The Anchorage School District is quickly approaching the point of no return to rehire staff who have been displaced by budget cuts. That was the message from ASD Human Resources Director Marty Lang at a school board work session Tuesday. Lang said rehiring people for the 380 cut positions will become much more difficult after April 29.
“I’ve been joking that if we got money today, we could play our Uno reverse card and we could put all of these folks right back in the positions where they are currently at,” Lang said.
Lang says officials will meet on April 29 to fill most vacant positions for next year, complicating the ability to rehire displaced teachers at their previous schools.
The Anchorage School Board cut $43 million from the district budget in February, and also passed an amendment that detailed how a $1,000 increase to the state’s per-student funding formula would be redirected to the classroom, if the legislature were to pass an increase to the Base Student Allocation.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bill that would have provided a $1,000 increase to the BSA, and legislators failed to override the veto by seven votes Tuesday. Dunleavy then introduced his own bill with a $560 increase, among other education policy reforms.
After nearly a decade without a significant increase in state funding, many districts across Alaska are facing massive layoffs and school closures.
In Anchorage, district officials began notifying teachers last month they were being displaced, meaning there is not enough money for them to stay at their school. Some of those employees may be given jobs at a different school for next year. But Lang said some displaced teachers are waiting for jobs that will never become available.
“We are cognizant of the fact that there are real individuals being impacted by this and this is the unfortunate reality of where we’re at today and this is a process I think all of us wish we could avoid, but we’re caught up in a legislative cycle right now that unfortunately keeps us in this reality each spring,” Lang said.
Along with cuts to librarians, nurses, art, health and P.E. teachers at elementary schools, nearly 300 staff have also resigned. The process of placing displaced teachers at new schools continues this week, and district officials said the exact number of teachers who have been displaced remains fluid.
ASD’s Chief Financial Officer Andy Ratliff said many teachers who were not displaced have chosen to resign rather than face class sizes that have increased by four students per grade level.
“The folks that are in there once they figure out they have 35 or 40 kids in the class or having to take on so much extra work because we’ve cut so much staff, I think we’re going to see more turnover frankly or more vacancies and they may be sustained longer.”
The district is asking resigned teachers where they’re headed, and officials say many are moving out of state to teach elsewhere.
Ratliff projected that a $1,000 BSA increase would result in about $71 million in extra funding for the district to use next year; a $680 BSA increase would mean $49 million, and the governor’s proposed $560 increase would provide about $40 million.
“I think it’s important that all of us remember that we’re really dismantling the Anchorage School District at this point,” Board President Andy Holleman said. “We really are changing things to where it’s going to be more and more difficult for teachers to pursue a passion of excellence.”
