Anchorage School District

Anchorage School District is Alaska's largest urban school system, serving 43,727 students across 99 schools in the state's most populous city. The district has experienced modest growth of 1.6% in enrollment from the prior year and maintains a distributed school structure with 63 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, and 16 high schools supported by 2,424 teachers.

The district's student-teacher ratio of 18.0:1 reflects a moderately sized teaching workforce relative to enrollment. Academically, Anchorage performs above the state average with a graduation rate of 83.3% compared to Alaska's 77.2%, and maintains a 2.8% dropout rate.

A notable financial distinction sets Anchorage apart: the district's per-pupil spending of $16,080 falls substantially below Alaska's state average of $27,476, representing approximately 59% of the typical state funding level. Despite this differential, the district manages a total operating budget of $687.7 million. This funding disparity suggests that Anchorage School District allocates considerably fewer resources per student than most other Alaska districts while maintaining comparable or stronger academic outcomes. The relationship between lower per-pupil spending and above-average graduation rates indicates the district's resource allocation patterns differ significantly from state norms.