State capital budget sends $24.3 million to Mt. Edgecumbe for dorms and dining hall

The state capital budget, signed into law June 24, sends $24.3 million to Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka across seven line items. The largest is $10.2 million to renovate the dining hall and kitchen at the state-run boarding school. None of the seven items was vetoed.

The budget lists $5.2 million for student housing upgrades and $5.1 million to replace the main academic building's exterior. It sets aside $3.1 million for windows in the boys' dorm and main girls' dorm. Dormitory furniture gets $468,000, campus-wide laundry machines $125,000 and mattresses $50,000.

Most of the money goes to the campus where students live, many of them from rural communities across Alaska. The school reported 388 students as of October 2025, down from 422 in fiscal year 2024, according to a report to the State Board of Education.

The Senate's version of the budget included $14 million for the school. A House member carrying the bill on the floor May 13 said the House Finance Committee added $10.3 million, bringing the total to $24.3 million, according to the House floor meeting record. The Senate agreed to the House changes May 20 by a vote of 18 to 2.

Sen. Bert Stedman, whose district includes Sitka and who led the capital budget, said at an April 22 Senate Majority press conference that the money aimed "to try to get that facility in, in a more livable condition for the kids." Building work would take time, he said, but "the furniture and washing machines and things like that are a lot quicker to install."

In a June quarterly standing report, Superintendent David Langford wrote that the campus "includes buildings dating back to World War II." Like many public campuses across Alaska, he wrote, deferred maintenance has created challenges. About $15 million had gone into critical infrastructure over the past eight years, the report said.

A student survey with 186 responses, posted for the school's improvement ad hoc committee, raised concerns about dorm maintenance, including laundry equipment and showers, and about food quality.

An Alaska Department of Education and Early Development presentation listed window replacements and academic-building exterior and roofing work among other high-priority projects.

Alaska News reported Oct. 16 that a state review of the school ended with 22 recommendations to the State Board of Education, from dorm rules to calling parents.