Our students and public schools are in crisis.
The Alaska Legislature and Governor must take bold action to increase public education funding.
Education funding hasn’t increased since 2017, and not measurably for over a decade, meanwhile inflation has risen more 15% since then. Other estimates indicate that the BSA should have increased by $1300 in the same period.
Across Alaska inflation has created increasing costs for electricity, fuel, building maintenance, health care, materials, and more. At the same time, flat funding has created a death spiral - schools are closing, class sizes are growing, and districts are canceling treasured programs and opportunities for students.
Alaskans understand the need to fully fund public education to prepare our students for success and ensure Alaska's prosperity. Across our state, the majority of Alaskans want the same thing – thriving communities with good jobs and strong public schools where all students have the resources and opportunities to grow into their full brilliance.
It is time for the Alaska Legislature to take bold action to fully fund our education system.
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From 2011 to 2022, the Base Student Allocation has increased by less than 5%, while Alaska’s urban consumer price index has risen by 24.6%. (Source ADN 1/26/23 )
The BSA would need to increase by $1,348 to match the buying power of peak year 2015. (Source January 30, 2023 memo from the Legislative Finance Division)
There are 2,100 fewer educators in Alaska classrooms today than 10 years ago.
There are 1,100 open positions across the State of Alaska
There are 1,000 fewer certificated classroom teachers in Alaska than in 2010-2011.
Using 2019 data the University of Alaska’s Institute of Social and Economic Research determined that Alaska spent 7% less per pupil on public education than the national average.
Testimonials
In Sitka, there are “Concerns over the future of Sitka’s schools”, Sitka School Board member Tristan Guevin …but he was deeply concerned about the future as he delivered his report to the board at its December 7 meeting.
“I struggled to put words to paper for this board Report, and only recently realized why,” Guevin told the board. “I realized recently that I feel something of a sense of hopelessness for where we are and where we have to go as a board, district, community, and state to ensure that every student in SSD receives a well-rounded and high quality education. More than anything else, school districts across our state are underfunded and under-resourced, and there doesn’t seem to be the political will to change things at the state or local levels.”
The state is by far the largest funder of Alaska’s schools, through a formula called the BSA, or Base Student Allocation, which provides $5,960 per student to local school districts. Guevin said that it had gone up only $30 in the last eight years. Just accounting for inflation, he said, it should have gone up by more than $1,300 over the same time period.
The shortfall, he argued, contributed to the first impasse in negotiations with the teachers’ union in Sitka in over 25 years.
“Without a significant change in the BSA in the coming years, I’m not sure how we move forward as a district,” Guevin said. “Our teachers need and deserve better pay and benefits. But as a school board and as a district, we have no way to raise revenues, so are largely at the mercy of the state and local government, and by extension, Alaska and Sitka residents, and what they’re willing to provide.”