ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Anchorage School Board approved the budget for the 2025-2026 school year Tuesday night, including several major cuts, as the district faces a deficit of over $100 million.

“In trying to choose these cuts, you try to figure out what will do the least damage to the smallest number of students,” School Board President Andy Holleman said. “At some point, we have to skinny the program down to where there’s not anything you can do other than erase it.”

The cuts include:

• All middle school sports
• High school hockey, gymnastics, and swim and dive programs
• Language immersion (about 3,000 enrolled students)
• IGNITE Elementary gifted program (4,500 enrolled students)
• Hundreds of staff positions

Some full-time positions, including elementary school nurses and librarians, will be downgraded to half-time. Many staff positions, such as elementary school vice-principals and security personnel, will be eliminated entirely. Class sizes are also expected to increase across all grade levels.

Holleman called the future of the district “bleak”, explaining budget cuts are a result of a lack of state funding.

“The key right now would be to get the state to do their part at a very reasonable level and maintain that,” he said. “That’s the goal.”

The school board voted to restore the cuts if the Alaska Legislature approves House Bill 69 or another significant form of state funding.

If passed, HB 69 would increase education funding by raising the public school base student allocation by $1,000 in the coming fiscal year, and an additional $404 over the two following years.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has opposed the bill, instead proposing HB 76 and Senate Bill 82.

That legislation includes grants to districts per student — based on student’s demonstration of grade level reading proficiency, or marked improvement year over year — as well as additional funding for correspondence programs and career-technical education.

Holleman urges parents and staff worried about the district’s future to stay informed and express their concerns with legislators.

“It is, at this moment, a political battle,” he said. “Let them know how much this matters to you, that you will remember what they do.”

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