I teach middle and high school students. Most were born here, many are recent immigrants. I teach students in the foster system, students who are houseless and sleeping on couches. I teach students from small villages around the state, with little to no Indigenous education services to help them navigate life in the city. I teach kids who are hungry, tired, sick and still show up every day trying to learn. Right now, I am terrified for them and what will happen when school starts again.
The proposed cuts to Medicaid and Denali KidCare would be devastating for my students. Not just inconvenient. Devastating.
These programs cover more than 45,000 children and pregnant people in Alaska, including many of my students. These are kids already facing poverty, trauma and language barriers. Stripping away their health care will only make it harder for them to survive, let alone succeed.
When students cannot get a physical, they cannot play sports. I have seen athletics change lives. I have seen students who were failing, working long hours to help families pay rent, on the verge of dropping out be able to graduate because of coaches, grade checks and their teammates. But without access to a basic physical, that opportunity and safeguard disappears.
Some of my students cannot manage their diabetes. They fall asleep in class, miss school, or sit out of activities. With our secondary schools serving 900 to 1,700 students a day and cuts to staffing, we do not have the capacity to provide this care that students need. School nurses are already overburdened and will now be split between schools part-time. Diabetes is not part-time. Neither is asthma. Neither is vision impairment. Neither is mobility issues.
Since 2020, I have watched my students’ mental, emotional and physical health decline. I spend hours helping families make appointments, search for clinics and access sliding scale services. I help students apply for vision programs so they can get glasses, because they are failing classes without even knowing they cannot see the board. Without Medicaid or Denali KidCare, those numbers will rise fast.
If this bill includes work reporting requirements or federal caps, immigrant families will be among the hardest hit. Most of my students are U.S. citizens, but many live in mixed-status households. Families will stop seeking care. Preventive visits will vanish. Chronic illnesses will get worse. Emergency rooms will fill up.
Schools are expected to absorb the consequences. We are already stretched thin. The recent education budget did not fix that. I see the gaps every day. Students with untreated asthma, injuries and tooth pain are trying to focus while suffering.
Nationally, Medicaid covers 42% of all children. It covers 77% of children in poverty, 44% of those with special health needs and nearly every child in foster care. In Alaska, Denali KidCare and Medicaid are how our kids stay healthy, stay in school, and stay safe.
When children lose access to care, they fall behind. Families go into debt. Students disappear mid-year, and we do not have the staff to find them again.
To our elected officials, Sen. Murkowski, Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Begich, I am asking you to understand what this really means. Do not say you support education while taking away what helps kids show up ready to learn. Do not say you support families while cutting the programs that help them survive.
This is not abstract. It is happening now in my classroom and every classroom like mine across Alaska.
Protect Medicaid. Protect Denali KidCare. Protect our students. Say no to the Big Beautiful Bill.
Tara Devlin is a life long Alaskan, growing up in Bethel and Anchorage and a graduate of Anchorage School District. She has worked with youth education from Pre-K to university students in Alaska, California, New York City and Oaxaca, Mexico for over the last 20 years. She holds a Master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and is dedicated to the diverse and vibrant community she grew up in and brings passion to literacy, language and agency to students, families, staff at Anchorage School District.