Anchorage Assembly members question plan to elect School Board by district

Chugiak-Eagle River Assembly Member Donald Handeland presented a charter amendment at an Anchorage Assembly work session Thursday that would elect six of the city's seven School Board members by Assembly district instead of citywide. If at least eight of the Assembly's 12 members approve sending it to the ballot, voters would decide April 6, 2027.

Two Assembly members and a School Board member questioned whether the change is needed. The Assembly has scheduled public testimony for Nov. 4.

The ordinance gives each of the six Assembly districts its own member, keeping one at-large seat on mayoral-year ballots. Current members would finish their terms. Handeland's memorandum projects district seats phasing in from 2028 through 2030.

The idea is not new. A charter amendment on the 1988 ballot would have made the board 11 members elected from Assembly districts.

Handeland said the current system offers no guarantee of geographic balance. Over the past decade, 21 of 26 seats, 81 percent, went to residents of three districts, according to his memorandum, which uses current Assembly district boundaries and counts reelections separately. It names the Midtown, East Anchorage and South Anchorage districts. It says the West Anchorage district has gone about 10 years combined without a resident on the board since 2006, including every year since 2021. District seats would represent an average of about 48,200 residents.

Citywide races, he added, are hard for candidates with jobs and families. "It makes it virtually impossible to try to do that for school board," he said. "So in my view, I think having the smaller electorate removes that time and resources needed to reach voters."

School Board Member Kelly Lessens, speaking for herself, said the board's primary focus is ensuring all students get the education they need. "School board member service was written into the Anchorage Municipal Charter intentionally," she said. "We must budget for the district as a whole." Members already rotate annually through seven geographic regions, attending those schools and community council meetings, she said. She estimated 35 to 40 percent of students attend school outside their neighborhood, and cited an earlier review of Eagle River Elementary enrollment, in the sponsor's district, saying 40 percent of students zoned for that school attended one of 22 other schools.

East Anchorage Assembly Member Yarrow Silvers said the school board chair holds more power to set the agenda than the Assembly chair. Handeland said he had not looked into that. "I, as a parent of kids in the Anchorage School District, would only have 2 members making decisions for my kids that are directly responsible or accountable to me," she said.

East Anchorage Assembly Member George Martinez asked whether any part of town had shown "demonstrable unrepresentation or underfunding or inequities." Handeland said he had not studied board votes or outcomes, did not know why the charter's framers chose citywide seats, and called the charter a living document.

The work session's chair said members can request Assembly Counsel research into the Charter Commission record before the hearing.