From Alaska Beacon: Rural schools, mostly in Southeast Alaska, are facing a major funding shortfall this year after the U.S. House of Representatives failed to reauthorize a bill aimed at funding communities alongside national forests and lands.

Here's another chart showing how K12 funding has kept up with inflation. The black line in the middle is inflation; if you're on it, then you're keeping up.

Alaska lags in each of the three time spans covered.

"Which indicates its spending increases didn't keep up with inflation."

Berman adds that the state is underfunding its school construction and other capital spending, which has also put pressure on the rest of the educational system.

ISER Study: "Alaska's teacher salaries are not competitive."

When you factor in Alaska's living costs, DeFeo says the state's teacher salaries are about 25% below the national average, equating to about $16,600 in annual wage difference.

The state is also playing a proportionally smaller role in funding schools than in 2017, DeFeo says.

The takeaway from the reporting is not just that Alaska stacks up worse to the Lower 48 when accounting in the costs of living, but the funding has also trended down over the last eight years.

2% below the average in 2017.

15% below the average in 2022.

So here's how they reach the 15% below the national average figure.

The raw dollars are in yellow, gray is adjusted for in-Alaska price differences, and green is adjusted for the higher cost of living in Alaska to the Lower 48.

In raw dollars, the figure that Dunleavy and a lot of his allies rely on to argue against funding schools, Alaska is high on the list. Probably 10th in raw dollars across the country (two states moved ahead of Alaska in the latest benchmark).

DeFeo starts out by noting that factoring in the geographic costs, Alaska funds its K12 schools at 15% below the national average.

Basically, that the state's funding of K12 schools isn't keeping up with federal and local sources, leaving total funding lagging behind inflation.

Senate Education is underway. They have a hearing today on K12 funding by the Institute of Social and Economic Research.

📺: www.ktoo.org/video/gavel/...
📄: www.akleg.gov/basis/Meetin...

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