MSBSD must maintain quality in classrooms

Nobody seems immune to the economic downturn of the last couple of years, including the Mat-Su Borough School District.

After operating more than a year without a contract with its teachers, the two sides have finally reached an agreement in a process that included a state arbiter commenting on the woefully tight finances of our Valley schools. Now, the belt will be tightening even more.

At its last meeting, the school board voted unanimously to accept a proposal that would cull the ranks of its employees by offering incentives for early retirement. Those teachers and administrators who are age 45 or older who have at least 15 or 10 years of service respectively would be rewarded financially to take early retirement.

As of today, that would include 424 district employees.

“On June 30, employees who participate in this would be required to retire from the school district,” said Ken Forrest, MSBSD’s assistant superintendent for administration and business services. “They would be eligible to go elsewhere to work and accrue additional retirement credit.”

This piece of the district’s financial solution also is expected to increase class sizes for the teachers who remain.

If successful, “We are removing the highest paid employees” from the budget equation, Forrest said.

Maybe we fell off the log ride a little early, but eliminating our most dedicated, experienced teachers and increasing the class sizes for the less experienced ones left hardly seems a formula geared toward improving the quality of education in the Valley.

We understand the need to tighten belts during times of financial crisis; we’ve done it ourselves.

But when it comes to education, our school district and board need to consider more than economics when making a move that can negatively impact the quality of local education.

Let’s start from the top. Has administration at the district and building levels been cut as much as possible? For example, if administration was required to cut its expenses by 10 percent across the board, how would that affect this stampede to drive our most experienced teachers out to pasture?

Even with the voluntary retirements, the district estimates it will need to cut dozens more jobs over the next couple of years. No matter the solution, it seems the school district needs to address staff in cutting its budget.

We are well aware that experience doesn’t necessarily connote competence, just as lack of experience doesn’t connote incompetence. However, if teachers are going to be asked to teach more kids with fewer resources, we believe it’s imperative that our most experienced, top-of-the-line educators stay in classrooms.