A letter from the U.S. Department of Education says the state risks losing millions of dollars in federal funds for failing to comply with pandemic relief fund requirements.
As a result, the federal government could designate it as “high risk” and lose state funding. Senate majority members said the state could lose more than $400 million.
“Without planning and swift action, local schools could run out of additional federal funding, and the onus will be placed on state coffers to fill that gap,” Senate President Gary Stevens said in a press release. It will become.”
What happened is that the state was supposed to maintain funding for school districts that received federal relief money, but in 2021 and 2022, some school districts serving students from low-income families received funding cuts. There was a shortage. The news was first reported by KTOO in Juneau.
The state currently owes approximately $29 million to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, Anchorage School District, Juneau Borough School District, and Fairbanks-Northstar Borough School District.
The federal Department of Education last month gave states 30 days to come up with repayment plans for school districts. Federal officials say the state failed to do so.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy may request additional funding this legislative session to resolve the issue.
Alaska is the only state that has not met or developed a plan to meet federal requirements to receive pandemic relief for schools.
School board member Deena Bishop could not be reached for comment.
Sen. Loki Tobin, an Anchorage Democrat and chair of the Senate Education Committee, said lawmakers were told by the state Department of Education late last year that it was working to resolve the issue.
The commission will hold an emergency hearing with the Department of Education next Wednesday afternoon to hear the state Department of Education's plan to lift the designation.
“Despite assurances from the Department and the Secretary that a resolution was in the works, the state failed in its responsibility,” Tobin said.
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