Casey Grove
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on the first day of the legislative session by the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and the Kuspuk School District. It seeks to compel the state to conduct a study on the adequacy of school funding and develop an annual inflation adjustment for the funding.
A Department of Law spokesperson responded to a request for comment on the suit in a written statement, saying “the responsible path is legislation, not litigation, that “the Alaska Constitution does not set a dollar amount for education funding” and, to the contrary, gives the power to make education funding decisions to the Legislature and governor.
The suit comes after lawmakers passed a long-sought increase to the state’s per-student funding formula, an increase that required the Legislature to override a veto from Governor Mike Dunleavy.
But it still wasn’t enough, according to the Coalition for Education Equity, an advocacy group helping fund the lawsuit.
Executive Director Caroline Storm says the state has failed in its constitutional obligation to provide Alaska children with an education.
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