By SUZANNE DOWNING
April 18, 2026 – Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance is leading a coalition of 24 Alaska mayors urging state lawmakers to boost education funding again this session, warning of a “fiscal crisis” in public schools even after last year’s historic increase to the Base Student Allocation.
This comes just as Anchorage voters turned down two school funding measures — a bond and a special one-time property tax — during the April 7 local election.
In a joint letter sent to legislators, the group—representing communities from Anchorage to rural villages—called for what they describe as a meaningful inflation adjustment to the BSA, along with additional funding for school maintenance and operations.
The appeal comes just one year after the Alaska Legislature approved a record-setting $700 per-student increase, the largest in state history, and moved to lock that increase into the funding formula. Despite that, the mayors argue districts remain under mounting financial pressure.
“Public education is foundational to Alaska’s economic future and the strength of our communities,” the mayors wrote. “Continued erosion of school funding weakens our competitiveness, discourages families and employers, and undermines the stability of our communities.”
But apparently, Anchorage voters are not buying what the mayors are selling.
The letter, spearheaded by LaFrance, contends that rising costs for energy, transportation, healthcare, and facility maintenance have outpaced state support, leaving districts with structural deficits. It points to school closures, larger class sizes, and cuts to career and technical education programs as evidence of strain.
The coalition’s argument omits several countervailing trends. While districts cite rising costs, enrollment in many parts of Alaska has been declining in recent years, reducing overall student counts. At the same time, state education funding has been supplemented repeatedly with one-time increases before last year’s permanent boost to the formula.
The mayors also raise concerns about the growing burden on local taxpayers, noting that required local contributions rise with assessed property values. According to the letter, that dynamic can offset state contributions, leaving districts without a net funding gain even as local taxes increase.
“As mayors, we see firsthand how the stability of our communities is tied to the strength of our schools,” LaFrance said. “This is about giving Alaska families a reason to stay here and build their lives.”
The coalition stops short of proposing how additional funding should be paid for, a question that remains central to the Legislature’s ongoing budget debate. Any substantial increase to the BSA would likely require either new revenue, reduced spending elsewhere, or further draws on state reserves.
Notably absent from the letter are several major municipalities and regions, including Juneau, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Kenai Peninsula communities of Soldotna and Homer, and Southeast cities such as Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Petersburg.
The letter also contained a small but conspicuous error: the Anchorage mayor’s first name was misspelled as “Susane” in the signature block.
The mayors’ push sets up another clash in Juneau over education spending, where lawmakers have struggled for years to balance calls for increased school funding with Alaska’s volatile revenue picture. With competing priorities—including infrastructure, energy development, and dividend payments—any additional education funding will have to be weighed against a finite pool of state resources.
For now, the coalition’s message is clear: Despite last year’s record-setting increase, they want more—and soon.
13 thoughts on “Despite voters telling her no, Anchorage mayor leads coalition pressing Legislature for more school cash”
A narrow defeat doesn’t equate that it won and that most voters want it
Mayor Lafrance is saying that the second place winner came in close enough to share the first place with the first place finisher
Whether or not Alaska leaders like cutting budget, it has to be done and ASD one day will be restructuring itself the continual if closing schools, eliminating programs, decreasing buses needed. Everything. I suggest do it NOW instead of waiting later which would be like stringing the poor people along like an inconsiderate boyfriend promising his girlfriend a ring and then dumping her after five years of promises. Just do it now and get if over with and live a new life with a smaller budget. Then the AsD employees can plan what to do with the rest of their lives.
Tell that to the ding-a-lings who use that very same argument against repeal of Ranked Choice Voting. It lost by 764 votes. Resounding? No.
No, most voters don’t want it. If they wanted it, it would have passed!. And no second place isn’t a winner. But then again that’s liberals think.
Suzzy + the other 24 might want to consider how best to utilize AI Technology to bring about efficiencies and savings applied to education so as to result in better outcomes and performance. Until that occurs, why continue to throw good money after poor results?
the left has no concept of ” enough” , when it comes to the amount of Other People’s Money(OPM) they steal just as they never answer what constitutes a ” fair share” when it comes to taxation. To them ” fair Share ” means ” everything have or could potentially earn”
The ONLY solution for ASD’s insatiable appetite for more money is to buy them a printing press and let them print their own.
This is what happens when we elect people who have no concept of anything other than taking money from taxpayers. There’s other ways of raising money….selling land, i.e. When Mayor LaFrance and her administration are very narrow minded.
Both my children have done well enough to allow them to pull my grandchildren out of Anchorage public schools and put them in private schools due to what and how they were being taught. When there is less than zero return on investment more investment is not the answer.
I think somebody needs to hire a qualified (not elected by school district)responsible qualified person (an upright honest lawyer!!)to check where the money is going.. I mean check all…All monies everywhere within the school district to locate the missing $$$ we’ve been handing over..somewhere, somebody has been lying through their teeth.
there are so many slush funds stocked in many places all over Anchorage that need to be counted also.
Wasn’t ” no means No!” A,liberal mantra not long ago
Well … I think we all need to get together and request a meeting with our mayor to discuss her disrespect for us voters!
In truth, however, we know LaFrance and her cabal will never allow this. I have been asking for ten months for a meeting with her and/or her municipal manager because my attempts at resolving my concerns at a “lower level” have been completely unproductive. The next step up the “chain of command” is with Suzanne or Becky, right? I have not been informed by either woman that she/they will not meet with me to discuss the continuing major problems I have experienced within the municipality. But neither have I been given an appointment.
Do these women and the rest of the “municipal leadership staff” work for us? Or do we work for them with no recourse? It seems the mayor and her minions expect us to accept the extreme disrespect they heap on most of us nearly daily, I am sick of this!