Alaska districts must count migratory children by Nov. 15 or lose funding for them

Alaska school districts have until Nov. 15 to certify or recertify eligible migratory children in the state's MIS2000 database, the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development said Wednesday.

Children who are not recertified by the deadline stay eligible for services and free meals, but their district gets no funding for them, according to the department's 2026-2027 MIS2000 User Guide.

The money comes from Title I-C, the federal migrant education program. It pays for services to children whose families move for seasonal or temporary fishing or farm work. In the 2024-25 school year, 39 of Alaska's 53 school districts received Title I-C funds.

Alaska identified 15,072 migratory children that year, and 11,957 received program-funded services, according to a March report to the state Board of Education.