School Funding Equity in Alaska

40 districts ranked by equity score — how equitably is school funding distributed? Equity is computed from NCES F-33 school finance data covering districts in all 50 states. See our methodology.

49
State Avg Score
49
National Avg Score
10
Highly Equitable (70+)
10
Low Equity (<30)
# District Score
1 Kuspuk School District 96
2 Annette Island School District 87
3 Lake and Peninsula Borough School District 84
4 Southwest Region School District 83
5 Alaska Gateway School District 82
6 Bering Strait School District 81
7 Lower Kuskokwim School District 78
8 Yupiit School District 77
9 Lower Yukon School District 71
10 Northwest Arctic Borough School District 71
11 Mount Edgecumbe 69
12 Dillingham City School District 65
13 Kashunamiut School District 65
14 Aleutians East Borough School District 61
15 Saint Mary's School District 58
16 Kodiak Island Borough School District 49
17 Nome Public Schools 49
18 Cordova City School District 49
19 Haines Borough School District 49
20 North Slope Borough School District 46
21 Copper River School District 46
22 Sitka School District 43
23 Unalaska City School District 43
24 Petersburg Borough School District 40
25 Iditarod Area School District 38
26 Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District 36
27 Kenai Peninsula Borough School District 32
28 Valdez City School District 32
29 Yukon-Koyukuk School District 31
30 Delta/Greely School District 30
31 Wrangell Public School District 29
32 Anchorage School District 25
33 Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District 25
34 Juneau Borough School District 25
35 Nenana City School District 25
36 Craig City School District 25
37 Chugach School District 24
38 Galena City School District 23
39 Fairbanks North Star Borough School District 20
40 Denali Borough School District 15

How the Equity Score Works

The equity score (0-100) evaluates four dimensions of school funding fairness:

Per-Pupil Spending (0-25)
Higher spending relative to peers
Need-Adjusted Spending (0-25)
Spending weighted by poverty level — rewards districts that spend more where need is greatest
Funding Diversity (0-25)
Less reliance on local property taxes, more state/federal support
Resource Access (0-25)
Lower student-teacher ratios = more individualized attention