District overview
Unalaska City School District
Funding structure, how it compares to peers, and where major projects stand.
How is Unalaska City School District funded, and does it have enough?
Alaska school funding combines a per-student state payment (the Base Student Allocation, or BSA) with a required local contribution from the city. Unalaska's city government, funded heavily by its raw seafood tax on the fishing industry, contributes the maximum amount state law allows — $4,494,286 for 2026-27. State per-student funding did not increase this year. Because planned spending is $9,243,156 against $8,730,748 in revenue, the district is covering the $416,000 difference from its savings rather than from new revenue.
The city pays the state-mandated maximum local share
Unalaska's $4,494,286 local contribution for FY2027 is capped by state law — the city cannot legally give more, even with strong local tax revenue.
State per-student funding is flat
The per-student state payment (BSA) is not increasing for FY2027, so enrollment (355 students) and a flat per-student rate limit how much state funding can grow.
The FY2027 budget spends down reserves
The $416,000 gap between revenue and spending is covered by the district's fund balance, which stood at $877,320 after FY2025 — so this one budget draws on roughly half of it.
Being remote drives costs up
Unalaska is an Aleutian Islands hub community reachable only by air or sea, which raises costs for staffing, travel, supplies, and facilities compared with road-connected districts of similar size.
None of this means the district is mismanaged. Drawing on reserves for a single year is a normal, disclosed budgeting choice, not a crisis — the budget went through a public hearing and was approved by both the school board and the City Council, as required. The concern is what happens if a similar gap recurs in future years without new revenue options, since both major funding sources (local and state) are already at or near their ceilings.
Where the district stands
External federal count across the district's two schools (Eagle's View Elementary and Unalaska Jr/Sr High); differs slightly from the district's own budget-planning enrollment figure.
Calculated: $4,494,286 local contribution divided by 355 students.
Major projects
Superintendent transition
New superintendent in placeSuperintendent Kim Hanisch's departure (final day June 5, 2026) prompted a board-run search that selected Ryan Humphrey, a former Unalaska teacher and administrator, as the district's next superintendent.
- Board authorizes a superintendent search
- Board hires the Association of Alaska School Boards to run the search ($6,000)
- Board approves Ryan Humphrey's contract
- Humphrey's contract begins
Funding
General fund: $6,000 search contract; $136,000 first-year superintendent salary
New class-size policy (Board Policy 6151)
AdoptedThe board adopted the district's first formal class-size caps, required by state law (HB57): 23 students PreK-6, 30 students grades 7-12, with a companion regulation on reducing class size when possible.
- First reading of the new policy
- Board adopts the policy in final reading
Funding
No direct cost; adoption required by Alaska HB57
FY2027 operating budget
Adopted, in effect for 2026-27The board's annual budget process resulted in a $9.24 million spending plan against $8.73 million in revenue, with the $416,000 gap covered by reserves.
- FY2027 budget committee formed
- Public hearing on the proposed budget
- Board gives final approval
- Budget submitted to the City for approval, per city ordinance
Funding
State Foundation Program funding, capped local city contribution, and a $416,000 draw from reserves
Board policy manual review
In progressAcross the year the board worked through more than a dozen policies on a two-reading adoption track, covering investments, employee leave, class size, employee residency, school-safety video surveillance, scholarships, anti-bullying rules, volunteer and employee security checks, and the budget policy itself.
- First policy work session (investments, charter-school application, class size, admissions)
- Volunteer-assistance, security-check, and budget policies advance to first reading
Funding
No direct cost
Built from the district's Thrillshare/Apptegy document library (thrillshare-cmsv2.services.thrillshare.com), which hosts the board's meeting agendas, packets, and financial and planning documents. A registered weekly collector retrieves this same library going forward. The initial collection covered August 20, 2025 through August 18, 2026 (the trailing 12 months), returning 284 documents across 23 board meetings. Most individual packet attachments are scanned, image-only PDFs without an extracted text layer; they were reviewed by their official titles and matching agenda item descriptions, with a sample directly opened and read to verify content (including the superintendent contract, the class-size policy, and several facilities and budget items).
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