This report summarizes monetary and non-monetary items used in Collectively Bargained Agreements (CBAs) to enhance retention and recruitment of educators in and outside of Alaska. This report is one of a series commissioned by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development to support a stakeholder-informed action plan to address the state’s recurring critical challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers. To approach this task, we narrowed our focus to a review of provisions contained within CBAs in Alaska and a sample of districts in the nation, reviewed relevant literature, and collected stakeholder feedback to further inform the report content and organization. We restrict our analysis to the information contained in CBAs, which are negotiated at the district level, with the noted limitation that CBAs are not exhaustive of all educator benefits (e.g., retirement is an important benefit that is managed at the statewide level). The report details benefits in five broad categories and 15 subcategories, which are bookmarked in this abstract for easy access: coming and staying (signing bonus, longevity/retention bonus); benefits – health and wellbeing (healthcare, sick leave, other leave); benefits – moving and living (travel and relocation, housing and utilities, childcare); knowledge and growth (transferable experience, education and certification, professional development); and work life (contract length and workday, extra duties, hard-to-staff areas, performance pay). Overall, we find that benefits and compensation vary significantly across districts in Alaska, and even more substantially across districts in the national sample, reflecting the diversity in the sample in terms of state, region, size, and location.

This report presents a thorough analysis of the diagnostic data reported by the Alaska Multidisciplinary FAS Diagnostic Teams. Included is a summary of the teams’ data from 1999 through June 2002. The primary purpose of this report is to provide feedback to teams regarding their productivity and outcomes, with an emphasis placed on providing information that will be useful to individual teams, the State Office of FAS, and ultimately the citizens of Alaska. As of the writing of this report, six fully functional diagnostic teams are conducting FASD diagnoses in the state of Alaska, six additional teams are in developmental stages, and two teams have been disbanded. Using the DHSS Office of FAS Diagnostic Team Data Collection Reports, eight of these 14 diagnostic teams submitted 314 completed datasheets. Of these 314 datasheets, two did not include a 4-digit diagnosis and nine were duplicates, leaving a total of 303 usable datasheets. The teams that submitted datasheets and their corresponding number of assessments are as follows: Barrow (one), Bethel (80; one without diagnosis), Bristol Bay (4), Copper Center (18), Fairbanks (11), Kenai/Soldotna (86), Providence Alaska Medical Center (13), and Southcentral Foundation (92; one without diagnosis). Of the 303 individuals for whom diagnoses were submitted, 32 (10.6%) were diagnosed with FAS or atypical FAS.

Education funding in Alaska, as in most states, is one of the largest allocations in the state operating budget. In 2017, Alaska’s K-12 per-pupil spending was $17,838, which is 46% higher than the national average. However, a lot of things in Alaska are expensive relative to national averages: healthcare, food, and energy, to name just a few. In this paper we adjusted Alaska’s data from the US Census Bureau 2017 Annual Survey of School System Finances to state and national cost indices, and find that Alaska’s per-pupil expenditures are on par with national averages. As many drivers of Alaska’s education costs extend beyond education policy, we caution against cuts that leave districts with few choices but to diminish the teacher workforce by eliminating positions or hiring lower quality teachers with less competitive salaries.