RSS 1.0Center for Alaska Education Policy Research (CAEPR)
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Negotiated Success: Contractual Benefits that Enhance Recruitment and RetentionThis 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.
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How has Alaska’s K-12 education spending changed? Trends from 2017-2023Education funding in Alaska, as in most states, is one of the largest allocations in the state operating budget. In 2022, K-12 schools in Alaska spent $20,191 per student for current operations, which was 29% more than the national average of $15,633. However, many things are more expensive in Alaska than they are in other parts of the nation, and this is also true for operating schools. After adjusting Alaska’s spending for its higher relative costs, we find that Alaska’s per-pupil current expenditures fall below the national average by 15%. In the five years between 2017 and 2022 (the first year we conducted this analysis and the most recent year with full data available, respectively), per pupil current spending in other US states increased by 26%, whereas Alaska’s spending increased by only 13%
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How much does Alaska spend on K-12 education? Research SummaryEducation 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.
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Are Alaska teacher salaries competitive?This paper explores how Alaska teacher salaries compare to the national average, between 1969 and 2021, adjusted for cost of living differences. It examines trends in salaries of Alaska and US teachers adjusted for inflation, and how the salary differentials have changed over time. The analysis reveals that Alaska teacher salaries have been lower than competitive levels for the past several decades, although the emerging national teacher shortage has increased the challenge that less competitive salaries pose for recruiting and retaining Alaska teachers. The paper discusses the implications of this trend, with attention to hiring and retaining teachers in Alaska schools.
