Alaska schools gain new felony reporting duties under raised age of consent

Conduct between a school employee 18 or older and a 16-year-old student that was not a crime in June is now a felony sex offense, and Alaska school districts must report it to law enforcement, notify the student's parents, and file a crime-of-violence report with the state. Attorney Clinton M. Campion set out those duties in a commentary published Aug. 25 for the Association of Alaska School Boards, naming a teacher's aide, a substitute teacher and a coach as examples.

The duties follow from House Bill 239, which became Chapter 9 of the 2026 session laws on June 18 and took effect July 1. It raised the age below which sexual conduct with an adult is criminal from 16 to 18. "Before July 1, 2026, it was generally lawful in Alaska for an adult to engage in sexual acts with a 16 or 17 year old," Campion wrote. "As of July 1, 2026, that employee would be committing a felony sex offense for the same conduct."

The bill was an omnibus crime package. The House passed it 39-0 with one member excused on April 1, the Senate passed it 20-0, and the House then concurred in the Senate's amendments 39-1, the only recorded no vote on the bill. Representative Chuck Kopp, the prime sponsor, told the Senate Finance Committee on May 11 that the accompanying statute changes recognize "we are now protecting children under the age of 18 rather than just children under the age of 16." Kopp's sponsor statement said the bill raises the threshold across more than 24 criminal provisions.

An adult commits an offense with a 16- or 17-year-old who is at least six years younger. Where the adult holds a position of authority, the gap narrows to two years and the student need only be under 18, under AS 11.41.434, first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, and a new provision reaches an adult at least three years older than a 16- or 17-year-old. The change does not apply between students unless there is a six-year age gap.

School employees who learn of such a relationship must report it to law enforcement under Alaska's mandatory reporting statute, Campion wrote, and students and staff could be interviewed and required to testify. Conduct on school grounds is treated as a violent crime, he wrote, giving parents the right to transfer the student to another school and requiring the district to report the incident to the state education department.

The law also expands two employment-related consequences for school staff, broadening the grounds for mandatory lifetime revocation of a teaching certificate and expanding the offenses that bar issuance of a school bus driver license.

Twenty-two fiscal notes were filed on the bill, by the judiciary, public safety, administration, law and corrections departments. The Department of Education and Early Development filed none.

"It is unclear how Alaska's law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Law, will enforce the change in the age of consent," Campion wrote. He told districts to update reporting and notification policies, student handbooks and staff training. The commentary is the only account here, containing no response from the education department, the Department of Law, or any district.