The Anchorage Daily News asked candidates for School Board in the 2020 election to answer a series of issue questions. Many of the questions were based on suggestions from readers. Find all candidates’ responses here. We also asked candidates for Anchorage Assembly a series of questions.
Note: This survey was sent and candidates’ responses were collected in February, before the first confirmed case of the new coronavirus was reported in Alaska.
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Candidate: Dave Donley
Age: 65
Occupation: Deputy commissioner, Alaska Department of Administration; Col. and chief of staff/staff judge advocate, Alaska State Defense Force
Website: dave4asd.com
Why are you running?
First: My wife Jamie and I have twins in sixth grade. We need Anchorage schools to succeed for our kids and all the children of Anchorage. We have six more years in the Anchorage School District and want our Anchorage schools to be the best they can be. Second: I believe the public schools are the foundation of America's greatness. We need successful public schools to have educated citizens essential to our constitutional republic.
How should the Anchorage School District handle a decrease in state funds for local education?
Continue to use smart strategies like converting King Career Center to a state-funding-eligible school. Prioritize classroom services and hold down class sizes. Utilize data metrics to maximize efficiency. Reduce non-classroom related administrative spending (I sponsored budget amendments to do so). Reduce executive pay (I sponsored budget amendments to do so). Reduce Anchorage School Board expenses (I sponsored budget amendment to do so). Continue to seek state support for a long-overdue new school district cost-differential study that is projected to increase Anchorage’s share of statewide school funding.
Due to static state funding, the Anchorage School District is looking at ways to lower its budget. What’s your idea for a solution?
Stop building new schools and instead prioritize essential repairs to the current schools (I sponsored amendments to do so.) Reduce non-classroom-related administrative spending (I sponsored budget amendments to do so.) Seek changes to state law to facilitate consolidation of currently underpopulated schools to reduce facilities costs.
What should be done to raise the performance of underperforming students and schools?
Increase accountability at all levels to improve results. First: I successfully sponsored the end of the school district’s long-standing mandatory grade promotion policy and replaced it with a new, “what is in the best interest of the student” determination with mandatory parental involvement to decide if a student should repeat a grade. Second: Utilize data metrics, including new Measures of Academic Progress testing, to identify weak points in the delivery of educational services and correct them.
Increase the safety of our schools — to succeed, our children need safe schools: First: Bond for overdue school enhancements to harden and protect our schools against violent exterior threats. (My amendment to the 2019 school bonds provided some of this needed funding. My proposal to place the remaining safety projects on the 2020 bond failed by a 3-4 vote of the board.) Second: Assign a police officer in every middle school. Currently, Anchorage Police Department officers are in every high school and in Clark Middle School. I sponsored a resolution asking the city to add officers to protect all middle schools. Anchorage has added about 100 police officers the past few years — a few of them could be assigned to better protect our children in schools.
Expand use of proven traditional reading and math curriculum: First: Expand the use of the incredibly successful and proven Spalding reading program used at only four schools of over 50, all of which are top-10 reading scoring elementary schools. Second: Expand the use of the incredibly successful traditional and proven Saxon math program used at only four schools of over 50, all of which are top-10 math scoring elementary schools.
State your views on school choice/the charter system.
Anchorage parents are blessed with amazing choices for their children’s education, including alternative, charter, vocational, language immersion and middle college. I strongly support continuing these options for students. I voted for the new O’Malley Elementary French immersion program, which was fully funded without local tax dollars. The school district has superior options for both advanced students and students who need additional assistance. The Anchorage School District middle college program allows high school seniors to graduate with college placement as sophomores or even further, saving parents thousands in tuition costs.
Do you think the school district’s sex education should include instruction on practicing safe sex, or should it be abstinence-based? Please explain your answer.
This is a decision for individual families to make. Parents should have the right to choose.
How should the district improve teacher retention? If your answer requires additional funding, please pose a source for that money.
Increased professional development opportunities. At a recent board meeting, the board voted to investigate the possibility, process and cost to allow teachers to return to the Social Security system.
Recently, the school board and Assembly approved a bond to fund upgrades for the Anchorage School District building Aquarian Charter School operates in. Aquarian is the only charter in a school district building, but it was also the first time money for a charter school was placed on the bond. What do you think about that decision?
I support it. These overdue repairs will add over 20 years to the life of the district-owned facilities of this highly succeeding school.
What other important issue would you like to discuss here?
I was born and raised in Anchorage. Before being elected to the school board, I’ve been active with the Anchorage School District as a parent, student, volunteer, member of the school district’s curriculum committee, state PTA delegate, representative and senator. While my recent proposal to have all Anchorage schools play (not sing, unless a student wanted to) the National Anthem and “Alaska’s Flag” at least once a month failed on a 3-4 vote, all appropriate school district schools are now following existing policy to say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning and all music teachers are now following the existing policy to teach the national anthem and the “Alaska’s Flag” state song in music classes. As a state legislator, I supported full and early funding of the education portion of the state budget. As co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, I made that happen even with low oil prices below $20-per-barrel and while reducing state spending.