OPINION: Put students before politics in funding Alaska’s schools

In the most recent legislative session, our lawmakers had the historic opportunity to change the trajectory of school funding and stop what has been the steady and intentionally created decline of public education in Alaska. Instead, they did the opposite.

Communities around the state breathed a sigh of relief when legislators made their initial votes to increase the Base Student Allocation funding formula. These critical votes meant that schools in our communities wouldn’t have to close, staff wouldn’t have to be laid off, and our children wouldn’t lose educational opportunities because districts can’t afford to pay for critical programming.  There was a real sense of hope. A sense that our state was finally putting our children first and headed back to the right path for supporting our communities and families with the education funding our children deserve. But all that changed when our governor vetoed education funding and then our legislators ignored the overwhelming support in their communities for public education and didn’t override the veto. The results have been devastating. Schools are closing. Districts are making cuts to programs. Vacant staff are positions are not being filled. The class sizes of our children are once again increasing.

Class size is the single greatest indicator of how successful students will be academically. Wonderful, qualified, caring teachers and support staff are critical to creating supportive learning environments — but student success, especially at the rates the state wants it, can’t happen in environments where there are more students in a classroom than there are desks to seat them at. Class size in the state of Alaska has increased. Our state makes the top 15 for largest class sizes in the nation. In 2022, an average kindergarten class in Anchorage had 21 students. That means there are 21 brand-new learners being taught and cared for throughout the day, typically by just one adult. In a daycare in our state, the ratio for what is considered safe for this age group is 14 children to one adult.  Class sizes grow even larger as students get older. The average size of a high school class in 2017 was 27 students. In 2022, 46% of high school classrooms in Anchorage had more than 30 students.

In classes this large, children get left behind. They don’t get the one-to-one or small group instruction time they need to master difficult content. Students who are struggling continue to struggle and often don’t get caught up. Qualified caring adults and small class sizes are needed to create confident learners who become productive citizens. To have these environments, we need to permanently raise the BSA. Without guaranteed funding for the people and programs our children deserve, we can’t grow the economy of our state. School districts can’t fully commit to workforce development and early learning programs. It isn’t possible to do more with less. We are past the point as a state where we can look at educators and expect them to make magic on behalf of our children without the manpower or resources to do so. So many exciting things are on the horizon for our community and business with programs like the Academies of Anchorage, which are going to offer our students the job skills they need so that they can be successful. In turn, our local economy can then have the qualified and skilled workers we need. Programs like this require consistent and reliable funding. That funding comes from an increase in the BSA.

So, what can we do to make sure we have smaller class sizes, quality programming and critical funding for our schools? The short answer is vote. In every election this year we need to remember who voted against funding the futures of our children and our schools and we need to vote them out of office. Accountability starts at the ballot box. Our children deserve better, and so does our state. Our communities overwhelmingly support our schools. We want students who are ready for careers and life after they graduate. We need to start electing individuals to our state legislature who value the same things our community does. People before politics always. Our schools and children before political showmanship.  Let’s vote our values and support what matters. It’s time to change who we send to Juneau.

Michaela Kolerok is a lifelong Alaskan, special education teacher of 11 years, and a mother to two children who have flourished because of Alaska’s public schools.

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