Alaska
Opinion: We’ve done what the governor says Alaska school districts refuse to do. Now we’re at the breaking point.
As the superintendent of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, I feel compelled to respond to the recent opinion article by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Education Commissioner Deena Bishop (“We’re not going to stop pushing for better Alaska student outcomes”) advocating for increased educational “options” and implying that districts like ours resist innovation to preserve the status quo. This narrative misrepresents both our district’s efforts and the real fiscal challenges we face.
In Fairbanks, we’ve made the hard decisions year after year in our school district. We’ve closed schools, consolidated programs, reduced administrative positions, outsourced evening custodial positions, and sought out efficiencies at every level. We’ve done this while navigating declining enrollment and a state education funding formula that has failed to keep pace with inflation for more than a decade.
When state leaders claim that districts like ours resist innovation or cling to the status quo, they aren’t just being unfair — they’re misrepresenting the truth. These assertions perpetuate a false narrative that undermines public confidence and damages enrollment in our schools.
Over the past four years, the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District has closed seven schools. These were difficult and emotional decisions to ensure that we could continue serving our students responsibly and sustainably. We have streamlined our operations, reorganized academic programs and redirected limited resources to classrooms where they matter most. These are exactly the kinds of changes critics call for — and we have already made them. We’ve shown innovation by streamlining, reorganizing, redirecting and focusing on what matters most, even when funding stops showing up.
We’ve done what the governor and others say school districts refuse to do. Yet despite all of these difficult and proactive steps, we still face significant funding shortfalls that directly affect our classrooms. The reality is this: doing more with less can only go so far. Continued underfunding is now eroding the quality of education we can provide, and we have already reached that breaking point.
Fairbanks has not stood still. We’ve embraced innovation and modernization in ways that reflect the diverse and evolving needs of our families. We’ve expanded career and technical education opportunities, strengthened blended and online learning options, and partnered with community organizations to support student mental health and early literacy. These efforts aren’t relics of the past; they are forward-looking, equity-driven strategies rooted in data and community feedback.
[Earlier commentary: Alaska education reform doesn’t start with budget cuts]
At the same time, we cannot ignore the reality of chronic underfunding. While some disingenuously claim that education funding has grown significantly in recent years, they fail to account for the full picture. Inflation, rising operational costs, and limitations in Alaska’s funding model have steadily eroded our real purchasing power. If the Base Student Allocation had simply kept pace with inflation, Fairbanks schools would be receiving approximately $30 million more each year. That funding would reduce class sizes, restore student support positions, and prevent program cuts that harm students.
Today, some classrooms in Fairbanks have more than 35 students — a clear reflection of the strain on our resources. We’ve had to make difficult decisions, including reducing teaching and counseling positions and limiting vital services that families rely on each day. When we talk about “saving jobs,” we are referring to the teachers, aides, librarians, and specialists who provide essential instruction, care, and support to our children. These positions are not bureaucratic; they are fundamental to student success.
The governor often points to Mississippi as a model for improving literacy outcomes. We agree that Alaska should aim for similar progress. But what he fails to acknowledge is that Mississippi made major investments to achieve that success — including more than $9 million in the first year and $15 million annually to fund literacy coaches and early intervention. In contrast, Alaska’s Reads Act, though promising in its design, has not been supported with the level of funding needed to deliver meaningful results. Good policy is only effective when matched with sustained investment. We cannot replicate outcomes without replicating inputs.
We also support the idea that families deserve options, and in Fairbanks, we offer a range of public school choices, including charter and homeschool programs. But we cannot expand “choice” by weakening the neighborhood schools that serve the vast majority of students — especially those with disabilities, English language learners and students who require additional support. When we shift resources away from these core schools, we undermine equity, stability, and access for all.
Despite what you may hear, Alaska’s public school leaders are not obstructionists. In fact, over the past two legislative cycles, our lawmakers have worked across party lines to support both increased education funding and thoughtful policy reforms. Unfortunately, each time meaningful progress has been made — including the most recent bipartisan effort to raise the Base Student Allocation — the governor has chosen to veto those advances rather than build on them. That is not collaboration. It is a refusal to meet in the middle. It’s a refusal to honor the hard work elected legislators from across our state have done to support all students in Alaska.
We welcome a different path. I invite the governor and commissioner to visit our schools, speak with our educators, and hear directly from our community. Come see how Fairbanks is working tirelessly to adapt, innovate and serve every student — even with fewer resources than we had a decade ago. The time has come to stop drawing battle lines and start building solutions together like we have seen the Legislature do.
If we are serious about improving education in Alaska, then we must fully fund our schools, protect vital teaching positions and ensure that policy reforms are supported with the resources required to succeed. Our students deserve more than rhetoric and political gridlock. They deserve a public education system that values both opportunity and excellence.
Fairbanks has done the hard work. Now we need a true partner in the state. All of Alaska’s children are counting on us.
Luke Meinert serves as superintendent of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. He has held leadership and teaching roles with the Aleutians East, Yukon-Koyukuk and Fairbanks school districts.
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ANCHORAGE, AK (Alaska’s News Source) – A large winter storm is not only bringing heavy snowfall, but warmer temperatures are approaching! The most impacted areas will include Southcentral, Southeast, and Southwest Alaska, with close to a foot of snow accumulation likely through Tuesday afternoon.
Anchorage will receive a trace of snow overnight and into the early morning hours with about 1 to 3 inches of snow by early Monday afternoon. Close to 5 inches of snow will fall across the Kenai Peninsula and Copper River Basin by Monday afternoon before Tuesday morning brings closer to a foot of snow accumulation across the region. Anchorage and Mat-Su snow totals by Tuesday morning will likely reach 8 to 10 inches.
www.alaskasnewssource.com/weather/alerts/
Juneau will most likely get the heaviest rounds of snow from this storm system with close to a foot of snow likely to accumulate by Monday afternoon with even more snow Tuesday morning. Across Southeast, snow total will vary but Sitka and Ketchikan will receive near 3 to 7 inches. Brace for a few days of heavy snowfall with wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour. Rapid snow accumulation will add hazard to roads and rooftops so be vigilant and weather aware.
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This storm is already making landfall from the Kuskokwim Delta to Bristol Bay. Expect 8 to 16 inches of snow by Monday night as the heaviest rounds will pass over late Monday morning. Wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour will add blizzard-like conditions with reduced visibility. The Aleutian Chain is bracing for high winds as the gusts up to 70 miles per hour are likely tomorrow. Light rain will pass through as a result of residual moisture of the tail-end of this storm.
The Interior will remain mostly dry tomorrow with mostly cloudy skies stretching over the Brooks Range and into the North Slope. Overnight lows are still quite chilly, sitting near 50 and 60 below zero. Coldest temperatures of the season were record Sunday morning at -50 degrees in Fairbanks, being the coldest temperature since February 2024 which was also -50 degrees. Light snow is possible Tuesday, but otherwise, very calm and quiet weather remains across central and northern Alaska.
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2 Feet Of Snow Traps Drivers In Michigan
Do you think that Alaska is cold during winter? Of course it is! However, the type of cold the state is experiencing right now if unprecedented. How about having consecutive days of temperatures colder than 40 degrees below zero!
This is true for much of the Alaskan interior, particularly near Fairbanks and in between the Alaska and Brooks mountain ranges.
Over the last four days in Fairbanks, temperatures have struggled to reach 40 degrees below zero, with organizers in Fairbanks even postponing their annual New Year’s Eve fireworks show due to the extreme cold.
The temperature in the final few minutes of 2025 in Fairbanks was 43 degrees below zero.
In other words, conditions are unbearably and dangerously cold, even by local standards in Central Alaska.
In Chicken, Alaska, located near the Canadian Border, temperatures dropped as low as 62 degrees below zero! Numerous other locations in the eastern Alaskan Interior have seen temperatures between 50 and 60 degrees below zero.
On top of bringing dangerously cold minimum temperatures, this most recent cold snap has also been more prolonged than usual.
Temperatures in much of Alaska have been largely colder than usual since roughly December 5th, 2025
Some regions in eastern Alaska and the neighboring Yukon Territory in Canada have seen combined December temperatures up to 30 degrees below the climatological average.
For reference, the average December temperature in Fairbanks from 1904 to 2025 is 22 degrees below zero with much of central Alaska having similarly cold December temperatures on average. The city has seen a temperature departure of 18.5 degrees below average for December 2025, ranking as the 8th coldest December on record.
This means that much of east-central Alaska has been stuck between 40 and 50 degrees below for nearly an entire month!
While many factors affect the severity of winters in Alaska, one notable statistic is the unusually high snowfall in portions of Alaska this past December. Fairbanks saw more than double its usual snowfall for the month of December.
Juneau, Alaska’s capital, located in far-southeast Alaska, has seen nearly its entire annual snowfall in December alone, at over 80 inches.
Snowfall promotes cold temperatures by reflecting light from the sun back to space. In Alaska, there is already very little sunlight during the winter due to its positioning on and near the Arctic Circle.
What little sunlight snow-covered portions of Alaska have seen has been quickly reflected back to space by the unusually heavy snowpack.
In Central Alaska, located between the Alaska and Brooks ranges, the heavy snowpack, lack of sunlight, and lack of transport of air from warmer locations have led to the development of an arctic high pressure system, leading to stable conditions and light winds. These conditions cause the land to rapidly lose heat, becoming even colder. With this arctic high pressure is in place, central Alaska has remained cold. However, a slight breakdown in the strength of the high will allow temperatures to warm somewhat (see forecast for next 3 days below).
Fortunately, this pattern will break down as we approach mid-January. A more active storm track from the Pacific is poised to bring wetter and warmer conditions to portions of Alaska, especially towards the middle to second half of the month. While this wetter pattern means snow for most, temperatures will improve, being far more bearable than the current temperatures in the 40 to 50 degree below zero range.
Hayden Marshall is a meteorologist intern and First-Year-Master’s Student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been following weather content over the past three years as a Storm Spotter and weather enthusiast. He can be found on Instagram and Linkedin.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Officials say Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife are in New York Saturday night after they were captured in a U.S. military operation that came amid strikes in the country’s capital.
Alaska’s delegation has responded to the situation.
Senator Dan Sullivan commented on the situation saying, “In the aftermath of last night’s remarkable operation, America and the world are safer.”
He continued, saying in-part, “Maduro was an illegitimate, indicted dictator who has been leading a vicious, violent narco-terrorist enterprise in our Hemisphere that was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans. He will now face American justice. The interim Venezuelan government must now decide that it is in their country’s and people’s interest to cooperate with the United States and reject Maduro’s legacy of violence and narco-terrorism.”
Senator Lisa Murkowski said the U.S. does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
She said in-part, “While I am hopeful that this morning’s actions have made the world a safer place, the manner in which the United States conducts military operations, as well as the authority under which these operations take place, is important. When the Senate returns to Washington next week, Congress has been informed that we will receive additional briefings from the administration on the scope, objectives, and legal basis for these operations.”
Representative Nick Begich posted his statement on Facebook. He called the situation a “lawful arrest” and said it was “a powerful and flawless execution of American power and capability.”
Begich continued, saying in-part, “Stability and accountability in the Western Hemisphere are core U.S. national interests. For far too long, criminal networks operating in our own hemisphere have exploited weak governance and corruption. The result has been poisoned streets, overwhelmed borders, and countless American lives lost to fentanyl and other illicit drugs.”
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Copyright 2026 KTUU. All rights reserved.
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