Alaska's disabilities council seeks feedback after writing a plan to guide it through 2031

The Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education is asking stakeholders how well it is doing its job in a survey that closes Nov. 13 at 5 pm, as the council closes out one five-year plan and turns to a new one that runs through 2031.

The council is Alaska's state council on developmental disabilities, an advocacy and advisory board whose members the governor appoints. It does not provide direct services. It also serves as the state's special education advisory panel, its coordinating council for infant and toddler early intervention, the governing board of the Special Education Service Agency and an advisory board to the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. "Most other states divide these duties and have separate boards, but not Alaska," council chair Sabrina Richmond wrote in the council's 2025 annual report.

The council approved the new plan's main goal and six objectives in May after a public comment survey drew 84 responses, according to draft minutes of that meeting. The largest share came from parents and family members of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and more than 20% of respondents said they were on a waitlist for services.

Chelsea Burke, who had been chosen to succeed Executive Director Patrick Reinhart, told members the plan's language was intentionally broad to allow flexibility, with committees writing detailed work plans. When member Scott Lindbloom asked for more mental health support in the plan, Reinhart said the broad goal and objectives didn't preclude that work.

The council submitted the plan in August "after nearly two years of planning," Burke, now executive director, wrote in an Aug. 25 update. She said the council hoped for approval, or contingent approval, by the end of September.

The council receives $524,000 from the federal Administration for Community Living as the state's developmental disabilities council, staff told members in May. Reinhart wrote in the annual report that shifts in the federal administration and the council's funding sources in 2025 left it "questioning whether our Council and our federal developmental disabilities partners would even survive," though it kept its funding levels.