Alaska boosts school repair funding, but backlog remains vast

North Slope school buildings that double as community shelters may get some relief from Alaska’s latest repair budget, but the dollars still fall far short of the backlog facing rural districts that rely on them.

The Alaska Legislature approved more than $148 million for school construction and maintenance in fiscal year 2027, up from about $40 million for fiscal year 2026. The new funding still awaits Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s signature, and Alaska Public Media said it would cover only about 13% of what school districts requested.

That gap matters in places like the North Slope Borough School District, where deferred maintenance can affect heating systems, roofs, water and sewer lines, and the daily ability of schools to stay open safely. The district is among the rural systems pressing lawmakers for help, and board member Frieda Nageak carried that message to Juneau on Feb. 9, 2026, during the Association of Alaska School Boards’ annual fly-in.

The stakes go beyond classrooms. ProPublica reported that in hundreds of Alaska communities, public schools are often the safest buildings available during disasters, but some of those same buildings have become unsafe because of decades of neglect. In rural Alaska, where schools can be among the few substantial structures in a village, a repair backlog is also a public-safety problem.

The new spending represents a sharp break from last year, when lawmakers approved $38 million for the major maintenance list but Dunleavy vetoed it down to about $12.8 million. Even now, the state’s repair needs remain much larger than the latest appropriation. The budget increase could fund more than 30 projects, but it would still leave many districts waiting.

That waiting list has been built over years. 2025 reporting by KYUK, ProPublica and NPR documented leaking roofs, broken water pipes, failing foundations and other building failures that can make ordinary school days difficult, and in some cases unsafe. ProPublica also reported that over the past 25 years, lawmakers ignored hundreds of requests from rural districts for repair funding, while the education department transferred ownership of 54 buildings to rural public school districts since 2003.

The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development uses capital improvement project priority lists to help the governor and legislature decide which school construction and maintenance projects get money. The process starts with an initial list on Nov. 5, followed by a reconsideration list in mid-December and a final list after appeals. For North Slope communities, that means schools with chronic problems still compete against a long statewide queue, even after the funding bump.