9 questions: Anchorage School Board candidate Phil Isley

The Anchorage Daily News asked candidates for School Board in the 2020 election to answer a series of issue questions. Many of the questions were based on suggestions from readers. Find all candidates’ responses here. We also asked candidates for Anchorage Assembly a series of questions.

Note: This survey was sent and candidates’ responses were collected in February, before the first confirmed case of the new coronavirus was reported in Alaska.

Candidate: Phil Isley

Age: 65

Occupation: Aircraft mechanic and inspector

Website: philisley.us

Why are you running?

I believe it is my civic duty. I am tired of the misleading statements used to try to increase funding and the failure to educate the children.

How should the Anchorage School District handle a decrease in state funds for local education?

I think they should remove higher-paid administrative positions and increase teachers. The school district’s overall budget is over $800 million a year with an operating budget around $572 million a year. Other places do a better job with much less.

Due to static state funding, the Anchorage School District is looking at ways to lower its budget. What’s your idea for a solution?

There are less than 47,000 students in the Anchorage School District. If we did a classroom size of 25 it would require 1,880 teachers. There are 97 schools. If each one had a principal, vice principal, two administrators, a nurse and two maintenance personnel, that would require another 679 people for a total of 2,559. The school district has over 6,000 employees, but just 5,150 full-time staff. If we subtract the 2,559 from the 5,150, there are 2,591 non-teaching positions that could reviewed to reduce the budget.

What should be done to raise the performance of underperforming students and schools?

I believe that you have to make students achieve grade-standard before advancing them to the next grade. At some point, the practice of just passing the student will cause them to be so far behind that they cannot catch up and will drop out. This leads to low self-esteem and makes them more prone to substance abuse and criminal activity.

State your views on school choice/the charter system.

The Anchorage School Board is elected at large. That means that basically the same people elect all the members. So when you look at schools, the west side schools do the best, followed by the south, then the east and north. If the Anchorage School Board was elected by district like the Anchorage Assembly, then the schools would be more balanced. So my view is if we elect the board at large, then we should be able to pick the school we want. That would be the fair thing for the parents and their children.

Do you think the school district’s sex education should include instruction on practicing safe sex, or should it be abstinence-based? Please explain your answer.

I think that you should teach both. More knowledge about any subject is better than less. Would you consider teaching addition but not multiplication? Reading without spelling?

How should the district improve teacher retention? If your answer requires additional funding, please pose a source for that money.

There are over 2,000 non-teaching positions that could be cut or receive pay cuts to pay our teachers better.

Recently, the school board and Assembly approved a bond to fund upgrades for the Anchorage School District building Aquarian Charter School operates in. Aquarian is the only charter in a school district building, but it was also the first time money for a charter school was placed on the bond. What do you think about that decision?

I do not support the bond. I do not know all the details about funding a charter school or what the long-term impact would have on the community. What I do know is that our long-term debt is out of control.

What other important issue would you like to discuss here?

Everything that we have been doing is not working. Our overall rating by the national average has dropped the last three years. We need a change in management. The focus on funding needs to change to a focus on education. Students learn when they are challenged. The idea of filling seats for cash has failed us.