Alaska
Alaska House debates amendments to education bill in marathon session
JUNEAU — The Alaska House is poised to take a final vote on a school funding bill later this week, after a marathon debate Monday on dozens of amendments to the proposal.
House Bill 69 would increase the state’s annual $1.2 billion education budget by more than $250 million per year. The measure is intended to compensate for almost a decade of virtually flat funding for Alaska’s public schools.
Members of the Democrat-dominated majority said HB 69 is intended as a compromise with Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who demanded that any education funding increase be paired with policy proposals meant to improve Alaska students’ math and reading scores, which are among the lowest in the nation. Last year, Dunleavy vetoed a sweeping education measure that did not contain his policy priorities.
Educators have long contended that Alaska schools are in crisis and that more funding would allow for reduced class sizes and improved teacher retention. But Republican lawmakers, including Dunleavy and House minority members, argue that funding alone will not improve students’ outcomes.
To improve outcomes — and appease Dunleavy — House majority members agreed to pair the funding increase with several new policy provisions, including financial incentives for reading improvement; a provision to make it easier for students to attend the public school of their choice, regardless of where they live; and a mechanism for charter schools to maintain their charter if they face being terminated by local school boards that oversee them — among other changes.
The House majority also agreed to reduce the planned funding increase for schools, as the state faces a tight fiscal outlook. Originally, Sitka independent Rep. Rebecca Himschoot had proposed increasing the $5,960 Base Student Allocation by $1,808, spread over three years. The bill also would have pegged the BSA to inflation, promising further increases if the cost of living goes up.
House majority members last week voted to amend the bill in committee to increase the BSA by $1,000, with no inflation-proofing provision. The bill also orders the creation of a task force to “analyze the state of public education funding.”
The original education bill was expected to cost well over $500 million per year. The amended measure was anticipated to cost roughly $275 million annually.
House Republicans prepared dozens of amendments for Monday’s floor session, but not all were introduced. Most amendments narrowly failed along caucus lines.
Anchorage GOP Rep. Mia Costello, the House minority leader, said after the floor session ended that there had been “vigorous debate,” and that hopefully more minority amendments would be approved.
“However, there still is concern over the size of the BSA and the affordability of it, and so I think that’s going to be the major sticking point,” she said about the bill in general.
The minority sought a $75 million funding boost for homeschooled students; proposals to expand or support charter schools; and additional reporting requirements for school district spending — among other proposals.
Wasilla Republican Rep. Cathy Tilton said school choice must be supported, “So that all students in Alaska have the education that they deserve.”
In response, Juneau Democrat Rep. Andi Story said that “when we raise the Base Student Allocation, the intent is we raise it for all of the kids.”
House majority members said the Republican charter school proposals prioritized those students over those in neighborhood schools, and that the added reporting requirements were redundant.
The Legislature is facing a $536 million deficit over two fiscal years based on legislators approving the same $175 million school funding boost as last year. Lawmakers have broadly questioned the affordability of HB 69.
Leading members of the bipartisan Senate majority have favored a smaller school funding increase — closer to the $680 BSA boost approved by lawmakers last year on a one-time basis.
Anchorage Democratic Rep. Andy Josephson on Monday said that the $1,000 BSA boost was the maximum amount the Legislature could afford this year to keep schools “afloat.”
House Republicans have asked how the education measure would be funded with diminishing oil revenue. In the Senate, majority members have proposed measures that would boost oil revenue. However, the closely divided House has not taken up revenue discussions this year.
Big Lake Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe on Monday said the majority’s original $1,808 BSA boost could see Permanent Fund dividends disappear. He suggested school administrators need to cut spending.
“Unacceptable. Our school districts need to do better,” he said.
Shortly after the House majority added the new policy provisions to the bill last week, Dunleavy signaled his support. In a social media post, Dunleavy said Friday that “there has been positive movement” on the education funding bill.
“Policies such as the literacy initiatives have been added, as well as positive movement on open enrollment. When the bill goes to the Senate, there is an opportunity to continue making improvements, both in cost and policy,” Dunleavy wrote.
“To me, it signifies that the negotiations are probably somewhere on the right track,” said Dillingham independent House Speaker Bryce Edgmon.
But the Republican House minority appeared less-than-thrilled during Monday’s floor session. Over more than seven hours of testy debate, Republicans prepared dozens of amendments — most were shot down by the bipartisan majority along caucus lines.
Dunleavy in February called for a small group of lawmakers to negotiate a consensus education agreement behind closed doors. The working group was composed of members from the House and Senate majorities and minorities.
Soldotna Republican Rep. Justin Ruffridge, a member of the education working group, said minority members met with the governor’s staff for a few days. But House Republicans had been shut out of negotiations since then, he said.
House Republicans on Monday unsuccessfully tried to strip out the policy provisions added by the majority — while trying to add their own.
Edgmon said last week that it was “categorically untrue” that the minority’s priorities were not reflected in the amended education bill.
Three minority amendments were adopted by the House. One would allow charter schools to appeal terminations by school boards; another would measure student performance over time, instead of with a single test; and a third stripped out non-binding language that emphasized the Alaska Constitution’s prohibition on creating a “voucher system” for education.
Amendment debates concluded shortly after 8:30 p.m. on Monday. More amendments are set to be heard Tuesday before the House is expected to hold a final vote on the education measure itself.
If approved by the House, HB 69 would then advance to the Senate for its consideration.
Sean Maguire reported from Juneau and Iris Samuels from Anchorage.
Officials with the University of Alaska have tapped the commander of the U.S. Army 11th Airborne Division’s Arctic Aviation Command as the new permanent chancellor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Col. Russell “Russ” Vander Lugt was selected from four finalists after an eight-month search process. He will be the top executive of Alaska’s leading research institution, which describes itself as “America’s Arctic university.” He will replace interim chancellor, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Arctic, Mike Sfraga, who succeeded former chancellor Dan White who announced his retirement in May of last year.
Vander Lugt is a senior U.S. Army officer, an Arctic scholar and UAF alumni, with over two decades of executive leadership experience, according to a university announcement on May 27. He has served as commander of the 11th Airborne Division’s Arctic Aviation Command at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks since Aug. 2024.
“I’m humbled to be selected to lead the University of Alaska Fairbanks during this pivotal time,” Vander Lugt said in a statement with the announcement.
“I look forward to leading through trust, transparency, and teamwork as we see Alaska and the Arctic transformed through education, research, and public service. I’m committed to building on the strong foundation Chancellors Sfraga and White have established, and working closely with university leadership and governance to support and advance UAF’s mission,” he said.
Vander Lugt will step into the permanent chancellor role on Sept. 8. Sfraga’s last day was Friday, and university officials have selected Larry Hinzman, director of the UA Arctic Leadership Initiative, to serve as interim chancellor through the summer.
Vander Lugt has had a long career with the U.S. Army in various roles in Alaska, where he is stationed in Fairbanks, and across the U.S. His resume lists deployments to Europe and the Middle East.
He served in executive leadership roles that include the Alaskan Command, a division of the U.S. Northern Command, the 601st Aviation Support Battalion, and the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat team. He also taught history and military leadership as an assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was a professor of military science and department chair at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.
He holds a master’s degree and doctoral degree in Arctic and Northern Studies, which he completed in 2022 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Vander Lugt’s hire is the latest in major leadership changes in the University of Alaska system — former UA President Pat Pitney retired last month and former university attorney Matt Cooper was named as her successor. Cooper will begin as university president in early August, and Michelle Rizk, vice president of university relations and chief strategy, planning and budget officer, is serving as interim president. Cheryl Siemers was appointed permanent chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage in March, after serving as interim chancellor since the retirement of former chancellor Sean Parnell last year.
Vander Lugt’s base salary will be $309,000, according to the university’s announcement.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks serves roughly 7,500 students. It employs more than 800 faculty and nearly 2,000 staff across urban and rural campuses in Fairbanks, Kotzebue, Nome, Bethel and Dillingham.
Originally published by the Alaska Beacon, an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government.
WHEREAS, on June 3, 1942, six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, World War II arrived in Alaska when Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island was bombed by Japanese – the first aerial attack by an enemy on the continental United States; and
WHEREAS, the Japanese pilots expected little resistance; but because of an intercepted message three weeks earlier, the installation was on high alert, and Navy and Marine personnel were prepared with anti-aircraft defenses; and
WHEREAS, encountering unexpected resistance at Dutch Harbor, installation, Japanese forces shifted their focus to the Margaret Bay Naval Barracks, where the attack claimed the lives of 25 servicemen; and
WHEREAS, following the initial attack on Dutch Harbor, Japanese forces launched additional assaults on Dutch Harbor, Adak, Kiska, and Attu, resulting in the Aleut people being evacuated and held in internment camps in Southeast Alaska for three years, through which many did not survive; and
WHEREAS, the brave soldiers of the United States Armed Forces and allied Canadian Forces fought valiantly for more than a year to reclaim the remaining Aleutian Islands. The battle of Attu stands as one of the most costly American assaults in the Pacific, with hundreds of servicemen making the ultimate sacrifice to liberate Alaska; and
WHEREAS, on the 84th anniversary of the bombing of Dutch Harbor, we remember and honor all who were affected by the attack, paying tribute both to the military personnel who served and died to defend our Nation and to the Aleut people who died while imprisoned.
NOW THEREFORE, I, Mike Dunleavy, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF ALASKA, do hereby proclaim June 3, 2026, as:
Dutch Harbor Remembrance Day
in Alaska and encourage all Alaskans to join with the people of Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, and the Aleutian Islands to honor all who were lost in Alaska during World War II, and I order the Alaska State Flag to be flown at half-staff in remembrance of those who perished.
Dated: June 3, 2026
A plane belonging to the Alaska National Guard appears to have been damaged during operations connected to Operation Epic Fury as part of American military efforts against Iran, according to online reports. Defense officials have so far declined to confirm whether Alaska National Guard personnel or equipment are taking part in the campaign.
Last week, defense industry news outlet The War Zone published photos of a KC-135 Stratotanker transiting through a British airbase. In the pictures, made by photographer Andrew McKelvey, the rear bottom of the fuselage and wing stabilizers are “peppered with temporary shrapnel damage repairs‚“ according to The War Zone’s article. The plane also appears to be missing its refueling boom, the proboscis extending from under the tail to pump off fuel to other aircraft.
In the photographs, the Stratotanker’s tail number is visible, identifying the refueling plane as belonging to the Alaska Air National Guard’s 168th Wing, based at Eielson Air Force Base outside of Fairbanks. The wing’s mission includes aerial refueling. That’s the tactic of large planes unloading vast quantities of fuel to aircraft, ranging from fighter jets to rescue helicopters, in midair.
Pictures from a different photographer published last week by another blog, The Aviationist, show the same plane. The tail includes the letters “AK” painted above a white polar bear.
In addition to the photographs, the reporting from The War Zone is based on publicly available flight data and social media posts scraped from a variety of sources.
According to information from Flight Radar 24, the Stratotanker left Eielson on March 5, just days after the U.S. and Israeli militaries began bombing Iranian targets on Feb. 28. Through March, according to public flight records, the plane was based at Ben Gurion Airport southeast of Tel Aviv, where, according to The War Zone, dozens of American refueling aircraft were staged as part of Operation Epic Fury.
There are no public flight records connected to the Stratotanker through April and most of May, until it appeared to fly through England on the way to the United States at the end of last month.
It is not clear how many Alaska Air National Guard planes, personnel or units are currently deployed in connection to the war effort against Iran.
A spokesperson for the Alaska National Guard referred all questions about Operation Epic Fury to the U.S. Central Command.
A spokesperson for CENTCOM, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, declined to answer questions on the record or provide any specific information about Alaska National Guard units deployed as part of ongoing military operations, citing the need to protect service members and operational security.
The Alaska National Guard has posted no informational releases or pictures connected to an overseas deployment during the last few months.
Much of Operation Epic Fury has been waged by military aircraft, and aerial refueling is critical to keeping planes supplied during long flights. A May 12 report from the Congressional Research Service composed of public damage reports to U.S. military aircraft noted that among the 42 records of damage or losses were seven KC-135 Stratotankers, though the findings were published before photos emerged of the Alaska-based plane. The report noted that the Defense Department “has not published a comprehensive assessment of combat losses” from Operation Epic Fury.
The tail number is associated with a Stratotanker manufactured in 1964, the year before Boeing ceased making them. All of the nearly 400 KC-135s currently in operation within the American military date back to that era of the Cold War.
The aircraft has the word “Tetlin” painted on the top of its tail. The name is an homage to the Interior Alaska village, one of several selected to honor longstanding bonds between military aviators and Alaska Native communities, according to photographs of a dedication ceremony posted by the Alaska National Guard last summer.
The 168th Wing currently has 12 Stratotankers attached to the unit. That number bumped up in April after a long campaign by Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan to allocate more tankers to the state’s portfolio given its vast geography and high number of advanced fighter jets.
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