The Alaska House of Representatives voted to boost education spending last week, bringing a balanced budget one step closer to reality for the Unalaska City School District. But school officials are keeping the district’s belt tight until a permanent increase in the base student allocation, or BSA, becomes law.
After days of debate and dozens of amendments considered, House Bill 69 moves to the Senate for further discussion. The bill in its current form would add $1,000 to basic per-student state funding and set aside grant money for reading programs. It would also establish a legislative task force on education and require school districts to lay out cell phone use policies, among other initiatives.
Unalaska City School District Superintendent Kim Hanisch confirmed that if the $1,000 per-student increase becomes law, it would balance the district’s budget at status quo for the next fiscal year.
“It’s not a full win,” Hansich said, “but better than much else.”
After the 24 to 16 vote in favor of HB69, House Speaker Bryce Edgmon said Unalaskans have reasons to be optimistic.
“It was a good day for public education,” Edgmon told KUCB. “I hope folks in Unalaska are encouraged by what happened today, and we’re going to continue pushing it.”
The proposed $1,000 increase is less than lawmakers originally considered, and is the minimum amount the Unalaska school district would need to avoid cutting services. Without that increase to the BSA, the district anticipates a roughly $1 million budget shortfall next fiscal year. In February, district officials built their current proposed budget with only a $450 BSA increase in mind.
Hanisch said if more money flowed into the district, it would give Unalaska schools freedom to make revisions within the budget without redoing it entirely.
“If we got more money,” Hansich said, “we can unfreeze a lot of the reductions that we’re making, as well as put money back into restricted funds.”
Unalaska school officials have been advocating for an increase in the BSA for years. The BSA hasn’t changed significantly in almost a decade, and Unalaska schools are facing the possibility of reducing services as inflation amplifies the effects of flat funding.
At a March 6 town hall, Unalaskans voiced concerns about increased class sizes, cuts to special education resources and diminished morale. Unalaska school administrators have to finalize their budget and submit it to the city by April 1. The school district meets Wednesday evening for a second reading of the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.
HB69 is subject to change as the Senate considers it. Gov. Mike Dunleavy would then need to sign it into law for any new policies to go into effect, and he hasn’t yet said if he will.
