Two closed Anchorage school buildings head back to municipal hands

Two shuttered Anchorage elementary schools, the old Abbott Loop building and Campbell STEM, are set to go back to the Municipality of Anchorage as surplus property, shifting decisions about what happens to them from the School Board to the Assembly.

The handoff traces to a rightsizing plan the board approved 4-3 in February, closing Fire Lake, Lake Otis and Campbell STEM at the end of this past school year to match building space to a shrinking student population. Fire Lake would go to a charter school and Lake Otis to Rilke Schule, the German immersion program. Once Rilke Schule moves into Lake Otis, its old Abbott Loop building comes free too. The district has declared Campbell STEM excess and plans to clean it for handoff next winter, and Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt has described talks with the mayor's office about returning several buildings together.

Abbott Loop won't go back right away, though. The district plans to demolish it first, using $4 million left from a fire-suppression bond, with demolition possible in spring 2027 if the board signs off in October.

The Assembly is stepping toward a role in all of it. Members Sydney Scout, Jared Goecker and Yarrow Silvers have filed a resolution asking the board for a joint committee, with equal voting power, on which schools close and what becomes of them. It's up for a first reading Sept. 15.

The pressure behind the closures isn't easing. The district projects budget shortfalls of at least $42 million in 2028 and $30 million in 2029. "The population of children in Anchorage won't be growing significantly anytime soon," board member Paul McDonough said last month, "so there will have to be a handoff of some number of schools in the future."

Campbell STEM's families fought the closure in court in the spring, arguing the district gave them about 11 days' notice. A judge briefly halted it before letting it proceed, and the two sides agreed in August to end the case.