Chapter 2: Alaska

Alaska is the geographically largest state in the country, making up nearly 20% of the United States. It is larger than the next three largest states combined: Texas, California, and Montana. Yet in population, Alaska is among the smallest states, with just less than 740,000 estimated in 2017, and with over 40% of the population concentrated in the Anchorage area. Alaska’s geographic size and sparse population have created challenges for funding public education.

Alaska’s K–12 funding formula must fund 53 school districts, ranging from single-site districts to districts with sprawling geography. For example, an area slightly larger than the state of Minnesota is served by a single school district, the North Slope Borough School District. For FY 2018, district size ranged from just eight students in the Pelican School District to 47,624 in the Anchorage School District. More than half of all districts (29) had a total enrollment of fewer than 500 students, and just four districts had enrollments greater than 5,000.¹