District overview
Bering Strait School District
A 15-village Bering Strait district with no local tax base, funded almost entirely by the state and federal government.
How is Bering Strait School District funded, since its 15 villages have no local government to tax?
Bering Strait is a Regional Educational Attendance Area (REAA), the school district model Alaska uses for its unorganized borough: land with no municipal government, so there is no local body that can levy a property tax. In the most recent year with federal finance data (FY2020), the district ran on $68.2 million in revenue: $35.8 million (52%) from the state, mostly through Alaska's per-pupil Foundation Formula, and $29.7 million (44%) from the federal government, including $18.1 million paid directly as Impact Aid — money Washington sends in place of the property taxes a district can't collect near tribal and other federal land. Only $2.8 million (4%) was local, and none of that was tax revenue; it was almost entirely school lunch and activity receipts.
No local property tax is possible
Alaska law (AS 14.08.031) does not let a Regional Educational Attendance Area levy taxes. BSSD's 15 communities — from Unalakleet to Diomede and Wales — sit in the unorganized borough, so there is no city or borough government collecting property tax for schools here.
The state Foundation Formula is the largest share
The state paid $35.8 million of the district's $68.2 million in FY2020 revenue (52%), almost all through Alaska's per-pupil Foundation Formula, which the Legislature sets and BSSD cannot change on its own.
Federal Impact Aid stands in for local taxes
The federal government paid $29.7 million in FY2020 (44% of all revenue), including $18.1 million in direct Impact Aid and $1.2 million in Indian Education funding — federal programs designed specifically for districts that can't tax the land around them.
The board has little local budget lever to pull
With local revenue at 4% of the total and none of it tax-based, the board's Finance & Budget Committee — which met at least six times in the trailing year — is mostly managing formula dollars set elsewhere, not raising or cutting local revenue the way a taxing district's board can.
This is not a sign BSSD is managed differently from other rural Alaska districts — every REAA runs the same way, funded by the same state formula and federal Impact Aid rather than local taxes. It does mean residents cannot vote on a local school tax increase or decrease the way they could in a taxing municipality; the state Legislature's formula, not a local ballot measure, is what actually moves BSSD's budget year to year.
Where the district stands
Section III Seat E (Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk) and Section V Seat I (Gambell, Savoonga) were filled by board appointment in December 2025 after the elected seats came open; both return to the ballot at the REAA election on October 6, 2026.
Context, from federal finance data. Alaska law (AS 14.08.031) bars a Regional Educational Attendance Area from levying any local tax, so this line is structurally zero rather than a funding shortfall.
Context, calculated from federal CCD/Urban Institute finance data ($29.7M federal of $68.2M total revenue). Includes $18.1M in direct Impact Aid.
Context, calculated ($71.2M current elementary/secondary expenditure ÷ 1,839 enrolled students). Remote-Alaska costs — barge and air freight, fuel, and housing for staff — typically make bush-district per-pupil costs higher than road-system Alaska districts.
Context, from 2022 federal (NCES) data, not a district-published current count.
Context, from 2022 federal (NCES) data. BSSD is unusual in operating one school in each of the 15 villages it serves rather than consolidating.
Major projects
FY2026-27 budget
Board took action July 14, 2026; approved total not in the collected recordThe board's Finance & Budget Committee discussed the FY27 budget at meetings in May, June, and July 2026, then the board took an action item simply labeled "FY27 Budget" at a July 14, 2026 special meeting. The public notice does not say what the board decided or the resulting budget total — BSSD's board-meeting system (BoardBook), which would carry the adopted budget document, is not part of this collection.
- Finance & Budget Committee discusses FY26 budget revisions
- Finance & Budget Committee begins discussing the FY27 budget
- Finance & Budget Committee continues FY26 and FY27 budget discussion
- Finance & Budget Committee again discusses the FY27 budget
- Board takes an action item titled "FY27 Budget" at a special meeting
Funding
State Foundation Formula (AS 14.17) and federal Impact Aid / Indian Education Act grants; the district has no local tax revenue to draw on.
No FY27 total dollar figure is available in the collected record.
Stebbins School facilities work
Reported to the board twice; no described outcome in the collected recordThe Facilities Foreman's report to the board named a capital-improvement update for Stebbins School in September 2025, and the board received a separate "Stebbins School Report" discussion item in February 2026. Neither notice describes what work is planned, its cost, or its timeline.
- Facilities Foreman update to the board includes a Stebbins School capital-improvement item
- Board receives a separate "Stebbins School Report" discussion item
Funding
Not established in the collected record.
No dollar figure is given in either notice.
School board Seat E and Seat I vacancies
Filled by provisional appointment; both seats return to the ballot in October 2026Two board seats — Section III Seat E (Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk) and Section V Seat I (Gambell, Savoonga) — came open and were filled through a candidacy, public-comment, and interview process rather than a special election. The board appointed candidates on December 3, 2025; both appointees serve only until Alaska's next regular REAA election.
- District opens candidacy for Seat E and Seat I
- District opens public comment on the named candidates for each seat
- Board interviews candidates and takes appointment action for both seats
Funding
Not applicable — this is a governance appointment, not a funded program.
Board meeting notices come from the district's own Thrillshare (Apptegy) content API, reached directly because www.bssd.org itself returns HTTP 406 to every automated request (a known pattern on Apptegy-hosted sites). BSSD's board-meeting management system, BoardBook (meetings.boardbook.org), is not fetched: its terms of service prohibit automated copying of site content. The district's own archived agenda/minutes folders (on its site and in linked public Google Drive folders) stop at the 2022-2023 school year and were not used as a current source. Enrollment, school count, and district finance figures come from the Urban Institute's mirror of the federal NCES Common Core of Data. REAA election information comes from the Alaska Division of Elections.
Get alerts for Bering Strait School District
We read every agenda, packet, and set of minutes, and write up the decisions that affect families — each one linked to the document it came from.
View alerts for this district