On a Thursday morning in Petersburg High School’s room 206, algebra II students sit around the edge of the classroom, forming a big U. Their teacher, Megan Smith, asks them if it’s possible to take the square root of a negative fraction.
“Noooooooo” they chorus, “No solution!”
Together they work through a series of problems. Then, even though class is only halfway over, she tells them to get started on their homework.
She turns to four students who had been ignoring the lesson, curled over textbooks at the front of the room – working on calculus.
She teaches two classes simultaneously, splitting her time between calculus and algebra II students.
She said it can be a little tricky.
“It does get challenging when our schedules don’t perfectly align,” she said. “So most days, I’ll do notes with algebra II , then the next day I do notes with calculus, but every once in a while…they might need an extra day. So then it becomes more challenging, because we only have 48 minutes.”
She’s the only full-time math teacher at Petersburg High School. The district had a tight budget this year and is saving money where it can – but it also hasn’t been able to find another full-time math teacher to hire.
That’s the case around the state as well. There have been budget-related teacher layoffs, but when school districts need to hire teachers, it’s increasingly hard to do.
Brad King is Petersburg’s secondary principal.
“Hiring teachers is always difficult because of the –” King paused to pick his words, “– often not competitive pay scale.”
He said Alaska was once known for its high teacher pay and good retirement benefits, but now that’s not the case. As a result, King said hiring has gotten much more difficult in the last decade. Given the high cost of living in the state, he said it can be tough to fill positions.
And, he said, sometimes, it’s not just the hiring that’s hard, it’s keeping teachers around.
“A lot of people who are inclined toward teaching but are not passionate about it yet can find a reason to go to the private sector,” he said.
State Rep. Rebecca Himschoot is an independent from Sitka. She’s also a recently-retired elementary school teacher. She authored House Bill 230, which had bipartisan support and recently became law. The bill aims to make it easier to bring experienced teachers into Alaska schools, and keep them here.
“I was looking for things we could do that would be impactful, but not controversial,” she said.
The bill repealed part of a law that limited how much credit teachers could get for experience out of state. A teacher’s experience determines salary, so less experience equals lower pay. It also affects retirement. Himschoot said the old limit discouraged experienced teachers from coming to Alaska.
The restriction was a relic from an old teacher retirement system. Until about two decades ago, education retirement was managed by the state, through a pension system. Himschoot said the experience limit protected the pension system from floods of short-timers coming, retiring and then costing the state a ton of money.
But now that new hires aren’t eligible for pensions, Himschoot said it should be up to individual school districts to decide how much experience they want to recognize when hiring teachers.
“There are lots of ways to become a better teacher, but one of the best ones is just plain classroom experience,” she said. “So when somebody with experience comes into the state, districts may not be able to afford to place them any higher than six years of experience. But if they can, that needs to be a local decision and not the state’s decision.”
Tom Klaaymeyer is president of the Alaska affiliate of the National Education Association, a nationwide teachers union. He said that the law is a positive change for Alaska teachers. But in an email, he pointed to that lack of state pension as part of the problem, saying “The underlying issue truly hampering recruitment and retention is the lack of a true retirement option.” Without the state’s involvement, teacher retirements aren’t guaranteed – they have to manage it themselves, and they don’t get social security. Alaska’s the only state in the nation where that’s the case.
The law has a provision from Rep. Maxine Dibert, a Democrat from Fairbanks, allowing retired teachers to substitute teach for longer periods of time without losing their retirement checks. That means more experienced teachers can fill in the gaps where they’re needed.
And Rep. Jesse Bjorkman, a Republican from Nikiski, added another provision, which provides bonuses to teachers who want to improve their skills by pursuing certification with the National Board for Teaching Standards.
Himschoot said the goal is to get good teachers in front of Alaskan kids.
“We are looking at having the highest quality teachers in Alaska we can have,” she said. “Whether they’re substituting, or bringing their experience from out of state, or working towards a higher degree of certification.”
The bill became law on Aug. 26 without a signature from Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
