Anchorage Daily News

Anchorage schools Superintendent Carol Comeau is proposing to increase the number of teachers, adding 77 teacher and other jobs next school year, with the extra cash she is anticipating from the state.

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This year, she is expecting the Legislature to pass an increase in state aid to public schools across Alaska. In Anchorage, if the legislators pass a proposal by a joint lawmaker task force, state aid to Anchorage will increase by $15 million on top of the projected $281 million.

State lawmakers are dealing with a state coffer flush with cash because of high oil prices and an increased tax on oil companies. School districts across the state are expecting a piece of it.

The budget for Anchorage's schools has steadily increased to nearly double since 2000. In the 1999-2000 school year, the School District budget was $398 million. Comeau proposes spending $737 million next year.

Counting money for pensions and other costs, the state funds most of the Anchorage schools budget. Local taxes cover 31 percent.

The school board must approve the superintendent's budget before it goes to the city Assembly for final sign-off.

"The biggest uncertainty, frankly, is the approval of the Assembly," Comeau said. In recent years she has wrestled with the Assembly over the level of property-tax funding for schools.

Among the increases would be 24 new elementary physical education teachers, which Comeau believes will address the obesity issue in the schools as well as give classroom teachers more planning time, a requirement according to their latest contract negotiations. The added teachers will give elementary kids another half hour of physical education per week on top of the one hour they currently receive. The new teachers will likely divide their time among Anchorage's 60 elementary schools.

The proposal also includes 55 special education teachers, specialists and teacher aides. And Comeau wants to give elementary and middle school teachers training in how to teach math better to improve scores.

Even though Comeau is proposing spending more money next year, the number of students in the public schools is projected to decline by about 900 students to 47,650. The number of kids in Anchorage public schools has been declining for several years, but Comeau says the costs of teaching them has risen, especially with the district's special education students.

Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343.

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