Mat-Su Assembly reverses vote, drops request for school to start after Labor Day

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly voted 1-6 Tuesday to reject a request it had approved two weeks earlier, asking the school board to start classes the day after Labor Day beginning in 2027.

The request was nonbinding. The school board sets the calendar, and classes currently start in August. The 2026-27 calendar is unchanged.

Stephanie Nowers, McKee, Gamble and Dmitri Fonov voted yes on Oct. 6 and no Tuesday. Maxwell Sumner and Bernier opposed the measure both times. Sponsor Michael Bowles cast the lone yes vote.

The resolution cited teen workers on family farms, farm stands and tourism businesses; FFA, 4-H and livestock students at the Alaska State Fair; August personal-use and subsistence fishing and hunting; and school bus drivers who work in tourism from Memorial Day until Labor Day.

Fonov filed notice to reconsider the night of Oct. 6, saying the Assembly should hear from parents, teachers and others and discuss the issue jointly with the school board. On Tuesday, Fonov called the resolution "not a discussion starter" but a demand letter. "Knowing that we control funds, I could see that could be as intimidation," Fonov said. Saying "I'm not in or against it," Fonov asked to send the question to a Dec. 8 joint meeting with the school board.

Bowles said the resolution grew from work with a school board member and from residents' concerns about bus cancellations, and that it was a request, not a decision. "This isn't a demand letter. This isn't intimidation. This is a piece of paper with words on it," Bowles said. He argued against a joint meeting because the calendar is the school board's lane.

Sumner said the issue is outside the Assembly's job. Gamble agreed.

Earlier in the meeting, Deputy Superintendent Katie Gardner said about 75% of respondents to a 2022 district survey preferred the current August start and May end over a post-Labor Day start ending in June.

Gardner said the school board has asked administrators to plan a new survey. She cited the state testing window, collective bargaining agreements and family preferences on school breaks as factors, and said the district is open to discussing the start date at a joint meeting.

The Dec. 8 meeting is not yet on the borough's calendar.