Our vision is an Alaska that continuously grows prosperity by maximizing individual opportunities and freedom
Should public school teachers be paid not to teach? School districts and other government bodies often pay employees full wages and benefits for performing union work instead of their official duties. Examples abound […]
by Quinn Townsend and Vance Ginn With revenue forecasts as rosy as this year’s have been, the legislature’s passage of a very large budget for fiscal year 2023 (FY 2023) comes as no […]
Authored and published by Reason Foundation. Abstract In 2005, Alaska enacted one of the most radical retirement system reforms in the public sector by discontinuing enrollment into its defined-benefit pension plan and creating […]
As is often the case, there was no shortage of bills introduced to the 32nd Legislature (which comprises 2021 and 2022). Not counting resolutions, legislators introduced 690. Those that did not pass both […]
Click here to open a printable PDF of this report in a new tab. By Sarah Montalbano and Johan Soto Introduction The National Public Education Financial Survey, annually compiled by the National Center […]
Click here to open a printable PDF of the report in a new tab. Introduction The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) has released several dashboards showing how COVID relief funds for […]
As of 2020, Anchorage faced a financial cliff of $658.7 million, leading Truth in Accounting (TIA) to label it a “sinkhole city” because the municipal government did not have enough assets to cover […]
This payroll analysis will examine the annual salaries, benefits, and total compensation for different groups of Anchorage School District employees in school years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. The Anchorage School District’s searchable payroll database […]
Experts from Reason Foundation’s Pension Integrity Project recently joined us for a 45-minute discussion on the costs and risks of changes to Alaska’s pension systems. You can watch the recording here (begins 04:30), […]
In 2006, the state of Alaska moved from one type of retirement system (defined benefits pension-DBP) for state employees to a 401(k)-style defined contribution retirement plan. The reason for this switch was concerns […]
Alaska has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds, most of which have gone straight to public school districts. Collectively to date, schools have nearly $401 million in COVID-19 […]
The Alaska legislature is contemplating House Bill 272, a proposal for a $71 million/year increase in K–12 spending ($590/student in average daily attendance). Part of the justification for the proposed increase seems to […]
By Rea S. Hederman Jr. and Quinn Townsend In late spring, Alaska will receive its second and final share of federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). With the size of […]
Since 2006, Alaska has made great strides in addressing the unfunded liability of the state-administered pension funds. The state was a trailblazer at the time for ending defined benefits options for new state […]