Every number in Dunleavy's annual literacy proclamation has fallen since 2024

Every figure in the governor's annual adult literacy proclamation has gone down since 2024.

More than 39,000 Alaska adults lack a High School Equivalency Diploma, according to a proclamation Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed Sunday naming September 13-19, 2026, as Alaska Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. It says about 500 students a year earn that diploma through General Education Development testing, and that the state's 14 adult education programs serve more than 2,000 Alaskans a year.

Dunleavy's 2022 proclamation put the number of working-age adults without a diploma above 42,000, the same figure the 2021, 2023 and 2024 versions carried. The 2025 version listed more than 40,000 adults and more than 2,500 people served annually, and cut annual graduates from about 700 to 500 and programs from 15 to 14. A clause in the 2021 through 2024 proclamations, that more than 7,000 Alaska residents require English language instruction, was replaced in 2025 by thousands more seeking help with reading, numbers, digital and English language skills.

The document lists no funding change and no new program. The proclamation reflects only the governor's office.