:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/adn/WCKCSYL4QFHPTP5ZB4MFACRGX4.jpg)
The governor’s budget, released on Dec. 14, does absolutely nothing to alleviate Alaska’s public education crisis. This year, there must be a substantial investment in our students with an increase to the base student allocation, or BSA, and the passage of a pension option for all our educators. Alaska is the only state in the U.S. where educators do not earn Social Security or have the opportunity to earn a pension. This adds jet fuel to our worst-in-the-nation educator turnover.
Every Alaskan has a child, a family member’s child, a friend’s child or a school in their community. Not every Alaskan may know that schools across Alaska struggle to maintain adequate staffing to ensure quality education and provide the services needed for our diverse student population.
Anchorage schools are grappling with a big problem, as is every school district and school in the state. Currently, the Anchorage School District has an astonishing number of positions filled by long-term subs, as well as:
• 47 unfilled special education teaching positions,
• 16 unfilled elementary teaching positions,
• More than 30 unfilled teaching positions in other various positions,
• 160 unfilled teaching assistant positions.
School districts are hemorrhaging invaluable, experienced teachers and education support staff at a rate never seen before in Alaska and cannot fill the positions with new educators.
The evidence is stark: Over the past three years, the Anchorage School District has witnessed a substantial exodus, losing 1,150 certificated educators to resignations or early retirements. This departure represents more than one-third of the district’s certificated staff. Before 2020, resignations and retirements averaged 200-250 educators. In each of the past two years, ASD has experienced an astonishing 400 departures and, the year before that, 350 departures.
The urgency of this situation is underscored by the reality that many of these professionals have departed in pursuit of more competitive salaries and enhanced benefits offered by districts in the Lower 48 or have ventured onto entirely different career paths.
Starting salaries in many big Lower 48 districts are more than $10,000 greater for first-year teachers than in Alaska’s big cities, and those states offer educators better retirement options.
Our elected officials must promptly remedy this situation and propel all Alaska communities toward a future where schools are fully staffed and able to provide stable, consistent learning environments.
Study after study has quantified the scope and scale of this problem.
• In 2017, an ISER study found that teacher turnover cost school districts upwards of $20 million per year.
• In 2020, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force began surveying educators and stakeholder groups and identified our competitive disadvantage at the core of Alaska’s educator shortage.
This study held what those of us who work in public education have known for years: wages and benefits have deteriorated, working conditions are more challenging, and the State of Alaska’s retirement system is deeply broken.
• And, just last month, Gov Dunleavy made headlines when his administration blocked the publication of a study in Alaska Economic Trends that showed how uncompetitive our wages were compared to other states.
The base student allocation that provides funding to schools on a per-student basis hasn’t been meaningfully adjusted since 2017. As inflation and costs have skyrocketed, our public education dollars are being stretched to the point of breaking. Alaska simply isn’t offering competitive wages or benefits in this extremely tight labor market and educators are leaving our schools quicker than ever.
Ultimately, the solution to these problems is in the hands of our elected leaders in Juneau. Big problems require leadership and political courage, as our Alaska communities of all sizes are at a critical crossroads.
Every day, I think about the impact on Anchorage students by the departure of another 400 experienced educators. Every day I work tirelessly, encouraging educators on the brink of leaving the state or the profession to stay teaching in Anchorage. Unfortunately, we are just not competitive.
Anchorage highlights the collective struggles students, families and educators face in all of our schools in all Alaska communities. More than one-third of the teaching staff has left the Anchorage School District in the past three years.
This is not sustainable and we need all our elected leaders to solve the problem this legislative session. We need bold action from our elected leaders in Juneau.
Corey Aist is an elementary teacher who taught for 24 years for the Anchorage School District and serves as president of the Anchorage Education Association.
The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.