The U.S. Department of Education is releasing nearly $17.5 million in COVID-19 relief funds for the state of Alaska after resolving a dispute with the state’s education department about how relief funds were distributed.
Earlier this year, federal officials told the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development that the state had failed to comply with a “maintenance of equity” provision of the final COVID relief bill, the American Rescue Plan Act. Essentially, the federal government said that the state had disproportionately cut funding for its highest-need school districts, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula and Juneau. The federal government designated the state a “high-risk” grantee and withheld some $17.5 million in remaining funds.
State officials have contested the dispute every step of the way, saying any funding reductions were a result of declining enrollment rather than an out-and-out cut.
Lawmakers included $11.9 million in the state’s budget this year to partially resolve the issue, but Dunleavy vetoed the funding, saying it was not clear if it would be needed.
In a letter dated Friday, the federal Department of Education told state officials that one-time school funding boosts included in the last two state budgets more than offset the alleged funding cuts in two prior years, and that the matter had been closed.
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In a prepared statement, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the federal government’s allegations were “meritless” and “a tremendous waste of time and resources.”
“On the bright side, this saga is a wonderful case study of the U.S. Department of Education’s abuse of power and serves as further evidence for why I support the concept of eliminating it,” Dunleavy said.
In a release announcing the news, state officials said the heart of the dispute was the state education department’s “hold harmless” provision. That spreads out school funding cuts due to declining enrollment over several years.
A policy advisor with the National Conference of State Legislatures told state lawmakers earlier this year that a wide range of states had initially failed to comply with the maintenance of equity requirement. Until Friday, Alaska was the only state that remained out of compliance.
This story was originally published by Alaska Public Media reporter Eric Stone.
Cover photo credit: Anchorage school buses are parked next to each other at the ASD Transportation Center on Aug. 2, 2023. (Tim Rockey / Alaska Public Media)