I was extremely disappointed with Ketchikan Rep. Jeremy Bynum’s vote in favor of Eagle River Rep. Jamie Allard’s amendment in the House Finance Committee earlier this month to eliminate additional one-year state funding for public schools.

Though legislators received a significant pay increase in 2024, to $84,000 a year, the state’s funding formula for the base student allocation, which was increased insufficiently last year, has fallen 20% short of covering inflation over the past decade.

The Legislature has been unwilling to accept its constitutional mandate to adequately fund education and we are now experiencing a system in crisis. I support an additional increase in the base student allocation formula and also deferred maintenance funding. We have to settle for one-time additions because, although incremental, they are the only vehicle for any increase.

The laws of economics predict fewer students will cost more per student, not less for the system.

In urban districts in 2024, 30% of teachers and 21% of principals left, according to a University of Alaska study. In addition, 5,000 of our students started the school year without a certificated teacher leading their classroom.

The Anchorage School District estimates it costs $27,000 per teacher to recruit and train. Estimates for administrators are even higher, in the range of $100,000.

Point Higgins Elementary School in Ketchikan has millions of dollars of deferred maintenance for a roof replacement and mechanical upgrades.
Our children are our greatest resource in Alaska and America. Our state is losing population, particularly at younger ages.

Please support any relief for our school funding crisis.

Doug Gregg, Ketchikan