A lunch break on a gravel bar on the Klehini River wound to a close as Russ Lyman and Joe Ordóñez studied a massive log jam. The duo have guided raft trips in the Chilkat Valley for nearly 40 years.
The tangled pile of trees blocked one channel of the river and had the potential to flip one or both of the 16-foot rafts being used on this expedition.
Russ Lyman, left, and Joe Ordonez analyze the river channels to avoid a log jam during a training run on June 5, 2026 on the Klehini River in Haines, Alaska. (Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News)
The two stood on the riverbank, binoculars in hand, considering the group’s options.
In front of them, the logs were being squished together by the loud, strong current, with branches shaking. The white water below the logs pointed out just how much force was in front of this jam.
They devised a plan to avoid the jam entirely by crossing over two channels.
Ordóñez and Lyman took over the oars from guides in training and brought the boats across the first channel, where passengers hopped out to scoot the boat over a gravel bar. They then crossed the second channel, sticking to one side and watching the log jam’s immense force as the boat drifted by, unscathed. Lyman approached the situation with calm expertise, as the new guides looked on, learning from each paddle stroke. Passengers gripped the rope on the perimeter of the boat, keeping a steady eye on the jam they had just passed.
Once past the obstacle, Rainbow Glacier Adventures’ newest guides, Lydia Andriesen and Jack Kendall, took over the oars again. This is the duo’s first season as raft guides in the Chilkat Valley.
While looking out for obstacles downstream, Lyman began counting up roughly how many trips he had done on the Klehini and Chilkat rivers. He estimated that he would do roughly 200 rafting trips a year, which adds up to “a thousand” trips on the river. Lyman started guiding on daytrips but switched over to 10-12 day trips on the Alsek and Tatshenshini rivers. Ordóñez also guided these longer trips.
“We spent all summer on those rivers and that’s how you really get good,” Ordóñez told the new guides during their lunch break on a bank of the river around 30 mile of the Haines Highway.
New Rainbow Glacier Adventures rafting guide Jack Kendall, left, listens to RGA owner Joe Ordonez while on a training trip on June 5, 2026 on the Klehini River, in Haines, Alaska. (Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News)
This June 5 training run for the river guides is something of an annual tradition for raft companies in Haines, helping prepare new guides to manage hundreds of passengers who want to float down the river and see wildlife.
The upper Klehini River serves as a level-up for new guides, providing challenges that are not as common on the Chilkat River where they most often escort passengers.
The Klehini has a steeper gradient, more debris and a swifter current than the Chilkat River.
“I always believe that the guides need to be competent above their level,” said Rainbow Glacier Adventures owner Ordóñez . “They have to be able to perform in a situation beyond what the river is showing them right now.”
Ordóñez has been rafting in Haines since 1987. He and raft guide instructor Lyman took the company’s newest river guides down the Klehini as part of their preparation for the summer season.
As guides are giving their spiel, pointing out eagles, bears or other natural sights during rafting trips, they also have to navigate down the river and look ahead to avoid upcoming obstacles.
Guides also learn how to move with the river, not against it, while paddling.
“You are not stronger than this river,” Ordóñez said.
Rafting requires knowledge not only of the river but also of its surroundings. Lyman said one of the biggest challenges for guides is learning how to read the river’s ripples, which indicate where the deep water is to avoid unwantedly beaching the raft.
“With the fast pace of the Klehini, you really got to be making those quick choices and committing to a good line,” said Kendall.
The river changes day to day, week to week.
When Lyman started guiding in 1989, the Tsirku River was running in a completely different area through the forest. Lyman estimated that over the course of 15, maybe 20 years, “it worked its way… across the delta clear to the lower end.” Both the Klehini and Tsirku rivers join the Chilkat River.
“It shifts around like that real dramatically,” he said.
The Klehini is also changing, cutting further west toward the forest. Lyman said there is one section where this change is especially visible, in a bank cutting into the forest just after the Porcupine Bridge.
He estimates that “eventually that’s probably where most of the river will go.”
The river, according to Lyman, is eroding everywhere.
“Eventually, that little tiny flood channel we were seeing, years from now that could be the main channel cutting back through here,” he said.
Guides have to learn how to read the river and manage changes that happen daily.
At one point, passengers on one of the rafts got stuck on a gravel bar. They bounce on the inflated tubes to help push the boat off the bank and back into the current.
Gravel bars, submerged trees, constantly shifting channels and swift-moving water are some of the obstacles guides face.
Russ Lyman, left, explains the technicalities of a swiftwater stop to Lydia Andriesen, middle as Davey Ozahowski watches on during their June 5, 2026 training run on the Klehini River in Haines, Alaska. (Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News)
“One of the biggest things is that the people who are training me have been doing it for 40 years, you don’t often get the experience,” Andriesen said while paddling the raft.
The Klehini is classified as Class II and sometimes Class III river when water levels are high. Rivers are classified from Class I to Class V, with V being the most difficult or technically challenging whitewater. Class II rivers are defined as straightforward rapids with Class III having more intense rapids.
Andriesen and Kendall were practicing their swiftwater stop with lines. To conduct this stop, guides line up the boat to be at a 45-degree angle from the river bank, and get a bag with rope attached to the boat. Holding this rope, the guides jump onto the dry banks, stopping the raft from continuing down the river. Lyman said that this is a technique that is unique to the rivers in the Chilkat Valley.
“We have to be able to stop where there’s not an eddy or anything, on our own.” Lyman has been rafting in Haines on and off for 37 years and has been instructing new guides on and off for the past 10 years.
All guides are required to have their wilderness first responder certificate and swiftwater rescue training. Swiftwater training teaches guides to be able to get a boat unstuck, utilize rope work and learn the current.
Every spring, Lyman helps instruct the new round of Chilkat Guides’ guides. This training lasts for nine days. For most of these guides, it’s their first time in Alaska and often their first time rowing.
Before guides get out on the river, they practice in an on-land raft and then head to Chilkoot Lake or the harbor to learn the basics of rowing. Lyman estimates that usually two-thirds have never rowed before. During training, guides learn how to row a raft, read the river, navigate the channels and perform a swiftwater stop with eight passengers.
This year, Chilkat Guides trained 27 new guides over the course of nine days and Rainbow Glacier Adventures trained two new guides, all of whom Lyman helped instruct.
The indefinite closure of Haines’ popular Chilkoot campground may be coming to an end.
The Alaska Division of State Parks, which administers the Chilkoot Lake campground, has kept the facility and its 32 camp sites closed this season due to what they say is understaffing.
Now, state parks has advertised a new park technician position, which, when filled, will allow the campground to reopen, regional superintendent Brad Garasky said this week. The position closes on June 30.
Even advertising the vacant position had been a major hurdle due to a state government hiring freeze put in place by Gov. Mike Dunleavy last spring. To bypass the hiring freeze, state agencies must get a waiver from the Governor’s office specific to each position they hope to hire for.
During an assembly meeting last month, mayor Tom Morphet said the community and borough officials would “have to raise our voices a little bit, stomp our feet,” to push the state for a new hire and campground reopening.
The foot stomping has come from multiple sources:
This winter, the regional State Parks Citizen Advisory Board sent a letter to Dunleavy and Department of Natural Resources commissioner John Crowther advocating for new hiring and campground reopening.
“Restoring these roles, especially the Parks Technician and associated seasonal support positions, would directly improve day-to-day operations, protect public safety, and strengthen the tourism infrastructure that so many Southeast communities rely on,” wrote board chair and Haines resident Nate Arrants.
State Parks officially submitted its request to hire for the park technician position on Feb. 27, but for months it went unapproved.
Earlier this month, borough manager Alekka Fullerton, along with the borough’s state government lobbyist met with Crowther and sent him an official letter earlier advocating the governor approve hiring for the vacant position.
Yet a third letter came from former Haines Borough manager Annette Kreitzer, who recently announced her candidacy for the state representative seat for the Chilkat Valley.
In her letter, Kreitzer referred to “a drastic need for a waiver for a park technician to re-open the Chilkoot State Park Campground.”
Kreitzer, a longtime legislative staffer and former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration, has pitched her experience and state government relationships as pluses of her candidacy.
“That’s not the way you engage with the state,” she said of Morphet’s feet-stomping analogy. “I don’t doubt others have attempted to call, but connections are important. I have lots of relationships (in state government) that I don’t try to pull on more than I need to or want to, but to me there was no movement on the issue.”
Meanwhile, her opponent, incumbent Andi Story, said she has been advocating to fill the vacant Chilkoot position for months.
“I have elevated this request to the last two Commissioners’ attention multiple times,” Story wrote in an email this week.
Story also said requests for hiring freeze waivers “have been a group effort for quite some time,” citing the advisory board’s letter and advocacy from Haines residents.
Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Lorraine Henry said this week the waiver had been approved by the governor as a “public safety exemption” to the hiring freeze.
Reopening the campground should increase both access to the popular state recreation site, as well as discussions of how to best manage the area.
Chilkoot Lake is particularly popular due to the proximity of bears to the campground and road. Bear viewing, however, has presented challenges, with reports last year of tourists dangerously close to bears, and citations for tour operators stopping in the road for bear viewing.
Diane Moore, who has worked seasonally in Haines out of her RV for the last four summers, said she’d ordinarily spend some time at the Chilkoot campground. Instead, she’s currently at the Haines Hitch-Up RV Park, which she also works for.
“It’s a special place. It’s just beautiful,” Moore said of the Chilkoot area. But, she added, she makes a habit of checking the cruise ship schedule anytime she goes out to the lake in the hopes of avoiding the crowds.
It was a similar message from Sue Rakes, who has worked as State Parks’ campground host for the last two summers. Rakes spoke to the value of bringing people to the Chilkoot area, but also the importance of safe interactions with bears.
“I think it’s natural that people want to be tied into nature, they just need the tools to do it,” she added. “When people have that knowledge they want to take on the responsibility of looking out for the welfare of the bears, and they can just be in wonder and enjoy nature.”
The borough is headed to Superior Court over a decision by its own Board of Equalization to exempt a local Episcopal church property from borough tax.
The dispute surrounds a parcel at 1 Mile Haines Highway purchased in 2000 by St. Michael & All Angels’ Episcopal Church. After the purchase, the church converted a small existing structure on the property into a chapel, and maintains the land, church representatives have said, as a place for members to walk, pray, and meditate.
According to state statute, municipalities may exempt from property tax land “used exclusively for nonprofit religious, charitable, cemetery, hospital or educational purposes.” The borough has granted that exemption to the 1-Mile parcel since it was purchased. But this year, the borough’s contracted assessor, Martins Onskulis, reversed course and removed the exemption. Onskulis has valued the property and building at $241,700.
At issue is what exactly constitutes the “exclusive use” required by statute for the exemption.
Both sides agree that there are hypothetically clear violations of this exclusive use clause: for instance, if the church had some kind of for-profit, non-religious activity on the grounds. But that’s not what’s happening, and Onskulis doesn’t dispute congregation members’ assertion that the only official activities on the grounds have been religious services.
Instead, Onskulis has said the religious activities have not been recent, or regular enough to qualify the property for an exemption. If regular services begin again, he said last month, the tax exemption would return.
In an email to attorney and congregation member Linn Asper in April, Onskulis wrote that “while the statute does not explicitly define (exclusive use), the concept implies an element of temporality and frequency, meaning the property should be used consistently and regularly over time for religious purposes.”
Onskulis, at an equalization hearing this spring, cited a Fairbanks tax case decided in Superior Court earlier this year as the basis for that reading of statute. But in some ways, it seems to be uncharted waters: Onskulis said he brought the case to a meeting of all the state’s assessors, and his fellow assessors said they had not dealt with a comparable case.
The church is currently being represented by retired Haines District Court judge Linn Asper. Asper told Onskulis this spring the church had held 72 services at the property since 2000, but none in the last six years. The church holds its regular services at the Chilkat Center.
Asper disagrees with how Onskulis is interpreting the law. In Asper’s view, the frequency of the services shouldn’t be relevant.
In an April email, he wrote to Onskulis that “the church concedes there has not been a religious service on the property for some time… however, the term ‘current’ is not in the controlling statute.”
“If the borough can dictate what type of service, how often, where it happens, they’re seeking to control the church,” Asper said this week. “I think that’s a really bad precedent.”
There are a couple of layers of appeals in the case. The first was the Board of Equalization hearing, in which the church appealed Onskulis’ original decision to remove the exemption. In that hearing, the board — an assembly-appointed body that hears property tax appeals — unanimously sided with the church, voting to exempt the property from tax.
“It’s not our place to say what someone’s religious experience is,” said board member Brenda Josephson.
“We’ve seen a lot of flim-flam outfits come into Haines and someone lives in a house out the road and calls themselves a church and says their property isn’t taxable — I’ve seen that several times,” said board member Jim Stanford. “That isn’t the case here. This is an established Episcopalian church that bought this property to use for religious purposes and I don’t want to be the one to say they aren’t using it.”
Now, the borough’s appeal to Superior Court seeks to overturn it’s own board’s decision, removing the tax exemption once more.
The borough filed the appeal on June 10.
In a court document filed Wednesday, Asper asked the court to dismiss the appeal, including on the grounds that the borough “has not alleged abuse of discretion or other actions of the Board that violate the requirements of the Alaska Administrative Procedure Act.”
The court has not yet scheduled a first hearing in the case.
As church members await a final decision, they’re putting work into the property to prepare for more regular use, including a newly-built bridge over a stream and a remodeling of the chapel. The work follows what Asper describes as a difficult stretch for the church since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asper said.
“It gives us hope for the future,” said member Joan Degen of the recent work. Degen was at the property Wednesday mowing the grass.
“We’re a smaller congregation, lots of older members, many on limited incomes. I hope (the appeal) goes our way so we don’t have to downsize.”
I was schooled to tip the dealer if dealt a win at the table. I’ve benefitted, and the dealer is acknowledged as contributing to my good fortune.
The Skagway Borough recently won a court decision that saved AP&T customers in Skagway and Haines potential charges of over $4 million, the estimated cost of replacing the broken section of an undersea cable. The decision also denied in part AP&T’s request for a 70% rate increase. Skagway footed the cost of the argument: $767,000.
In 2023 the Haines Borough resolved to participate in the initial phase of the lawsuit (then $144,000) with $10,000. The check was never written.
Mayor Morphet brought to the Assembly on May 9, news of our failure to write the check, and suggested that the Haines Borough acknowledge our good fortune today by participating in the cost of the lawsuit at the original proportion, or 7%: $54,000. The Assembly said “No!”
What sort of people are we that won’t recognize an action taken by another to benefit us? It doesn’t matter what money we think we don’t have…we would have much less without the willingness of the Skagway Borough to take a risk and step up to the table. Let’s applaud them and say “Thank You.”
Please call your favorite Assembly member and ask for a reconsideration of the decision to acknowledge more fairly the work of our neighbors for saving Haines’ AP&T ratepayers substantially into our future.
This is the second wave of thanks to local Chilkat Challenge Triathlon supporting organizations and businesses (the first wave was posted in last week’s paper.) With your help it was our biggest and best race yet – we couldn’t have done it without your support: Chilkat Inlet Retreat, Olerud’s Market, First National Bank of Alaska, Lynn Canal Conservation, Takshanuk Watershed Council, American Bald Eagle Foundation, Mountain Market, Haines Home Building Supply, and a tip of the kayak paddle to the Haines Tourism Department and the Haines Chamber of Commerce!
Crystal Cathedrals Water and Sewer Systems is asking the state to approve a 15 percent rate increase for its residential and commercial customers.
The price increase, the first in four years, is needed to keep up with increased costs of operation, said company president John Floreske, “the cost of doing business has gone up, as it always does,” he said, citing fuel costs as one example of rising expenses.
But the hike, filed May 30 with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, has some customers balking.
Kevin Reeves, one of the utility’s 56 customers in the service area just out of town, said the increase was unacceptable. “I don’t see how it would be possible for this thing to go through and for it to be called fair.”
The commission is charged with “ensuring that a tariff contains fair and reasonable rates and practices that protect customers while providing utilities the opportunity to make fair returns on their investments,” said Grace Salazar, chief of consumer protection for the RCA.
30 Years Ago
Haines city clerk Susan Johnston is encouraging the council to declare 13 abandoned boats along Beach Road a public nuisance and to take steps to destroy them.
Johnston has obtained written permission to destroy the boats from six owners and oral permission from two. In the other cases, ownership has not been determined or the owners are dead.
The city also needs permission from the state Department of Transportation to take action within the state’s right-of-way.
Johnston wants a legal opinion on whether the boats can be auctioned off. Inquiries about buying a boat or boat parts came in after the city obtained permission from owners to destroy the boats.
The date of destruction will be published in advance.
The council became concerned about the city’s liability last summer, following an incident of arson on one of the boats.
40 Years Ago
Puns aside, it definitely was a “dog day afternoon” at the bank last Thursday.
With 10 pooches, ranging from a five-pound Cairn terrier to a 90-pound golden retriever, as special guests, the Haines bank had its first Dog Fest in the back room last week. As bank employees sipped wine and mixed drinks, the guests chowed down on several boxes of treats and didn’t seem to mind sharing a communal water bowl.
“It’s amazing that there’s this many different types of dogs and not one fight,” said Harold Hopper, husband of assistant vice president Nicki Hopper, “they get along better than people.”
Banker Dick Flegel wasn’t too sure the Dog Fest would be peaceful when he spent Thursday afternoon shopping for dog treats and toys in preparation for the party. He was worried. He made no bones about that.
Asked if this would be the first annual Dog Fest, Flegel quickly responded, “we’ll have to see how it goes. It could be more than we bargained for,” conjuring up images of good old-fashioned dog fights. But that wasn’t to be. The canine guests were bathed, brushed and on their best behavior. Some dressed up for the occasion, in necktie, a lei and bandana. Others apparently thought it was a “come as you are” party.
There were the customary comments about dogs and owners looking like each other as well as drawings, from a dog dish, of course, for prizes. And there was one dog who decided to leave a deposit at the bank.
Saturday, June 7 A caller in the 300 block of Haines Highway reported harassment at a public location.
Sunday, June 8 A caller in the 400 block of Main Street requested to speak with an officer about a trespass notice. A caller at Port Chilkoot Dock reported a brown bear in the area. Alaska State Troopers (AST) were advised. A caller in the 40 block of Barnett Street reported finding a child without a parent.
Monday, June 9 A caller on Mud Bay Road reported a vehicle in the water way leaking fuel. , Police, fire, Public Works and the harbormaster responded. AST and the Coast Guard were advised. A caller in the 900 block of Comstock Road reported their vehicle being vandalized. A caller on Young Road reported a speeding motorcycle passed them on the roadway. A caller in the 300 block of Haines Highway reported a cruise passenger missed the deadline for ship departure. The person was located.
Tuesday, June 10 A caller on Mud Bay Road reported vehicles had been speeding through the detour route all day. An officer on Mud Bay performed traffic stops and issued five verbal warnings for speeding. A homeowner in the 600 block of Small Tracts Road reported a false alarm at their home. An officer at the downtown harbor assisted another agency. A caller on Haines Highway reported a large tree branch in the roadway obstructing traffic. An officer cleared the roadway.
Wednesday, June 11 A driver in the 1000 block of Haines Highway received a verbal warning for tail light requirements. A caller in the 200 block of Main Street reported personal items missing. The caller’s property was found.
Thursday, June 12 A caller in the 600 block of Small Tracts Road reported a missing camera. The camera was recovered. An officer at Haines Highway and Fair Drive performed a traffic stop and issued a verbal warning for speeding.
Friday, June 13 A caller in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive reported witnessing an intoxicated person driving a vehicle. A caller at 9 Mile Haines Highway reported a vehicle driving very slowly and swerving a bit. A caller in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive requested officers check on a family member. An officer in the 400 block of Main Street witnessed a minor vehicle accident and responded. A caller on Piedad Road reported a driver going at a high rate of speed toward town. Callers at 25 Mile Haines Highway reported the sounds of explosions. The Klehini Valley Volunteer Fire Department responded. Haines firefighters were on standby. A caller in Haines reported a lost cell phone. Item description and contact information was obtained. A caller in the 400 block of Union Street reported a domestic dispute.
There were four 911 hang-up calls, three canine calls, two EMS calls and 44 burn permits issued during this reporting period.
Dan Stickel, chief economist with the Alaska Department of Revenue, testifies in front of the Alaska Senate Finance Committee in 2023. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
The proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline project would generate an average of almost $800 million per year for the state treasury for 30 years starting in 2033, according to a new estimate from the Alaska Department of Revenue that includes a proposed tax break approved by the state House.
The Senate committee is now considering House Bill 381, containing the tax break.
According to the DOR estimate, the state stands to collect $23.4 billion through 2062 if the tax break becomes law and the pipeline is built as expected. Borough governments would share $7.8 billion during the same period.
The project would create indirect benefits as well, employing as many as 12,000 people during the peak of construction, according to the project’s developer.
As currently planned, the Alaska LNG project would include an 807-mile pipeline from the North Slope to the Kenai Peninsula. At the north end of the pipeline would be a processing plant that takes raw gas and prepares it for shipment. At the south end would be a liquefaction facility that prepares the gas for tankers that could ship it around the world.
Under existing law, the pipeline and North Slope plant are subject to a 2% property tax, shared by the state and boroughs along the project’s route. The tax would be imposed as soon as construction is finished.
Glenfarne, the international firm developing Alaska LNG, has called the tax unaffordable and wants it to be lowered in order to attract investors who would ultimately pay for construction.
Under the version of HB 381 passed by the House, the property tax would be replaced with a tax on gas shipped through the pipeline.
The state would still collect production taxes, royalties and other fees associated with gas production.
Glenfarne owns 75% of the project. The remaining 25% is held by the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corp., and the state could collect additional revenue depending on its ownership share after investors take their slices of the project.
The biggest effect of the proposed tax break would be to reduce the price at which Alaska natural gas would need to be sold in order to make the pipeline profitable.
Under the current tax system, that “break-even” price is $9.07 per thousand cubic feet of gas in 2033, Stickel said. That’s when exports are set to begin. Under the House-passed bill, it drops to $8.57 per thousand cubic feet.
“That is a material change,” Stickel said, “not quite as much of a decrease as the original version of the bill introduced by the governor, but still a very significant tax relief that would impact the project economics.”
Demand for natural gas is highest in Asia, and current prices are above $16 per thousand cubic feet. If the pipeline were operating today, the Department of Revenue estimates that Alaska gas could be exported to Japan for $7.21 per thousand cubic feet.
The price of Asian gas is expected to drop significantly when the Iran war ends, and experts have published widely differing estimates for the expected competitive price of gas in the 2030s.
Alaska’s lieutenant governor maintains an office at the state Capitol in Juneau on the same floor as the governor. (Photo by James Brooks for Northern Journal)
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and chair of the House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a legislative hearing on Monday to discuss the disqualification.
In a memo to Gray, attorney Andrew Dunmire said “the Lieutenant Governor was likely not legally justified in her decision to reject Mr. Sullivan’s declaration of candidacy.”
Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg has the same first and last name as incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
The Alaska Republican Party filed twocomplaints against the Petersburg Sullivan, saying his candidacy was merely intended to confuse voters and he was not acting as a candidate in good faith.
Dahlstrom ultimately agreed with those complaints and disqualified Dan. J. Sullivan under a state regulation that forbids the Division of Elections from listing a candidate’s name “in a manner that is confusing or misleading to voters or compromises the fairness or neutrality of the ballot.”
Dunmire, analyzing the situation, said Dahlstrom was incorrect because state regulations cannot trump the U.S. Constitution’s requirements for candidates.
“As a general matter, the U.S. Constitution is supreme in all areas of law, and an administrative regulation cannot override or contravene a constitutional requirement. Therefore, if Daniel J. Sullivan is constitutionally entitled to be recognized as a candidate for U.S. Senate, then no regulation can prevent him from appearing on the ballot,” Dunmire wrote.
Amber Lee, a consultant working with Dan J. Sullivan, said by text message on Wednesday that the Petersburg Sullivan is still deciding what he will do after the lieutenant governor’s decision.
Students perform during a final spring concert on May 13, 2026 at Meadow Lakes Elementary, one of three schools closed by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District this year to address a budget deficit. (Photo by Elise Giordano/Mat-Su Sentinel)
Alaska saw an unprecedented wave of school closures this year. District officials grappling with severe budget shortfalls have opted to close 12 elementary and middle schools across the state — in Anchorage, Wasilla, Sutton, Seward, Sterling, Soldotna, Kasilof and Ketchikan.
With those closures, hundreds of students and staff will bus or commute to new schools next year, class sizes will grow as grades are combined and districts across the state are cutting programs, teachers, health aides, custodians, sports, library services and extracurriculars like music.
Officials in four districts say the closures were incredibly complex and difficult decisions but necessary to combat millions in budget shortfalls and years of state funding not meeting districts’ surging costs to operate schools.
“It was an incredibly trying time,” said Randy Trani, superintendent of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District that closed three elementary schools this year to address a $28 million budget shortfall. “Non-winnable… we did this to save teaching positions,” he said.
“This is devastating to everyone,” said Kylie Wilcox, a Soldotna mother of five. Her middle and high schoolers attended River City Academy, one of four schools closed on the Kenai Peninsula. “The district does not want to do this, the administration doesn’t want to do this, we just, it’s the reality of what we’re working with.”
At the same time, superintendents said it’s still unclear whether the closures and cuts have balanced district budgets because Gov. Mike Dunleavy has yet to sign off on next year’s increased budget for education funding. Last year, lawmakers flew back to Juneau for a special session, overruled Dunleavy’s veto and restored an education funding increase in a historic override vote in August, just weeks ahead of the first day of school.
This year, the Alaska Legislature approved one-time additional funding of $144 million for K-12 schools, including $29 million to offset rising energy costs, to total $1.8 billion approved for education next year. Lawmakers passed a budget with higher-than-expected state oil revenues driven by the Iran war, which is now before Dunleavy for his consideration.
Education Commissioner Deena Bishop said that the state has seen declining enrollment for more than 15 years, and as a result districts close schools due to what she called “excess capacity.” Bishop has served as commissioner under the Dunleavy administration since August 2023.
Deena Bishop, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, speaks at a news conference Friday, March 15, 2024, with Gov. Mike Dunleavy. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
“We’ve had several schools at 50% capacity, 55% capacity, that were within two miles of each other. And understanding that you want to use the majority of your money, you don’t want to put into facilities — the majority of your money you want to put into classrooms,” she said. “And so decisions, you know, things were weighed, and districts, hopefully working with their parents and communities, made decisions that they felt were the correct ones.”
Bishop said more families are opting for homeschool programs, and districts need to figure out how to provide education services for families that want choices for more flexibility.
Nearly one in six Alaska students were homeschooled last year, totaling an estimated 23,600 students, according to data compiled by the Association of Alaska School Boards.
“So we can’t really be upset that, you know, ‘Oh no, they’re not going to our schools,’” Bishop said. “Obviously they’re going to a school that their needs are met, if they’ve chosen that, so how do we work with it? You know, what does education look like, and what does it look like in serving a community? And more and more we’ll find that one size doesn’t fit all that schools really want to offer, and districts are starting to offer different programs.”
Alaska students have the option to enroll in homeschool or correspondence programs across the state, not necessarily with the district where they reside. While district officials say they are working to adapt and provide homeschool education services, districts receive less state funding per homeschool student which is contributing to district-wide deficits.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District closes three schools
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, the state’s second largest district with almost 20,000 students, faced a $28 million budget deficit this year, prompting cuts across the district.
The school board closed Meadow Lakes and Larson elementary schools in Wasilla and Glacier View School in Sutton, affecting roughly 415 students and dozens of staff.
That comes after the district cut roughly 160 staff positions last year, said Superintendent Randy Trani. He said the district would have had to cut an additional 225 positions this year, which was unworkable.
“The very last thing that we wanted to do was lay off teachers, and the second last thing we wanted to do was close schools, but we’re to the point where if we didn’t close schools, it was only going to result in more teacher layoffs,” he said.
Trani said the district went through a process of evaluating schools based on a number of metrics, including number of students, costs to maintain and opportunities to bus students to schools nearby, in order to decide which schools to close. “The schools that we were forced to shut down were fantastic schools. This wasn’t a decision on academic merit. This was a decision about logistics and being forced into a really impossible choice,” he said.
Trani said closing the three schools wasn’t even enough to make up for the budget shortfall and the district had to cut deeper.
The school board considered various scenarios from cutting sports programs to transitioning to a four-day school week, Trani said, which were rejected by the school board. “These are all horrible choices,” he said.
While the Matanuska-Susitna Borough continues to have the fastest growing population in the state, Trani said declining birth rates combined with an ongoing wave of families opting to homeschool is leaving the district with declining enrollment of full-time students and reduced funding for the district. Roughly 3,200 students, or 16% of the district’s students, were enrolled in Mat-Su correspondence programs this year.
Trani said another cost driver had been double digit increases to healthcare insurance costs resulting in roughly $6 million more to the deficit, bumping it to $28 million.
But he emphasized the largest driver of the deficit was insufficient state funding. “State funding has not kept up with inflationary pressures, and it is by far the biggest driver,” he said. “Unless there is a long term fix to how K-12 education is funded this problem is going to continue.”
Ketchikan closes two of four elementary schools, with more cuts to come
Ketchikan serves roughly 1,800 students in the Southeast Alaska island community that is only accessible by plane or boat. This year, the district enacted major cuts, including 76 staff positions across the district to address a $3 million budget shortfall, plus $5 million in debt to the local borough. It closed two of the four elementary schools.
Point Higgins Elementary School was one of the two elementary schools closed this year in Ketchikan due to budget cuts. Staff and volunteers helped move out the school in early June 2026. (Photo by Niki Suomala)
The district closed Point Higgins and Fawn Mountain elementary schools, leaving one elementary, one middle and one high school in the community.
Niki Suomala, a third generation Ketchikan resident, attended Point Higgins elementary school, located 15 miles north of town. She said it was a special experience for her two children to go there — until the closure.
Her kids will be in the second and sixth grades next year, and they plan to commute into town for school. She said there were some tears at the news, but she said her children are adapting. She said she’s disappointed overall, but feels compassion for the district.
“It’s like, gosh, couldn’t we see this? Couldn’t we have seen this coming, and couldn’t we have tried to do something different?” she said. “But I also feel compassion, because I don’t know the answer to that question.”
Sheri Boehlert, the interim superintendent of Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District, also served as the principal of Point Higgins, spoke by phone after a full week of packing up and clearing out the schools. She said the reaction to the closures has been mixed: while there’s some in the community who want to see deeper cuts to balance budgets, there’s also a lot of grief in saying goodbye to neighborhood schools.
“It’s hard to dismantle something that was a big part of your career,” she said. “But on the flip side of that, the staff and community has really, by and large, been overwhelmingly supportive. We have tons of volunteers that are helping teachers pack and move, and they’re going to make something great at the next school for students, and there’s optimism out there.”
Class sizes will be effectively doubling in Ketchikan, Boehlert said, from about 15 students to class numbers in the twenties for elementary school and thirty students or more in the middle and high schools.
Boelert said the district has seen rising costs to operate, including for fuel, utilities and special education services. She said in particular the cost of staff health insurance is up 112% this year. Previous cost overruns for health insurance discovered last year created the over $5 million debt to the borough which the district will pay over over the next several years. “That is a unique situation,” Boehlert said. “They need their money back.”
Boehlert said with essentially flat state funding not meeting cost increases, the district cut roughly 26% of staff this year: “So it’s teachers, it’s principals, it’s custodians, health aides, like maintenance staff. No work group was unaffected.”
Even so, with the debt repayment, and this year’s state budgets still uncertain, Boehlert said Ketchikan faces more cuts across the district — unless there’s a significant population increase.
“We have a difficult road ahead of us in Ketchikan,” she said.
Four schools closed across the Kenai Peninsula
In the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the state’s third largest school district stretches across roughly 25,000 square miles — an area about the size of West Virginia — and serves nearly 8,400 students.
This year, the district faced an $8.5 million budget shortfall, after an $17 million deficit last year. The district is still in the midst of budget negotiations and determining cuts. An additional $3.3 million from the local borough and yet-to-be-determined one-time state funding this year may restore some programs, but officials opted to close four schools.
The district closed River City Academy in Soldotna, Tustumena Elementary School in Kasilof and Sterling Elementary School, sending students to other schools in Soldotna and Kenai. On the eastern side, the district closed Seward Middle School where classes will be consolidated into the elementary and high schools.
“The response was overwhelmingly that parents do not want these schools to close down. Communities did not want the schools to close down,” said Kari Dendurent, assistant superintendent of the Kenai Peninsula School District.
One of those parents is Kylie Wilcox, a mother of five living in Soldotna. Two of her children attended River City Academy, which was a standards-based school serving grades seven through 12. She said they liked the supportive environment and had hoped to continue through high school there.
River City Academy, a standards-based school serving grades 7 through 12 in Soldotna, was one of four schools closed by the Kenai Peninsula School District in May 2026. (Photo courtesy of Kylie Wilcox)
“They were starting to make friends at River City, and so they were really sad, like ‘I’ve got to start over again.’” she said. “And they were angry. They talked a lot about, you know, ‘why can’t they just give money to schools? Don’t they think that we’re worth it?’ My oldest was upset enough that they were willing to testify in the district meeting as well. I was really, really proud of them for doing that.”
Dendurent, the assistant superintendent, said the district worked through a transition plan to help students and families plan where to attend schools next year. She said some teachers from River City Academy transferred to Skyview and will be in homerooms with former students. She said it’s a difficult process with cuts across the district, including reading programs, library aides, English language learning programs, swimming pools and others.
“It’s very, very difficult, and it impacts everybody, and the other part that also makes it difficult is we are in contract negotiations right now with our certified and our classified employees as well,” she said.
Dendurent said the district has seen more students and families opt for homeschool programs, resulting in less state funding for the district. “It’s a borough issue, it’s a state issue, and it’s a national issue with declining enrollment,” she said.
She said rising health care costs is also a major factor for the district budget, as well as fuel and utilities costs. Even with the school closures, Dendurent said the district’s financial picture is still uncertain. “Predictable, sustainable funding is what I think all of us are looking for,” she said.
Wilcox said she has empathy for district officials and they handled the process fairly well, but wishes there was more support from the Kenai Peninsula Borough and from state leaders. She said her family is still evaluating options, but will likely homeschool her two middle and high school age students, with her 10th grader also pursuing classes at the Kenai Peninsula College.
“Honestly it feels sometimes like there are people in our state government that would rather see public schools fail, and rather see more homeschool and private school options happen for kids. And I feel like that’s not going to serve all of Alaska’s kids,” she said.
“Like, homeschool is a great option for a lot of people. I am a homeschool graduate,” she added. “But I know that there are families where that’s just simply not an option, and they deserve the support of the state for their child’s education, that’s one of our rights.”
Anchorage closes three elementary schools, with deep cuts across the district
In the state’s urban center, the Anchorage School District made severe cuts this year to address a $90 million deficit and opted to close three elementary schools. It is the largest school district that serves nearly 42,000 students.
The closures were at Fire Lake, Lake Otis and Campbell STEM elementary schools. A parent group filed a lawsuit challenging the district’s decision to close Campbell STEM, which is still under dispute. It’s the only one of the three schools without plans to move a charter school into the building.
Andy Ratliff, the district’s financial officer, said closing the three schools accounted for just a fraction of the deficit, and cuts were made across the district — including almost 500 staff positions, or about 10% of the district’s staff.
“We reduced millions of dollars in administrative costs. We’ve increased our class sizes by four. We reduced a lot of our IT positions, maintenance, everything,” he said. “Mental health, our teaching and learning department was cut by like 45 or 55%. Yeah, I mean it’s just kind of all across the board, even into our special education realm.”
Ratliff said the district has spent down its savings, and the small increase in state funding last year didn’t meet the district’s rising costs. He said health insurance rose in the double digits and now is about 20% of the total budget. “It’s really just this inconsistent funding that’s really just kind of dictated by the state that has put us in this position,” he said.
Ratliff noted the state’s energy relief funds are contingent on oil revenues and likely won’t reach districts until September. He said the uncertainty of funding this late in the year is challenging for staffing and determining what cuts if any can be restored.
“They did approve money, but we don’t have it yet,” he said. “So it’s hard for districts to do any sort of restoring of the cuts that they’ve made at this point.”
State legislature approves $144M in one-time next year, but funding still uncertain
District officials said the Legislature’s boost of $700 per student in the state’s funding formula last year was welcome, but did not significantly affect districts’ overall financial challenges.
A school bus drives by the Alaska State Capitol on Jan. 21, 2026. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
The 12 school closures this year comes after five schools were closed last year in Kodiak, the Kenai Peninsula Borough and Fairbanks.
Many district officials, education advocates and lawmakers have emphasized that state funding has not kept pace for years with school districts’ needs and costs for providing public education.
But Bishop, education commissioner for the Dunleavy administration, rejected the notion that school funding has been flat.
“Over time in our state, because of the fluctuations of how we get resources to provide to schools, I think that’s exactly why money is either in the formula or out of the formula, but over time you will see that generally there’s been an increase in funds every year,” she said.
She acknowledged the rising costs of school districts, and said at the same time the governor and Legislature have competing priorities for the state budget. “Everybody in the state has to look at the picture as a whole,” she said.
“Hopefully when we can create new revenue, continue to really thrive in schools and innovate programs to match needs that families are seeking, that we’ll be able to move into the future,” she said.
This year, lawmakers seemed to have less appetite for taking on another education funding battle with Dunleavy, particularly among competing priorities of election reform and reviving the state’s pension system. Both initiatives were vetoed by Dunleavy and a legislative veto override effort failed for both. Citing increased oil revenues due to the Iran war, the Legislature passed $144 million in additional one-time funding and nearly $150 million for K-12 school maintenance and repairs.
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, speaks in favor of a veto override on House Bill 69 on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, is a former teacher and vocal proponent of increasing education funding. She co-chairs the bipartisan task force on education funding launched last year.
“Closing a school feels like a death, and it is,” Himschoot said.
Himschoot pointed to budget problems, loss of enrollment and the shift to homeschool, but said the state, in her view, is not funding education as it should.
Himschoot said the task force is investigating short and long term funding solutions. The state approved an adequacy study this year to determine how much funding is needed to support schools, to be completed in the next few years. Another bill to allow districts to budget based on a three year average of student counts, failed in the Legislature this year, but Himschoot said the policy is likely to be revived next year to allow districts to set budgets earlier in the year. “It would take some of the uncertainty out and I think that’s going to have an impact on outcomes,” she said.
She said the task force is continuing its work looking at the problems and funding mechanisms, gathering input and evaluating solutions to address issues in the funding formula, major maintenance and rising costs like health care. Recommendations are due next January.
“The pain is felt by the students. That’s a straight line from state funding to what students get or don’t get,” she said. “It keeps me awake at night.”
