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Alaska

Alaska, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.

State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

2024 State Early Childhood Policy Environment and Progress

Early Childhood Landscape:

Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.

Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining

Approximately 35% (29,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200% FPL (2022). This number represents a decrease from 36% (34,000) in 2017.¹

Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High

Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200% FPL than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.²

Note: This data does not take into account the traditional subsistence way of life of Alaska’s rural Indigenous communities, where economics are different and households would not necessarily self-identify as “low-income.”

Advocacy Landscape:

State Unrestricted General Fund Appropriations: Declining

Alaska’s governor signed the state’s fiscal 2025 budget into law in June of 2024, while also announcing a series of line-item vetoes. The budget provides for total expenditures (excluding the Permanent Fund) of $11.20 billion in fiscal 2025, a 4.0 percent decline from fiscal 2024 total expenditures (which includes supplementals). The enacted budget includes $4.97 billion in unrestricted general fund spending (a 3.3 percent decline from fiscal 2024), $932.1 million in designated general fund spending (a 1.5 percent increase), $1.74 billion in other spending (a 1.7 percent decrease), and $3.55 billion in federal spending (a 7.5 percent decrease). The budget also calls for $3.6 billion in total capital appropriations. In signing the budget, the governor announced line-item vetoes reducing the operating budget by $105.7 million and the capital budget by $126.3 million. Additionally, the budget includes a Permanent Fund Dividend of approximately $1,718 for each eligible Alaskan. Total state revenue (including unrestricted general fund revenue, restricted revenue, and federal revenue) is estimated at $16.52 billion in fiscal 2025 (a 6.8 percent increase from fiscal 2024), while total unrestricted general fund revenue is estimated at $6.45 billion in fiscal 2025 (a 1.5 percent decrease).³

Key Revenue Sources After Federal Transfers:⁴

- - Property Taxes ($2,325 per capita)
  - Charges ($2,143 per capita)

Charges are public payments connected with a specific government service, such as tuition paid to a state university, payments to a public hospital, or highway tolls. Alaska does not levy a general sales tax or an individual income tax. Alaska also collects a relatively large amount of revenue from severance taxes, which are taxes on the extraction of natural resources such as oil and natural gas.

State Budget Rules:⁴

Alaska uses an annual budget. The legislature must pass and the governor must sign a balanced budget, and deficits cannot be carried into the following year. Alaska further limits spending growth according to population growth and inflation. The limit does not apply to the state’s Permanent Fund or capital projects. Otherwise, the state must amend its constitution to exceed the limitation. Alaska limits its total debt service (but not its total authorized debt).

Political Alignment: Unaligned

During the 2024 session, Alaska’s Senate consisted of a bi-partisan majority coalition, with no formal minority. Alaska’s Governor is Republican, and the House is led by a Republican-dominated coalition.⁷

Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:⁶Six

- Voter-initiated state statutes, which earn a spot on the ballot when sponsors collect signatures according to the laws governing the initiative process in Alaska. In Alaska, all initiatives are indirect.
- Legislature-initiated constitutional amendments. These are voted onto the ballot when both houses of the Alaska State Legislature agree to put them on the ballot by a 2/3rds vote.
- Bonding propositions can be placed on the ballot by the state legislature.
- Veto referenda. When citizens of Alaska disagree with a statute or legislative bill enacted by the state legislature, they can collect signatures to force the issue to a vote. If enough signatures are collected, the bill is placed on the statewide ballot.
- Automatic ballot referrals. In Alaska, there is one such question, by law, every ten years–the question of whether to hold a constitutional convention.
- Advisory questions. The state legislature is allowed to put statewide advisory-only votes on the ballot; often, these advisory votes ask whether the citizenry would like to see a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in a future year.

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:⁶

2024 Policy Progress:

Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:⁷

Alaska saw a record investment in early childhood this year, with an enacted budget that allocates $7.5 million in one-time funding for grants to child care providers and $9.4 million to support Head Start programs. This is $5 million more than last year’s state investment.

Advocates also celebrated the passage of an important child care bill, SB189, which increases funding for child care assistance by $6.1 million annually, provides more than $2 million in business tax credits to encourage investment in child care programs, formally recognizes the true :cost of care” for delivering child care services, bridging the gap between costs and state reimbursements, and ties funding to quality initiatives. These child care wins were the direct result of a diverse group of early childhood advocates coming together to advocate for child care using an inclusive message. They worked to educate lawmakers about the diverse types of child care settings that benefit children and families and emphasized the need to fund them all.

In addition, the legislature passed the necessary statutory fix for the Department of Health to expand School-based Medicaid services to all students on Medicaid, not just those with an IEP. This will impact students PK-12 in Alaska’s public education system. Specifically for early childhood, it potentially increases access to prevention and early intervention services, since an IEP is no longer required for schools to provide medically necessary services to students.

RECENT ADVOCACY SNAPSHOT:

Marijuana Tax Is Now a $5 Million Win for Alaska Child Care and Early Education

November 9, 2023

Anchorage, Alaska will soon benefit from an additional five to six million dollars per year in funds for child care and early education thanks to voter approval of Proposition 14 in April, also known as the “Care for Kids” measure. The five percent sales tax on marijuana purchases has existed for years, but the funds will now be used for the benefit of young children and their families rather than going into the city’s general fund.

NOTES:

¹Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.

²National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, March 2023, NCCP analysis of ACS 1-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2021.

³National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2025.

⁴Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, June 2024.

⁵National Conference of State Legislatures, 2024 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, April 29, 2024.

⁶Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, retrieved July, 2024.

⁷Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.

⁸Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2024; and 2024 Prenatal-to-3 Legislative Highlights, Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, July, 2024.

Ongoing Grantee Areas of Advocacy:

Our lead ally in Alaska is Alaska Children’s Trust (ACT), the statewide lead organization focused on the prevention of child abuse and neglect. ACT serves as advocate, convener, and catalyst for building a state that ensures children grow up in safe, stable, and nurturing environments. ACT influences public policy and, as the home to KIDS COUNT Alaska, produces reliable data, makes policy recommendations, and provides tools needed to advance sound policies that benefit Alaska’s children, youth, and families.

Alaska Children’s Trust is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework: