Emily Schwing

With oil prices and production down, Alaska's fiscal crisis has impacted its public school system, and there's not enough money in state coffers to fix crumbling buildings.

With oil prices and production down, Alaska's fiscal crisis has spilled over into its public school system, and there's not enough money in state coffers to fix crumbling buildings.

Alaska's public schools are being used as emergency shelters, though many of the buildings are crumbling.

Across hundreds of Alaskan communities, public schools are often the safest buildings where people can take shelter during disasters. After decades of state neglect, however, some have become emergencies themselves.

Rural school district superintendents are trying to “find the best, most optimal use of very lean resources.” Taking on the state’s unmaintained buildings, they say, will only increase their burden.

Alaska owns dozens of crumbling rural schools. But now it wants cash-strapped districts to take on ownership of those buildings in exchange for funding to fix them.

For more than a decade, the Kuspuk School District asked Alaska's education department for the money to fix a rotting elementary school.

This story was originally published by ProPublica in collaboration with Anchorage Daily News, KYUK, and NPR’s Station Investigations Team. For more

The Arctic Circle Race in Greenland has been called the toughest race in the world. It's a three-day, cross-country skiing competition through the mountains above Sisimiut. Reporter Emily Schwing skied the 62-mile race course herself, and has this story.

Following reporting by KYUK, ProPublica and NPR, lawmakers tripled the funding the state would allocate toward school construction and maintenance. The budget increase would still only cover about 13% of what school districts requested.