Sophia Armstrong is a first grade teacher at Haines Elementary. Teaching is her calling. She’s been doing it here for 14 years already, and she plans to work in education for the rest of her career.
But Armstrong is starting to think it might not be wise to do that in Haines – or maybe anywhere in Alaska. She says poor retirement benefits and low pay, fueled by insufficient state education funding, make it hard for her to justify staying.
“I'm actually, you know, one of those people who's going ‘Alaska, get it together, or I'm out of here,’” Armstrong said. “And it's sad, because I really want to stay in Alaska. I love this town. I love this community. I love this school.”
It’s a bad situation for Armstrong, the school and the community of Haines. But it’s hardly unique. Schools across the state are reckoning with budget shortfalls driven in large part by flat state education funding over much of the last decade.
By and large, the formula that determines per student funding for a given district hasn’t budged since 2017. That’s been the case even as inflation has surged roughly 18% over the same time period.
There’s some momentum in the state Legislature to address the situation. House leaders unveiled an education funding bill on Wednesday that includes a $1,000 increase to the state’s per student funding formula next year. But the bill does not include future increases or inflation-proofing. And it could face obstacles in the Senate and from Gov. Mike Dunlaevy.
“I think there's general consensus to see some increase. What the dollar amount is, that's really the debate,” said Nils Andreassen, the executive director of Alaska Municipal League.
Without intervention, he said, funding shortfalls will keep driving a sprawling set of issues in school districts, ranging from program cuts and larger class sizes to school closures. Districts in Anchorage and Kodiak, for instance, are already set to close at least one school later this year. In Southeast, Juneau has already closed schools, and Ketchikan and Sitka are considering similar moves.
So far, Haines has fared better than those districts. But the budget crisis is making it hard for the district to pay staff well enough to keep them – or to attract new staff. And it’s driving a request for a dramatic increase in funding from the local government, to help close the gap.
Problems retaining and recruiting teachers
Roy Getchell, the district superintendent in Haines, said the budget problems hit staff — and the students they serve — the hardest. He said low funding means the district can’t offer pay and benefits that would help retain current employees like Armstrong. The district saw 27% turnover in fiscal year 2025, with a 39% turnover rate the year prior.
A report published last week underscores the problem. Researchers with the University of Alaska Anchorage analyzed the state’s per-pupil education funding as of 2022 – and compared it to states across the country. The report found that the state’s per-student spending is 15% below the national average, even after adjusting for higher relative costs.
“If Alaska teacher salaries do not keep up with national trends, the state’s existing retention and turnover challenges will be exacerbated, especially in remote and high-poverty schools that have the greatest difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers,” the report says.
But retaining teachers isn’t the only challenge. It’s also harder for Haines to attract strong teaching applicants when jobs open up.
“We've had many folks on the line who are ready to make the move. But when we offer a salary, it's ‘No,’” Getchell said. “They plug it into a cost of living calculator, or they compare it to where they are, and it's not competitive anymore.”
Right now, 90% of applicants for open district jobs are from overseas, namely the Philippines, and would require visas. Less than 5% of applicants for those roles have degrees from the University of Alaska System. Getchell said those applicants are typically the strongest because they have already spent some time in Alaska, know what they’re getting into — and are more likely to stick around.
“We don't produce enough teachers in our state to fill that need. So we have to be attractive, and one way to attract people — we're a market economy — is through salaries and benefits,” he said.
Haines’ superintendent asks for a lifeline
Getchell said the situation is pushing him to ask the borough to pitch in more dollars to compensate for insufficient state funding. Local governments are legally allowed to fund school districts up to a certain level. Haines has not historically funded the district to that cap, but Getchell said during a February assembly meeting that he plans to ask the borough to do so for the first time in over a decade.
The ask means Getchell is requesting roughly 25% more funding this year than he did last year – an increase of more than half a million dollars in a community of about 2,500 people. But without that support, he says the district could run an $880 thousand dollar deficit next year.
“We’ve been really conscientious, working as the school district with the support of the board, to not come running to you every time we have a need,” he said during the assembly meeting. “But we are at the point, where without support, things are going to start to change. And they’ll start to change dramatically.”
Getchell says funding from the borough could serve as a lifeline until the state boosts funding. But it’s still expensive to live here and difficult to get here – two factors that make offering competitive pay even more crucial.
“The vast majority of our budget goes into people,” Getchell said. “When you're talking about people in a school district, you're talking about programs, you're talking about class sizes, you're talking about things that folks are used to having, that suddenly may not be possible.”
For Armstrong, the situation is becoming less sustainable as she takes on more responsibility each year – with fewer resources.
“I also am halfway through my career and have a crummy retirement and keep having more things stacked on me to do, with less support,” Armstrong said.
“I shouldn't be really poor when I have a college degree, and I work really hard, and I have now 20 years’ experience,” she added. “I should be able to afford eggs.”
