the valley closed three schools

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District will close three schools for the 2026 to 2027 school year as it faces a 28 million dollar budget shortfall. Meadow Lakes Elementary and Larson Elementary in Wasilla, and Glacier View School in Sutton, will not reopen this fall.

About 415 students and dozens of teachers and staff will move to other schools in the district, and some families will face longer bus rides as a result.

The Mat-Su is the fastest growing area in Alaska, yet full-time enrollment in the district is sliding. More families are choosing homeschool and correspondence programs, and about one in six students in the district now learns that way. Those programs bring in less funding per student, so revenue has not kept pace with the district's growing population.

The district cut around 160 positions last year. The superintendent says that without these three closures, the district would face another 225 cuts, and even this round of closures will not fully close the gap. Rising health insurance costs alone added about 6 million dollars to the shortfall.

The school board considered other options, including cutting sports programs or moving to a four day school week, and rejected both. For now, the three buildings in the Valley will sit empty starting this fall.