The US Department of Education sent letters to all school districts in America on Friday saying they must ditch their DEI and critical race theory programs or lose federal funding. DEI is “diversity, equity, inclusion,” a new way of discriminating.
That federal directive could mean that instead of Anchorage School Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt boosting the District DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) programs by his proposed 20%, that money could be used to support actual learning in classrooms, or the activities that he has cut from the proposed 2025-26 budget.
“Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education, wrote in the letter, adding that “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions,” and is not acceptable in this administration. The letter notified districts that they have 14 days to comply.
On Page 87 of Bryantt’s 471-page proposed budget, he and School Board President Andy Holleman ask for $724,000 for the DEI program, which is described as “The Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement, formerly Equity and Compliance, coordinates ASD efforts to ensure equity in educational programs and employment for the benefit of all students and all employees. The EC office provides civil rights compliance guidance across ASD departments in an effort to remove barriers to educational and employment opportunities. The office also facilitates the Superintendent’s Multicultural Education Concerns Advisory Committee which is comprised of stakeholders from Anchorage’s diverse communities united by the goal of educating all students for success in life.”
Bryantt says the district has a $100 million deficit that can only be made up by the Legislature dramatically increasing the level of per-student funding, called the base student allocation.
School Board President Andy Holleman said the school district faces a stark reality and requires the Legislature to also fund the lavish retirement plan known as defined benefits, or pensions, rather than the current defined-contribution plan.
“The long-standing failure to adjust education funding to meet the actual costs of operating our schools has led us to this point. While we remain committed to producing a balanced budget, we must also prioritize long-term investments in our students, educators, and school communities. Our efforts go beyond simply closing a budget gap—we are focused on securing a stable and sustainable future for public education in Alaska. To that end, ASD is advocating for key legislative priorities, including a permanent increase in the BSA, investments in the recruitment and retention of high-quality educators, and the establishment of a competitive retirement plan. Addressing the statewide teacher shortage is not just an ASD challenge—it is a collective responsibility that demands immediate attention,” he wrote on behalf of the board in his letter introducing the budget.
The proposed Anchorage budget cuts out many after school activities, including all middle school sports programs, swimming, gymnastics, and hockey.
Read the proposed budget at this link.
Instead of student programs, the Anchorage proposed budget seeks to boost the DEI program from $603,821 to $724,122. This could put millions of federal dollars at risk.
Under the Biden Administration, the state was threatened with a withholding of funds by the Department of Education because the state didn’t meet the Biden test for “equity” in distribution of funds, even though the funds (which were Covid-era dollars) were distributed to districts based on Alaska’s long-used and legally tested formula.
The Biden Administration said then it would withhold $17.4 million from the state and put it on a “high-risk grantee” list unless the state distributed the funds according to the Biden equity formula, which would have violated state law.
In the end, the Biden Administration backed down.
This new order from the Department of Education is not just a complete reversal of former policies. It is in response to a presidential executive order to end all DEI programs, which supporters say help underrepresented groups, while critics say it does not align with American merit-based values.
Only a small amount of the district’s budget comes directly from the federal government. In the 2024-25 budget, the Anchorage School District received 1.57% of its general fund revenue from the federal government directly.
Most of the other federal funding is funneled through the State Department of Education and Early Development and is distributed by the Legislature during annual budgets. That makes up to 14% of the budget. Local taxation on property owners pays the lion’s share of the cost of running local schools.
The proposed Anchorage School District budget takes the overall operating budget up from $638 million to $651 million, while student head count has dropped more than 1% year over year and is expected to continue falling, as people start pulling their children out of the failing district, where only 32% of third graders are able to read at grade level.
Sadly, the population of Los Anchoros is made up of a majority of Kalifornikans, Washingtonians, and Oregonians. They are all in on this crap.
A couple of thoughts as to getting budget in line. Eliminate any payments to the Board members as they are elected as public servants. As an alternative if they are able to stay within current revenue, while increasing the outcomes of the basic education, they get a stepped bonus. Other ways is to strip out 50% of the middle management and increase the responsibility on teachers for outcomes. also the defined benefit and retirement plans need to be revised to be within reality. if they cannot stay in revenues they have no reason to believe they can educate. teachers are mostly great but the overhead and mismanagement needs to be overhauled.
Trump won – so we can speak the truth.
Jharett Bryantt did not meet the basic qualifications to be superintendent, as we all know.
DEI is at the center of his educational philosophy – the R’s are a distraction.
Yes, or no question.
If Anchorage were to abolish the DEI hiring and its teaching.
Would we not have to fire our DEI school superintendent
Department of Education is going bye-bye. It will be demolished in 2025. Bryantt and his LGBTQ gangsters won’t have any money for their corruption. And if they try to increase a budget through tax increases in Anchorage or through the state, they better have plenty of dry powder.
Thanks, Ted. Your message is loud and clear. My powder is dry and plentiful.
Oh, they are gonna quadruple down. Then quadruple down again.
It’s insanity to increase funding for K-12 through the BSA… The public school system is the equivalent of a 20 year old car that’s subjected to a salt water bath daily… The corrosion had eaten the frame, suspension and steering arms beyond salvageable repair…
It’s time to recognize the need to replace the old unsafe bus.
Not a penny increase for public education.
DEI is discrimination and unlawful, in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Those facilitating DEI need to be replaced. DEI has no place in Government.
Why wouldn’t Anchorage’s education industry keep DEI programs, but call them something else only a DOGE audit can discover?
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If education industry pimps like Bryant and Holleman believe they can stiff parent/taxpayers out of $724K and hide it somewhere invisible to non-DOGE eyes, why wouldn’t they do it and share a well-deserved bonus?
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Remember this is the same school-board vermin who voted unanimously to steer million-dollar school-district contracts only to shops run by their union friends, so steering a mere $724K to themselves should be no problem at all.
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What, a bunch of upset parent/taxpayers are gonna get on the DOGE website, ask DOGE to help figure out what’s going on,
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…or drop a dime at the Department of Education website where it says: “The OIG Hotline is available for anyone who knows of or suspects fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, or violations of laws and regulations involving U.S. Department of Education funds or programs. This includes allegations of suspected wrongdoing by Department employees, contractors, grantees, schools and school officials, persons in positions of trust involving Department funds or programs, …”?
(‘https://oig.ed.gov/oig-hotline)
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Be cool if that happened, no?
What a bunch of crooks. Where do they plan to get all this monies in. 2-3 more yrs and forward.
Property taxpayers & the proposed 3% sales taxes!
When looking to cut expenses….BS programs is where you start.
They always lead with cutting the “sexy” positions, that no one wants to touch.
Cops, firefighters, snow plowing, teachers and teachers aids, even sign language helpers…
Look at the WASTE in the ASD….the insane amount of money running handfuls of kids to sporting events around this state…
We guarantee a basic education….not a fluffy unlimited travel program.
BSA…is for basic education.
I value the sports programs, as a serious former participant, but its time to have money focus on basic education.
CUT THE FAT…End The Bloat…
So long as we hold the purse strings, they will play along in the end.
ASD cares about money.
That is paramount in their interests.
They will kick on it until they determine they cannot oppose it without losing money.
You can bet their legal department will try to find a way to keep the program and the money both.
How that may turn out usually winds up in a courtroom.
So, guaranteed, education dollars for our children will be spent on lawfare before this washes out.
The ASD DEI Director makes a great salary to do nothing. When my child experienced antisemitism, she would not even return my call. She had the grievance person call me. All I wanted to know was what she would do in her role to advocate for ALL students including Jewish ones.
ASD wants this program. Can you say ‘sales tax’?