Anchorage teachers will get 1 percent raises and one-time bonuses next school year after the School Board unanimously passed a one-year contract extension Thursday, which the teachers union had previously approved.
Formal contract negotiations will be pushed back a year during a time of uncertainty about levels of state funding, as Anchorage School District administrators and union officials from the Anchorage Education Association had recently discussed.
Superintendent Ed Graff said during the board meeting Thursday that the contract extension will give teachers some stability and help with recruitment. The extension includes 1 percent raises for each cell of the salary schedule plus one-time $1,000 bonuses next October. The district will also increase its contribution to health insurance premiums by $40 a month -- from $1,540 to $1,580.
Still, Todd Hess, the district's chief human resources officer, said Anchorage's teacher salaries are not the financial incentive they once were. ASD is losing teachers to neighboring districts.
"As the economy is beginning to pick up in the Lower 48 we find ourselves with less individuals arriving, or coming north to Alaska," he said. "In Anchorage, our salaries have been trending relatively flat in comparison to other Alaskan districts."
Board member Kathleen Plunkett said the district can't afford to increase teachers' salaries by 10 percent, the amount a recent study recommended, so the district could attract and retain highly qualified teachers.
"It's something we're both giving on," Plunkett said of the contract extension. "If we really want our best teachers, we need to relish them and give them a little bit. We can't afford 10 percent."