By WIN GRUENING
The calls for boosting education funding by increasing Alaska’s Base Student Allocation, while mostly well-intentioned, frequently miss the point.
Proponents often frame their proposals for a higher BSA in terms of how the increase would affect Alaskans’ Permanent Fund Dividend. This is a false choice and leads to emotional and unproductive arguments that do not address the root of the issue.
A recent column by Larry Persily does just that by implying that the only reason to question a proposed massive annual increase in the school funding formula is because it might lower your Permanent Fund Dividend.
Persily also compares the historical increase in the BSA (2%) to inflation over the last 10 years (32%). However, he entirely ignores annual funding increases that have occurred periodically throughout the same period. Actual Alaska education funding during that time period increased 14%, resulting in the seventh highest per-pupil expenditure in the country in 2024.
Most Alaskans I know don’t object to adequate state funding for schools. But definitions of “adequate” vary widely, especially when accountability is rarely required.
This year, the Legislature will consider an education funding bill, HB 69, which seeks to permanently increase the Base Student Allocation. The bill would boost the BSA by $1,808 (a 30% increase over the current $5,960) plus projected inflation.
Phasing in the higher BSA over the next three years results in total education funding of about $1.8 billion by year 3 – which would add over $500 million annually for schools – a 40% increase.
The question not answered is how will our K-12 student achievement benefit as a result?
Alaska ranked 51st of 53 U.S. jurisdictions in reading and math among fourth graders, and in reading among eighth graders, and 47th of 53 in eighth-grade math, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP).
Alaska is near the top of the nation in terms of education expenditures per student and at the absolute bottom in student achievement. No matter how much money Alaska pumps into education, it seems, student test scores continue to drop.
While it’s true that Alaska school funding hasn’t kept pace with inflation, that has been exacerbated by the continuing drop in student population and some school districts’ reluctance to consolidate schools when necessary. There has also been a significant migration of students from traditional school buildings to correspondence learning and home schooling. Buildings generate the same fixed costs regardless of how many students are in them.
There is no assurance that pouring money into schools will result in better student outcomes. In some states, just the opposite has happened. In Oregon and Washington, for example, per-pupil spending increased 80%-110% since 2013, but their NAEP scores declined almost every year, and now are 10-15 points below where they were 10 years ago.
In contrast, Mississippi, with the highest poverty rate in the US, and ranked 44th in the US in per student spending on K-12 education, leads the nation in 4th grade reading scores for low-income students. Upper/middle-income Mississippi 4th graders were ranked 2nd in the nation for reading scores.
Mississippi demonstrates that the amount of money spent isn’t most important; it’s how it’s spent. It isn’t how many teachers you have; it’s what you teach. It isn’t the number of administrators that counts; it’s holding administrators accountable.
Deterioration of Alaska’s test scores has been going on for years, before funding issues and long before Covid impacted student learning. Those are simply excuses for an education system that promotes students regardless of their math and reading comprehension.
Commonsense reforms opposed by the education establishment should at least be discussed as a precondition of increased funding.
Consolidating underutilized schools, directing dollars to the classroom instead of administrators and non-academic curricula, teacher retention bonuses, cell-phone free schools, increased emphasis on reading and math achievement, open enrollment, and expanding charter schools are among the various ideas being discussed.
It is past time to stop blaming Alaska’s educational woes solely on lack of funding and begin to change the way education is funded and delivered. Otherwise, expect more of the same – no improvement and families continuing to flee the public system.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
That should be a no brainer, as a parent I want a quality education without indoctrination. Unfortunately the corrupt union’s have bought most politicians in Juneau on both sides. Parents we will lose this one because no one is representing anymore.
Many of our kids these days are not motivated at home or in school. Teachers for the most part have their heads in the sand still expecting the annual beg for money to pull them out of poverty and loyalty to NEA is the only path. Incentivized pay and voucher style competition will motivate both teachers and kids. Those kids with deadbeat non caring parents will be weeded/herded into the boarding type schools for behavioral and or low motivational compulsory minimum requirement bottom tier educational centers that will be necessary. More security and personnel will be required at these facilities. The voucher money will be spent to maintain order more than to pay teachers. It will be necessary. Those teachers that excel will be rewarded with pay and motivated colleagues and students and behind those students’ parents that support them and want this. It will be a filtering process but worth the struggle. This is where we are headed Anchorage, with the make-up of school board and assembly it may not appear possible currently, but this is where we will end up. I am pushing for it in my lifetime!!
Once again, Big Gov proves there is no incentive to excel, it will pull all joy out of every individual. Stop the deluge of cash, restructure, DOGE it out!
SPOT ON! The funding isn’t going to improve student achievements. The curriculum has gotten worse and farther from the basics needed for improvements. Why aren’t we back to civics and vocational education? Why aren’t we holding students back if they don’t meet benchmarks in reading or math? it only makes it worse for them as they get further along in the higher grades to be successful.
I had to be able to read with some fluency by 1st grade and do multiplication by 3rd. I learned American govt in 5th grade and by the time I was in 7th I was taking auto shop, wood working, learning about financing and all this with only 6 classes in a day.
Win, your are a good hearten soul, Your laying out the options are spot on, and I too wondered about Persily’s position, not from the specifics you correctly present, more from his continued liberal bent on most if not all topics.
Two items Win, the first, Alaska has changed the achievement test as often as the test results reflect the continued spiraling down results. In effect denying any sort of track record as to how bad. When so, just fine another test.
Second, I hate to break it to you Win, there is nothing in any level of the requested funding that relates to students. It is all about the welfare of the ANEA union. That said, unions do what unions do best and it is for the members, not the employer, and where the funds come from are of no interest or worry for them. Period.
I know you know this Win, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Cheers,
Al Johnson-Ketchikan (Proudly Recalled school board member for attempting to make academic changes)
Students academic achievements, hands down.
Next article should articulate why Mississippi has done so well. Hard to argue with numbers but Persily and those like him just don’t like those numbers. They can only think of $$. Ironically, they accuse those with an historically accurate view of the PFD as having that view. Great piece Win.
“How much is enough?”
The answer is simply “more”. It’s always “more”. Which can be translated to “it’ll never be enough” or “even if there is more this year, we’ll still need more next year”.
Alaska is already spending more than nearly every other state – and getting poorer results than nearly every other state. At some point, we need to either stand firm and demand better results, or take the loss and say if it costs so much for bad outcomes let’s try something new (for Alaska) and try something that has actually worked in another place.
Poster Bob K-T, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Given their way, we’d have no PFD’s, a state income tax, a state sales tax-! There’s no end to the amount of money elected Democrats want- all supposedly ‘for the children,’ when we see they get $$ kickbacks from the unions- to stay elected! Nice work: if you can get it!
HB 69 is a disaster. Per Rep. Vance, we’re presently paying $20,000 per student- and for one of the worst outcomes in the nation.
Having had kids in the awful Anchorage School District, I’ve seen the problems first hand: terrible administrators, who actually make things worse for our teachers. Who allow terrible behavior from students- with little to NO consequences!
Yet somehow, we have more admin staff than classroom teachers?
In this time of declining enrollment, down 20% over the last decade, it’s time to be cutting the school district’s to an appropriate size. And the clear place to start is the bloated administration!
Between 2004 and 2022 Alaskan increased per student spending 79% according to the NEA — while Alaska inflation was 59%.
NAEP test scores and rankings in 2005 were better than 2022z
Thank you for this article. It is absolutely true! Problem is democrats and unions have no problem lying. They have so much money it is hard to fight them but there are several groups about to change this.
The BSA is not what is spent per student. That is just the starting number and then if is run through a complex funding formula. Normally a school receives around $7-$8K per student after the numbers are run on school size, distance from Anchorage and numbers of kids on IEP’s. There is plenty of money to educate kids and good outcomes have never been linked to funding.
Teachers need a pay raise, the school districts do not. The union can pound sand. Teach core subjects, and logic and civics. Nix the social engineering. The unions know how to play this game – increase the BSA, and maybe next year we’ll get the teachers a raise after we beg for even more. They’ve been to this well many times, but the teachers come up with little or nothing. The teachers are being played, and the students suffer.
Great piece.