Anchorage School Board balks at a $2.8M curriculum buy members hadn't seen

The Anchorage School Board spent Tuesday deciding how to spend $11.6 million in new state money, but debate kept circling one item: a $2.8 million English language arts curriculum several members said they were seeing for the first time.

The budget revision would add 50.5 teaching positions — roughly $6.8 million to ease class-size bubbles — and fully fund a new grades 6-10 ELA curriculum to replace SpringBoard, which College Board is phasing out. Administrators recommended Savvas as the vendor after teacher surveys, field tests and public viewings. CFO Andy Ratliff offered an alternative: $625,000 for a pilot this year, with the rest spread across the 2028 and 2029 budget years.

Several members wanted to slow down. Rachel Blakeslee said the item caught her off guard. "I feel a little bit blindsided by it because it's a very large dollar amount that I think I'm seeing for the first time," she said. Paul McDonough objected to the venue, saying he'd have a hard time approving the curriculum at "a special meeting in the summer" when it felt like "predictable, foreseeable, regular business."

McDonough and Pat Higgins also pressed whether the budget line, curriculum adoption and vendor contract were separate actions; administrators confirmed the contract would still need its own vote.

Kelly Lessens said she would introduce an amendment at that evening's regular meeting to fund only the pilot and revisit the balance in the fall — freeing money, she said, for priorities like teachers and nurses.

More one-time state money, potentially up to $32.1 million, could arrive in the fall, but it hinges on oil-revenue projections the Revenue Commissioner won't set until late August. Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt closed with a warning. "We do have a looming $40 million structural shortfall for the next fiscal year," he said. "It's incredibly important that we're mindful that each recurring cost we add, such as a salary, will grow the shortfall."