Fairbanks North Star Borough School District 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 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.

The Tanana Valley League of Women Voters showcases candidates for FNSBSD Board of Education; Seat A, Loa Carroll Hubbard and Tamara Kruse Roselius, and Seat B, April Smith and Morgan Dulian. This recording is a segment of the larger event Sept. 13, 2024.

West Valley High School Juniors Hailey Staiger and Heidi Sauer, moderated a candidate forum for Fairbanks North Star Borough Board of Education. Students submitted 10 long-form questions and 8 lightning-round questions.

Candidates for Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly and Mayor, Fairbanks and North Pole City Council and North Pole Mayor, Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board and Interior Gas Utility Board are running in the October 1 municipal election.

Local followers of a Palmer-based blogger filled the Fairbanks North Star Borough school board meeting room Tuesday, after he’d asked them to testify against proposed district Health Curriculum -- even though it won’t come before the board for several months.

The FNSB Assembly held a finance meeting on Saturday, April 20.

The president of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board is apologizing for comments she made about legislators who did not vote to override the governor’s veto of an education bill. A majority of the school board has called a special meeting tonight to discuss the issue in private.

Just after midnight this morning, the Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board voted to close Ben Eielson Junior/Senior High School. They postponed voting on the closure of other schools to instead focus on the budget. The board resumes meeting tonight.