When students don’t score well in reading and math again this school year, you’ll know why. A handful of legislators last January voted to sustain the governor’s veto of smaller classes.
Last year, Anchorage schools already had too few teachers. They were cramming as many as 30 or more students into the elementary homerooms, even though most students were behind in reading and math. By April, some 8,000 third- to sixthgrade reading students in Anchorage’s neighborhood public schools tested below grade level, the state reported.
Nevertheless, some legislators voted to sustain the governor’s veto to withhold funding for smaller classrooms, including in their own neighborhood schools. Here are examples: Sen. James Kaufman’s district’s elementary schools averaged 58% of students below the English language arts grade level standard in April as reported by the education department.
Similarly, 58% in Rep. Craig Johnson’s district’s Klatt and Ocean View schools also scored below proficient. At Spring Hill school in Rep. Julie Coulombe’s district, 87% fell below proficient. An average 82% of third to sixth graders scored below the reading standard in Muldoon, Creekside, Wonder Park and Ptarmigan schools in Rep. Wright’s district. So, when you see low reading proficiency again, you’ll know which legislators arranged for it.
— Mike Bronson
Anchorage NAACP volunteer
Anchorage
Editor’s note: As originally edited, the published version of this letter erroneously referred to Rep. Delena Johnson; it has been corrected to refer to Rep. Craig Johnson and schools in his district.
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