Anchorage elementary schools at risk of not meeting mental health services goal

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A new internal report will inform the Anchorage School Board that the school district is at risk of not meeting its goal of providing mental health services in elementary schools.

This Guardrail Monitoring Report will be presented to the school board at their regular board meeting on Tuesday night.

The report states that the Anchorage School District is at “some risk of not meeting the interim guardrail by Fall 2026.”

The goal is for 58 elementary schools to have at least 0.5 full-time equivalent staff available. This could include school counselors or school psychologists.

However, as of January 2025, only 49 schools are assigned a 0.5 FTE school counselor position.

“All 58 elementary schools are assigned some level of school psychology services,” the report stated.

The report said that 10 FTE positions are vacant and there are five vacant school psychologist intern positions.

“These vacancies impact thirteen of the fifty-eight elementary schools. Elementary schools with open assignments receive limited services from currently employed school psychologists or contracted school psychologists,” the report stated.

The report states that if the Base Student Allocation were increased by at least $1,000 to a total of $6,960 per student, ASD could meet its goal.

Alaska’s state House and Senate are scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday to vote on whether or not to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a bill increasing the BSA.

Other topics that will be brought up at the School Board meeting will include waiving a social studies elective credit for freshmen students, awarding a contract to Roger Hickel Contracting, Inc. for the Gruening Middle School Boiler Room Improvements project, and a contract modification for the Inlet View Elementary School Replacement Project.

The school board will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the ASD Education Center.

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