OPINION: Don’t give up on Alaska’s schools

“Don’t give up,” we often tell our ninth grader. It works for academics. It works for athletics. It works for a lot of life — and not just for him. I want to extend that same advice to legislators, applicable to all 60 state senators and representatives, albeit in potentially different ways.

To those lawmakers who support increasing the Base Student Allocation (BSA), I say don’t give up. Please keep pushing for this badly needed funding, even though many, including the governor, keep expecting to do more with less. Our students are important, and they deserve to learn in schools that can keep up with the times and inflation. The BSA has not been increased nor adjusted for inflation since 2017. Do you know anything else that escaped price increases and inflation in the past six years? No, you don’t, because it doesn’t exist. Have you worked at a job for six years without a raise? Does a 2017 model year car cost anywhere near a new 2023? Even in a standard six-year period, costs go up. Taking into account the rise in inflation in recent months and years, the gap between the funding schools are receiving and the funds schools need has widened even further.

There are many impacts that this flat funding has had on education in Alaska. Bigger class sizes and more teacher turnover are just two. Increasing the BSA will mean schools can decrease class sizes, retain teachers and provide better resources to students. Experienced teachers and smaller class sizes are integral to school success, however that is measured. We need to continue to demonstrate to the students who will lead our state in the next decades that we want them to succeed, and we are willing to invest in them and the future so that they will want to make a home here after they graduate.

The message to lawmakers who don’t support an increase in the BSA is slightly longer. Don’t give up on Alaska. It’s not time to throw in the towel. It’s time to seek solutions. The Permanent Fund, as of March 31, has a total fund value of $76.3 billion. Alaskans pay no taxes. Can you imagine any other state flat-funding schools for six years despite a $76.3 billion fund and not asking its residents to chip in? Are we just going to continue to buy new trucks and flatscreen TVs when the PFD comes around each year while watching our schools crumble and families move to states that value education and teachers?

I’m not vying for sainthood. My family and I get the PFD each year, and it is going to help pay for my son’s college education. But I also believe we need to start acting like adults. Everything isn’t free, nor is everything paid for by the federal government or big oil. We can start to declare our independence and stand up on our own two feet by paying taxes that will sufficiently fund a thriving school system and many of the other necessary functions of a state government that are held hostage to the fluctuating price of oil and the sanctity of the PFD.

One of the most important of those essential functions of a state that wants to grow, that wants to retain both its experienced teachers and the families that value what those teachers give, is a boost to the BSA. Increasing education funding demands action and the action needs to take place in Juneau.

Urge your legislators to support increased funding for education. On May 11, the Alaska Senate passed a bill — SB 52 — to increase public school funding by more than $175 million per year. This is a $680 increase to the BSA, and while it would be the single largest increase to public education spending in the state’s history, it is still far less than what school administrations have said would be needed to combat inflation and years of flat funding. But it’s a start, and it now goes to the Alaska House.

Please take a few minutes out of your day and write an email to your House member. It’s time to make sure you are on the record stating your willingness to invest in our students and schools to ensure a bright future for Alaska.

Steve Cleary lives in Anchorage and is the director of a small nonprofit. He is the father of a ninth grader at Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School.

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