School boards of Alaska plead with Legislature for more money

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By DAVID BOYLE

Alaska school boards were invited to provide testimony to the House Education Committee on the status of their schools this week. All of them testified on the need for more money; little was said about the need to improve students’ scores, or how increased funding would help with that.  

The Alaska School Boards Association also provided testimony focused on more funding, support for the defined benefit retirement program for teachers, and a more equitable broadband network.

The ASBA belongs to the National School Boards Association, which last year accused parents of “domestic terrorism and hate crimes” in a harsh letter to the Department of Justice. The NSBA letter was coordinated with the U.S. Department of Education.

On Oct. 18, 2021, Anchorage School Board member Dave Donley attempted to get a resolution passed by the Governance Committee that said, “The Anchorage School Board condemns in the strongest terms: The actions of the National School Boards Association in sending their September 29, 2021, letter to the Attorney General.”

School Board President Margo Bellamy participated in that discussion as an ex-officio member of the Governance Committee.  The resolution went nowhere.  

Bellamy is also on the Alaska School Board Association board. Bellamy testified on the need for a more equitable broadband. She stated that broadband is an “equity” issue. She credited the Covid pandemic with bringing “significant broadband inequities to the forefront.”

Bellamy regularly uses the word “equity” to push the principles of Critical Race Theory in the ASD.  

Bellamy stated the need for a diverse workforce, saying, “Students do better when they see someone who looks like them,” referring to teachers. She stated the district is working with University of Alaska Anchorage to grow teachers, even though the UAA Education Program lost its accreditation in 2019.

Bellamy strongly supported bringing back the defined benefit retirement program: “We used to sell this state on Alaska’s adventure and retirement.  Now we cannot do that.”  She further stated, “We need teachers to retire with dignity.”

There was no mention of improving the curriculum or improving student achievement in math and reading from any of the testifiers.

ASBA President Pete Hoepner testified that if the State funded more mental health resources, student achievement would increase. There were no data presented to defend this statement. This statement comes after the districts shut down their schools, severely impacting students’ mental health; depression, anxiety, loneliness, and even attempted suicides have resulted. Now they want money for a problem they caused.  

Hoepner said literacy is a fundamental human right and he supports efforts to ensure Alaska children read by 3rd grade. But he also wants universal Pre-K, insisting that is the missing link to improving literacy, when the national data do not support that. Another school board representative testified that teachers are not even taught how to teach reading. 

All the speakers testified for legislation that would spend more money on K-12 education. This included HB350 which would require the state to begin reimbursing new school construction costs effective July 1, 2022. The reimbursement rate would also increase from the current 50% to 70%.

All the testifiers see the state winning the Powerball lottery with higher oil revenues, and they want a piece of the winnings. Unfortunately, no one mentioned improving student outcomes or accountability. They were all lining up at the trough, yearning for more oil money with no strings attached that would improve student  achievement.

20 COMMENTS

  1. Bellamy is not only an idiot, but a racist idiot. “Students do better when they see someone who looks like them.”
    .
    Are we going to teach math to Blacks with only Black teachers? History to Native Americans only by Native American teachers?
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    This is racism on its face. We might as well re-open segregation and have Black schools, Asian schools, and White schools.
    .
    Complete backwards thinking. Little wonder why parents are opting for more home schooling.

  2. If a law were passed tomorrow, requiring all working Alaskans to contribute 50% of their pay to their respective school districts, It wouldn’t be two year’s time, those school districts would be screaming for a higher percentage. I’d still have a hard time finding a high school senior who could read or write beyond the fifth grade level. – M.John

  3. How about cutting administrators and teachers salaries, like the rest of us in the private sector?!?!

    • Teachers SHOULD be paid well. The administrators ..NO.. Teachers are asked to do more and more ever year and given very little support. Many spend money out of pocket to do their job. They also spend much of their personal time completing many ridiculous administrative tasks. Our board of education is very top heavy..time to lop it off!

  4. We spend more per student than any other school district in the country, and still cannot educate our children. Perhaps if these school boards unhinged themselves from the progressive political operation called “teachers union” we could start educating rather than just housing kids. This foolish gravy train must stop. Vote the bums out.

  5. Hmm.. buzzwords… Inequity. Inequality. Those that use these kinds of words are schooled in Marxism. Did anyone use the phrase, “it’s for the children!”? Just asking…
    Alaska test scores are abysmal… almost at the bottom of the barrel. That is an insult to education and embarrassment to all involved. Bonds are redistribution of wealth. Karl Marx said it best. From each according to his ability (taxpayer) to each according to his need (Anchorage school board) Better get rid of those pronouns. Ahh.. there’s that indoctrination y’all like to push. All your ‘wants’ don’t teach children reading, writing, Arithmetic. Your bonds are akin to putting very expensive lipstick on a pig.
    Homeschool! Teach your children right the first time. And vote NO on the school bond.

  6. No, no, and he’ll no.

    Our kids are the dumbest (statistically) in America. They don’t deserve another cent.

    If we get to a Constitutional Convention, abolish teachers unions as part of it.

  7. Still amazes me how “un-schooled” the Association is in terms of its leadership role. It appears obvious the school district staff have once again succeeded in providing all the talking points for their supposed oversight boards, repeated without critical thought. More, the old saw about defined benefit retirements being the answer to recruitment is way out of touch with current job market realities where most folks coming up will pursue five or more different careers throughout their working life as a matter of choice, and value portability.

  8. Bellamy has “SLAPPED” the face of MLK..very regurgitating. I’m sure he just groaned and rolled over in his grave. Very digustingly how she has desrespcted EVERYTHING he marched and push for and we all finally won..Sometimes I feel like we’re re-living the 50’s and 60’s but only OPPOSITE of that reality.

  9. The simple fact is, the only way to improve any service or product is with free-market competition. The one and only solution to all the problems in public education is found in one word: vouchers.
    .
    The biggest mystery of all is why most believe schools can be improved otherwise? Why would educators break a sweat to deliver quality when they don’t need to? Their pay is based upon time served; not results produced. Teachers get paid the same for students performing at F-level as for students performing at A-level. There is no incentive.

    • Absolutely correct Wayne. Those vouchers must be the only source of revenue any school receives. They must be good at public and private schools. My wife has a degree in elementary education with an emphasis on early childhood development. She has taught in private schools for 35 years, and has rescued many children who were victims of public school incompetence. She has untold numbers of letters from grateful parents. Our public schools should be prosecuted under RICO statutes. We can only fix this with the constitutional convention.

  10. No and no go pound sand and cry on union shoulders. Money would not go to the kids anyway just the adults. In anchorage only union shops can bid and do school work and that drives up the costs. Try using only non union shops and save money.

  11. 20 years ago I worked in a Charter School here in Anchorage, I did the budget. We received just under $6,000 per student. There is no way it costs almost 4 times the amount in 20 years to put children through school. I Guarantee you teachers and staff aren’t getting paid 4x as much or even 2x as much so what happened?

  12. What was all of the CARES Act for Education monies spent on? Are all of those millions of dollars gone? There weren’t even any kids in school!
    It would be great to see the spreadsheet of how that money was wasted. How much trickled into personal accounts, paid for vacations, mortgages, new Tesla.

    • ProudDeplorable, did you know that the bus drivers, ASD employees and contractors, were paid even though they were not transporting students? Cost per year about $23 Million.

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