The Alaska Municipal League’s Summer Legislative Conference in Kodiak Aug. 13-15 included several presentations about common struggles between city and borough governments across the state. One spotlight was that school districts everywhere have faced mostly flat funding since 2017.
That’s why organizers invited Lon Garrison to host a forum. Garrison is the executive director of the Association of Alaska School Boards.
“Where we’re at today is that almost every school system in nearly every community is at the point where everybody has some basic needs that are being challenged,” Garrison told KMXT.
The Kodiak Island Borough School District for example, has cut its supplies and maintenance budgets and cut into its fund balance, or savings.
There’s been bills proposed to increase Alaska’s Base Student Allocation, or the state education funding formula, as recently as this year but none have become law.
The State Legislature has approved some one-time funding boosts though, including one this year.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy says that he supports increasing the BSA, but vetoed an effort by lawmakers for a permanent increase in March. Dunleavy’s communications director, Jeff Turner, wrote in an email Dunleavy critiqued the bill because he wants more support for charter schools in it. Students across the state organized protests out of frustration after the Legislature failed to override the veto.
Garrison says the governor cites a study of charter schools from Harvard University that says Alaska has the top charter schools in the country.
“But what we find out is Alaska’s public charter schools are doing well because they’re connected to local school districts and they’re very well supported by local school districts,” the executive director said.
He says charter schools also tend to have a lot of investment from parent activities and support.
Other critiques against increasing education funds include that Alaska spends more on education than any other state but still has low test scores. Garrison says that’s not true after adjusting for inflation, and makes the situation worse to take away resources.
“I’ll agree that we want students to do better,” he said. “They need to do better. We do not do well with our literacy and reading scores and whatnot. But part of the problem is we don’t have the resources to make that happen. So it’s kind of like that saying, ‘The beatings will continue until morale improves.’ That’s kind of how we feel.”
Funding isn’t the only struggle for schools though. Garrison says the whole country is facing teacher shortages and that challenge can be harder in Alaska. He says part of the problem is that the state doesn’t provide as good of benefits as it used to, like a pension plan for teachers.
“It’s very difficult,” Garrison said. “We’re just not competitive – we used to be kind of at the top of the heap and we’re not anymore.”
Some districts across the state have already begun the school year, but Kodiak Middle and High School Students return Sept. 3, students entering grades 1-5 start classes Sept. 4, and Kindergarteners start school Sept. 9.
