Deena Bishop Threatens to Defund FNSBSD Over Pearl Creek Charter

The Dunleavy administration dropped the nuclear option on local control, escalating its war on Alaska’s public schools to a level that should terrify every parent, teacher, and stakeholder in the state.

If you thought the State Board of Education overstepping its authority to force an ill-conceived charter school down the throats of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District was bad, grab your popcorn (or wine), because DEED Commissioner Deena Bishop has lost her damn mind.

In a most aggressive letter dated June 10, 2026, Bishop threatened to withhold public school funding from the entire Fairbanks School District if officials don't immediately capitulate and stand up the Pearl Creek STEAM Charter School.

Fairbanks School Board President Bobby Burgess blasted the state's move. “It is interesting that the commissioner feels the need to weigh in at all on this pending legal matter,” Burgess said.

Burgess is right, the timing of this letter is definitely suspect. Bishop dropped this bomb on the district just one day before the first court hearing in the districts lawsuit against the state. It is a clear attempt by Bishop to ambush Fairbanks officials and bully them into submission before a judge even has the chance to look at the case.

Burgess argued that the statute Bishop cited in her letter is meant to serve as a guardrail to ensure districts comply with the law on student accommodations, not as a weapon to shut down an entire school system simply because Bishop didn't get her way on a political pet project.

“I don’t understand how, you know, basically shutting down a school district by withholding their funding should solve those problems...that seems like it would just create more problems and make it impossible for that school district to provide education,” Burgess said.

According to the letter, Bishop claims that just because Dunleavy's handpicked State Board illegally steamrolled the local district six weeks ago, Fairbanks is now under an immediate statutory obligation to "operate the charter school." Bishop argues that because Fairbanks didn't successfully secure a court-ordered stay, filing a lawsuit doesn't give the district the right to pause the charter's implementation. 🙄

Bishop’s letter also demands that the district immediately grant the charter school a right of first refusal to lease the closed Pearl Creek Elementary building. But, there is just one teeny-tiny problem with Bishop's stupid demand: the school district no longer controls the property, as it has already been turned over to the borough.

“We don’t control the building anymore. So, there’s no way that we could possibly offer them that building at this point,” Burgess said.

DEED Commissioner Deena Bishop is completely out of her element. She traded her soul and any shred of her past advocacy for public education for a fancy title and a $5,000 handbag and man, does it show. If the courts don't put a halt this political hostage-taking, local control over public education in Alaska is dead.