Education

SB 55 reduces required employer contributions to Alaska's teachers' retirement system. It lowers the employer contribution rate from 14.56% to 12.56% of base salaries for active and reemployed retired teachers, and cuts supplemental employee benefit contributions from 9% to 7% of annual compensation. The bill directly affects school districts and public employers participating in the teachers' retirement system (AS 14.25) or public employees' retirement system (AS 39.35), impacting their payroll obligations. The changes take effect July 1, 2025, and also clarify eligibility rules for employers not participating in federal Social Security.

HB 40 requires public schools and certain private schools competing against public schools to designate athletic teams or sports as male, female, or coeducational. It mandates that students participating in female-designated teams must be assigned female sex based on their birth certificate at birth, defining "sex" as biological characteristics present at birth. The bill prohibits schools from taking adverse action against institutions that follow these designations and allows students to sue schools that violate the policy. It applies to all school-sponsored athletic programs in Alaska and explicitly preserves access to courts for related disputes.

SB 93 modifies how students in Alaska school districts' approved early education programs are counted for funding purposes. It changes the calculation to count each such student as "one-half" of a full-time equivalent student (previously specified with brackets), directly affecting school districts offering these programs. The bill repeals outdated funding calculation sections in state law (AS 14.03.120(h), 14.03.410, etc.) to implement this change. The new funding method takes effect on July 1, 2025.