The Yukon Flats School District (YFSD) is comprised of 6 communities in the Upper Yukon Flats region of Alaska. These small communities are primarily Gwich’in traditional Athabascan settlements. These communities are: Arctic Village, Beaver, Chalkyitsik, Circle, Fort Yukon, and Venetie. The largest of these communities and the hub communities is Fort Yukon. The annual enrollment is just over 200 students for these 6 communities.

The school district is part of the State of Alaska Regional Educational Attendance Area or more commonly called REAA. The REAA structure is connected to census and is an election area that can change. See the latest change here:

https://education.alaska.gov/information-exchange-blog/2021-reaa-reapportionment-finalized

In the village of Beaver, our representative was replaced by a resident of another community.

The fact that the YFSD is an REAA impacts how much funding is distributed to the district on an annual basis. The State of Alaska fiscal year (FY) is from July 1-June 30th every year. The current fiscal year we are in is the State of Alaska FY2024. The time period for FY24 is July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. This means that we are currently in FY24.

On June 19, 2023, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy signed the FY24 State of Alaska budget. Priorities included public education with an increase of $65 million. The increased budget priorities were ANSEP, CTE, Teacher Recruitment, Head Start, school maintenance, and the Alaska Reads Act. The funding formula was minimally increased. See here:

https://gov.alaska.gov/governor-dunleavy-signs-fy24-state-budget-prioritizing-public-safety-education-and-economic-development/

The YFSD receives its funding based on what’s called a foundation funding formula. This is a complicated calculation that is made each year based on the count period, where each school counts student attendance and reports it to the State of Alaska Department of Education and Early Development. You can read more about this formula here:
aasb.org/wp-content/uploads/Fo…