Alaska districts face Sept. 30 deadline to spend federal education funds or forfeit them

Alaska school districts that have not spent down their 2025 federal education funds face a hard Sept. 30 deadline to use the money or lose it permanently, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development warned Wednesday.

Under federal law, Elementary and Secondary Education Act funds expire after 27 months. PY2025 funds hit that limit Sept. 30. DEED will send expiring-fund notifications to affected districts by mid-July. "Those districts will forfeit any amount not expended by September 30, 2026," Education Program Manager Courtney Preziosi stated in the notice. DEED issued carryover guidance June 3 explaining the mechanics: remaining funds must be encumbered by Sept. 30 and reimbursed by Dec. 31, with districts requesting reimbursement for applicable fourth-quarter and first-quarter expenses.

Districts that receive a notification must expend the listed amounts and request reimbursement before the deadline. Any amount not expended by Sept. 30 will be forfeited.

The deadline arrives as districts face broader budget pressure. Anchorage School District is carrying a $90 million structural deficit for the 2026-27 school year. District officials have said one-time or expiring funds do not solve long-term underfunding and can worsen fiscal instability when they disappear. The Sept. 30 deadline adds urgency to a funding environment that ASD Superintendent Jarrett Bryant described in June as a "reactive posture" driven by late-arriving state and federal dollars.