Luring teachers to Mat-Su

WASILLA -- Higher salaries, forgiveness of student loans and more opportunities for training within the state -- these are the keys to attracting the best and brightest teachers to Alaska during a nationwide shortage.

This was the message of a number of Mat-Su Borough School District personnel who spoke before the House Special Committee on Education last week during a hearing at the Mat-Su Legislative Information Office. The committee is chaired by Rep. Con Bunde, R-Anchorage, and includes representatives from Kotzebue, Kodiak and Wrangell.

"Those of us who were and are teachers didn't become teachers to get rich," Superintendent Pat Chesbro told the committee. "We are teachers because we want to do good things for children . . . But in the past 10 years, our district has been squeezed, squeezed, squeezed, and I think at this point we're dry."

Particularly in areas such as music and special education, the Mat-Su school district has been forced to aggressively recruit all around the country throughout the school year. Even with these efforts, the district has involuntarily transferred some regular classroom teachers with special education endorsements into special education in order to meet needs.

And the problem will most likely only worsen in upcoming years, according to the school district's human resources director.

"I'm looking down the road in a few years to losing 20 to 25 percent," Paula Harrison said of teachers who will most likely retire in the next five years.

At the same time, Alaska is unable to "grow its own" experts in some areas, such as speech pathologists, occupational and physical therapists and teachers for the hearing and visually impaired.

While the problem is not unique to Alaska, school district officials testified they are increasingly unable to compete with other states also desperate for teachers.

Again and again, teachers and principals have described to the committee how they doubled their salaries when they came to Alaska in the 1970s and '80s, but that they could return to their former state today and make significantly more money than they do here.

The effect, school district officials say, is that the pool of educators is steadily shrinking. "From our vantage point . . . we don't have the numbers to choose from and the quality of the applicants isn't there," said Larry Jacobson, principal of Teeland Middle School. "You really need quality applicants who can connect with children."

Even with its famous scenery and mystique, Alaska is not offering the higher salaries, moving expenses and signing bonuses some states are, according to school district officials.

"They don't aspire to come to Alaska to teach like they used to," Jacobson said of educators. "Alaska is an attractive state because it is a beautiful place . . . but economically for someone to come from the Lower 48, there has to be a payoff. The gain has to be commensurate to the sacrifice for people having to come 2,000 miles."

Jacobsen described how he had agreed to hire a music teacher from Colorado who was excited about moving to Alaska. Three days later, Jacobsen hadn't heard from him and so telephoned him, only to learn that the teacher had instead accepted a job in Arizona because the starting salary was $10,000 more than Jacobsen could offer and the move was less distant.

"That was purely based on economics," the principal said.

Larson Elementary principal Karl Schleich said he came to Alaska in 1986 from Illinois and doubled his salary. Several years ago, he could have returned to Illinois and increased his salary by 15 percent.

As a principal, he said, these numbers mean he is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit good teachers.

"I've watched a steady decline in the number of quality candidates," he said. As he struggled to fill three positions at his school this fall, he said the situation was like a "meat market," with districts around the state grappling to hire people first. One of the teachers Schleich eventually hired broke a contract with the Anchorage School District in the second week of October to accept the job.

"We are impacting one another around the state in a very negative way," Schleich said.

Like other speakers during the hearing, Schleich recommended paying teachers more, improving benefits, forgiving student loans for Alaskans who commit to teaching in the state for at least five years, and extending contracts for another month for teachers so they can pursue professional development.

Mat-Su schools have been able to offer some advantages, such as a mentor program for new teachers. However, the bottom line is salaries and benefits, said special education teacher and Mat-Su Education Association representative Lucy Hope.

"And right up there with salary is working conditions," she said. Good facilities, adequate supplies and small class sizes are all part of the package teachers look at when preparing to move to a new district, she said.

During the hearing, committee member Rep. Joe Green, R-Anchorage, asked if it wasn't still true that Alaska offered better salaries than most states.

Assistant Superintendent George Troxel testified that Alaska once was ranked first among the states for teacher salaries, but in recent years has fallen to 10th. When cost of living is considered, Alaska drops to 40th among the 50 states.

The solution, according to the Mat-Su Borough School District -- more money.

"We really need an infusion of money to help so we can restore some of these things," Superintendent Chesbro told the committee.

Whether this and other testimony from around the state will convince the Legislature to open its pocketbook wider is yet to be seen. However, at the end of Tuesday's hearing. Rep. Bunde implied that the outcome might in part be up to Mat-Su voters.

"The problem is there are a lot of people in Mat-Su who think state funding should not go up, but should maybe even go down," Bunde said. He said while the school district is asking the Legislature for financial help, he said he is asking for help in return to convince Alaskans that it is money well spent.

"We know this investment in the end pays off," he said.

In addition to visiting the Valley last week, the committee also traveled to Kodiak and Kotzebue to hear testimony on the teacher shortage.

"Every state in the nation is trying to solve its teachers shortage in creative ways," Bunde said in a press release advertising the hearings. "Alaska must remain competitive in this very important market. We need to identify the diverse problems that exist for school districts across the state, identify creative solutions and implement them quickly for the good of our children."