Assemblyman Donald Handeland proposes district elections for Anchorage School Board

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Sept. 30, 2026 – Anchorage Assembly Member Donald Handeland is proposing a change to how residents elect the School Board: Six members would be elected by district, with one remaining elected areawide.

Handeland unveiled the proposed charter amendment Sept. 29. Under the plan, voters in each of Anchorage’s six Assembly districts would elect one School Board member who lives in that district. The seventh seat would remain at-large.

All seven School Board members currently are elected areawide. It’s a system that doesn’t allow for geographic representation for different parts of the municipality.

“Representation matters. No area of Anchorage should feel that it lacks a voice on the School Board,” Handeland said.

Under the existing system, he noted, nothing prevents all seven members from living in the same Assembly district, having children attend the same neighborhood school, or even residing on the same street.

His proposal would guarantee each district a resident member elected by its own voters, while retaining every member’s responsibility to serve the entire municipality.

The measure, AO 2026-130, is scheduled for introduction at the Oct. 6 Assembly meeting. If approved by the Assembly, it would place the proposed charter amendment before voters in the April 2027 regular municipal election.

According to Handeland’s announcement, each district-elected member would have a constituency of approximately 48,000 residents, compared with nearly 288,000 residents represented through the current areawide election system.

Handeland said smaller constituencies could give residents a more direct point of contact for concerns about their local schools. He also contends district races could make running for office more manageable for first-time candidates and community members by reducing the number of voters they need to reach.

The proposal would retain the seven-member board and would not change the terms of current members or those elected in April 2027.

An Assembly worksession on the proposal is scheduled for Oct. 8, at 10:30 am in City Hall Conference Room 155. The discussion will be livestreamed on YouTube, with materials available at muni.org/worksessions.

The leftist-dominated Anchorage Assembly may not move the proposal forward because right now, the system gives Democrats more control of the schools.

A public hearing may be held Nov. 4, at the Loussac Library Assembly Chambers on 36th and Denali in midtown.

Residents may submit written testimony or register to testify by phone at ancgov.info/testify. Comments also may be emailed to assembly@anchorageak.gov.