Anchorage Assembly adopts school district budget after tense public hearing over Campbell STEM closure

The Anchorage Assembly voted 7-5 on March 24 to adopt the Anchorage School District's FY2026'027 operating budget (S version) after an often-emotional public hearing focused on the district's consolidation plan and the recent decision to close Campbell STEM Elementary. The vote came after more than two hours of public testimony from parents, teachers and students who urged the Assembly and district leaders to delay or reverse the closure.

“Please tonight ask the hard questions. Get the answers,” said Chaim Wenger, who described his family's ties to the Campbell neighborhood and urged the Assembly to press the district for a clearer rationale. Parents and students described the school as a neighborhood anchor and the only nationally certified STEM elementary in Alaska; several speakers said the community had just days'notice before the board's vote and demanded more transparency.

Superintendent Dr. Jared Bryant told the Assembly the district is confronting a structural shortfall he put at roughly $90 million for the coming year. Bryant outlined steps the district took to reduce costs, saying the administration cut administrative positions, imposed a hiring freeze and considered a range of program reductions. He told members that about 95 cents of every dollar in the district's budget goes to classroom instruction, student supports and building maintenance, and that deferred maintenance needs exceed $1.5 billion.

School Board President Carl Jacobs said the board's consolidation decisions reflected a framework developed over preceding years and cited facility condition, proximity of underutilized schools and the need to recover fungible funding as drivers of the Campbell decision. In response to public concerns, Jacobs and Bryant agreed to pursue additional community meetings to answer questions from affected families.

Administration and district staff told the Assembly that closing Campbell generated roughly $3.1 million in budget effect for the district, combining approximately $2.2 million in bond-debt-reimbursement funds that are fungible into the general fund and about $900,000 in operational savings (utilities, staffing and custodial costs). Assembly members and speakers repeatedly stressed that a one-time infusion of fungible dollars does not replace sustained, state-level school funding reforms.

Assembly members split sharply on the best legislative response. Supporters of the budget argued that, under the municipal charter, the Assembly must adopt a cap so taxes and appropriations can be set on time and that rejecting the budget would not prevent the district's cuts. Opponents said voting yes effectively accepted painful program and school cuts made under a compressed timeline and urged the Assembly to press for more transparency and an extended community engagement process.

Member Baldwin Day, who voted no, said the community deserved more time and an accounting for how the district reached its consolidation decisions. “I cannot, in good conscience, support a budget that mortgages a program for one-time funding,” she said.

The S version of the budget that the Assembly adopted includes language allowing an upward adjustment equal to a potential approved Proposition 9 education levy (a one-time $11.8 million request on the April ballot) and clarifies bond-debt reimbursement language. The Superintendent said the district will engage with communities to explain the consolidation criteria and pledged to hold public forums.

What happens next: With the Assembly's action the budget is approved; the district will implement reductions and consolidation actions under its timeline. Several Assembly members asked the district to return to community forums to address outstanding concerns and to describe how one-time funding sources (bonds or reimbursements) will be applied.

Supporters and opponents urged the Legislature to act: multiple Assembly members and the district said the longer-term solution is a state-level reform of school funding to address structural shortfalls.