Alaska — United States Department of Education to the Honorable Deena M. Bishop (October 18, 2024)

Summary

This is a letter dated October 18, 2024 from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the United States Department of Education to Deena M. Bishop, Commissioner of Education at the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (AK DEED), with the name Adam Schott, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, printed at the end. The letter states that the Department received letters dated August 15, 2024 and September 16, 2024, which did not provide a plan for meeting the FY 2023 maintenance of equity requirements. It lists shortfalls under those requirements, with a FY 2022-related sub-total of $11,893,486, a FY 2023-related sub-total of $5,556,632, and a total of $17,450,118. It states that the Department has no further flexibilities to offer to Alaska.

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                                  UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
                                       OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION




                                                        October 18, 2024


The Honorable Deena M. Bishop
Commissioner of Education
Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
P.O. Box 110500
Juneau, AK 99811


Dear Commissioner Bishop:

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is in receipt of your letters dated August 15, 2024, and
September 16, 2024. As you noted in your August 15 letter, my July 16, 2024, letter indicated how
Alaska could demonstrate compliance with the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act maintenance of equity
requirements for fiscal year (FY) 2023. As also noted in my July 16 letter, I communicated that the
Department required a plan from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (AK
DEED) within 30 calendar days, “demonstrating that it is actively working to resolve its FY 2023
maintenance of equity compliance issues.” While the communications you shared described your
concerns about the requirements, they did not provide a plan through which your agency is attempting to
meet the requirements.

Both the underlying data and calculations used to determine compliance or non-compliance with the
maintenance of equity requirements were supplied by AK DEED (i.e., submitted by AK DEED via
email on March 8, 2024). In AK DEED’s March 8, 2024, submission of FY 2022 data to the
Department, the SEA identified Anchorage School District as a high-need local educational agency
(LEA) and Kenai Peninsula Borough School District as a highest-poverty LEA. Based on FY 2023 data
provided by AK DEED, the SEA identified Anchorage School District, Fairbanks North Star Borough
School District, and Juneau Borough School District as high-need LEAs; Kenai Peninsula Borough
School District was again identified as a highest-poverty LEA. These identifications were made by AK
DEED and indicated as such in the data submitted by AK DEED on March 8, 2024. As discussed in
numerous technical assistance calls with AK DEED and detailed in FAQs 19 and 20, both the
Department and AK DEED have calculated the State per-pupil funding using that March 8, 2024, data,
following the statutory calculations and definitions in sections 2004(b) and (d) of the ARP Act.

The shortfall calculations for both FY 2022 and FY 2023 are final so long as AK DEED does not
provide additional data to the Department. However, should the State modify its data, the shortfall
would be recalculated based on any updated data. The process for identifying high-need and highest-
poverty LEAs and the calculations used to determine whether the State maintained equity are explained
in FAQs 15, 19, and 20. The Department applied the calculations described in FAQs 19 and 20 to the
final data provided by AK DEED. On July 30, 2024, I sent a letter that detailed the calculations for


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   The Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering
                                         educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
Page 2 – The Honorable Deena M. Bishop

FY 2022 shortfalls and on September 13, 2024, I sent a letter that detailed the calculations for FY 2023
shortfalls. The shortfall information can be found in Table 1 (FY 2022) and Table 2 (FY 2023) below.

                    Table 1. Disproportionate State funding reductions under
                    FY 2022 maintenance of equity requirements
                                         LEA                         Shortfall
                    Kenai Peninsula Borough School District           $5,485,666
                    Anchorage School District                         $6,407,820
                    FY 2022-related sub-total                        $11,893,486

                   Table 2. Disproportionate State funding reductions under
                   FY 2023 maintenance of equity requirements
                                        LEA                           Shortfall
                   Juneau Borough School District                          $90,148
                   Anchorage School District                              $215,187
                   Kenai Peninsula Borough School District              $2,494,871
                   Fairbanks North Star Borough School District         $2,756,426
                   FY 2023-related sub-total                            $5,556,632
                   Total including FY 2022 and FY 2023                $17,450,118
Figures are based on data and information available to the Department through its monitoring. The
Department’s calculations would only change if AK DEED were to change their data.

We understand you are not in agreement with the Department’s assessment of non-compliance. Once
again, this assessment is a mathematical formula in section 2004(b)(1) and (2) of the ARP Act and the
definitions in section 2004(d) including the definition for overall per-pupil reduction in State funds in
section 2004(d)(5). Step-by-step instructions to calculate per-pupil funding are described in FAQs 19
and 20. This mathematical formula relies on AK DEED’s March 8, 2024, data of State education
funding for FY 2022 and FY 2023. AK DEED has used these same data, calculations, and guidance for
the purposes of submitting multiple small LEA tolerance proposals to reduce the number of affected
LEAs. As we have consistently communicated, we cannot allow Alaska to employ flexibilities that were
not available to other States, nor can we allow the State to submit or calculate data differently for the
LEAs that remain out of compliance versus the State’s other LEAs. We have no further flexibilities to
offer to Alaska, and the statute does not authorize the Department to waive this requirement.

                                             Sincerely,




                                             Adam Schott
                                             Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
                                             Delegated the Authority to Perform the
                                             Functions and Duties of the Assistant Secretary
                                             Office of Elementary and Secondary Education


Cc: The Honorable Mike Dunleavy, Governor


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