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Sen. Bjorkman pitches 2% cap on local school contribution; Anchorage board hears fiscal trade-offs
Summary
At an April 27 Anchorage School District work session, Sen. Bjorkman described Senate Bill 278, which would limit growth of the "required local contribution" to 2% and have the state cover any excess; district and legislative staff debated whether the change preserves district funding or shifts costs across the state.
Sen. Bjorkman told the Anchorage School District board on April 27 that Senate Bill 278 would limit growth of the state formula’s "required local contribution" (RLC) to 2% per year and require the state to make up any amount above that cap, a change he said is meant to stop a long-running cost shift that has reduced state aid to districts as property values rise.
The senator said the RLC is tied to full-value property assessments and that "for every dollar that the required local contribution increases, that means that state aid decreases by that same dollar." He told the board Anchorage’s chief financial officer, Katie Perra, estimated the district received about $7,200,000 less in state aid recently because of rising local contribution requirements; he also said the statewide impact was roughly $20,000,000.
Why it matters: Bjorkman and board members framed the debate as one about predictability and equity. Under the current formula, districts with rising assessed values can see state aid decline even after the Legislature increases the base student allocation (BSA), the senator said, producing larger class sizes and program cuts in places constrained by municipal tax caps.
At the session, board members asked detailed questions about trade-offs and alternatives. Chair Jacobs sought to confirm whether SB278 would increase ASD’s total revenue if the municipality already funded the district at its local maximum; the senator replied the bill would not create new local revenue but would keep a district’s share of state aid consistent with the BSA outcome rather than allow it to be eroded by a rising RLC. "Reducing the growth of the required local contribution means that your school district will receive its same share of state aid as it would under the BSA that we passed last year," he said.
Legislative staff offered a different emphasis. Jason Ritter, staff to Sen. Tobin, told the board a 2% cap would shift costs back to the state and could create an "unfunded liability" if applied retroactively to 2025. "It would immediately create an unfunded liability," Ritter said, adding that in 11 of the past 18 years property growth would have exceeded 2% and that the biggest beneficiaries of a cap would be a handful of wealthier districts that account for most of the RLC.
Board members raised concerns about dependence on state funding and alternatives to a cap. Member Bellamy said she feared increasing dependence on the state and asked whether SB278 would ensure both predictability and adequacy; Bjorkman said the bill preserves local "skin in the game" because the RLC would still rise 2% annually. Ritter and others suggested an alternative: tie BSA increases to inflation so the state share keeps pace without shifting costs.
On federal impact aid, Bjorkman said the federal share is small relative to the total budget and that SB278 would not directly change federal impact-aid rules; he estimated federal impact aid at under $7 million for ASD.
What the board will do next: The session was informational; the board did not vote on a position. Chair Jacobs said the board will have an opportunity to consider whether to publicly support SB278 when its regular agenda allows.
Source and attribution: Reporting here uses direct remarks made during the April 27, 2026 Anchorage School District board work session. Direct quotes are attributed to speakers who appear in the session record: Sen. Bjorkman and Jason Ritter (Sen. Tobin’s staff).
