We should expect, and demand, more from schools

To the editor:

It’s a fact the Mat-Su Borough spends two-thirds of its annual budget on our school district. Anchorage’s budget for education last year was about $812 million — closing in on $1 billion. Those represent some awesome bucks, but let’s look at the bigger picture.

After doing a little research I’ve found some interesting data about Alaska. For example, on average, a teacher’s salary in 2009 was the third highest in the nation at $66,560, and that number represented a 17.48 percent increase over the year before (teachersalaryinfo.com). That’s not too shabby when you consider these folks also get health insurance, retirement benefits and a rather nice vacation each summer.

Now let’s look at what these dollars buy us. The dropout rate for students in Alaska is the highest in the United States. About 38 percent of today’s freshmen will not have a high school diploma in 10 years, and the rate has been going up over the past decade. Around 11.4 percent of students drop out between 11th and 12th grades. The dropout rate of sophomores alone is around 6.2 percent. Alaska ranks 50th — last in the nation — in the number of ninth-graders who will likely have a bachelor’s degree in 10 years.

Some of the reasons our sons and daughters list for quitting school are: the classes are not interesting enough; they’ve missed too many days of school; they’re not motivated to do anything; they leave in order to get a job. Another cause for dropping out (that unfortunately gets little attention) is Alaska’s teen pregnancy rate. According to the latest available numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state of Alaska, one of 26 states to see a rise in the rate, led the way with a 19 percent increase in the teenage birthrate from the previous year.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m very much in favor of our children having an opportunity to get an education and believe in supporting our school systems with the revenue they need to provide as much. However, if I were to run a business with results similar to those outlined above it would be considered an epic failure and would probably go bankrupt forthright.

When I read articles about administrators bickering over the cost for librarians, nurses, music teachers, (janitors in past years) and such, I have to laugh out loud. By doing so they are ignoring the elephant in the room, which is to say: the school system’s terrible results. I personally think the employees mentioned above are no more than financial lambs being led to slaughter. They will possibly be let go to save a few bucks, which will garner a byline or two in the local paper (this is while everyone else gets to go merrily to the bank with what’s left).

I believe it’s nothing more than a smoke-and-mirrors battle plan to keep our eyes off the ball — that being the atrocious outcome of the district’s work product. Administrators put forth a few budget numbers and how they’re trying to streamline costs, and all the while all but ignoring the numbers that should really count.

As taxpayers and parents we should expect and demand more than what we’re presently getting from our schools. We should do this, if for nothing else, for sake of our children. It’s too bad we don’t, and if history tells us anything we won’t be anytime soon.

Bill Stanfill

Palmer