Education
RSSAlaska News covers education policy, school funding, teacher programs, and student services across Alaska's public schools and universities.
AASB board recommends retiring its teacher-loan expansion resolution
Alaska's teacher loan program has not issued a new loan since 2018, and the Association of Alaska School Boards now recommends retiring its old resolution to expand it.
by Walter AlaskaNews2h ago1 min readAI
UAA students to train inside ANTHC facilities under new workforce partnership
UAA students will train at Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium facilities under a new partnership, routing graduates toward one of Alaska's largest employers.
by Melinda Communities.News12h ago2 min readAI
Alaska tells school kitchens cooking produce is safest Cyclospora step
Alaska school kitchens are told cooking produce to 158 degrees is the safest way to kill Cyclospora, as washing alone cannot remove the parasite amid a national surge in cases.
by Walter AlaskaNews3d ago2 min readAI
Alaska districts can use homeless-education funds for emergency motel rooms, federal guidance says
Alaska districts can now use federal homeless-education funds to pay for emergency motel rooms when shelter beds are unavailable, under new U.S. Department of Education guidance.
by Walter AlaskaNews2d ago2 min readAI
Mike Rowe helps mark a $250,000 gift to Seward's trade school
Mike Rowe showed up in Homer to help hand Seward's trade school a $250,000 Wells Fargo gift for scholarships and instructors.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min readAI
Sealaska Heritage publishes fifth graders' documentary on Walter Soboleff
Auke Bay Elementary students produced a documentary on Dr. Walter Soboleff. The film fills a gap in classroom history materials.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAI
State proposes five-year lease extension for Noatak school site at airport
Alaska is proposing a five-year lease extension for Noatak's school and fuel tank farm on airport land, even though the airport itself is scheduled to close once a replacement facility opens.
by Walter AlaskaNews5d ago1 min readAI
Sealaska Heritage concludes ninth annual education conference
Sealaska Heritage Institute concluded its ninth annual education conference in Juneau, drawing hundreds of educators from Alaska and beyond for sessions on culturally responsive teaching.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
41.3 million for Alaska Native education is freed up after a month's delay
Fifteen Alaska organizations will share $41.3 million in Native education grants that came a month late, freed up after Sen. Murkowski pressed the education secretary directly.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Alaska Has the Nation's Worst SNAP Error Rate — and a Bill Coming
Alaska has botched SNAP payments worse than any state three years running — and now a new law means the state may have to start paying Washington back for the mistakes.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min readAI
Alaska schools could face a choice between internet and teachers if a federal subsidy is cut
A federal review could cut E-Rate, the subsidy that sent $203.5M to Alaska schools and libraries last year — and school boards warn it's internet or teachers.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
An Anchorage board member proposes a one-year pause on school closures
An Anchorage School Board member proposed pausing school closures for a year, barring emergencies. The board hasn't voted, and a $40M shortfall remains.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Alaska will cover district travel to a school safety summit
Alaska will cover districts' travel to a September school safety summit in Anchorage — even as many face budget deficits and a staffing crisis.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Alaska Native-serving schools vie for $10 million in training money
Alaska Native-serving colleges and trade schools have until Aug. 24 to compete for up to $10 million in federal money to train skilled workers.
by Melinda Communities.News1w ago1 min readAI
Alaska's trade school in Seward can't turn out graduates fast enough
Alaska's vocational school in Seward made USA TODAY's national top-schools list again — and most of its students have jobs lined up before they even graduate.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min readAI
Kenai school board weighs AI classroom rules ahead of the school year
Kenai's school board is trying to write AI classroom rules firm enough to matter but loose enough to last, the same bind every district is in. They want them set by fall.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
A staffing gap at the state is delaying Alaska school-improvement grants against a hard deadline
Alaska's school-improvement grant approvals are stalled by staff vacancies at the state — with districts facing an Oct. 31 deadline to lock in their reimbursements.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Sealaska Heritage honors four Southeast educators at Juneau conference
Sealaska Heritage Institute awarded four Southeast Alaska educators for weaving Indigenous knowledge into classrooms at its annual conference in Juneau.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 1d ago2 min readAI
Alaska News Roundup: Gas pipeline tax fight, Point Thomson trade-off, and McNeil River access debate
This episode covers the week's major Alaska stories: a gas pipeline tax bill that added oil tax increases, the Point Thomson condensate trade-off for pipeline gas, Mount Edgecumbe enrollment crisis, and McNeil River bear sanctuary access proposals.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min readAI
Murkowski moves to shield the offices funding Alaska Native and special education
Murkowski is fighting to keep the offices funding Alaska Native and special education from being moved without tribal consultation. Her bill cleared committee.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
Anchorage School Board balks at a $2.8M curriculum buy members hadn't seen
Anchorage School Board members got handed a $2.8M curriculum bill at a summer meeting and basically said: first we're hearing of it.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A Dillingham campus wants to grow rural Alaska's scientists at home
A Dillingham campus won nearly $889,000 from the NSF to train STEM pros in place for rural Southwest Alaska — a "grow-your-own" model, though the grant runs just three years.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
Students get to fire the HAARP transmitter at UAF's summer school
An NSF grant funds UAF's HAARP summer school, where students actually get to run experiments on the Gakona array most people only know from conspiracy theories.
by Melinda Communities.News1w ago1 min readAI
A Nome teacher heads to Stanford to rethink how schools teach
A Nome reading teacher is off to Stanford for a Ph.D. — studying how Inuit knowledge and values can be built into what schools actually teach.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
State library, archives, and museum mark ten years in shared Juneau building
Alaska's State Library, Archives, and Museum building in Juneau marks ten years since opening in 2016 with a free family fair on June 27.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min readAI
Alaska's educator apprenticeship program wins permanent federal approval
Alaska keeps recruiting teachers who leave. A newly permanent apprenticeship flips that — training locals to become certified teachers without leaving home. It's grown from 5 to 96 in 18 months.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Alaska school meal reimbursements rise 3.5% for 2026-27 school year
Alaska school districts will receive $6.98 per free lunch starting July 1, a 24-cent increase tied to food inflation.
by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago1 min readAI
An oil spike filled Alaska's budget and hammered its schools — and the new budget sends some back
The oil spike that padded Alaska's budget also jacked up its schools' heating bills — so the budget hands some back. One-time money for a permanent problem.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Dunleavy vetoes nearly $90 million but leaves school funding intact
Gov. Dunleavy vetoed nearly $90 million from Alaska's budget, cutting increases for child care, Medicaid and local aid while leaving core school funding intact.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Who pays when the state underfunds school construction debt?
Alaska's cities want the state to stop shortchanging school-construction debt payments and stick locals with the bill. But it's a request, and the money's far from guaranteed.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
ASD projects $40M FY28 deficit — two months after voters rejected school bond and tax levy
Anchorage School District projects a $40 million deficit for fiscal year 2028 on top of $90 million in earlier cuts, after voters rejected a $12 million tax levy and $79 million bond in April.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readAI
Alaska Special Education Crisis: 200 Teaching Positions Unfilled Statewide
Education officials testified about a severe special education staffing crisis with 200 unfilled positions and a 14% increase in students with disabilities despite steady enrollment.
by Alaska Newsadded 4mo ago1 min readAIUtqiaġvik tribal college buys land for permanent campus
Iḷisaġvik College in Utqiaġvik has purchased land to build a permanent campus, marking the first concrete step toward construction for Alaska's only tribal college after years of planning.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readAI
The strange snow bug Alaska is spending $750K to understand
A wingless insect that walks on Alaska's winter snow is so rarely seen scientists don't know how many kinds exist — now a UAF researcher has $750K to sequence them and find out.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
Seven Western Alaska typhoon evacuees graduate from Anchorage schools
Seven students evacuated from Western Alaska villages after ex-Typhoon Halong in October 2025 graduated Monday from Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School after completing their senior year there.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min readAI
Alaska Senate passes bill for deaf and hard of hearing students
Alaska Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday requiring schools to better identify and support deaf and hard of hearing students, with no new state funding attached.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
ASD claims state funding bill comes too late
Anchorage School District says a potential $37 million state funding increase tied to an August 31 revenue determination arrives too late to hire teachers before the 2026-27 school year begins.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readAI
Kenai's $9.4M school-cost risk may never actually come due
A gas-tax bill could add up to $9.4 million a year to Kenai's school costs — but the Legislature's analyst says a sunset means none of it would ever be charged.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Alaska Senate passes special education funding and Palmer judge bills
Alaska Senate unanimously passed bill raising special education funding by 16 percent per student. • Senate also unanimously approved adding a fifth Superior Court judge in Palmer to cut case backlogs from 680 to 540 cases per judge.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska passed a federal check that keeps its school funding system intact
Alaska passed a federal school funding test. Translation: the state didn't have to come up with extra money it doesn't have.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
