Save Our Anchorage Neighborhood Schools

03/21/2023

Got five minutes to help Anchorage's public schools?
Then send an email to the House Education Committee ([email protected]) by Tuesday evening in support of HB 65, the bill to increase the BSA to $7,210 from the current $5,960.
Better yet, consider testifying via phone on Tuesday 3/21, beginning at 5:15 PM. Call 907-563-9085 and ask to testify on HB 65. Or, call toll-free at 844-586-9085.

12/21/2022

The Anchorage School Board voted supporting a budget plan that involves closing Abbott Loop Elementary. Since the superintendent said 12/19 was the cut off date for a decision, it looks like the other five schools will not be closed next year. The board made its decision to close Abbott Loop (1) without a detailed savings analysis or (2) a detailed plan demonstrating why this closure would benefit students academically or (3) an equity analysis about the impacts on economically disadvantaged families, language learners, students with special needs, or students of diverse racial and ethnic minorities.

Some things you can do:
(A) Advocate for the kids at Abbott Loop. We need accountability, transparency, and a robust transition plan for these students.
(B) Write to the board and request a moratorium for the five other schools so that they won't be considered for closure again for three years (multiple rounds of being on a closure list is extremely damaging to staff, students, and families).
(C) Advocate to the board for greater community involvement in the development of future budget solutions.
(D) Write to your legislator and the governor in support of an inflation-proofed Basic Student Allocation.

Anchorage School Board members on Monday finalized budget priorities and guidance for the district, making up $40 million of a $48 million deficit next year.

12/19/2022

A shift in the right direction. Our hard work is paying off. But there's still much work to do to address the district's budget priorities and funding problems at the state level.

Board members are expected to vote Monday on a memo that includes options to help close a now-$48 million budget deficit.

12/16/2022

"It’s time for district leadership and the board to get off the consolidation train. It’s time for local community members and experts to help the district come up with a better plan. And it’s time to solve the underlying problem: Alaska’s education funding is out of step with inflation and has fallen behind other states."

It’s time for district leadership and the board to get off the consolidation train.

12/13/2022

Dear Governor Dunleavy,

We write to request your support for funding K-12 education in our state. A recent ISER report (see attached) shows that between 2017 and 2019 Alaska increasingly fell behind the national average in education funding. In more recent years our school districts have witnessed the budget impacts of significant inflation in costs. Despite this, there has been no parallel adjustment in Base Student Allocation.

School districts across the state are in crisis. Unless the BSA is increased the only real alternative to fill the size of anticipated budget gaps will be a significant increase in the pupil-to-student ratio and massive teacher layoffs. As a former educator and superintendent, we are sure you know that this would hurt our education results and disadvantage children and our future. Please not only support an inflation-proofed BSA but also make our education funding competitive with other states so that families will choose to stay in and migrate to Alaska, thus fueling our economy.

Finally, you may be familiar with the proposed plan in the Anchorage School District to close six neighborhood elementary schools. This is largely motivated by pressure from Juneau politicians who want to see schools closed before they will support a BSA increase. We don't know where you stand on this issue, but we ask that you discourage this attempt to hold the BSA hostage.

We believe you recognize the importance of local governance and that you seek to respect the independence of local school districts and communities to solve their own problems. When external pressures distort local deliberative processes, it yields bad results: solutions that aren't a good fit and don't really solve underlying problems. In this case, one side effect of this plan was that it ended up exacerbating existing inequities and targeting some of our most vulnerable student populations.

Please take a stand in support of local self-governance and discourage attempts to place specific conditions on a BSA increase. Anything besides this is just not fair to the children of Alaska. Real reform to our institutions requires finding ways to promote good governance at the local levels, not imposing ill-conceived solutions from without.

Send this message to the governor: https://aws.state.ak.us/CrmForms/Home/Feedback
Or call (907) 465-3500

https://pubs.iseralaska.org/media/b310d8a9-6980-41b4-97ef-332b3c86a09c/ISER_K-12_Spending_March_2022_Update.pdf

12/13/2022

Email or call ((907) 465-3500) the governor today and ask him to support a significant increase to the Base Student Allocation. In 2019, after adjusting for our high cost of living, Alaska funded education below the national average. Since then we've had massive inflation and still no adjustment in the Base Student Allocation. Let the governor know it's time to invest in our future. See the linked ISER report for more information on education funding.
https://aws.state.ak.us/CrmForms/Home/Feedback

https://pubs.iseralaska.org/media/b310d8a9-6980-41b4-97ef-332b3c86a09c/ISER_K-12_Spending_March_2022_Update.pdf

12/11/2022

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/education/2022/12/10/now-facing-a-48-million-deficit-anchorage-district-and-school-board-officials-look-at-cuts-and-closures-ahead/

The new projected deficit amount is less than the original $68 million total, but options like school closures, program cuts and bigger class sizes remain on the table.

12/07/2022

ASD Leadership has finally acknowledged what some of us have been saying for almost a month: closing schools ends up creating a bigger budget deficit than it fills long term.

These slides are from the 12/5 ASD Board Work Session. It's easy to misinterpret the them because they are trying to cast things in the best light possible. So here's some help:

-Keep in mind that the closures are designed to fill a 4M budget gap out of the (newly updated) 48.2M total budget deficit projected for FY24.

-If all the hidden assumptions about cost savings and new revenue from charters renting the spaces pan out and if all new costs (like additional busing) were factored in, then this strategy will save 4M for 2 years. (And keep in mind those are BIG "ifs"!)

-But this is temporary. It depends on a "hold harmless provision" in AS 14.17.410 section H that allows a district to receive full funding at pre-consolidation levels for two years after closing a school. The State of Alaska funds smaller schools at a higher rate. So, the district benefits from that higher rate for two years after closure, but then the funding tapers off until the formula is calculated in Year 5 based on the sizes of the consolidated schools.

-So, what the slide is showing is a loss in annual funding of about 4.6M per year fully taking effect in the fifth year.

-But even by Year 3 this strategy is not still filling the 4M budget gap. Since it only fills 2.5M by Year 3 that means the district will have to make up the 1.5M that remains in some other way. Will they close more schools at that point? We sure hope not. Because long term, this is a losing strategy.

-And don't let the 10.9M in cumulative savings over 5 years fool you. That's a common tactic used by administrators to impress an untutored board/public. It's hard to put into perspective since we usually think in in terms of annual costs and not five-year budgets (which for ASD would be over 3 billion). A better way to put it is that closing six schools saves 2.6M on average for four years (or about 6% of the current operating costs of the 18 involved schools) and then creates a deficit of 0.5M each year after that.

-At the work session, ASD's CFO compared the closure plan to the use of one-time funds to fill a budget gap for a few years. The problem is that by contrast to typical one-time funds, like the 37M(!) available in bond debt reimbursement, the savings might not actually be achieved and depend upon disrupting the lives of about 1400 students. When you include preschoolers and students in all the receiving schools, the plan impacts about 5000 students and their families.

There are other ways to better utilize our buildings that are financially sustainable and less disruptive to kids: co-location of schools, adding additional preschool classes, relocating district administrative functions out of commercial buildings and into schools, partnering with the municipality to use the space for community services. (Let's get creative!)

But for some reason the district has settled on a solution that isn't financially viable. ASD leadership knew this at least 2-3 months ago. So why all the town halls? Why stress kids, families, and communities with the loss of their schools?

It's the cookie cutter solution of their $108k outside consultant and it is what some politicians equate with "right-sizing" our schools. But it ignores what is lost with the elimination of walkable neighborhood schools that hold communities together and now they are finally beginning to admit that it doesn't even make long term financial sense.

What should be alarming--even exclusively from a financial standpoint--is that the district has said they have a list of 12 more schools they wish to close!

Tell the district leadership and the board to part ways with the outside consultant and get off the consolidation train.

It's time to solve the underlying problem: Alaska's education funding is out of step with inflation and has fallen behind other states.

For a full analysis of the impact of the closures on funding, find out more here: https://www.savenunaka.net/show-us-the-money

For info on education funding as it compares to the rest of the country check this out (and keep in mind, this ISER report was prior to the major inflation of the last few years): https://iseralaska.org/.../alaska-spending-on-k-12.../

12/06/2022

ASD Leadership has finally acknowledged what some of us have been saying for almost a month: long term, closing schools ends up creating a bigger budget deficit than it fills.

These slides are from the 12/5 ASD Board Work Session. It's easy to misinterpret the slides because they are trying to cast things in the best light possible. So here's some help:

-Keep in mind that the closures are designed to fill a 4M budget gap out of the (newly updated) 48.2M total budget deficit projected for FY24.

-If all the hidden assumptions about cost savings and new revenue from charters renting the spaces pan out and if all new costs (like additional busing) were factored in, then this strategy will save 4M for 2 years. (And keep in mind those are BIG "ifs"!)

-But this is temporary. It depends on a "hold harmless provision" in AS 14.17.410 section H that allows a district to receive full funding at pre-consolidation levels for two years after closing a school. The State of Alaska funds smaller schools at a higher rate. So, the district benefits from that higher rate for two years after closure but then the funding tapers off until the formula is calculated in Year 5 based on the sizes of the consolidated schools.

-So, what the slide is showing is a loss in annual funding of about 4.6M per year fully taking effect in the fifth year.

-But even by Year 3 this strategy is not still filling the 4M budget gap. Since it only fills 2.5M by Year 3 that means the district will have to make up the 1.5M that remains in some other way. Will they close more schools at that point? We sure hope not. Because long term, this is a losing strategy.

-And don't let the 10.9M in cumulative savings over 5 years fool you. That's a common tactic used by administrators to impress an untutored board/public. It's hard to put in context since we usually think in in terms of annual costs and not five year budgets (which for ASD would be over 3 billion). A better way to put it is that closing six schools saves 2.6M on average for four years (or about 6% of the current operating costs of the 18 involved schools) and then creates a deficit of 0.5M each year after that.

-At the work session, ASD's CFO compared the closure plan to the use of one-time funds to fill a budget gap for a few years. The problem is that by contrast to typical one-time funds, like the 37M(!) available in bond debt reimbursement, the savings might not actually be achieved and they require disrupting the lives of about 1400 students. When you include preschoolers and students in all the receiving schools, the plan impacts 5000 students and their families.

There are other ways to better utilize our buildings that are financially sustainable and less disruptive to kids: co-location of schools, adding additional preschool classes, relocating district administrative functions out of commercial buildings and into schools, partnering with the municipality to use the space for community services. (Let's get creative!)

But for some reason the district has settled on a solution that isn't financially viable. ASD leadership knew this at least 2-3 months ago. So why all the town halls? Why stress kids, families, and communities with the loss of their schools?

It's the cookie cutter solution of their outside consultant and it is what some politicians equate with "right-sizing" our schools. But it ignores what is lost with the elimination of walkable neighborhood schools that hold communities together and now they are finally beginning to admit that it doesn't even make long term financial sense.

What should be alarming--even exclusively from a financial standpoint--is that the district has said they have a list of 12 more schools they wish to close!

Tell the district leadership and the board to part ways with the outside consultant and get off the consolidation train:

And tell the Governor ((907) 465-3500) and your elected representatives that it's time to solve the underlying problem: Alaska's education funding is out of step with inflation and has fallen behind other states.

For a full analysis of the impact of the closures on funding, find out more here: https://www.savenunaka.net/show-us-the-money

For info on education funding as it compares to the rest of the country check this out (and keep in mind, this ISER report was prior to the major inflation of the last few years): https://iseralaska.org/2022/03/alaska-spending-on-k-12-education-falls-below-us-average/

12/02/2022

The main reason for the Anchorage School District’s plan to close six elementary schools is not because it saves the district money. In fact, consolidating schools will actually reduce state funding and eventually cost the district in lost revenue. Instead, the reason is...… Read More

12/02/2022

The plan to close six elementary schools in the Anchorage School District is tainted by political influence.