41.3 million for Alaska Native education is freed up after a month's delay

Fifteen Alaska organizations will share $41.3 million in Alaska Native Education Program grants that were due July 1 and then sat unreleased for about a month. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Education obligated the money, enough to fully fund all 2024 and 2025 ANEP grantees.

The 26 grants reach from the Bering Strait School District to Ilisagvik College to the Native Village of Napakiak. Sealaska Heritage Institute holds seven of them, more than $16 million, and Cook Inlet Tribal Council holds three, with the rest split among school districts, tribes and foundations across the state.

The delay carried real risk. ANEP pays out year by year, so when an annual obligation is late, tribal organizations and school districts can face interruptions to staffing and to programs like language revitalization, culturally based curriculum and academic support. Grantees awarded in 2024 are now getting the third and final year of their grants; those awarded in 2025 get their second.

Murkowski credited the release to a direct conversation with Education Secretary Linda McMahon. "Last week, I raised this issue with Secretary McMahon, and I'm pleased she agreed to expedite the obligation of the funds," she said, adding she'll work with the department to see the money administered "more expeditiously going forward." The announcement included no statement from McMahon or the department explaining the delay, or saying when grantees can actually draw on the money.

ANEP funds culturally relevant curriculum, tutoring, Indigenous language revitalization, teacher training and early childhood and afterschool programs. Alaska News has covered a bipartisan bill led by Murkowski that would block relocating the Office of Indian Education, which administers the program.