By REP. KEVIN MCCABE

As a state representative, I have a front-row seat to the transformation of Alaska’s public education system into what I’ve come to call the Alaska Education Industrial Complex, a sprawling, self-serving machine that treats our children not as students, but as commodities.

We count students not for what they’ve learned or achieved, but for how much revenue they generate. This system props up bloated administrations, rewards failure with more money, and defends its own survival at the expense of those it is supposed to serve, our kids.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s June 12 veto of $200 from the $700 Base Student Allocation increase for Fiscal Year 2026 was not just about numbers on a spreadsheet. It was a signal, a warning shot, that we cannot continue down this road.

I wholeheartedly agree with the governor on this: Funding without accountability is a disservice to Alaska’s children. The BSA veto was not about “starving” education. Rather, it is a challenge to a system that’s been protecting itself for far too long.

The foundation formula we use to fund education in Alaska is outdated, flawed, and designed to feed the system, not the student. Tied to Average Daily Membership, this model means every student is a line on a ledger. When enrollment declines, as it has across the state from 132,000 students in 2016 to about 128,000 today, districts scramble, not to improve outcomes, but to maintain funding. That’s not education; that’s survival of a failing business.

Take Anchorage: 6,600 students lost since 2010, millions in funding gone, and yet instead of reevaluating how we deliver education, the district doubles down on high-cost projects like a $50 million rebuild of Inlet View Elementary. Meanwhile, schools with half-empty classrooms are shuttered, programs are cut, and families are told there’s simply not enough money, all while more administrators are hired. The truth? The money is there; it’s just being spent to protect bureaucracies, not teach children.

We spend more per student than nearly every other state, $18,313 as of 2020, yet outcomes continue to decline. Why? Because too much of that funding never reaches the classroom. Administrative costs continue to balloon while frontline educators, students, and families are left with the scraps. Thus many families vote with their feet and leave the school, exacerbating and accelerating the prime issue.

My proposed amendment to HB 69 would have consolidated Alaska’s 54 school districts into 30 districts by 2027. That’s not just a number; it’s potentially tens of millions of dollars redirected from administration to instruction. 

But when you threaten the system, the system fights back. Alaska Council of School Administrators, Superintendents, school boards, and public sector unions closed ranks to protect their kingdoms. Their opposition wasn’t about kids. It was about power. It was about preserving jobs that depend not on student success, but on the size of the bureaucracy.

Rural schools, particularly those serving Alaska Native communities, have been neglected for decades. Crumbling facilities, moldy classrooms, and disappearing programs are the norm. And when we do find programs that work, like rural career guidance initiatives that doubled degree completion, we defund them. At the same time, correspondence programs like IDEA flourish without oversight. More than 7,500 students are enrolled, yet many never take statewide tests. It’s funding without performance, and once again, the system looks the other way.

We’ve reached a point where less than 30% of our students are proficient in English or math. We rank dead last in reading. One in five young Alaskans is disconnected from school and the workforce entirely. Chronic absenteeism has become a rampant, yet little discussed, issue.

This situation is not just embarrassing, it’s generationally devastating and contributes to the suicide rate, the homeless problem, and the poor economics in rural Alaska. It’s the predictable result of a system designed to feed itself, not educate our children.

The governor’s veto saved $50.6 million this year, reducing the BSA increase from $700 to $500. Critics say it hurts schools. I say it exposes a problem we can no longer ignore. We cannot keep writing blank checks to a system that resists reform at every turn. If we are serious about improving education in this state, we must be serious about accountability.

Charter school expansion, reading incentives, cellphone bans, these were good, albeit week, starts in HB 57. But we need more. We need audits to shine a light on where the money is spent. We need a funding formula that rewards performance, not attendance. And we need to stop mortgaging our children’s futures to protect administrative empires.

We must put students first. That means consolidating districts to reduce redundant overhead and free up funds for classrooms; expanding school choice to inject competition into a stagnant system; auditing every dollar that doesn’t make it into the classroom or directly improve outcomes; fixing rural infrastructure where students are literally learning in unsafe buildings; redirecting unspent Covid-19 relief funds, $96 million of which expired in January, away from bureaucracy and into instruction; and rewarding excellence with teacher bonuses, not superintendent perks.

What we are witnessing today is the commodification of Alaska’s students. They are merely  headcounts for funding formulas, statistics for bond measures, and talking points for bureaucrats defending their paychecks. 

Our children should be our future. Students are our obligation. And they deserve a system that sees them for who they are, learners, dreamers, doers, not revenue streams.

Governor Dunleavy’s veto was a tough pill to swallow, but it was necessary. It reminded us that the real crisis is not underfunding, it’s misplaced priorities and poor management.

It’s time to stop counting kids for dollars. It’s time to start educating them.

Rep. Kevin McCabe serves in the Legislature on behalf of District 30, Big Lake.