When you envision quality public education for your child, what do you see? Do you see a well-rested teacher who is an expert in their subject? Or do you see an exhausted teacher who has to switch between four or five subjects? Do you see a moderate classroom size with plenty of time for individual questions? Or do you see a crowded room with not enough seats let alone time to address each child’s learning needs? These are the questions we need to be asking ourselves as we address the current education crisis. What steps can be taken to improve both teacher and student experiences?
Right now, the state of Alaska is facing a recruitment and retention problem. It is not easy to hire new educators nor is it easy to keep the ones currently employed by the district. The reasons for this are not difficult to understand, particularly in a time of economic downturn. “We’re in essence losing money every year we work,” Sandi Ryan of the Fairbanks Education Association explained. “Inflation is at 8%. The district’s proposed salary increase of 0% does nothing to address the struggles of educators across our community.”
Not only are our educators subject to the same rising energy costs which affect us all, they face structural challenges at the district level which are hard to overcome.
“We do not believe that the district properly prepared for the number of students coming back this year,” Sandi continued. Classroom sizes are far larger than teachers can easily manage. One on one time with students is drastically diminished. The prep time for educators has been cut, meaning the lesson plans are less frequently reviewed.
Additionally, fewer educators means that one individual is forced to juggle several subjects. Instead of one teacher with an English specialization teaching English classes all day, they might be teaching history in the morning, English before lunch, and health in the afternoon.
Fewer support staff also means fewer aids that can help with neurodivergent children or those with unique learning styles. Teachers are far less likely to host extra-curricular activities, especially since many of them are now being asked to drive students home in vans after work. Not only are our teachers being asked to labor for longer, many of them don’t even get a designated parking spot on the school grounds.
“This becomes an issue particularly in the winter, when you have educators lugging around heavy equipment on icy sidewalks. We just want safety on the job,” Sandi explained.
The question then becomes why can’t we recruit and retain more talent? Lack of a reliable retirement system could be one reason. The current GPO and WEP legislation ensures that “If you earn even part of a public pension from a government job that doesn’t pay into Social Security, you can lose part or all of your earned Social Security retirement benefits,” Participation in these professions currently drain workers of their hard earned savings. In addition to this, the 2006 decision to move away from a defined benefit system has negatively impacted worker pensions across the state.
In regards to health care, staff are being asked to contribute more from their paycheck in order to receive the same level of coverage. “These folks are making $22 a year or less,” Rep. Grier Hopkins explained. “Asking them to essentially take a pay cut while cost of living skyrockets is insane.”
“I know people who want to work for the district but choose not to because they could make more serving fast food,” Danielle Logan, ESSA president, added.
When it comes to safety measures, the district has not yet agreed to even modest proposals for reform. One such proposal would provide de-escalation training for support staff dealing with emotionally charged and even violent children. Another would provide a longer evaluation process before returning a student who’s struck a teacher to the classroom.
In a post-pandemic era where children are falling behind in key subjects, we need a robust education system with sufficient supplies and enthusiastic staff. This cannot occur if our educators are overworked, underpaid, and worried about the future. For this reason we hope the school district will bargain with their staff in good faith; because ultimately what’s good for the teacher is good for the student, what’s good for the student is good for the family, and what’s good for the family is good for Fairbanks.
We all benefit by having a more educated public. And so with this in mind let’s support our educators and their struggle for a fair contract.
