JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature approved a fiscal year 2027 budget that allocates more than $148 million for public school construction and maintenance, more than triple the $40 million provided in fiscal year 2026. The budget now awaits signature by Governor Mike Dunleavy.

If signed, the $148 million would represent the largest investment in school infrastructure in more than a decade. The funding would support more than 30 projects but fulfill only about 13% of the $1.12 billion in infrastructure requests submitted by school districts for fiscal year 2027.

Years of underinvestment have left many Alaska public schools with leaking roofs, broken water pipes, and failing foundations. Some of the most severe conditions are in rural schools serving predominantly Indigenous students, which often double as emergency shelters. Reporting in 2024 by KYUK and NPR revealed a bat infestation and other health and safety hazards at the K-12 Jack Egnaty Sr. School in Sleetmute, part of the Kuspuk School District. An architect’s inspection in 2021 had already identified serious structural damage there, and the district first sought state funds for roof repairs in 2007.

Kuspuk School District Superintendent Madeline Aguillard said the 2024 news coverage “really lit a fire” in the state Legislature. “I do appreciate it, but the hole that the state is in is so deep and so big. It’s going to take a long time to hit that word ‘enough,’” she added.

Alaska Education Commissioner Deena Bishop acknowledged systemic flaws in the funding process. “There is, I would personally say, a flaw in the system, in the ranking that we are trying to fix,” she said during a March hearing. She also noted disparities in outcomes, stating, “Some are winners and some are losers.” Bishop emphasized that “the power of the purse is with the Legislature.”

State Sen. Lyman Hoffman supported the increased allocation, saying, “Even though the whole state is having a problem balancing its checkbook, at the top of the list is education.” Since 1998, the legislature has consistently funded only a fraction of districts’ construction and maintenance requests. In fiscal year 2026, it approved roughly 5% of nearly $800 million sought.

More than half of the projects selected for fiscal year 2027 funding are in urban districts that can access local tax revenue. Rural districts, which rely almost entirely on state funding, often lack the staff to navigate the application process or afford professional grant writers and building inspections. The Galena City School District’s $36.5 million renovation proposal was ranked second in its first year on the state list, ahead of rural projects that have waited decades.