In Anchorage, 148 teacher positions were vacant at the start of the school year. In Aniak, the superintendent says school buildings are falling down. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is projecting a $17 million deficit next year. In Fairbanks, an enrichment program for gifted students is on the chopping block.

Education funding is a key issue in several legislative races across the state that could shape control of the Alaska Legislature next year.

In March, lawmakers failed — by a single vote — to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a bill that would have substantially increased Alaska’s public education funding formula for the first time in years.

Since then, several candidates have said they were motivated to challenge sitting legislators because their representatives flip-flopped on the issue — voting first in favor of the bill to increase education funding, and then against overturning Dunleavy’s veto of the policy they had supported.

Incumbents who sided with Dunleavy say overriding the veto would have been futile because the governor could have again vetoed the funding from the budget. They argue that the path to a permanent increase in education funding must include agreeing to the governor’s demands — which include the expansion of charter school availability.

Challengers say that a permanent increase to the state’s education budget is urgently needed, and should not depend on the adoption of other reforms favored by the governor.

Many expect that education funding will again be a key issue in the coming legislative session. Lawmakers left Juneau earlier this year after approving a one-time funding boost for schools that educators and administrators said was insufficient.

Meanwhile, the impacts of the legislative stalemate are profound.

Kuspuk School District Superintendent Madeline Aguillard said that this school year, two-thirds of district teachers — who serve 320 students in nine schools — are international hires on visas. The district has no music or foreign language classes.

“No in-person, elective-type courses are taught by certified teachers,” she said. “They’re all an online-based model, because we can’t plan long-term to hire people.”

‘Pretty much trashed’

In an open Interior race to replace GOP Sen. Click Bishop, Rep. Mike Cronk, a fellow Republican, is running against Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly member Savannah Fletcher, an independent. Both say education has been brought up repeatedly in their campaigns.

Cronk said he’s been “pretty much trashed for not overriding the governor’s veto.”

Cronk, a retired schoolteacher, said he thinks the Base Student Allocation formula is broken, because it is written in such a way that ensures schools remain open even if they are not operating at full capacity.

“Everybody thinks just writing a big check solves the issue. It really doesn’t,” said Cronk.

The state’s funding formula should be revised with the goal of improving student performance, he said, and state funding could increase “as long as we know that our kids, our students, are the benefactors.”

Fletcher said education funding is “a major reason” she is running for the state Senate.

“If you believed in legislation enough to vote for it the first time, why would you not stick to your convictions?” Fletcher said. “I am disappointed, and I promise to be a legislator that will stick to my convictions.”

The view is shared by Walter Featherly, an Anchorage independent challenging Republican incumbent Rep. Julie Coulombe for an Anchorage Hillside seat. Like Cronk, Coulombe voted in favor of the underlying bill and then against overriding Dunleavy’s veto.

Featherly, a former president of the Anchorage School Board, said that Coulombe’s vote against overriding a bill she initially supported indicated that she was willing to “cave to political pressure.”

Coulombe was not available for an interview. In a written statement, she criticized Featherly and Dunleavy’s opponents for failing to consider the education reforms the governor sought to enact.

“I am for funding and reform, but you must have both sides willing to come to the middle, and I just didn’t experience people on the funding side willing to consider any of the governor’s reforms. I do not support pouring more money into a failing system but would like to see the schools change and adapt to improve results,” she said.

On Friday, the Anchorage School District projected that the $5,960 Base Student Allocation would need to be increased by $1,526 to match losses from inflation since 2017 — the last time the BSA was substantially boosted. A school funding increase of that size would cost the state over $385 million per year.

‘Coding their language’

The 907 Initiative, a group that supports progressive causes, has launched an advertising effort targeting sitting legislators for their votes on the education funding veto.

One ad attacks several lawmakers for voting no on overriding Dunleavy’s veto, calling the underlying bill “a historic opportunity to increase education funding and get our students the support they need to thrive.” The legislators on the receiving end of the attacks include Cronk and Coulombe, along with Kotzebue independent Rep. Thomas Baker and Anchorage Republican Rep. Craig Johnson.

“When I knock on doors, there are two main issues that I bring up. The first one is school funding,” said Featherly, who trailed Coulombe by three points in the August primary.

Johnson faces a challenge from Chuck Kopp, a more moderate GOP former lawmaker with a history of working across the aisle. Kopp led Johnson by a 21-point margin in the August primary.

Baker was appointed to his seat by Dunleavy late last year, and voted in line with the governor’s positions on key issues. He was a registered Republican when selected for the seat, but switched his party affiliation to independent ahead of the election. He faces two Democratic opponents, each of whom received more votes than he did in the primary — Mayor Saima Chase of Kotzebue and Robyn Burke of Utqiagvik, president of the North Slope Borough’s school board.

“The first thing I want to see is an increase to the Base Student Allocation,” Burke said in an interview.

Chase, who had Dunleavy as her fourth grade teacher in Kotzebue, said that she supports a long-term increase to the state’s school funding formula, alongside more funding for vocational education.

“It’s tough on our kids, because we constantly get first-year teachers here, and we’re not getting enough support to get them long term,” she said. “Gone are the days of teachers that have been here for 20 years.”

Baker did not respond to a request for comment. In a July interview with Kotzebue’s public radio station, Baker reasoned that the veto override vote would have been futile because the governor would have vetoed the funding from the budget.

Some lawmakers quietly said that voting to override the governor’s veto could lead to reprisals by Dunleavy against their other legislative priorities. Other legislators told the Daily News that it was simply difficult for a Republican lawmaker to defy a sitting Republican governor. Fifty-six of 60 legislators voted for the underlying education bill. Seventeen of those Republicans voted against the measure after Dunleavy vetoed it.

Aubrey Wieber, who directs the 907 Initiative, said it was important that Alaskans know about legislators’ record on the veto override — an action they may not choose to highlight.

“Everyone talks about supporting education, and even if they’re not supporting any funding increase for public education, they’re still pretty much coding their language so you can’t understand what their actual position is,” said Wieber.

Other independent groups backing candidates are also putting education front and center.

Putting Alaskans First, an independent expenditure group that funds progressive and centrist legislative candidates, received $70,000 this year from the political action committee of NEA-Alaska — a union representing most teachers in the state — and in turn contributed significant sums in key races.

Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that urged Dunleavy to veto the bipartisan education bill and thanked legislators for sustaining that veto, has been spending money to support Republican candidates aligned with its positions. The advocacy group broadly supports expanding charter schools and sending more public funds to private schools.

Dunleavy has remained largely opaque on his education priorities after failing to gain legislators’ support for his policy goals earlier this year.

His office declined an interview request for this story. In response to emailed questions, Dunleavy spokeswoman Jessica Bowers said that the governor’s position is that “schools need funding to address inflation. However, the BSA is not a silver bullet, and funding should be targeted to where it will have the greatest positive impact on student learning.”

Fierce competition

Rep. Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent running for reelection, said the makeup of the Legislature next year — and the House in particular — will play a role in determining the outcome of the education funding debate.

Currently, the House is governed by a 23-member majority that includes 19 Republicans, along with two Democrats and two independents — Edgmon among them.

The 16-member House minority, made up mostly of Democrats and independents, is seeking to grow its ranks enough to control the chamber. Increasing education spending is one of the coalition’s top priorities.

Members of the current House majority vary in their positions on education but have been skeptical of a plain funding increase.

House Speaker Cathy Tilton, a Wasilla Republican running unopposed, said she would support policy proposals favored by Dunleavy to increase the number of charter schools in Alaska. But when asked about whether House Republicans would support an increase to the Base Student Allocation, she declined to answer, saying that it would “certainly be a topic of discussion.”

“Although a lot of our members are being hit on not being pro-education, I would say that is totally opposite,” said Tilton.

Control is often won narrowly in the closely divided chamber, but it could take just two flipped seats to see a sea change.

The seats held by Baker, Johnson and Coulombe could all be part of determining control of the House as more moderate candidates run on a platform of boosting education funding.

The campaigns have so far refrained from talking about specific numbers. Last year, educators said they would need a boost of more than $350 million to the existing education budget of around $1.2 billion in order to make up for seven years without significant increases to the formula. The funding ultimately written into the bill vetoed by the governor included a $175 million increase to the estimated annual budget.

Edgmon said that the legislative debate next year could be all the more challenging because oil prices are currently hovering close to $70 per barrel, below past projections by the state.

“The competition for what could be a lesser amount of state dollars could be more fierce this upcoming session,” said Edgmon.

Correction: The story has been updated to reflect that the 907 Initiative focuses on progressive causes, but does not involve itself in political campaigns. A separate organization, 907 Action, supports progressive candidates in statewide and local elections. 907 Action and 907 Initiative are both directed by Aubrey Wieber.

Updated: 1 hour ago Published: 1 hour ago

It’s the time of year again when the northern reaches of our state are starting the transition to winter, while the southern reaches of Alaska are just starting to feel the crispness of fall. It’s also the time of year when freezers and smoking racks across Alaska should be packed with a supply of salmon to last through the coming winter — serving as a vital source of protein for tens of thousands of Alaskans.

Alaska’s summer salmon harvest is a tradition that has been practiced in nearly every corner of the state for thousands of years by Alaska Native people and has been adopted by countless newcomers as well. However, it has become far too commonplace in recent years for fish freezers to stay empty all summer across vast swaths of our state, as emergency total fishing closures issued by both federal and state regulatory agencies to protect salmon stocks in years of extremely low returns impact subsistence, personal use and sport fishing user groups. At the same time, almost no action is taken by these same entities to protect the salmon from the ocean fishing fleet before they enter Alaska’s rivers.

While there have always been ups, downs and even severe crashes in salmon runs, historically these sharp swings have been short-lived and limited to individual stocks. What’s particularly disturbing about this downturn in salmon production is just how widespread it is. The king salmon decline that started in the Yukon more than a decade ago has spread to virtually every large river system in Alaska, with some seeing returns of late that are less than 10 percent of historical averages. The disaster has also impacted chum salmon populations in Western Alaska and this year state Fish and Game officials were forced to restrict sport and commercial coho salmon harvests across Southcentral. It is a situation that is becoming more dire with each summer the fish don’t return.

What’s even more disheartening is the overwhelming inaction from so many of Alaska’s statewide leaders toward the situation. Far too often, the lip service paid when asked about struggling fisheries is just that; and disaster aid only papers over the real problems. The lack of direct action to solve Alaska’s rapidly growing salmon problem among our most important political leaders is surprising on several levels. Ignoring the fact that these fish are ecologically and culturally vital in every area they inhabit, Alaska’s salmon, when healthy, support tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity in small communities across our state. Taken as a whole, the commercial fishing sector still provides more jobs in Alaska than any other industry. Why so many of our leaders continue to ignore an obvious action — to reduce the number of salmon caught before they enter our rivers by the factory fishing fleet — is a mystery.

This is where Rep. Mary Peltola has already set herself apart. In just two short years in Congress, Rep. Peltola has authored and submitted more legislation to substantively address one of the most direct threats to Alaska salmon — being caught as bycatch in large, “factory” trawl fisheries targeting other species — than the rest of our current political leaders have in their careers. The Bycatch Reduction and Mitigation Act and Bottom Trawl Clarity Act confront the impacts of factory fishing from both ends, with authorizations to fund better gear to reduce bycatch and potentially limit the vast areas offshore of Alaska that are open to trawling.

According to reporting earlier this summer by a major seafood industry publication, the large, Lower 48-based corporations that dominate Alaska offshore federal fisheries are dead-set against Rep. Peltola’s trawl legislation. That means it has teeth.

There are undoubtedly numerous complex reasons why Alaska’s essential and iconic salmon are struggling to the degree they are today, and being caught as bycatch is just one of them.  But reducing/eliminating bycatch is an important step in the right direction.

I certainly don’t agree with Rep. Peltola on every issue, but on this issue we need every Alaska politician to follow her lead and do what it takes to restore the salmon we love and need. Please join me in telling Rep. Peltola to keep up the good work and urge the rest of our elected officials to join her.

Bob Shefchik was born and raised in Fairbanks. He has harvested salmon in the Yukon with his grandfather in Eagle, as well as with his wife, children and grandchildren in the Gulkana, Copper and Kenai rivers. He is retired from a 35-year career in Alaska as a financial administrator at the local, state and university levels. Bob resides in Fairbanks, serves on the Alaska Jobs Coalition board, and still values the importance of salmon fisheries to the State of Alaska and its residents.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.

Major Alaska resource projects, and the land they could be built on, may be at stake in the presidential election.

They include drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and elsewhere in Alaska, logging in the Tongass National Forest, and cutting a 200-mile road through Alaska wilderness to access the Ambler mining district.

President Joe Biden’s administration has put the brakes on those and other major Alaska resource development projects, reversing efforts by former President Donald Trump to advance those initiatives.

Trump, with his aggressive focus on resource extraction, can be expected to renew his efforts in Alaska if he wins office, former officials say. But they add that it won’t be easy to reverse many of Biden’s actions, especially if Trump overhauls the federal workforce needed to properly make changes, they say.

If Vice President Kamala Harris wins, she’ll likely retain many of Biden’s actions in Alaska, they say. But her administration could still be dealing with major Alaska issues, such as a second oil and gas lease sale in the 19.6-million-acre Arctic refuge, they say.

The election also raises questions about the fate of other perennial Alaska projects, such as the Pebble mineral prospect that was stopped by the Environmental Protection Agency last year, or the giant Willow oil field that was approved by the Biden administration.

For years, Alaska’s big projects and land battles have been subject to shifting politics, depending on which party’s candidate occupies the White House. The back-and-forth has a chilling effect on investment in the state, making it difficult for companies to know whether a prospect has any chance of winning federal approval, resource advocates say.

Andrew Mergen, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and retired Justice Department attorney who has handled litigation on major Alaska land issues, said the state plays an important political role in presidential elections because it captures the American imagination.

“For people who are Democrats, it’s the incredible natural value and parks and animals, and people love that,” he said. “And for people on the Republican bench, it looks like there’s a lot of resources and a lot of ways to make money.”

“But I do think that a lot of these disputes are maybe targeted about getting the base up, and whether that base is motivating environmental groups or motivating red-state voters, that’s part of what’s going on,” he said.

More Arctic drilling under Trump?

Trump has promised to “drill, baby, drill” on Day One of a second term.

He likes to tout the oil and gas potential in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, though with extreme exaggeration. He has said he would restart drilling there.

The former Trump administration in its closing days issued the first-ever oil and gas leases in the refuge, after a lease sale there generated little interest.

Biden, on his first day as president, began taking steps that later led to the cancellation of the leases in 2023.

William Perry Pendley, former acting director of the Bureau of Land Management under Trump, said he thinks Trump should lift the suspension of those leases and also renew his previous efforts to develop Alaska’s resources.

“He’s promised the American people that he’d cut the cost of living and transportation,” Pendley said. “One of the ways to decrease those costs is develop American energy. There’s a tremendous amount of not just energy, but minerals available in Alaska.”’

Pendley helped write a special section calling for “immediate action” on Alaska issues in Project 2025, a transition document designed to aid Trump if he returns to the White House.

Pendley said in a recent phone interview that Trump had “nothing do with Project 2025,” which was written by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Trump has disavowed the document.

Pendley’s section on Alaska calls on Trump to reinstate his plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which opened millions of acres to potential oil leasing. Biden reversed that effort and has implemented strict limits in the reserve.

“What that chapter lays out regarding Alaska is to continue doing what we tried to do with Alaska in the Trump administration, which will make it possible for Alaska to benefit from the natural resources that are available there, and for Alaska to finally get what was promised to it when it came into the Union,” Pendley said.

What about Ambler Road and Pebble?

Pendley in Project 2025 also calls on Trump to again permit construction of the 200-mile Ambler Road to a mineral district in Northwest Alaska. The Biden administration rejected a permit, reversing a decision under Trump approving the permit.

Brett Hartl, with the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, said Trump could attempt to reissue the Ambler Road permit.

But it wouldn’t be easy.

“It would take several years,” he said. “And they would be vulnerable to court challenge if they attempted to rush it.”

Mergen, the visiting professor with Harvard Law, said any major reversals Trump might pursue in Alaska could take so long they may not be completed in a single term.

It’s “infinitely harder” to achieve permitting for ground-disturbing activities like drilling or mining than to stop those activities, he said.

“The rulemaking and administrative processes that govern extractive use, whether it’s drilling or mining, they take a lot of time,” he said. “So I think it’s going to be a bit difficult to unwind these things in a meaningful way in four years.”

As for the Pebble copper and gold project in Southwest Alaska, it likely will not be developed, said Matthew Berman, a professor of economics at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska.

“It just has too many strikes against it,” Berman said.

The Environmental Protection Agency halted Pebble last year. Project developer Pebble Partnership and the state of Alaska are suing to overturn the decision.

Pebble’s chief executive said that if a court ruling is in Pebble’s favor, the company is more likely to find an opening to advance the mine under Trump than Harris.

“I have a positive feeling about the court cases and if we get a positive decision, I think it’s more likely we could sit down with the Trump administration and say, ‘OK, the government exceeded its authority, what can we do to make this project work?’ ” said John Shively, chief executive of Pebble Partnership.

Logging in the Tongass?

Berman also said Trump will face challenges pushing Alaska projects forward because of regulatory and legal hurdles.

Trump could attempt to again repeal the Roadless Rule in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to open up logging potential, undoing Biden’s reversal.

But procedures and timelines may not leave much time for timber sales, Berman said.

“The ship of state is a big ship and it takes a while to turn it around,” he said. “There’s only so much that can be accomplished with a leadership change, and they take a lot more time in Alaska and especially in the Arctic.”

Trump has promised to gut the federal workforce, which has a large presence in Alaska.

Trump will likely need many federal workers to remain in place if he wants to quickly pursue changes, Berman said.

“If inexperienced people are trying to write permits, it will take longer,” Berman said.

Renewables at risk?

More consequential for Alaska will be the next president’s position on climate change, Berman said.

Trump has vowed to repeal key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s 2022 climate law. Harris provided the tie-breaking vote for the law.

If Trump wins, “I see absolutely nothing happening on climate policy for another four years, and that has worldwide consequences,” Berman said.

If Harris wins, she’s expected to build on Biden policies that in Alaska support renewable energy and related efforts such as transmission improvements, said Isaac Vanderburg, chief executive of Launch Alaska, a nonprofit focused on accelerating Alaska’s energy transition.

The climate law has brought large sums of money into the state, he said.

Agencies have committed to spending much of the money in the law, he said, but Trump could attempt to delay or halt future spending commitments.

“It’s concerning to me from a renewable energy perspective,” he said of Trump’s plans.

Sustained policies under Harris?

If Harris wins, there may be holdover items for her administration to work on in Alaska.

It’s possible a Harris administration will get the chance to weigh a lease sale in the refuge, said Hartl with the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund.

Congress has set a deadline for a lease sale before the end of this year.

But that could be delayed, Hartl said. Agencies frequently miss congressional deadlines, he said.

“I think if anything, it would probably get punted into next year,” Hartl said. “It just seems like there’s a ton of work that they still have to do because they were in a pretty significant legal deficiency from the first sale.”

ConocoPhillips’ controversial Alaska oil field, Willow, likely won’t be affected if Harris wins, Hartl said.

It’s been approved under Biden, he said. ConocoPhillips has started construction at the field. Oil is expected to begin flowing in four years.

Conservation groups like his had a chance to stop Willow, he said. The Biden administration chose not to, he said.

“So I would suspect that Willow will continue,” he said.