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Laurie Duncan got her pink slip at the end of April, after her second year teaching first grade at X贸ots Elementary in Sitka. She got the news during her prep period. She was three months pregnant.

Nearly 20% of the teachers in Sitka were laid off this spring due to financial uncertainty. That included all of the district鈥檚 librarians and most of its reading specialists.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 really necessarily get a new job, because I鈥檓 about to go on maternity leave in August and have a baby,鈥� she said, then laughed. 鈥淚鈥檓 kind of in a bind. This baby鈥檚 coming, and I can鈥檛 not have the baby anymore!鈥�

Duncan has a master鈥檚 degree in teaching and plans to stay and raise a family in Sitka, where her husband is from. She had a plan for a long-term substitute teacher for the two months after she delivered. Instead, she lost her health care at the end of May. She didn鈥檛 find out she got a job back until July.

She, and a number of other laid-off teachers got rehired recently after Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed into law the Legislature鈥檚 one-time, $680 increase to the per pupil funding formula. The boost came after districts painted a desperate picture of their finances during the legislative session and Dunleavy lawmakers鈥� attempt to make a significant, long-term increase to the school funding formula. He said it lacked his priorities for education, like bonuses for teachers, more options for charter school approvals and changes to reading education. Lawmakers didn鈥檛 override the governor鈥檚 veto by one vote.

Districts statewide say the one-time increase helps their finances and allows them to bring back some of the teachers they laid off, but in many cases the news has come too late. Many school boards had already opted for conservative budgets, fearing Dunleavy would . Some teachers left their districts and communities to seek more stable work.

Duncan said several of her colleagues moved on because they couldn鈥檛 risk being out of work.

鈥淵ou have to make choices for your family, and that鈥檚 a big bummer, because we鈥檙e losing fantastic teachers,鈥� she said.

The state is unlikely to regain them all, even as officials invest in studies and working groups to solve a recruitment and retention crisis that meant the state鈥檚 public schools started last year with.

Some teachers move on, or resign

The Ketchikan district laid off teachers 鈥� roughly a third of its staff 鈥� before on the gamble that Dunleavy would allow most of the Legislature鈥檚 one-time funding to stand.

Jill Nordtvedt Lenhard and her husband were both teachers there until they got their pink slips in early May. She said their health insurance was slated to be cut off at the end of June, and they have an autistic son they needed to think about.

鈥淲e had some really big decisions to make,鈥� she said.

Lenhard took a job teaching English in Petersburg where she had worked for roughly two decades. It came with a substantial pay cut because the district only puts 10 years of experience towards the salary scale for rehires. And since her husband, who was tenured in Ketchikan was among the teachers hired back, they will be living apart for the next year.

鈥淭he governor鈥檚 decision to veto that education funding back in March had such wide-ranging impacts on school districts and teachers and administrators and students around the state,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 personally created a pretty difficult situation for my family.鈥�

A spokesperson for Dunleavy鈥檚 office said the governor is 鈥渁cutely aware鈥� of what districts need to function and that the governor has supported hundreds of millions of dollars in education funding.

鈥淗e believes school districts need more resources, but if they are having issues accounting for their money and/or they鈥檙e having fewer students going into schools, we need to have a discussion,鈥� wrote Deputy Press Secretary Grant Robinson in a statement.

Sarah Campbell has taught in the district for 20 years and is the president of the teacher鈥檚 union there. She said the district lost a 鈥渕aster teacher鈥� in Lenhard.

鈥淚鈥檝e never ever seen such a disruptive and chaotic end to the school year,鈥� she said in June. 鈥淭eachers are in tears. We鈥檙e cutting preschool. We鈥檙e cutting 鈥� we still don鈥檛 have activities funded for next year.鈥�

In August, after the one-time funding increase survived the veto process and almost all teachers got called back, she reflected on the cost of the upheaval.

鈥淭he only reason our district was able to recall all of the teachers back is because we had probably, like, 12 resignations,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淪o because the layoffs happened and we had people kind of panic, and they鈥檙e like, 鈥業 can鈥檛 not have a job next year; I must have a job.鈥欌��

The scramble to restaff schools is really disruptive to the overall educational program, she said. The district cut its information technology director and curriculum director, and eliminated all the elementary school counselors. Many teachers are going back to new jobs at different schools.

鈥淲hile people may have been recalled back for jobs within our school district, they鈥檙e teaching at different schools, different grade levels and potentially different subject matter. So essentially, they鈥檒l be starting all the way over here; it鈥檚 like having to rebuild something from scratch,鈥� she said.

Campbell said it鈥檚 been a stressful time, and said because lawmakers approved only one time funding, 鈥淲e are going to be in the same exact situation this upcoming school year.鈥�

Michael Robbins, the district鈥檚 superintendent, confirmed the district lost about a dozen teachers to other jobs and said consistent funding allows districts to create consistent teacher contracts.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e professionals. They put a lot of time and effort into being a teacher, and they should have that consistency, knowing that they鈥檙e going to have a job and that they鈥檙e going to be able to work in a community that they want to,鈥� he said.

The yo-yo of layoff and hire-backs may be counterintuitive against the backdrop of a serious teacher shortage in the state and the nation. Alaska鈥檚 university system does not enough teachers to fill the teaching position job openings each year, so Alaska must compete with the Lower 48. Some districts hire international teachers or use emergency contracts to staff their classrooms.

Other districts are feeling the turbulence, too.

Anchorage Education Association President Cory Aist has raised the alarm about teachers leaving the Anchorage School District. By the union president鈥檚 count, nearly 400 teachers resigned in the last school year from the district alone. The district鈥檚 recent average is 200-300 teachers a year, but that number has been .

鈥淥ur educators are looking for exit strategies,鈥� he said in testimony to lawmakers in February.

In the Juneau School District, more than three dozen teachers resigned in an eight-week period this spring, school board member Will Muldoon said in June. The district planned to lay off nearly 50 teachers, but was also able to bring dozens of positions back after Dunleavy signed the budget without vetoing any of the one-time funding for districts. In Juneau that ended up being roughly $5.2 million.

Juneau Superintendent Frank Hauser said that, ultimately, the district laid off about four teachers, but that number is only so low because of the teachers who resigned or retired.

In Sitka, the layoffs could have been more extreme, but the district planned to spend down its budget reserve to $10,000 in order to keep teachers and what remains of programs like art, music and physical education.

鈥淲e had to cut most of our non-tenured teachers,鈥� said Superintendent Deidre Johnson, in an email. Fourteen were laid off, 15 transferred within the district. One retired. Five just left.

Mike Vieira, a lifelong Sitkan and a teacher of more than two decades, said both his daughters鈥� teachers got layoff notices.

鈥淥ur district has never seen anything like this,鈥� he said in June.

In July, the principal at the high school where he teaches resigned for a job in Washington state. The Spanish teacher has more than 35 kids in her class: 鈥淗er desks are wall to wall,鈥� he said.

鈥淭his is going to be a challenging year all around because of what our new reality is,鈥� Vieira said.

The district planned its budget around a $500 per pupil one-time increase in state funding 鈥� a good guess, considering the $680 per pupil increase in its budget for the next fiscal year. The one-time funding meant it could hire back four teachers, including Duncan, and build back some depleted funds.

Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Superintendent Luke Meinert said funding uncertainty meant schools had a hard time gauging how much staff they could afford. And since districts haven鈥檛 had a significant funding increase in nearly a decade, he said schools don鈥檛 want to gamble on overstaffing because they lack the financial cushion.

鈥淔or us here in Fairbanks, we had a pretty conservative proposed budget that had sizable cuts to not only staff, but programs within the district,鈥� he said.

鈥淭his has been a repeated cycle for almost a decade in Alaska, it seems like, but definitely getting worse. And when that happens, we oftentimes lose really great teachers and qualified teachers that we would love to keep in Fairbanks.鈥�

He said that is compounded by the fact that it is harder to hire teachers now. Also, Fairbanks is a military community, which can contribute to turnover. This year, the district鈥檚 elementary schools are starting the year 20 teachers short 鈥� a high, according to Meinert.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, has taught in Alaska for 15 years and is a member of the Senate Education Committee. He said there鈥檚 been significant turnover in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District for quite awhile, partly because the pay and benefits lag behind the rest of the country, but also because of increasing job instability.

鈥淲ith pink slips being issued year after a year, people just don鈥檛 have the certainty that they need to feel comfortable to remain in Alaska,鈥� he said.

鈥淲hen someone gets notice that they might not have a job in the late winter or early spring, and there鈥檚 not resolution to that question until the end of June or early July, that鈥檚 a problem.鈥�

For his part, Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski and Bjorkman鈥檚 opponent, said he recognizes the timing issue 鈥� that鈥檚 why he and other members of the House tried to pass the education bill early. He supported Dunleavy鈥檚 veto of a permanent increase and said a root cause of funding issues is declining student enrollment:

鈥淚f we would address those root causes, then some of the funding, the BSA formula funding problem would be less of a problem.鈥�

Carpenter said he would like to see education reform, including more parent involvement in classrooms. 鈥淭here鈥檚 more to it than just the dollar figures,鈥� he said.

Bjorkman is not teaching this fall to focus on politics. He said his former colleagues are seeing a decline of personal opportunity as well as feeling burnout from large class sizes, as schools grapple with not having enough staff.

鈥淚t seems like, more and more, people that can get out or move on want to do something else 鈥� they鈥檙e taking action on those desires. It鈥檚 not just a thought, or talk. It鈥檚: 鈥楴ope. I鈥檓 doing this,鈥欌�� he said.

That was the case for Jenell Hartman, an Anchorage School District health specialist until this May, who said this kind of turmoil was a constant. Her positions were often grant funded; one of the schools she taught in was threatened with closure. She said the straw that broke her as an educator was when the district, seeking financial relief, decided briefly to cut art and health programs from elementary schools.

鈥淭here鈥檚 never been a level of stability I felt like in the state of Alaska, being an educator here,鈥� she said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 untenable, and it causes that stress, and it causes this extra layer of: 鈥榃hat am I doing with my career?鈥欌��

She said she is unlikely to return to teaching, in part because she said the job doesn鈥檛 provide a secure retirement plan for Tier 3 employees. Hartman is from Anchorage, so she stayed in state and took a job with the state鈥檚 teacher union 鈥� advocating for teachers instead of being one.

鈥淭o work with kids is a special calling. So I would love to see folks stay and have really good, professional teachers up here and give our kids what they deserve, but also have a dignified salary and retirement that they deserve as well,鈥� she said.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 kind of my hope after leaving the classroom. That鈥檚 my hope for the future.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: [email protected]. Follow Alaska Beacon on and .

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