that would curtail local revenues.

The joint resolution asks the governor, the Legislature and the State Board of Education to reject regulatory changes that would reduce local authority or limit local investment until the concerns are fully vetted through regular rulemaking and additional legislative or statutory changes if necessary. The board voted to adopt the resolution unanimously and directed staff to deliver it to the Assembly and the State Board of Education for consideration before the July 25 State Board meeting.

Why it matters: The resolution frames the proposed DEED action as a threat to multiple local programs the district counts as non-cap local revenues or municipal services, including transportation support, early childhood grants, facility use and other municipal services the district receives. District leaders said the proposed emergency rule would have downstream budgetary impacts for FY27 if adopted.

Ending
The board asked district staff to coordinate transmission of the adopted resolution to the Municipal Assembly and to prepare joint testimony for the State Board of Education’s public comment period. The board recorded a unanimous vote on the resolution and said it would continue to monitor rulemaking and federal correspondence.