Board of Education

The budget for Fairbanks-area schools is now passed to the Borough Assembly after an arduous week of budget-cutting in hours-long meetings. School board members have been anticipating huge cuts since last fall, when they started to work on a $16 million deficit.

School districts across the country received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education earlier this month, ordering administrators to remove any language or policies that focus on Diversity, Equity or Inclusion, also called DEI. The letter was sent late in the day on Friday, February 14. And it gave administrators two weeks to comply. Now, a day before the deadline, the impacts of the letter are being felt by school districts across Alaska.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District is looking at a $16 million deficit for the upcoming school year.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board will be voting Tuesday on a proposal to replace the district’s 70 custodians with a contracted company. The proposal is designed to save the district’s $3 million, in a year when it is facing a deficit and contemplating the closure of schools.

School closures were the focus of a Monday night worksession for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Board of Education. Members heard about the closures of Ben Eielson Jr./Senior High School and Ticasuk Brown Elementary school, as well as the possibility of closing two more elementary schools.

Three seats are open on the Board of Education; today, candidates for School Board Seat G, Meredith Maple and Maggie Matheson. In-person absentee voting is available through Monday, Oct. 2 at the Shoppers Forum Mall in Fairbanks, and at all three municipal clerks' offices: at the city halls in Fairbanks and North Pole and at the Borough building on Terminal Street.Polling places open for voting on Election Day, Tuesday, Oct. 3.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Board of Education passed a $222,873,000 budget Wednesday night – about 15.3 million dollars less than last year’s spending. The recommendation includes about a $56 million ask from local taxpayers. The budget goes now to the borough assembly for approval.

School Efficiency Task Force report says three small schools closing and different grade-level configurations across the district will help close the gap in lost revenue.

A classroom materials housekeeping measure gets tabled by Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board

The Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board narrowly voted to lift the mask mandate for their students at the board meeting last night. They changed the…