Assembly Approves ASD 2026-2027 Budget

During tonight's Regular Assembly Meeting, the Anchorage Assembly approved (7-5) AO 2026-21(S) to approve the total amount of the Anchorage School District 2026-2027 operating budget and set the total local contribution of property taxes and other local sources to fund the school district. As approved, the substitute (S) version establishes a contingency for the budget to increase if voters approve Proposition 9, a one-time $11.8 million special tax levy dedicated to fund district operating expenses.

"This budget is ultimately a tax appropriation and authorization action," said Assembly Vice Chair Anna Brawley as the debate began. "It does not address line items in the budget, it doesn't direct where the money should be spent or should not be sent, and it does not add policy directives, which are the purview of the school board."

"As was previously discussed at our joint meeting last Friday… We do have the responsibility for setting the tax levy and levying the taxes," said Assembly Chair Christopher Constant. "Our options, according to the Charter, are very limited."

Anchorage Municipal Charter Section 6.05 and Anchorage Municipal Code (AMC) 6.10.080 establish the Anchorage Assembly's responsibility to approve the Anchorage School District budget. Charter Section 6.05.c) states:

The assembly shall approve the budget of the school district as amended and appropriate the necessary funds . . . If the assembly fails to approve the school district budget and make the necessary appropriation within the time stated, the budget proposal shall become the budget and appropriation for the fiscal year of the school district without further assembly action.

Assembly Member Erin Baldwin Day, who represents District 4, Midtown Anchorage, was one of five members who voted against approval. "I cannot in good conscience support a budget that does what we're doing here," she said, speaking to the School District's proposal to close Campbell STEM Elementary among other cuts to absorb a $90 million shortfall. "Not because I don't support public education, and educators, and teachers, and administrators who do the thankless work that you have done. I can get behind pretty much everything that's in this [proposal] book. But I'm really struggling with the decision to mortgage an extraordinarily well-built program for $2.2 million in one-time funding."

Vice Chair Brawley later added: "This is one of the hardest votes that I remember taking up here, and unfortunately I don't think it's going to be the hardest vote that we're going to take. We will have hard votes like this because our state has a problem, our community has a problem, and that is we need to make changes to sustain ourselves in the long term. . . Until we make structural changes, none of this will change and this pain will continue. I don't relish saying that, but it is true and we have to look truth in the face."

Following the meeting, Anchorage School Board Chair Carl Jacobs said: "We are grateful for the Assembly's approval of our FY27 budget and recognize the difficult decision before them. This budget reflects historic and painful cuts caused by chronic underinvestment from leaders in Juneau, and we know the impact will be felt deeply by students, staff, and families across our community. The School Board remains committed to using every dollar to support student achievement, while working with our community to address this financial crisis."

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Erin Baldwin Day, Assembly Member
District 4, Midtown Anchorage
[email protected]

Christopher Constant, Assembly Chair
District 1, North Anchorage
[email protected]

Anna Brawley, Assembly Vice Chair
District 3, West Anchorage
[email protected] ​

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