The Anchorage School District is pausing hiring for all vacant positions, effective Monday
In a statement, ASD officials said the district expects to face a budget deficit of more than $77 million next school year. They say the district will likely have to “significantly reduce positions” to balance the budget and that a hiring freeze now will avoid “creating additional employment commitments that increase the likelihood of layoffs this spring.”
ASD spokesman MJ Thim said by email that there are roughly 200 vacancies in the district.
Officials say all vacancies will be reviewed and “positions deemed essential to student learning or safety can still be approved for posting.”
The decision comes as the district and the Anchorage Education Association teachers’ union remain locked in contract negotiations. Both groups are scheduled to enter arbitration in late January for the first time in almost two decades.
It also comes two weeks after the Anchorage School Board voted against closing two elementary schools. District officials proposed closing Fire Lake and Lake Otis elementary schools as part of its efforts in “rightsizing” the district.
Thim said the hiring freeze is not related to that vote, writing “we are taking this step because we must plan responsibly in the face of a very difficult fiscal reality.”
“This is not a decision we wanted to make,” Thim added in the email, “and we know the strain it can place on already strained school system.”
The school board is scheduled to address the hiring freeze and other budget solutions at its meeting Tuesday night.
