Alaska boosts school repair money—still far short

Alaska boosts – Alaska lawmakers approved a 2027 budget line that would more than triple school construction and maintenance funding to over $148 million, but districts say the increase still covers only about a fraction of what’s needed to address decades of deferred repairs

For years. schools across Alaska have limped along with leaking roofs. failing foundations and broken systems that keep buildings running for daily classes—and. in some rural communities. for emergency sheltering. Now the state has approved a budget that would send more money into repairs next year. even as the scale of the backlog remains bigger than what legislators are willing—or able—to fund.

The Legislature approved funding in the 2027 fiscal year that would allocate more than $148 million for construction and maintenance projects. up from $40 million in fiscal 2026. which ends June 30. The money is set to take effect only if Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signs the budget. The state’s education department budget line would also become the largest allocation for school infrastructure in more than a decade.

Legislators say the new dollars are meant to chip away at “millions in backlogged major maintenance needs” statewide. But even with the increase, the funding is expected to cover only a fraction of the repairs school districts requested. Some projects could be funded—more than 30 are possible under the budget line—but the list of needed work remains far longer.

The urgency is not abstract. Rural public schools that serve predominantly Indigenous student populations are often used as emergency shelters. and lawmakers have faced testimony about the conditions inside those buildings. In December. former students and concerned parents told the State Board of Education about squalid conditions inside Alaska’s only state-owned boarding school. Their testimony added momentum to efforts by lawmakers to unburden cash-strapped rural districts in communities where residents don’t pay taxes to help fund education.

In March, as the Senate Finance Committee questioned education department leadership, state Sen. Lyman Hoffman. an Alaska Native Democrat who represents the largest rural school district. described education as rising to the top even amid statewide budget shortfalls. “Even though the whole state is having a problem balancing its checkbook. at the top of the list is education. ” Hoffman said during the committee meeting.

The gap between need and what the Legislature funds is measured in percentages. Every year, districts submit an application process to request school construction and maintenance money from Alaska’s education department. Since 1998, the Legislature has funded only a fraction of those proposed projects. Last year. lawmakers secured about 5% of the nearly $800 million that both rural and urban school districts said they needed to keep buildings safe and operating.

This year, districts asked for far more. School districts requested more than $1.12 billion for infrastructure—described as the second-highest total requested statewide since 1998. Yet even with the infusion of cash. the 2027 budget for school infrastructure is expected to cover only about 13% of what districts asked for.

That reality is what shaped the response from districts themselves. Kuspuk School District Superintendent Madeline Aguillard said, “I do appreciate it, but the hole that the state is in is so deep and so big. It’s going to take a long time to hit that word ‘enough.’”

Aguillard’s district includes schools in nine roadless communities along the middle stretch of the Kuskokwim River in the heart of Alaska’s interior. The district first requested state funds to repair a leaking roof at its school in Sleetmute in 2007. For nearly two decades, the leak persisted, leading to other problems inside the building. In 2021, an architect inspected the school and uncovered severe structural damage.

Later reporting by ProPublica, KYUK and NPR described additional health and safety issues in Sleetmute’s school, including a bat infestation.

For lawmakers who want to understand how the system fails, Sleetmute has become a shorthand. At least one lawmaker has publicly labeled the school “the poster child” for what’s wrong with Alaska’s public school infrastructure. Aguillard said that 2024 reporting about serious structural deficiencies inside Sleetmute’s K-12 Jack Egnaty Sr. School “really lit a fire” in the state Legislature.

The politics of the shortfall have been tense for years. with education leaders and districts pointing at different parts of the machinery. For years, lawmakers and state education department staff have blamed each other for the annual school infrastructure shortfall. Education Commissioner Deena Bishop. who has served as commissioner for three years. told ProPublica. KYUK and NPR last year that she can do little more than advocate on behalf of districts. “The power of the purse is with the Legislature,” Bishop said.

Still, at the March Senate Finance Committee meeting, co-chair Bert Stedman—one of the committee leaders—pressed for more information. The Republican co-chair from Sitka in Southeast Alaska suggested the committee had not received sufficient information from school districts and Bishop. “She’s responsible. The buck stops with her,” Stedman told colleagues. Education department staff said they rely on information school districts provide about conditions inside buildings. and that districts have an annual opportunity to make requests for money for maintenance and construction. Stedman. Hoffman and one other ranking co-chair have been on the Finance Committee for more than 15 years. and none of the co-chairs agreed to comment for this story.

Bishop also described structural differences that can leave more remote districts at a disadvantage. Wealthier urban districts. she said. tend to have more staff. which helps them hire professional grant writers and pay for building inspections—steps that can help elevate applications. More than half of the projects approved for funding this year are in urban school districts that also have access to local tax revenue to pay for education. By contrast. Alaska’s rural school districts are almost entirely reliant on state funding because the residents of the communities they serve do not pay taxes to fund education. “Some are winners and some are losers,” Bishop said.

When there is no permanent solution for decades of backlogged major maintenance projects, the Legislature leans on stopgap measures. One example involves the incorporated Galena City School District, which proposed a $36.5 million major renovation project. The proposal includes the removal of hazardous materials and major upgrades to outdated critical systems like heating and ventilation. plumbing and electricity. In its first year on the state’s list. Galena was ranked second for funding priority—above several other projects in rural school districts that have waited several years and. in some cases. decades for approval. Lawmakers reduced the amount of money going to Galena in order to deliver money to a larger overall number of projects.

Separately, lawmakers have been acting to respond to rising heating fuel costs. Fuel is delivered by barge or air during ice and snow-free months to districts that are not accessible by road. State Sen. Löki Tobin. a Democrat from Anchorage who chairs the Senate Education Committee. led an effort to create a one-time grant program to help defray those energy costs after being approached by Aguillard about the issue. Tobin said. “It’s hard to argue against keeping the facilities warm and the lights on. ” while acknowledging the program would only “scratches the surface.”.

Tobin also described the political reality driving tough choices in the state: “There’s so many competing priorities in our state,” she said. “I think we’re all kind of competing for scraps of a pie.”

Three days before the session was set to end. Alaska’s Senate voted to make Tobin’s program permanent beginning in 2028. Dunleavy has until early June to sign the budget lawmakers sent to his desk. According to Tobin, there is no indication this year that he won’t sign off. In his eight years as governor. Dunleavy has acknowledged the budget shortfall but has used his veto power to cut state investment in public school infrastructure.

The budget decision now turns on timing and signature—yet the human stakes are tied to what’s missing. Even with more than $148 million on the table for 2027. school districts are still asking for repairs that dwarf what the state can fund in a single year. leaving many buildings in limbo: safer than before. but not yet safe enough.

Alaska schools school infrastructure education budget Mike Dunleavy Senate Finance Committee Deena Bishop Lyman Hoffman Madeline Aguillard Kuspuk School District Sleetmute school Jack Egnaty Sr. School heating fuel grant Löki Tobin