Anchorage officials propose one-time $11.8 million school levy to cover teacher positions and programming

Anchorage municipal staff on Thursday outlined a proposal to send Anchorage voters a one-time special tax to raise roughly $11.8 million for the Anchorage School District, a stopgap intended to fund teacher positions and student programming.

Chie f Administrative Officer Bill Paulsey told the Assembly Budget & Finance Committee that state law sets a required local school contribution at 2.65 mills and also sets a capped additional local contribution tied to the state’s base student allocation (BSA). Paulsey said recent increases in property assessments raised the municipality’s required local contribution from about $127.7 million last year to an estimated $138.9 million this year, a roughly $11.2 million increase that reduces state aid dollar for dollar. He said a separate change to the BSA enacted…