By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon
School districts across the state are starting to issue “pink slip” notices to teachers and staff that they may be laid off, in what has become a difficult spring tradition in Alaska, as legislators debate how much the state will allocate to education funding next school year.
The Kenai Peninsula School District is among those districts, issuing notices for 160 teachers and staff starting this week, Superintendent Clayton Holland told lawmakers on Monday.
School district officials and advocates from around the state testified before a joint hearing of the House and Senate education committees, discussing a variety of issues and priorities of districts, including the cost of staff retention, recruitment and turnover.
“Because we’re not certain what our budget will be,” Holland said in an interview after the hearing. “And just like all districts, we can’t afford to be wrong. We can’t jeopardize our fiscal future, or the fiscal stability of our district, by overdrawing (from district savings). So right now, we’re in a holding pattern.”
Legislators in the Senate are considering a bill passed by the Alaska House of Representatives earlier this month which would provide a $1,000 boost to per student funding. The actual amount of the increase would be higher based on factors included in the funding formula, including the size of schools and special needs. The bill is currently being heard in the Senate Education Committee.
Holland said the district calculated the 160 staff positions that received notices based on an estimated $680 increase in per student funding, the amount included in the current budget as a one-time addition. “And so even with that $680 (increase) we’re uncertain,” he said. “We don’t know. And it’s a risk at this point.”
Holland said that while school districts grapple with budget uncertainty every year, this year is more dire because districts have less in savings, there is less interest from teachers in applying to Alaska positions, and schools face teacher shortages already.
“I think maybe back in the old days, people would wait it out, the job was worth waiting for, and there are enough people looking for jobs. But right now that’s not the case,” Holland said. “People go elsewhere and find jobs. They’ll leave our state and look for jobs. They’ll go to places that have a retirement system, have no fiscal instability, and leave us. And then it leaves us in June, looking for people who don’t exist.”
Alaska schools began the school year with over 600 certified teacher vacancies, according to a joint position statement from the Alaska Council of School Administrators, and some Alaska schools did not have a single certified teacher on the first day of school.
The council provides professional development and advocacy for Alaska educators statewide. It urged state action to address the “dire vacancy rates” by providing competitive salaries, benefits and a defined benefit retirement option.
“Our goal is to attract and retain qualified educators, and we look at why they are leaving,” said Lori Rucksdashel, principal of Chinook Elementary School in Anchorage and president of the Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals, testifying to lawmakers.
“What we know is nine out of 10 teachers hired each year are replacing colleagues who left voluntarily,” she said. “More than two-thirds of teachers quit before retirement.”
She said that the challenges are greater at schools that serve lower-income communities and receive federal Title I funding, adding that their turnover rates are 50% higher than other schools, and 70% higher in math and science.
Rucksdashel cited research from the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research that estimates the turnover cost per teacher at over $20,000, including costs for recruitment, hiring and training.
She said the lack of retirement benefits is one of the driving forces for teachers leaving. “They are leaving because of the lack of defined benefits. They are leaving because of better opportunities in the Lower 48. They are leaving because of the cost of living, and right now, they are leaving because of uncertainty of educational funding.”
Rucksdashel told lawmakers she gave notice to staff at her elementary school that same morning, including a school nurse, a story she shared with her permission. “I spoke with my nurse, who is not only a professional in her field, but a parent of three students in my school. She chose to be a school nurse because she wanted to provide for Alaska’s children as well as be with her family,” she said. “This morning, I displaced her. She is not going to wait around until we decide that we have the funding to bring her back.”
On Monday, the Anchorage School District issued an estimated 360 notices to teachers and staff, to address a $43 million shortfall. The district pledged to reverse those cuts if the Legislature passed a $1,000 per student funding increase, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
This year, school districts around the state are grappling with budget shortfalls and school closures and consolidations, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Kodiak and Ketchikan.
Rick Dormer, principal of Ketchikan High School and president of the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals, told lawmakers Monday that he himself is actively applying for jobs in Oregon.
“Because if I go to Oregon, I can get a defined benefit package, I can have higher wages, I can have a lower cost of living, and I don’t have to take the time and expense to get on a Boeing jet to see my family,” he said. “It is a challenge. We want to stay. I want to stay, but we’re also highly educated professionals. We have personal goals. We have professional goals. And I can tell you that there are a lot of options out there.”
Dormer said the ACSA is working to deter turnover with mentorship, networking and leadership training opportunities for educators around the state. But he urged legislators to take action and increase per student funding.
“That’s public schools, that’s charter schools, that’s homeschools …. Every school needs quality leadership and quality teachers, and Alaska is losing their educational leaders at a very rapid rate,” he said. “Please help our children, every child, every day, to have access to the very best education possible from effective teachers and experienced, supported principals.”
In the meantime, the Senate Education Committee is hearing the school funding bill proposed by House legislators, House Bill 69, and will consider amendments. If the committee advances the bill, it would move to the Senate Finance Committee before going to a full vote in the Senate. If passed by the Senate, it would then go before Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who could sign it, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. Dunleavy and his legislative allies have said that any school funding increase should be accompanied by policy changes he has proposed, including expanding charter schools.
