The seven school districts of the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta vary as much in size as they do in the challenges they face delivering education far off the road system.
Some of these challenges are related to aging infrastructure and tens of millions of dollars in projects languishing on the state’s major maintenance list. But the more immediate concern is the funding needed for the 2025-2026 school year, money that has been the subject of a tug of war between the Alaska Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
School districts must submit their final operating budgets to the state by July 15. That’s before they find out how much money they’re actually getting from the state, which will depend on the results of an Aug. 2 special legislative session called by the governor.
Lawmakers could vote to override Dunleavy’s line-item veto of $50.6 million in education funding, equivalent to shaving $200 off the state’s per-student funding formula. If they fail, education funding will face a significant decrease from last year’s one-time funding boost.
Despite all the uncertainty, some districts in the Y-K Delta say that they have managed to balance their budgets. For other districts, failure by the Alaska Legislature to restore the permanent $700 per-student funding increase would push them deeper into the red.
The Yupiit School District – three schools spread across the lower Kuskokwim River communities of Akiachak, Akiak, and Tuluksak – faces a deficit of $1.2 million with the governor’s veto. Superintendent Scott Ballard said that this is the first time during his four-year tenure that the district will need to dip into emergency reserves to cover operating costs. He said that the district was already scraping by under last year’s one-time $680 per-student funding boost.
"We got by this current year. We struggled, we've cut positions, we've cut back in every way we can," Ballard said.
Ballard is also filling in as the district’s maintenance director. He said that repairs not covered by the state’s major maintenance budget, alongside exorbitant costs of powering schools and keeping students fed, have strained funds. But he said that he's committed to finding ways to protect programs that benefit students, including sports.
"How do we make sure that our students are traveling as much as possible by boat during the fall time, when they have ball games to other villages, so that we don't have to pay the airlines? And in the wintertime, can they attend sporting events on the river by truck if the river's safe?" Ballard asked.
Just downriver, the sprawling Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD), with 27 schools across 22 communities, stands to lose significantly more in state funding. But Superintendent Andrew “Hannibal” Anderson said by email that the district was able to balance its roughly $88 million operating budget without significant cuts to staff or services, and without assuming any increase to per-student funding.
Nevertheless, Anderson said that the district is closely following the delayed release of federal grant funding through the United States Department of Education, which he said could significantly impact the district.
LKSD isn’t the only district reporting a balanced budget. The single-school Kashunamiut School District serving the coastal community of Chevak previously told KYUK that it was at risk of losing as many as 11 positions without any increase in funding. But in early July, Superintendent Jeanne Campbell said by email that the district would be fully staffed this year and was not facing a deficit.
The Iditarod Area School District – seven schools located far up the Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers, straddling the state’s Interior – is also in the green. Superintendent John Bruce said that the district has the benefit of strong grant support, and was also able to balance its budget without counting on any funding increase. But he also said that the situation could be dire if cuts become necessary.
"We are a district of mostly two- and three-teacher sites. I have nothing left to cut. […] We're not at the position yet where we can afford to not rehire positions, because ultimately I can't put one teacher with, say, 20, 25 kids," Bruce said.
Unlike Bruce’s district, other Y-K Delta districts submitted budgets that factored in funding increases. At the single-school St. Mary’s City School District on the lower Yukon River, superintendent Troy Poage said by email that the district is facing a deficit well over $200,000, even if funding is restored. He said that the district was fiscally responsible over the past year in areas such as student activities, and that it is slowly adapting to the “changing times.”
The situation is significantly more dire for nine schools that lie along the middle Kuskokwim River and comprise the Kuspuk School District. Superintendent Madeline Aguillard said that the district is little more than $1.5 million in the red.
"Even if we were to eliminate every single classified staff position, every single support service in the district, we still would not be able to balance our budget," Aguillard said.
Aguillard said that the district has cut programs and services across the board while minimizing harm to its roughly 320 students. If staffing cuts become necessary, she said that remote learning presents its own challenges. "We can't afford to keep enough devices in students' hands to even offer online classes in some cases," she said.
Aguillard said that the state’s actions have sent a clear message.
"The combined actions of this [Base Student Allocation] veto and then the utter neglect of rural buildings, it's a deliberate strategic downsizing of rural and remote districts," Aguillard said.
At the Lower Yukon School District, the challenges facing rural and remote districts are hard to ignore. Superintendent John Hargis said that the 11-school district with roughly 2,000 students has a deficit of just over $6.3 million.
Hargis said by email that the district has taken drastic measures to right its finances, including reducing administrative staff, eliminating its wrestling program, and beginning to phase out its district office in Mountain Village. He said that the recent line-item veto of funding, a $1.5 million hit for the district, put a new science curriculum the district had developed on hold.
With their budgets finalized, school districts can only wait and see how the battle for education funding plays out this summer in the Alaska Legislature. In the end, a victory in the August special session would only bring funding back to a level districts say is a far cry from what is needed.
