Anchorage Daily News

With growing evidence of an Alaska Native exodus from villages to the city, Mayor Mark Begich and Schools Superintendent Carol Comeau sent a letter to Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday asking her to organize an emergency task force to find ways to stem the migration.

Anchorage and the state "cannot stand by and tolerate the deterioration of rural Alaska," the letter said.

The main evidence of the migration is enrollment in Anchorage schools, which have seen more than 400 new Native students since school started, said Doreen Brown, Indian Education supervisor for the district. It wasn't clear how many of those came directly from rural Alaska, but schools in communities across Western Alaska report losing pupils, Comeau said.

The $1,200 energy bonus that came with Permanent Fund checks this year was supposed to ease energy costs for rural residents, but many used the money to move to urban areas where food and fuel are cheaper, Comeau said. The district added 18 teachers, most of them at elementary schools, to accommodate increased enrollment, she said.

Palin was at Sen. John McCain's Arizona ranch Monday preparing for the vice-presidential candidates' debate, according to spokesman Bill McAllister. Her office had no immediate response to the Begich-Comeau letter, he said in an e-mail to reporters.

Palin pushed for the energy rebate and supported power subsidies for villages, he said.

"She is obviously aware of the problem in rural Alaska and is continuing to develop responses to it," McAllister wrote.

The transition from rural to urban schools can be hard, Comeau said.

"We're talking about high schools that are bigger than the communities most of the students are coming from," she said.

City and schools officials are concerned about how rural Native families manage once they arrive in the city. Some might need help with food or transportation, Comeau said. Many are restarting lives, in need of jobs and housing.

"We know a lot of them are already doubling- and tripling-up with their relatives in houses and we know that is not the best situation over time," she said.

The relatively high cost of living in the villages is bringing some rural residents to the city.

According to the Institute of Social and Economic Research at UAA, this year the poorest 20 percent of rural residents were paying 47 percent of their income in energy costs. In 2000, that same income group was spending about 16 percent of their income on energy. That group in Anchorage pays just under 9 percent of their income on energy. Middle income people in rural Alaska, who make up about 60 percent, are currently spending 12 percent of their money on energy, compared to that group in Anchorage, who are spending just over 3 percent.

Secondary teacher specialist Barb Dexter works with homeless middle and high school students.

"I've had three students in the last two days who have come in from rural communities, and they've come in without adults," said Dexter.

On Monday she talked to a high school senior who had just moved to Anchorage from Bethel.

"I can't afford to live there," he told her.

Michele Brown, president of the United Way of Anchorage, said she'd heard a lot of concern about a population influx from rural Alaska, but there isn't yet data from local nonprofits to document the trend.

"I think the bottom line from our planning perspective is given what's happening in the economy, we know that we're going to be seeing a lot of need," she said.

On the other side, rural schools are looking at a loss of funding and even closure because schools are funded based on head count, said Larry LeDoux, state commissioner of education. Schools with fewer than 10 students could close, he said.

"It's a trend that's been going on for quiet some time. It seems to be accelerating this year," he said.

"We have heard that some districts are reporting a real loss of students."

A 20-day student counting period began Monday. Once those averages are in, the department will have a better picture of where students are going. LeDoux said he'd heard of losses across the state from Ketchikan to Nome. He wasn't sure about the task force idea, but "I think we do need to take a close look at it," he said.

The sooner the state starts talking about the migration, the better, Begich said.

"Indicators are telling us we're seeing our homeless shelters reaching capacity already, and winter hasn't even set in yet."

The task force could include rural Alaskans, business leaders, educators and others, he said.

As for who would pay for the solutions, Begich said, "That's part of the discussion that needs to happen ... What are the costs, and who will be part of that equation?"

Begich, a Democrat, is running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Stevens.

In a June interview about rural migration, Stevens told the Daily News he considered fuel costs the single biggest factor driving migration.

"The villages are coming to these towns. And unless you have the economy that they have in Wasilla, it's going to increase the unemployment rates in Anchorage and Fairbanks and it's going to increase the problems ... that go along with the people unemployed and destitute," he said.

"They need help."

Find Julia O'Malley online at adn.com/contact/jomalley or reach Kyle Hopkins at khopkins@adn.com.