OPINION: If we want to improve Alaska’s schools, we need to invest in them

Public education is a quality-of-life issue, and with so many education-focused discussions happening in our Legislature right now, we must keep at the forefront that thriving and sustainable Alaskan communities begin with supporting — and funding — thriving and sustainable public schools and public school employees. Education is full of complex and nuanced issues frequently presented, to everyone’s detriment, as binary choices. In reality, we get more accomplished and work better together when we start with the idea that two things can be true at the same time, even if, when presented by some, they seem contradictory.

Let’s start with the Base Student Allocation (BSA). It can be true schools are woefully underfunded to the point of near-collapse and also true that we should look more closely at how we fund schools and how those funds are spent. It is possible to more reliably fund schools to a sustainable level matching inflation while also working to improve them. You would be hard-pressed to find a single person working in Alaska’s schools that don’t think they can be improved. Building funding into the BSA tells all school employees, not just teachers, that they are an important part of the public school ecosystem. Raising the BSA to levels that catch up to inflation sends a resounding message of support that our public schools are important not only now, which one-time funding may do, but in the future.

In a state with a huge outmigration problem, raising the BSA signals to our youth that Alaska is worth returning to and raising the next generation of Alaskans and makes us competitive with other states for a desirable workforce and not just in education. Our state is overwhelmed with vacancies in both the public and private sectors. As a state, we signal our priorities with our actions, not merely our words. It doesn’t matter how many times we speak of Alaska as a great place to live or say we are “open for business” if we are not supporting our education system, the bedrock of healthy communities, we are saying we do not care about our future and are not a desirable place to live.

Another related issue is our worst-in-the-country TRS Tier III retirement plan. This is not only the worst-in-the-nation plan in terms of public employees but in terms of almost any profession, public or private. Many public employees, like myself, do not even have the option of social security, which a private employee with a defined contribution, such as a 401k, would also receive. On top of that, those of us who previously paid into social security in the private sector are stripped of a large portion of those benefits due to dubiously applied federal legislation.

I have explained Alaska’s predicament to even my most fiscally conservative friends in the private sector and even they can’t believe we continue down this erroneous path. With this, two things can again be true at the same time. It can be true past iterations of a defined-benefit plan, including those our governor and many legislators currently enjoy, were unsustainable and financially unwieldy while also being true that returning to a modernized plan can be sustainable, save money and achieve the concurrent goals of providing a meaningful retirement for employees, being in the best interest of the state financially, and attracting and retaining a high-quality public workforce. But when this issue is presented as binary, it misses those mutually beneficial goals good for all Alaskans.

Also conveniently omitted is the $1.5 billion actuarial error that originally vilified our defined-benefit system and spurred this failed defined contribution experiment or the last-minute pressure involving George W. Bush’s push to privatize social security that ended up using our state as a pawn in a failed experiment that all other states have corrected. Well-researched and well-written bills have been presented, such as the current Senate Bill 88, to return to some version of a defined benefit while actually saving our state millions of dollars a year, putting more risk on employees to avoid an unfunded liability, and reducing public employee turnover and vacancies.

SB 88 deserves to be supported on its own merits and not brushed away based on selective omissions and old facts, such as the Feb. 11 Anchorage Daily News editorial board opinion piece focused on, or tired old fabricated talking points with no data, such as Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s and Sen. Shelley Hughes’ false “golden handcuffs” claim that new teachers don’t want a defined-benefit retirement. A return to a defined-benefit retirement has been one of the top two issues for teachers, firefighters and public safety officers since July 1, 2006. The state Department of Education’s own report on teacher recruitment and retainment has it as a top issue. We must return to a defined-benefit retirement for public employees to attract, and retain, the highly qualified public employees, including teachers, firefighters and state troopers, that our state, including our most valuable resource, our children, deserve.

These are just two of the myriad of education issues this session. As an educator and, most importantly, a parent of two public school children, I ask you to please keep in mind that two things can be true at once. We can support and fully and sustainably fund our public schools while also working to improve them. But we cannot improve schools that are drastically underfunded and facing crippling deficits, shocking class sizes, across-the-board program cuts, and the highest teacher turnover in the country. I am lucky enough to work every day with thousands of educators, staff, students, and families, striving to give our next generation the education they deserve to become high-functioning contributors to thriving and sustainable communities right here in Alaska. I ask you, as the informed and engaged electorate, to hold our Legislature and administration accountable and do the same. Thank you.

Ben Walker is a public school teacher, parent of two public school children, a graduate of Alaska public schools, and was the 2018 Alaska State Teacher of the Year.

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