{"id":114,"date":"2026-05-16T14:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=114"},"modified":"2026-05-16T14:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:06:15","slug":"alaska-legislature-nears-final-approval-of-smaller-city-councils-budget-training-for-school-boards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=114","title":{"rendered":"Alaska Legislature nears final approval of smaller city councils, budget training for school boards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Alaska\u2019s smallest towns and villages would be allowed to shrink their city councils under a bill that neared final passage Friday in the Alaska Legislature.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola calls for congressional term limits<\/a><\/p>\n

decreases the minimum city council size to three members for second-class cities with 1,000 or fewer residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also allows local governments to lengthen or shorten the terms of school board members. Currently, state law requires school board members to serve three-year terms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another section, added by a floor amendment from Rep. Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage, mandates the state Department of Education and Early Development provide budget and ethics training to all new school board members statewide.<\/span><\/p>\n

The state House approved SB 143 in a unanimous 40-0 vote on Friday, an act that sends the bill back to the Senate, which approved a prior version by a similarly unanimous 20-0 vote in April.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Senate is expected to approve the House\u2019s changes to the bill and send it to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for final enactment or veto.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sen. Robert Yundt, R-Wasilla, wrote the original version of SB 143 after several years on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That local government shifted its elections to November several years ago and <\/span>lengthened the terms<\/span> of its mayor and assembly members from three years to four so local elections would correspond with state and federal ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Alaska legislators approve $2.5 billion for new construction and renovation projects<\/a><\/p>\n

Because state law requires three-year school board terms, he couldn\u2019t do the same with school board elections, and as a result, off-year elections now see much lower turnout, he said Friday.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

If school board elections take place at the same time as other votes, he said the election results will be more representative of the will of the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the request of the Alaska Municipal League, legislators amended SB 143 earlier this year to allow three-person city councils in small second-class cities that have had trouble filling their rosters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Current state law requires five-member or seven-member councils. SB 143 would allow them to choose three, five or seven members.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThink about all the communities in Alaska that are 200, 300, 400 people \u2014 do they really need to have five or seven city council members?\u201d Yundt asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the bill reached the House floor, Coulombe suggested amending it to require mandatory training for school board members. That suggestion followed several significant budget errors in Juneau, Ketchikan and other school districts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coulombe\u2019s amendment passed unanimously, 40-0. <\/span>, which would have given the state\u2019s education commissioner authority over local school district budgets, failed to be adopted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Alaska Legislature approves plan for mental health education in schools<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Bill 143 decreases the minimum city council size to three members for second-class cities with 1,000 or fewer residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nAlaska Legislature nears final approval of smaller city councils, budget training for school boards - Moving to Alaska<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=114\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alaska Legislature nears final approval of smaller city councils, budget training for school boards - Moving to Alaska\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senate Bill 143 decreases the minimum city council size to three members for second-class cities with 1,000 or fewer residents.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=114\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving to Alaska\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-16T14:06:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5aa66cadbc4e82c32cd66bdfcf24388d.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1157\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"868\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a34ab8aa99bbfe6b285ea9b5fa35a5a\"},\"headline\":\"Alaska Legislature nears final approval of smaller city councils, budget training for school boards\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-16T14:06:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114\"},\"wordCount\":458,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5aa66cadbc4e82c32cd66bdfcf24388d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114\",\"name\":\"Alaska Legislature nears final approval of smaller city councils, budget training for school boards - Moving to Alaska\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5aa66cadbc4e82c32cd66bdfcf24388d.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-16T14:06:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a34ab8aa99bbfe6b285ea9b5fa35a5a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=114#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5aa66cadbc4e82c32cd66bdfcf24388d.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5aa66cadbc4e82c32cd66bdfcf24388d.jpg\",\"width\":1157,\"height\":868,\"caption\":\"Sen. 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