The Chatham School Board met Tuesday to amend its budget for this year as district administrators continue to grapple with the loss of Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act funding. 

That federal funding is designed to help school districts near federal lands, and brought nearly $13 million to Alaska in 2023. When Congress failed to reauthorize it earlier this year, it left districts like Chatham with large budgetary holes. 

Superintendent Ralph Watkins said the…

Rashah McChesney is a multimedia journalist and editor who has reported and edited newsrooms from the Deep South to the Midwest to Alaska. For the past decade, she has worked in collaborative news as the...