Dozens of Alaska students, parents, and school board members visited the Legislature on Monday, February 10, 2025, to express their concerns about dwindling school funding and its impact on education across the state. They shared emotional testimonies about overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, school closures, lost learning opportunities, and the uncertainty about the future.
Sitka high school students Reagan Wingard, Francis Myers, Jasmine Wolf and Olivia Scan give testimony urging support for a boost in school funding before a joint session of the House and Senate education committees on Feb. 10, 2025.
School groups from across the state — from Nome to Unalaska to Thorne Bay on Prince of Wales Island — shared emotional testimony, and expressed support forof the House and Senate education committees, as part of the annual legislative fly-in and youth advocacy initiative with the Association of Alaska School Boards.
Rural and urban districts statewide have faced budget cuts for years, but are now reaching crisis levels, students and school officials said. “Twenty years ago, we lost music, art, home economics and full-time shop class. About 10 years ago, we lost our library. We haven’t had a school nurse in the whole 30 years I’ve lived there,” she said. “We no longer have any single-grade elementary classes. We had to double up. We don’t fund our sports anymore. We don’t have any foreign language really. No electives of any kind. We’re kind of down to just the bare, maybe like a one-room schoolhouse would provide.
David Gibson, school board president of the Unalaska City School District is one of the former teachers. After nine years as a math and science teacher, he said he was forced to leave the role and change careers to firefighting in order to support his family. “I have seen first hand the dedication of our teachers, the ambition of our students and the challenges that we face in providing a quality education with limited resources,” Lovell said. “Your support in securing equitable funding for public education will shape the future of our state. I urge you to act now.”
Politics SCHOOL FUNDING ALASKA LEGISLATURE EDUCATION CRISIS TEACHER SHORTAGE SCHOOL CLOSURES
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