Anchorage School District prepares for next moves after failed school bond

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A week after the results from the Municipality of Anchorage’s April 5 election were certified, it’s back to the drawing board for the Anchorage School District after a $111 million bond for capital improvements to the district failed.

The Anchorage School Board met Tuesday for a regularly scheduled meeting, and while the bond was not an agenda item, it was briefly discussed at the end during the superintendent’s update.

“I’ve been asked by three different board members in regard to the school bond and about looking into the future,” district Superintendent Deena Bishop said. “We wanted to share while there’s lots going on at the state level in the legislature right now in regard to bond debt reimbursement, actually capital improvement projects, Many of those are ASD-specific and targeted right now.”

The bond narrowly failed with 49.2% of voters supporting it and 50.8% rejecting it. Three schools listed on the bond would receive millions of dollars for construction and maintenance.

Inlet View Elementary School was on the bond for $30,967,000 for a complete school replacement. Lake Otis Elementary would have received just over $12,942,000 for a building life extension and Bettye Davis East High School could have gotten more than $6 million for academic area safety improvements, according to the district website.

The district said it budgets out $21 million for building and preventative maintenance and said many of its 86 facilities were built in the 1960s and 1970s, requiring additional funds from the budget. The district states that the functional lifespan of a quality school ranges from 30 to 50 years.

Dr. Bruce Wood Most Outstanding Fine Arts Senior Award

Before the school board meeting got underway, the district awarded Service High School’s Krissia Tuzroyluk with the Dr. Bruce Wood Most Outstanding Fine Arts Senior Award.

A portrait of Tuzroyluk was unveiled in the main hallway of the Anchorage School District Education Center recognizing her for winning the Fine Arts Senior Award.

Originally from Point Hope, Tuzroyluk said she moved with her family to Anchorage in middle school and went on to become president of the Indigenous student union at Service and Chairperson of the Anchorage School District’s Native Advisory Committee.

After graduation, Tuzroyluk said she will attend Cornell University and plans to study business with hopes of getting into real estate.

Copyright 2022 KTUU. All rights reserved.