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House sponsor seeks to protect municipal funding for noninstructional school services; DEED regulation change draws opposition
Summary
Representative Story introduced House Bill 212 to clarify that certain locally funded, noninstructional services should not be counted as a district’s local contribution; superintendents and municipal leaders urged the committee to protect local funding that supports transportation, preschool, food service and extracurriculars.
Rep. Story introduced House Bill 212 on May 5 to amend state law so that local appropriations and in-kind services for student transportation, nutrition and food services, preschool/early education, career and technical education, before- and after-school programs, and student activities are not counted as a district's “local contribution” when calculating the locally required contribution under the foundation formula.
Story and staff warned that a draft Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) regulation under consideration would narrow the definition of local contribution and could prevent municipalities from making voluntary, designated contributions to school districts for noninstructional programs. Superintendent Frank Hauser (Juneau) told the committee the DEED proposal — which he called a “sudden reinterpretation” — would go beyond the federal disparity test for Impact Aid and risk cutting funding for community programs, extracurricular activities and services not part of the core free public education definition.
Katie Parrott, senior director, Office of Management and Budget for Anchorage School District (ASD) and president-elect of the Alaska Association of School Business Officials, said Anchorage reports most local contributions under current statute and 4 AAC 9.90(B) and relies on municipal supplemental funds for transportation and an early childhood grant. Parrott said the ASD supplemental transportation funding totaled roughly $9,000,000 in the current year (FY25) and is projected to be about $13,000,000 in FY26; loss of that funding would reduce service dramatically and could eliminate roughly one-third of regular bus routes. Parrott also said the Municipality of Anchorage’s early childhood grant provides about $2,000,000 annually and supported eight preschool classrooms (about 140 students) plus broader family programming that served roughly 1,600 participants in 2024.
Superintendent Josh Cochran (Skagway) said his district’s community-service approach lets the school operate recreation and food-service programs that also serve seniors and other residents; those programs would be jeopardized if local designations were disallowed. Neil Andreasen, executive director of the Alaska Municipal League, testified in support of HB212, saying the bill preserves local decision-making and recognizes that some locally funded services are communitywide and distinct from the state’s constitutional obligation to provide a basic education.
One public online witness opposed the bill, arguing locally provided funds should be directed to classroom teachers; the committee closed public testimony and set HB212 aside with an amendment deadline for Tuesday, May 6 at 4:00 p.m. for members to file changes.
