Letters to the Editor

Letter: Politics and school closure plans

The plan to close six elementary schools in the Anchorage School District is tainted by political influence. During a work session on Nov. 18, ASD Chief Financial Officer Jim Anderson suggested that closing schools is necessary because some politicians don’t “feel comfortable” raising the Base Student Allocation unless the district first reduces the number of schools that are under capacity.

Anderson has acknowledged that the projected $4 million in savings from closing the schools would be temporary, and would result from moving charter schools into neighborhood elementary buildings. The district would receive the money currently spent by the charters on commercial rentals. Yet these charter schools have fewer students than the neighborhood schools they’d replace!The fact that the district chose five Title 1 neighborhood schools for closure raises the concern that they hope for the least amount of community pushback around a drastic and financially dubious decision.

At the same time, there is also pressure for the board to approve $30 million in state funds for a rebuild of Inlet View Elementary. As the board considers closing six schools to temporarily save $4 million and funding the rebuild of one school for $30 million, we hope they focus on the equity issues at stake and the communities they are elected to serve, instead of appeasing politicians.

— Robert McNown

Anchorage

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