The article on Dec. 12 concerning raises being a possibility for the governor, lieutenant governor, department heads and legislators is a bit puzzling. It states that to keep the best and the brightest applying or running for those positions, we must increase their pay. If this applies to governmental positions, why does it not apply to those who are educating our children? Our state government has declined to appropriately fund education until test scores of students are brought up to grade level.
Something about this scenario does not compute. We must have the best and brightest to fill government positions, but that doesn’t apply to teachers teaching our children as well. We are not saying the teachers in our school districts are not competent, but the state is losing many skilled, experienced teachers who are either leaving their jobs to work in the private sector or are moving out of state to places where they are fairly compensated for the time they devote to educating students.
Funding for our educational system is badly in need of an overhaul. In the early ‘70s, many young teachers and their families moved to Alaska to begin their teaching careers. They continued teaching through to retirement because they could raise their families in relative comfort and look forward to financial security in retirement. Most of those teachers are still living in Alaska, but their children are not. Many young families have moved out of Alaska because the education system has let them down, mainly because of lack of funding from the state government.
Note to Gov. Dunleavy and the Alaska Legislature: In order to ensure we get the best and the brightest elected officials, we need to monetarily compensate them for their time. The same holds true for education. In order to ensure that our future generations are the best and brightest, we need to invest in the best and brightest teachers.
— Ernie Hall, former chair of the Anchorage Assembly and former member of the State Board of Education
Sandy Hall, former school teacher with the Anchorage School District
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