Anchorage School District proposes cutting teacher positions, middle school sports and more amid flat state funding

Facing a structural deficit of $111 million, the Anchorage School District released its draft budget Friday calling for massive cuts to programs and positions.

In a letter to Anchorage parents, Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said the deficit is “driven by more than a decade of flat state funding and rising costs due to inflation.”

The budget proposal came on the heels of Gov. Mike Dunleavy rejecting a plan by state lawmakers to significantly increase the state’s education budget without tying the funding boosts to policy changes.

A bill backed by the House majority would increase education funding by more than 35%, staggered over three years, and tie future changes to inflation.

Dunleavy on Friday instead proposed keeping education funding levels close to those approved by lawmakers last year, with more funding targeted at homeschooling programs, career and technical education, and reading programs in elementary schools.

Bryantt said in his letter to Anchorage families that the lack of state funding increases, coupled with inflation, means the district “simply cannot sustain the same level of programs and services.”

The proposed budget would increase the student-to-teacher ratio by four. Kindergarten classes would rise from 22 to 26 kids per teacher. Middle and high school classes would have more than 35 kids per teacher.

In doing so, the district would eliminate roughly 200 teacher positions.

In addition, more than 60 teacher positions would be cut due to declining student enrollment.

Anchorage School Board President Andy Holleman said teachers in the district were not expected to lose their jobs as a result of the cuts. Rather, retiring and resigning teachers would not be replaced, and existing teachers may be asked to shift from one school to another to meet students’ needs.

The district is also proposing cutting 12 librarian positions and 13 school nurses; eliminating the entire IGNITE program serving gifted students; eliminating all middle school sports; and eliminating all high school hockey, swimming and diving, and gymnastics programs.

The school district budget proposal relies on having no increase to the $5,960 Base Student Allocation. Last year, lawmakers approved a one-time funding increase equal to a $680 increase to the BSA. That means that the district is relying on receiving far less state funding in the coming year compared to the current one.

This year’s House majority education bill calls for increasing the BSA by $1,000 in the coming fiscal year and an additional $404 per year in the subsequent two fiscal years, adjusted for inflation. Dunleavy’s bill does not call for increasing the BSA.

“If the Legislature and governor approve additional funding, it will likely come after ASD is required to submit a balanced budget to the Municipality of Anchorage,” Bryantt said in his letter.

The district is set to present the budget to the Anchorage School Board on Tuesday. The final budget must be submitted to the Anchorage Assembly by March 1.

Holleman said Friday that unless the governor agrees in principle to increasing the BSA in the next month, the proposed cuts are unavoidable.

“If the governor said publicly that he would support something that (the Legislature) did, we’d certainly take him at his word,” said Holleman.

“Otherwise, we’re kind of rolling the dice,” he said.

Lawmakers said Friday that they would try to work with the governor to find common ground on education policy and funding. But Holleman said some of Dunleavy’s proposals on education policy would pose problems for the district.

A proposal from Dunleavy to provide Anchorage teachers annual $5,000 bonuses during the coming three years, for example, would make it easier for the district to attract teachers but would not help the district in its current contract negotiations with the Anchorage Education Association, a union representing the district’s teachers, Holleman said.

“It further politicizes teacher salaries, rather than giving them stability,” said Holleman.