The May 22 commentary “That’s not fair” was uplifting and hopeful for our public education system. Thank you for sharing this extraordinary classroom exercise. The value of a high-quality teacher like Mr. Carroll is immeasurable in teaching our youth to critically think and communicate.
Unfortunately, this work was in stark contrast to the May 23 feature story, “Anchorage School District sees high numbers of teachers retiring, resigning.” There is a direct cause and effect between the ongoing financial strangulation of our public education system and being “on track to have one of the most inexperienced and unstable teacher workforces in the country.”
In response to flat funding for public education since 2017, our state government only provided a one-time increase of about one-half of what is needed to just stay even with inflation. There was no movement to provide a retirement pension. Vastly reduced support for our university system doesn’t provide sufficient new teachers to fill the vacancies. Are we surprised that our public schools are: understaffed, increasing in class size, prematurely losing the most experienced teachers, unable to fill vacancies, and struggling with overall performance?
I find that funding an education system to support and expand the work of Carroll to be infinitely more important than an entitlement dividend check.
— Doug McBride
Eagle River
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