1/20/2026: School Board Meeting

001You good? >> Good evening. We'll call ourselves to order. This is the Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 AS school board meeting. Present in the boardroom are members Higgins, Lessons, Donley, Student Representative Madison, Member Jacobs, member Wilson, and member Bellamy. Online, we have member Hollowman. Want to welcome everyone to the meeting. Representative Madison, can you please lead us in the flag salute and then land acknowledgement? >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. We acknowledge that we gather here today on the traditional lands of the Denian people of the Upper Cook Inlet. For thousands of years, the Denian people have been and continue to be stewards of this land. ASD is committed to diversity and inclusion,

002and it is with honor and respect that we recognize all indigenous people who live and learn in our community. >> Thank you, Madison. We want to welcome you to our meeting and thank you for attending and supporting the work of the Anchor School District and this board. The board thanks students, parents, teachers, staff, school business partners in the entire community for your investment in our district with your time, your talent, and your tax dollars. >> We have an agenda in front of us. Uh board, is there a motion to approve the agenda as drafted? >> Mr. Chair, I move to approve the agenda as presented. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Uh motion made by member Bellamy, seconded by member Higgins. Is there any objection to adopting the agenda as presented? We'll mark that

003as unanimous consent. We've adopted our agenda. Thank you everyone. Uh under reports for B1 student representative report is first. Madison, the floor is yours. >> All right. Thank you. So this month, my student advisory board met on the 13th and we were able to get a lot of productive work done and especially a lot of input from different schools about their biggest priorities and needs. So when we first began the meeting, we actually asked each school uh middle schools and high schools what they would do if they had $1,000 to fix something in their schools. And we actually got a lot of interesting responses and it really showed us what are the different problems and issues in each different school in our district. And the answers consisted of students who were concerned about music rentals

004in their schools, fee wavers for AP tests or sports, school supplies, their foreign language classes, or even infrastructure work on their schools. Next over, we were also able to hear from Gerwood, Northern Lights ABC, and Gritty Middle School and have them do little school spotlights and to see the different things that they are involved with in their school. I know, for example, Girdwood presented that they have um intensives at their school plays from fourth grade through 8ighth grade, and they have this thing called a last day of school market that all of their students are able to be involved with. Same with Northern Lights ABC. They talked about their grading system and how they have the top 5% highest test score statewide which is very impressive to hear. And then over um over next there

005was Gruning Middle School who reported how they have um a Spanish class. They have an applied tech program for engineering and woodworking that students can get involved with at their school. Then overall we were able to talk about resolutions and a resolution for a 0.5 fine arts credit being required for ASD's graduation was brought up but it did fail. So at our next student advisory board meeting we will bring be bringing up a new resolution and this one instead will be about foreign language class requirements and about how students can basically take and continue a next level of a foreign language even if they first started off in middle school. so they don't have to um take a whole uh new course in order to continue getting credit for it. And then lastly, um just

006a new reminder, um obviously since the year is coming to a close, student advisory board will also be having a president-elect um submit their application in by the beginning of February. And so obviously very soon somebody will be coming in to come and shadow my position in the next few months, which is very exciting as much as it's sad to be graduating and leaving. But other than that, um, that's all I have to report. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any questions for our student representative? >> Thank Thank you. Seeing none, we'll move on to our military report. My understanding is Colonel Hansen is with us tonight. So, welcome, sir. Good evening, President Jacobs >> and Superintendent Brian. Is my microphone working? >> Yeah, >> thank you. Uh, and members of the board.

007Uh, it's a it's always a pleasure to be here tonight and provide a quick Jbear update. My name is Colonel Dustin Hansen, mission support group commander uh on Joint Base Elorf Richardson as well as a leazison officer for our military connected students. Good evening to you all. Uh, first of all, I just want to say uh, and I I sound like a broken record, but this is always true for this time of year. Uh, thank you to the ASD staff for exceptionally tight communications during these forecasted inclement weather events. Um, just as it affects the ASD area, it's also affecting uh, Joint Base Aloren as well. And we have um, I'm very happy with the tie communications I have with uh, Mr. Anderson and Sven and and the rest of the team here as our

008base commander is always interested in the decisions that ASD is making that impacts our students uh as well as it impacts um our folks on base. So uh usually the night prior to what we think is going to be inclement weather uh we are having we have good communication with the team uh to my left here. So, um, on behalf of the base commanders, want to appreciate how much work they do to just keep the comms, uh, flat between us. As a local workforce looking to always, uh, attract, recruit, and retain talent, we continue working with the ASD staff as well as the schools to support the students becoming more college, career, and life ready via the academy themy's model. I would like to give a shout out to a couple schools tonight. uh Eagle

009River High School for inviting our medical group professionals to learn more about the pathways into the uh government uh into the government's medical career fields. Uh we had a few folks go up to Eagle River High School, explain um the different pathways uh both uh for whether you wearing a uniform or in a civilian attire uh still working for the government in medical in the medical career field. Uh I appreciate the support that Eagle River High School gave to our folks to expose our students to the medical field. Uh also a big shout out to Central Middle School who invited uh during the science intensive day our explosive ordinance disposal unit. You always love to see the robots that can go blow things up. Uh kids loved it. Uh it it was great to learn

010about the science behind the explosion. uh as well as just learning the various occupations that are within this civil engineering trade. So again, thank you to both Eagle River High School and Central Middle School uh for inviting us out to that. May we just continue to expose the kids to these uh these uh positions and these career fields that are within JAR um that will help maybe encourage them and promote them to uh continue expand their their education. Uh I also want to say uh you know we continue within Jbear to advance their readers our leaders program. I have a little flyer here uh that I've been passing around to all of our service members as well as their leaders uh just saying like hey service members hey leaders please encourage our folks to engage

011the schools here in ASD um and either uh be read to or read to these students to encourage their reading um and uh increase their reading proficiency uh and I think believe this week we've had a few folks sign up to go to Airport Heights to participate in the readers or leaders program there this week. So, uh we will continue to keep energy on this and advertising to our folks on Jbear. Uh finally, a big thanks to again Eagle River High School, Mr. Helvy and Colonel Scott Brokaw and their junior ROC detachment for inviting me to participate in the statewide junior ROC drill and ceremony competition that's happening this Saturday. Um I am blessed to be uh part of that um party that will uh be watching this and um I'm excited and encouraged to

012see our future generations just engaged in focused precision and discipline as they continue to prepare for college career and life. That's all I have. I just want to say thank you for your time. Always a pleasure to uh give you an update. Stand by for any questions. >> Thank you, Colonel. Always a pleasure to see you as well. Are there questions for our military representative member lists? >> Not a question, just a remark. Um, one thing that happens when you drive kids around in the morning to take them to school or just drive around is sometimes you can go past our high schools and you have our JOTC students putting up the flags or taking them down at the end of the day and sometimes they do it in really awful weather and in the

013dark. And it impresses me each time I see them doing it because they're exemplifying uh commitment, dedication, practicing some grit and uh teamwork. So anyways, you have a lot of great things happening in small ways every day. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. Seeing no other questions, Colonel Hansen, it's a pleasure to see you tonight. >> Appreciate you. >> Moving on to uh reports and updates. We have two items that I'll uh or one item I'll read into our record. Actually, two items. The first is a letter from local 71 which reads uh greetings um directors. This letter is to notify you that public employees local 71 is requesting to enter into negotiations with the anchored school district on behalf of the custodians and building plant operators. As you are aware, the collective bargaining agreement

014expires June 30, 2026. We're prepared to begin as soon as possible. Kindly let us know what times and locations work best for your team. We look forward to working together to craft a productive and responsible agreement that benefits our membership and the Anchorage School District as a whole. The letter signed by Richard Lot, a business representative for local 71. The second item we have is from teamsters local 959 which says uh dear Andrew it's addressed Andrew Sunboom with labor relations which states pursuant to the terms of collective uh bargaining agreement kindly accept this as sufficient notification of teamsters local 959 desire to open collective bargaining uh for the purposes of review andor amending all articles appendices supplements agenda and or letters of understanding of such agreement. Teamsters Local 959 will be negotiating a collective bargaining

015agreement with your company that may affect area and industrial standards as well as other Teamster members. The public services division affiliated with all international brotherhood of teamsters and joint council of teamsters number 28 have a constitutional responsibility to asssure that their affiliates preserve and protect area and industry standards and not take any action that adversely affects the interests of any teamster members. Consequently, any proposed collective bargaining agreement with your company must be reviewed and approved by the joint council of Teamsters number 28 and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Trade Division prior to being submitted to effective members for ratification. This approval process will not delay reaching an appropriate agreements. Reading those into the record completes those items for review tonight. Uh our last item under reports is board conference and committee reports. Is there any

016board committee chair who wishes to make a report? Member lessons. >> Uh just clarifying that for um January and February, the finance committee uh committee meetings have changed. We uh cancelled this week's finance committee meeting to allow staff to continue to fine-tune the budget preparation and to create a little bit of space for board members to have one-on- ones um with Mr. Ratliff or Miss Parrot. and our February finance committee meeting will also be offcycle. We talked about it a while ago. It'll be between those the first and second meetings. Um and I don't have the date off hand, but it's about February um sorry uh February 10th is my understanding for the Oh um I'm sorry, my mistake. It's February it's Thursday, February 12th, right? Yes. So um we will meet Thursday, February 12th.

017>> Is there another board member uh who wishes to make a committee report? Member Higgins. >> Yep. Thank you. I just wanted to share that the the community work agreement the that we have is apprentichip program that been meeting when requested by um procurement that that has gone it still continues to go very well. We have not had any contractual kind of disputes or issues in regards to when it applies and positive support from from procurement in regards to it. So I just I was always an issue how it was going to go and I just want to give you just an update that is is is really working well and I'm real pleased with the uh the support from both union non-union and the administration is working very well. Thank you. >> Thank you

018member Higgins. Seeing no other board member who wishes to make a report. Yes, >> got my hand up. >> Member Holland, the floor is yours. >> Yeah, just wanted to say with the cancellation of the finance committee, we're moving the governance committee meeting this Thursday to 12:15 so that anyone that's coming for both governance and communications won't have a hour and a half break in between. So, same day, just a little bit later in the morning. Thank you. >> Thank you for your report, Member Hullman. Seeing no other member who wishes to make a report, we'll move on to goals and guardrail monitoring. Dr. Brian, we have two brief technical reports. Please proceed. >> Thank you, President Jacobs. Uh we'll go ahead and uh display the PowerPoint. >> Uh so in two weeks, we'll have

019a conversation on our goal on graduation rates. So this presentation will specifically focus on our interim metric that focuses on CTE concentrator status. Next slide, please. So for the public's awareness, the board goal that we're tracking is we would like to increase our graduation rates to 90% by 2028 uh from the baseline of 81% from June of 2023. And the interimm goal that we'll focus on in two weeks will be on CTE concentrator status. Uh let's go to this. Perfect. So when we talk about CT concentrator status, we're defining that as a formal program of study. So, this breaks down the the visual of that for the board to review. We did show this to you a year ago, but just for a refresher, a course falls within a sequence of courses for CTE, and

020we're focused on programs of study because these are CT courses that are directly linked to a post-secary career. Um, and we'll we'll discuss more of that in two weeks. We'll leave the board with some historical data that shows the percent of CT concentrators to date um with regards to the goal which we had set for 90% uh a percentage of students earning a CT concentrator because the theory of action is that the more students that complete a program of study the more likely that they are to graduate. That's how the board goal is interlin with the interim goal. And just a refresher for the board, we have seen that for students that do complete a concentration of CT courses, they are more likely to graduate. In fact, ASD students graduate at rates of over 94%

021for those who complete a CTE pathway. Uh so this is very critical when it comes to how the board can frame and allocate resources towards increasing graduation rates. Next slide. And then we'll leave the board with CT concentrators by various subpopuls, special populations, as well as gender and uh economic status. And then we'll also leave the board with our priority action steps that will be on the next slide, which will be the top three to five ways that the district will prioritize resources and uh spearhead resources to ultimately increase graduation rates. And then at the bottom of this slide are the universal action steps which are taking place in various ways across um primarily high schools is what we're focused on in this conversation. So um there is a lot to discuss in two weeks.

022I'll pause for any technical questions. >> Remember lesson you have a technical question. >> I do. Yeah. Slides six and seven um are headed CTE con CTE concentrator status strategic plan, but it looks like the language for the ontrack status. And I just wonder if that is an a technical mistake or whether the administration needs to update slide six and seven to reflect CTE concentrator work specifically. >> I see. Thank you, member lessons. So, I'll go ahead and review that information and then follow up um with the board between now and two weeks. It's a great flag. >> Yes. >> Other questions in this report. Dr. Bryant, the second report, please. >> Okay. Uh, and then we may display a word document, but we unlike the goal monitoring conversation in two weeks, we'll also have

023the opportunity for board members to ask questions around our guardrail. So, in two weeks, we'll be specifically focused on guardrail 2, which is that the superintendent will not operate without a plan to develop a qualified, diverse, and culturally responsive workforce. So included in the report that we'll provide to board members will be a wide array of data uh specifically on our employees as well as tactics and initiatives to uh meet the spirit of this guard rail. I won't walk through the report but we'll leave this with the board and then we'll formally review this data questions findings and more in two weeks. Uh happy to answer any technical questions on the substance of this. Are there any questions from the board regarding the technical report on guardrail number two? Hearing and seeing none, that completes

024our reports. Move on to public comment. Welcome to the board's opportunity for public comment this evening. We've set aside a 1 hour time slot at the beginning of this evening for public comment. That should allow us to hear from all uh testifiers. During public comment, board members will not answer questions or engage in discussion with the public. This is the public's time to speak and the board's time to listen. Uh we welcome the public to observe and contribute to our meetings. However, our meetings must be structured and civil. We conduct our meetings according to Robert's rules of order, a set of rules for orderly meetings that have been used since the late 1800s. The rules require amongst other things uh items like do not attack a member speaker's motives, no profanity or foul language, refrain

025from disturbing the meeting, no cheering applause, outbursts or waving of signs or posters. If you have questions regarding rubber rules or our public uh engagement process, there is a handout at the entrance of the boardroom. And if you have uh items to hand the board, you can hand them to Miss Sullivan, who is seated to my left. It is my duty to enforce the rules of civilian decorum. and additional details um can be found at the entrance of our boardroom here. With that said, we have no student testifiers tonight. We'll move straight to community speakers to be heard. Our first speaker tonight is David Hardy. >> Welcome. You have three minutes. Please be coming. >> Uh good evening uh board members. Uh I'm from Anchorage and I went to Bartlett years ago. Left for university

026studies uh down lower 48 a while a while while ago and then I recently came back to Anchorage due in part to uh Dr. Bryant's initiative for ASD to accept um all of the educators years of service. uh got here a couple months ago. When I got here, I asked how people felt about the negotiations that were going on. Um almost everybody responded with, "I'm not sure how uh they will figure this out, but they will because they always do." Um I want to recognize the board for their hard work and effort um despite many challenges for always being able to just figure it out. So, thank you um for that. I'll remind the educators here that uh the hallmark of a good negotiation is that uh it's something that you don't have to like,

027but it's something that you can live with. So, um I've always enjoyed uh problem solving. And so this November, my wife and I drove back to Anchorage and uh specifically chose to work at Fair View because it's one of the district's lowest performing schools. And I knew my expertise would help lift uh those test scores that school. Uh and I think that now is the ideal time to kind of move past historical grievances and focus on modernizing our approach to how schools are funded. Um, as the educational landscape evolves, our financial strategies must follow suit. While options like lotterybased charters exist, we should also explore high impact alternatives like integrating uh corporate outreach with um CTE and launching datadriven influential marketing with a clear message to the right people. um such as uh member Higgins

028mentioned the other board meeting something like you know we need $15,000 to put a highly qualified or $15 million I should say to put a a highly qualified teacher in every in every room right so something clear um uh we need clear messaging to stay competitive along with the implementation of intensive school improvement measures okay draw my extensive experience experience in these areas. I've developed a rough outline um that addresses these contemporary solutions to increase funding in different ways. I'd appreciate your time and attention to this matter and I'll follow up uh soon to see if um we can discuss the these ideas further in uh separate meeting and I'll leave that with um the board here. So, thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker tonight is Lissa Wright Ellson. Welcome.

029You have three minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Good evening. I'm here tonight as a high school parent, a community member, and a former, now retired ASD educator. High school educators provide pathways to opportunity. Whether a student is headed to a university, a trade school, or directly into Alaska's workforce, the work of high school, the class discussions, the essays, the labs, the industry certifications, these are what build a competitive edge for today's students. The kids sitting in desks today are the professionals who will lead Anchorage tomorrow. The ASD board adopted the portrait of a graduate crafted by hundreds and hundreds of parents, community members, and business leaders that will remind you that high school educators are teaching students how to navigate and solve complex problems and communicate effectively. This is the greatest insurance policy we

030have for our city's future. I want to specifically highlight the impact of our high school academy coaches. These professionals serve as the bridge between academic theory and industry reality. They are the key to meeting the college career and life goal of this school board. Without their position intact, you are asking the rest of the high school staff to do more, far more with less to meet the goal that you set. More with less means nothing happens to move the needle and we lose the respect and partnership of the Anchorage business community at a time when we most need them to support our public schools. Saving these positions helps fulfill your promise of the portrait of a graduate. We must prioritize funding a sustainable solution to keep these coaches full-time in our schools so that the

031momentum of career connected learning does not stall. Every time you approve a budget item, you aren't just managing a district, you are fueling a student's dream. Students are navigating an increasingly complex world. They need more than just seat time. They need high quality and high quality educators, relevant and engaging work that makes them feel seen and prepared. Thank you. >> And thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Trevor Snider. >> Welcome. You have three minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you for this opportunity. Um, I wanted to share some concerns about the district's new cell phone policy as it relates to our secondary students. First, I recognize that student access to cell phones during the school day has created issues related to learning and social emotional well-being. And

032I think it's super important for the district to address this issue. But I think the current policy could potentially be improved to better meet the needs of our students. Um, the needs that I see are for our students to develop healthy habits and the ability to self-regulate their use of cell phones. I think that trying to remove them from the school day will just simply pass the problem down the line. After high school, the issue will manifest in post-secondary environments. You can see this already with concerns from our local colleges and even local businesses. Uh, which really struck me when I saw a sign posted inside my local McDonald's threatening that kids would get fired because they had their earbuds in. Um, I think the school district has an opportunity and possibly an obligation to

033take proactive measures aimed at teaching students how to develop healthy habits and skills for self-regulating their cell phone use as part of our goal of making students college, career, and life ready. The other area of improvement is restoring some teacher autonomy to determine when cell phones can be used as instructional tools. I was concerned when I realized that the district's policy was more restrictive than the language in House Bill 57. House Bill 57 clearly includes exceptions for students to use a wireless telecommunication device u for medical emergency or when a teacher or administrator of the school grants permission. Um that was removed in the school district's policy. Uh removing a teacher's ability to determine if that device could be beneficial to the instruction. For me specifically as a photography teacher, uh this was detrimental to

034to my curriculum. um at the beginning of the year when I was informed that I wouldn't be allowed to leverage students cell phones in any capacity in my classes. Um the current program of studies actually lists mobile photography as one of the elements in photography 1. Um and a lot of our students who uh would not be able to afford professional camera gear or editing, they benefit greatly from my ability to show them how to use their cell phone cameras and free software so that they can continue to pursue their interest in photography after high school and after they've taken my class without suffering an equity divide. Um things that I would um hope might happen uh is for the district's current policy to better align with the actual language of House Bill 57 and

035restore the ability for the teachers to determine if and when a mobile device would be um beneficial to instruction and potentially for the district to explore a more comprehensive and proactive solution to cell phone use so that we don't pass the problem down the line. Thank you very much for your time >> and thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Jacob Barra. >> Welcome. You have three minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Good evening. I'm here to share my thoughts about the tenative agreement, but I won't be talking about salary and benefits. My wife and I are both full-time educators with pensions, and we've benefited from a level of security that a majority of my colleagues haven't experienced. In contrast, around 2,200 A.E.A. members have no pension. Over half are non-tenured, which is

036a shocking statistic. and being cut or displaced each year has been a fear or a reality for a majority of them. My colleagues are in constant survival mode, trying to pay off college loans, struggling to afford a day care, rising health care costs, and wondering where they'll work or if they'll have a job each year. No amount of professional development or district initiatives can overcome these barriers that prevent my colleagues from becoming the educators we need them to be for our students. What I am here to talk about is the change in article 470 which attempts to solve a problem by directing no longer asking educators to provide classroom coverage when a sub isn't available. I cannot find a better example in this TA that illustrates a complete lack of understanding, respect, and disregard for

037what educators do to prepare for their students each day. Here's a reality that we all know is true, but don't talk about enough. Our district relies heavily on the goodwill and sacrifices made by educators who work outside of the duty-day for the benefit of their students. This change in article 470 exploits this even further. As I talked to educators across the district, they spoke about salary and benefits. But beneath the surface, at every building I visited, they also told me about the chronic stress that comes from a lack of time and support. This is a retention problem we can fix, and I have a solution. I propose a letter of agreement between ASD and A.E.A. that would change the language in article 470 to request coverage by educators instead of directing them. I did the

038homework for you and I've provided a draft of an LOA for each team to consider. If approved, it would take effect if, and that's a big if, this contract is ratified. This agreement doesn't solve everything, but it would be a significant factor in reestablishing trust, respect, and work life balance for educators so they can actually plan for and serve their students effectively. One thing is clear after all the organizing work I've done over the past few months. Educators are at the end of the rope and ready to strike because the alternative is leaving the district or the profession altogether. You can solve this issue and if ASD's bargaining team is unwilling to consider it, then schoolboard members will have to step up and direct them to do so if you want a better chance of

039this TA succeeding. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Heidi Gir. Welcome. You have three minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Good evening, board members. My name is Heidi Gerity. I'm a third grade teacher at Rogers Park Elementary with 23 years of experience and a master's in reading. I'm here to provide my perspective regarding our 2025 third grade AK star test scores which were discussed at the December 2nd board meeting. While we've seen growth in K2 foundational skills like phonics, phmic awareness and basic fluency, we are missing a critical piece of the science of reading, vocabulary and comprehension. Currently, K2 focuses heavily on learning to read. that if we don't also integrate reading to learn through quality literature and deep discussion in those early years, students arrive in third grade without the

040background knowledge required for complex texts. We need a balanced implementation of all five pillars of reading from the start to build both skill and a passion for literature. Regarding differentiation, the CKLA curriculum is largely whole group instruction. Pacing guides and large class sizes limit how much we can differentiate. As a veteran teacher, I spend 60 hours a week finding ways to scaffold this curriculum to meet my students needs. But that cannot be an expectation for every teacher to work 20 hours a week beyond our contract hours. We cannot rely on teacher burnout as a primary strategy for student success. Board member Hollowman asked if students are nearing proficiency. The answer is yes. In class with background building and engagement, my students excel. However, there's a disconnect between classroom learning and computer-based testing. Our students are

041learning. The data just requires context. Finally, we must address the sheer volume of testing. Within the first 10 days of school, eight-year-olds endure nearly 10 hours of assessments across MAP, MClass, and I Ready. This cycle repeats three times a year. When a student finishes a test in 25 minutes, they may sit quietly for hours while others finish. This is not age appropriate and it's time stolen from actual instruction. We are overesting and under instructing. To improve outcomes, we need to trust our master teachers to use their professional judgment, reduce class sizes to allow for true differentiation, and reclaim instructional time from an exhausting testing calendar. Let's focus on the whole child, not just a data point. I could share many other factors that affect student test scores, attendance, combination classes, frequent changes to curriculum, teacher

042shortages resulting in non-certified long-term substitutes teaching classes, but I am limited by the testimony time limits. Along with my testimony, I've included information gathered from Gemini comparing examples of third grade standardized reading and math test questions from 1970 to 2025. It's very interesting to see what students are expected to be able to do now compared to 1970. It's a quick read and the differences may surprise you. Thank you and >> thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Christy Sitz. Welcome. You have three minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Hi, my name is Christy Sitz and I'm the president of the Anchorage Education Association. As you know, the union and the district have reached a tentative agreement on a proposed contract. Members of the Anchorage School District or sorry, members of the Anchorage

043Education Association will be taking a ratification vote later this month and if ratified, the full agreement will come before this body. Both teams have agreed to a 17% wage increase over four years, an increase in the district's comp contribution to the employee healthcare, and additional parental leave allowances. For most of my members, this is the largest wage increase they have seen in a multi-year contract. I'm sure that when this body votes on the contract, there will be more to say about the specifics and the impacts on educators. But tonight, I want to focus on our students and on a first grader nervous for their first day of school, but comforted by comforted because they recognized their teacher from a prior school year. A middle schooler trying a new sport because they trust the coach. A

044high schooler opening up to a counselor who made them feel seen and getting the help they need. Our members go above and beyond every day. Not only providing stellar classroom instruction, but also providing stability to their students and their school buildings. This was a long and difficult negotiation process. People on both sides took time away from their families, friends, and worked together to find an agreement. I want to thank both the A.E.A. bargaining team and the ASD bargaining team for their time and dedication. We know that retaining educators and keeping them in the classroom positively impacts student learning. It is proven that the longer an educator is teaching, the more impact impactful their lessons become and the more the student gets out of the curriculum. More educators in buildings helps to reduce the class size,

045ensuring students get one-on-one instruction when necessary. This tenative agreement will be a tool to retain teachers currently making our schools thrive and attract new educators to our community. This is not a magic document that will solve all issues facing public education, but I personally view it as a positive step in the right direction. Thank you again to the members who showed up during this process. Your tireless work got us to this agreement and showed the strength we possess when we work together to use our collective voice to advocate for all of Anchorage educators and students. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Cynthia Gachipin. Um, doesn't appear she's online. We'll move on to William Baxter. Welcome. You have three minutes. You can pick when you're ready. Hello, I'm Bloom Baxter and I've

046present I volunteer for FFA which is Future Farmers of America. And now I'm work I uh I put stickers on my shirt. So now I iron them on. I buy this special uh this uh this uh special stuff for, you know, for putting stickers on. And I'm doing it for uh this time I'm I'm going to I'm getting I'm doing these stickers for uh the FFA state convention and and uh and that and I may have uh people uh have people put uh stickers on their car at the state convention. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Our last testifier tonight is Dedra Brown. Welcome. You have three minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Good evening. My name is Derer Brown. My son is not career ready or college ready despite being told he

047will have completed all his language arts requirements through ASD's misuse of the study skills credits effective immediately. I asked the board to direct the administration, the administration to cease counting study skills or other IEP support courses towards English or language arts credits unless and until the district can verify, document, and make publicly available confirmation that standards aligned with language arts instructions constitutes the majority of instructional time and course curriculum for every study skills course. Further, I ask the board to immediately initiate formal revision of high school the high school program of studies to remove ambiguity and to prevent continued misuse by either establishing a mandatory verification requirement for any course eligible for language arts credits or by eliminating the language arts elective credit option entirely for study skills types courses. Further, I ask the board

048to direct the district administration to review prior transcript decisions where study skills credits have been applied towards English requirements to ensure evidence of language arts instruction actually occurred and to provide clear written guidance to families regarding how graduation or credit credits were determined. This action is necessary now to ensure credit career readiness upon graduation, protect academic integrity, prevent further harm, and ensure graduation requirements reflect actual instruction provided. I've I have a submitted I have a draft for the language for this board to consider and assist in addressing it immediately and its uh need for corrective action. This polic this is a policy clarity issue, an equity issue, and a student outcomes issue. It requires board level direction to resolve. This is a loophole that is not an accommodation and harms disabled students, including my son.

049He attends Stellar and he has spent his study skills classes, checking off planners, surfing the internet, and not doing any language arts. no reading, no writing, but he's getting language arts credit for this. And he is not ready for second post-secary education. He is not ready for a job. And this is a disservice that not only affects him, but other students who were shoved into these study skills classes and told that they are receiving English instruction and they just aren't. and that needs to be resolved by the board through their direction to the district. >> Thank you for your testimony. That concludes public testimony for tonight. I want to thank everyone who made time to have their voice heard. We'll move on to our consent agenda. Uh board members, there's a consent agenda listed in

050front of us under item E. Is there a board member who wish to wishes to pull an item from the consent agenda for action item status and voting? Member Higgins, do you want to pull something from the consent agenda ASD uh number five. Uh member Higgins wishes to pull number five ASD memorandum number 78. Is there any other board member who wishes to pull an item from the consent agenda? Hearing and seeing none. Is there a motion to compro to approve the consent agenda as amend? >> I move to approve the consent agenda as amended. >> Second. Yeah. Motion made by member Bellamy, seconded by member Wilson. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Miss the voice vote, please consent agenda. >> Member Hullman. >> Yes. >> Member Bellamy. >> Yes. >> Member Donley. >> Yes.

051>> Member Wilson. >> Yes. >> Member Higgins. >> Yes. >> Member Lessons. >> Yes. >> President Jacobs. >> Yes. Consent agenda is adopted by a vote of seven to zero. We'll move on to action items of which number five ASD memorandum number 78 became action item F1. Um is there a motion to approve ASD memorandum number 078? >> Move to approve uh memorandum uh 078. Okay. Um, there's been a motion to approve AC memorandum number 078 made by member Higgins, seconded by member Wilson. The recommended actions to award a contract for the multi-sight security vestibule entry group 6 Bter Ravenwood Scenic Park Elementary Schools project uh project to the Clinton Construction and Maintenance LLC for a total award amount of 3,473,457. Member Higgins, you had an item to discuss? >> Yes, I do. Yeah, I

052just have a question. The additional contingency for unknown conditions is added in here. 1,373,837. Pretty precise number for a contingency. It I'm Is that something that if a conting contingency comes up, it comes back to the board or are we approving this as a contingency, it doesn't have to come back and we're approving a million dollars, 1.3 million plus, uh, without needing to come back to the board. Why is it in here? This a little bit unusual to me. Actually, we always have a contingency and it's purely a percentage of the total um um estimated cost. And yes, we would in fact come back to the board. Um we do that with with all change orders on projects this complex and this large. So the board would see any changes. >> Thank you. That addresses

053my concern. >> Thank you, member Higgins. Is there any other discussion on this item? >> Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. Miss Sullivan, the voice vote, please. Member Bellamy. >> Yes. >> Member Higgins. >> Yes. >> Member Wilson. >> Yes. >> Member Lessons. >> Yes. >> Member Hullman. >> Yes. >> Member Donley. >> Yes. >> President Jacobs. >> Yes. AC. Memorandum number 078 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. That brings us to non-action items. G1 through nine. Is there a board member who wishes to discuss a non-action item tonight? Member lessons. >> Uh yes, please. ASD memorandum 085 appro approval of charter school application Oceans Academy. >> Is there any other board member who wishes to discuss a non- action item? Hearing or seeing none, we'll move on to um ASD

054memorandum number 085, approval of charter school application Oceans Academy member lessons. You have questions? >> Um yes. And really this is just a chance uh I had hoped to capitalize upon to continue the conversation from our work session um knowing that this is non-action tonight and will be an action item in two weeks. Um so there were a lot of it was a wonderful presentation. Um I appreciated that uh the team began with the why which is I think a key piece of of the puzzle and I will let you guys sit down. Um I'm thank you for being here. I hope you got some dinner. Sorry to make you return. Um I appreciate the the collaboration. Um I think one of the there were some technical questions. we started to pivot towards um some

055financial sort of questions and I guess I wanted to begin uh begin again by reinforcing that I think that the concept is really a positive engaging um enriching uh proposal that we have before us. I'm really struggling with where the funds will come from. And what I see is that to launch perhaps a school, a school that could be 400 students in a few years requires an initial cohort, you spoke about freshman and sophomores to create that leadership and and early um participation. Uh, it requires in your application about four teachers, a principal, there's a counselor, administrative assistant. Um, it doesn't sound like a lot, but it is a lot in my mind when you think about, well, if you had 75 kids next year in any of our neighborhood high schools, currently our pupil

056teacher ratio is over 32 to1. It's going up. I don't know what it's going up by. So, let's say we pull 75 kids at a minimum out of a selection of our neighborhood high schools and we use over a million dollars to support them. We could actually support probably nine or 10 teachers with the total $1.3 million ask. I don't know exactly. I'm aware that, you know, if a teacher teaches five classes a day, that's and we're talking maybe 10 teachers. I guess I'm my eyes are sort of wide and in shock at the opportunity cost, right? We're if we invest in those 75 students, we may also be pulling away 50 different classes from students across the district, secondary students across the district. So I guess my question is really for the administration. You

057guys have done your due diligence as as the applicants, but the administration is recommending that this move forward and can can you help me understand from your perspective your why? >> Sure. Thank you, member lesson. So, the way that I interpret my duties when it relates to charter school applications is to have our team of administrators that the application to make sure that financial obligations would be met, meaning the school would be sustainable, meaning that it's programmatically sound. Also, that they'd be adhering to all Alaska state statutes and local statutes as they're applicable. And really, it's the board's role as the authorizer to decide if this is the right moment to add a school to the portfolio of the Anchorage School District. So really, I I don't have a why in this conversation. I'm here

058to say that their application is complete and ready for the board's full consideration. With that said, I have collected a lot of great feedback from board members in helping align the programmatic structure of Oceans to board goals and guard rails, which is one of the reasons why there was collaboration to ensure that Oceans would be able to be housed in an ASD facility, which would make their program more cost sustainable. And it would also unlock opportunities such as students being able to leverage ASD transportation services for the first time to attend a charter school. And this would be the first time that we would directly authorize a charter school. And from day one, those students would have access to free price lunch meals in facilities in an Anchorage building. Also, for one of the first

059times in Anchorage history, from day one, those students would be housed in a a school building that's structurally sound in Betty Davis East Anchorage High School. So that that is the the question before the board if this is the right moment to invest the financial dollars and to uh consider the question whether or not this is the right moment to add uh our first uh charter high school within the the portfolio of the Anchorage School District. >> Member lessons. >> Thank you. This is um a followup question. Um, we've talked about our graduation rates and I think that I mean that's one of our adopted board goals. It is a critical board goal. As I shared separately with Dr. Bryant recently, the state of Alaska has a potential uh windfall when it comes to improving

060rural health uh in Alaska. And quite frankly, one of the most meaningful investments I think the state of Alaska could do is actually invest in graduation rates to improve our health outcomes. That's a separate conversation. However, the importance here is the graduation is is that students um cross that line and are fully educated, right? Whatever that means, they are they are ready to tackle life's challenges. We have some we've seen progress in our graduation rates as a whole, right? We've talked most recently that this past year was the strongest year in our graduation rates uh since before co. But I also know that we are seeing uneven rates across our schools. And so I guess one question I have is if this is a million-doll investment, is that investment which is actually I guess probably

061going to um be poured mostly into the students who would receive a priority in the lottery process which are students zoned I don't know what the zip codes are specifically but zoned for Betty Davis East and Barllet High Schools. um you know, is that meaningful investment? Is that something that would help tip the scales to improving the district's graduation rates as a whole? Right? Is Oceans sound enough in the package that it will meaningfully increase graduation rates? Will it help students who would not otherwise cross that finish line? Right? Is that in a way is it a targeted investment? or could it be seen as a targeted investment? Because I'm trying to square the board's role, my role on the board with supporting our board board goals and d by directing resources towards them. And

062so I guess that's a fundamental question that I'm wrestling with, right? Is this a school that will potentially move the needle for this group of kids who would enter as freshman and sophomores next year and graduate them at a higher rate than they perhaps would otherwise. And I don't know how you guys could answer that question, but you're welcome to try. >> Go. Sure. Go. You can start. >> Okay. Sorry, I'm not stoked. All right. Okay. >> Yeah. I uh just kind of thinking about my opening statements that I was making um about boys in education and and we know that young men and boys um have a lower graduation rate in general than than female students and that those numbers are just growing, right? I think there's enough data to back that up. And

063we know through a number of studies showing that hands-on projectbased community oriented education um is like connects with voice so much stronger. So I think just if you were to kind of zoom in on that one demographic where there already is a deficit in graduation rates um this is like a it fits very well in that way. um and and opening up that alternative education to an underrepresented demographic. um the way that the the bus system is going to work with them hands inand like helping I mean essentially workingass families like and working-class kids being able to have that opportunity where maybe um other alternative schools don't have the busing system so that it won't have as much access in that way I can see is absolutely a way to increase the graduation rates as

064well and also to be to be with you like we don't have all the answers, right? And you we're going to have to take a risk somewhere, right? So, yeah, I am asking I think we're all asking you to like Yeah, like we have to put some money on the table here to see what's going to happen. And um if we don't do that, I think a lot of the outcomes that we're seeing will probably um continue um especially for this the population that we're trying to work with already. again you I think you're outsp speaking me here. [laughter] Um I but I would say you're right. We don't have a way of of making any positive assurances that we will have an increased number in graduates and students meeting those goals and stuff like

065that. However, that being said because we can't see the future. That being said, I believe that because it is a charter school that people are opting into instead of being thrown into because they have to. Um that we will naturally have more interested and engaged students. Not that's not going to be everybody, but it's going to be a lot. Um, also I think when part of part of the structure of the program is to keep students engaged, it is to keep them involved. Um, and it's to help them not only get through high school, but figure out what the next steps are. So, from the beginning, they're they're already looking at where they want to be. They're looking at where they are and where they want to be. That's part of the curriculum. That's part

066of the structure of the program. Um, and I think that helps a lot because I mean I remember being in high school and thinking this is what I want to do with my life. Like I knew um but not everybody in my classes did. And those students just kind of went through the motions to do what they had to do because they felt like they had to do it up to a certain age and then they were done because they didn't see any other path forward. They didn't have goals set for themselves. And so I think that's a really important piece also. Um but another aspect of it is that because we put so much emphasis on community engagement and having a community feel within our program itself um between the classes and between students

067that it it goes the extra step to include those students that may not come from um strong households, that may not come from the best households. And so those students that might otherwise get lost in class sizes of 40 plus because that's that's the reality, right? Um they will have an opportunity to feel like they're part of something bigger than just themselves and feel like they have a purpose and they'll be able to see that in community projects and then community engagement outside of the school and team building and project based learning and all these other things. So, I think those factors will play a really big part in making sure that the students do stay engaged. They feel like they're a part of something. They're identifying what they want to do with their lives,

068where they want to go, and how they want to be involved. And that will ultimately help help students that maybe otherwise wouldn't be motivated to graduate to reach those goals. member lessons. >> I think those were the bigger clunkier questions. Um I think one question that has an additional question that has sort of formed over time um as I've thought about the application is and quite frankly as I'm aware of some other concerns circulating in the community um can you talk about if you have even with a low people teacher ratio in that sort of 20 to 30 window low. Um if a student fails a course right now in a comprehensive high school, they generally have some kind of an option to uh do it over whether that's online or take it over summer

069school. I guess my understanding is that that's part of how we are um able to keep students on track or get them back on track. What sort of opportunities would a student have if they don't pass a class in Oceans to earn the credits for graduation? >> Yeah. So, um do we have we have that slide I think where we talked about the the amount of credits it's possible to earn per quarter. Um and we've built in a buffer. So there actually is um all sorts of opportunities to earn credit. So technically you can go through the whole program the way we've laid it out. So it's possible to not do certain classes in your junior and senior year. Um part of that is with the intention that that'd be pulled into internships into community

070integrated. So in that way it will be able to flow. But if the students have not reached those um the necessary credits by their junior year or if they're off track at their junior year, they still have two years to um recover the credit while making some compromises around the internship years moving forward. >> Um if I can keep asking a followup. Um, have you guys thought at all about the Alaska performance scholarship and eligibility for that where students need to take sort of a higher threshold number of maybe foreign language classes or a full scope of you know science or well I think you guys have science covered well um but there there are three sort of packages uh if you will for attaining the Alaska performance becoming eligible for the APS and I

071guess I was just wondering whether that's something you thought about yet. And if not, um, maybe you could be get back to me or us about whether students going through your program would be eligible because I think it's what, $28,000, which is not small, right? If a student wants to go um through the UA system. >> Yeah, I I've spent a a small period of time kind of thinking about um some some type of like AP options and some things in that realm, like honors courses, that type of thing. And I think there's some flexibility in our elective credits to to be able to push that in. And also the um there's like uh after school uh I guess like zero or zero hour type classes that can be integrated in with the Dendas as

072well. >> Any other questions? Member Les. >> No, not at this time. Thanks. >> Member Higgins. I just want to throw out that in a prior board, we went through and looked at the finances associated with all the charter schools. There were issues such as um the the cost for special ed. The special ed kids were not in a number of charter schools yet. We had the cost and we were dividing it up and and looking at what reasonable and what isn't. And there were solutions to that being presented. We now have uh charter schools that have the benefit of the schools that we have versus the charter schools that are renting. That was a major crisis that we recently saw with like Wilshoula uh is a good example, but the other schools are in

073the same type of category. uh it would I think it would be beneficial if we had a discussion just kind of an overview at some point in the future where it just basically gave a description of how this works financially and works out and if there's any areas to do it because I see the benefits for the for the students and that's not a question. Uh it may be like when it the issue with the special ed was legitimate um that there wasn't special ed in a lot of elementary schools for the charter schools and yet uh that was a good percentage of the cost of the operations for those schools and they didn't incur that. So what they did is I believe they took a percentage they gave that to that group and when

074they had special ed kids they got the money to support the special edition resources. So there could be some options here to look at that I would like to see something from the board come in and just give us an educational overview of how this works and the issues that might be there because we got two groups now. We've got charter schools in public school in public schools. We got charter schools renting. We have um a variety of other types of costs associated that might be something would be interesting to review. Thank you. >> Seeing no response, we'll move on to the next question. Member Donley. Thank you. A few months ago when we were one of our meetings, um I asked the question, what kind of patriotic activities would Ocean uh have at in

075their curriculum? Uh at the time you answered, well um we'd have something for Constitution Day, which of course is a federal mandate. Um, have you had a chance to consider adding anything further to your answer? Um I think saying the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of the day which I think is also required um would be part of it. Uh and I'd also kind of go back on my answer previously as well in terms of integrating into the needs of the community for those who have served our country like working with veterans working with um people who have like made these sacrifices and making sure that students are able to recognize that. for an example with uh the Alaska studies curriculum, being able to talk to veterans in Alaska and about what they've done,

076recording their histories, recording their stories and integrating that into the students idea of what it means to be an Alaskan mean what it means to be an American, how these things are incorporated into one another. Would there be in your mind any occasions where students would hear the national anthem during the school year? >> Sure. >> What would be those occur? What would cause that to happen >> pending sporting events? Um I don't I don't necessarily imagine the national anthem being played like on a daily basis. Well, >> I'm not asking about a daily basis. I'm asking if ever. And if so ever, in what circumstance? What ideas do you have? >> Well, my ideas are well known to the board. I recommended a policy that we have the national anthem and Alaska flag song

077played at least once a month, but the board chose not to adopt that. But you're asking for my vote to create a new school, and I'd like to know what your policy is going to be for patriotic activities. >> Um, okay. So, I think that I can give you like my personal takes on it. Um, but as an APC, they're going to create their whole idea of what that's going to look like. Um, so you can get >> I think I think it is tricky to get into specifics and it um I think there are ways to integrate um a lot several aspects of that, right? you've mentioned specifically the national anthem um and and Simon gave an example for um sporting events and and stuff like that and I think that's I mean that

078feels like feels like an obvious answer a little bit. Um um although it's been a while since I've been to a high school sporting event, but um I think uh that and I think where you were maybe going with that is that it it's the APC's job to make sure that the charter is followed, which yes, although we don't have a particular section outlining um patriotic activities, but um that being said, a lot of the curriculum and how that is explored, we're not necessarily there yet because that falls on the teachers too. Um, primarily in how it's delivered and and stuff like that if I got some [laughter] I'm I I feel like there's a way that you're that you're that you're wanting this to go and I'm trying to figure out what that is

079a little bit um [laughter] and what it is that you're looking for. Um, if you're just looking for a general sense for us specifically, I would say We're not we haven't delved into that super deep because we're just not at that point yet where we're building specific curriculum. Um if you're asking in a general sense if that would be incorporated, if patriotic activities would be incorporated, the easy answer is yes. Um how exactly that looks, I'm not quite sure yet. Um if there's if there's something more specific that you're looking for, I'd be happy to talk about that. >> Member Donnie, you have a followup. >> Well, a lot of our schools um I don't know about a lot, but there are schools that play the national anthem when they have a school assembly. There's

080schools that u play the have the flag song every morning. There's schools that um um also have the national anthem every morning. They happen to be very successful schools actually in our district also. Um so there are examples out there of schools adopting policies regarding patriotic activities. Uh some schools have uh on Veterans Day they have their students bring in photos of all their family that have been US veterans. That's part of their curriculum. They're what that ethos of that school. I'm just simply inquiring what you would offer to me as a board member who cares about patriotic activities in our schools. What your vision of what your school would do. >> M member Donn I think you heard the program's answer. Do you wish to elaborate on that any further tonight? I think the

081only thing that I would add is that um when it comes to like me personally, and I think I speak for the rest of the team, when I say that we're not opposed to having the national anthem um or anything of that nature played, the the hiccup that I would introduce then is that I don't know that we would actually have access to any kind of PA system being located within East High School. And so I guess I mean are there ways to kind of figure that out? Yes. But that feels a little bit more logistical and being that we're not we're not established in the building yet. That's that's hard to answer, but I do see what you're saying and um I appreciate your suggestions. We'll definitely be taking note of that. Um yeah.

082>> Any um closing remarks? Member Donley? >> Um thank you for your answer. >> Member Higgins. Yeah, I would just take a little pressure off of you here. You're you're going to be required to follow whatever policies we have for the board policies just like any other school. And anything beyond that would be an APC type of discussion, I'm sure, uh, in regards to what you're going to do. But, um, the policies that the school district has applies. You have to comply with that. You got to comply with the municipal code. You got to comply with the state, uh, rules and regulations and state constitutions. So, um, uh, in line with that, um, I don't expect that you would have an answer today, but I but the the only thing that I would see in

083the proposal that we would be voting on is that you're going to be complying with uh, whatever school board policies we have and and with those provisions and that would be the only restriction that I would expect to see in there. So, thank you. >> Uh, don't see any other board members in the queue. Seeing none member lessons, does this satisfy you're pulling this item from non- action? >> Um, yes. We simply ran out of time in the work session and so I sincerely appreciate your willingness to come back for a second helping of um Q&A. >> I think this is officially your seventh or eighth, but uh kudos and we'll see you in two weeks. All right, we'll move on to uh I as for superintendent update as H uh has no additional public

084comment. Dr. Bryant, a superintendent update. >> Thank you, Mr. President. and I I'd just like to provide a few updates primarily to the community as a lot has happened over the past couple of weeks. So, I want you to hear a couple of things from me. Um, first off, I want to address the uh AEA tenative agreement and just say that I'm um just very pleased that the two bargaining teams were able to come together to generate this tenative agreement. Uh some of the highlights that were referenced earlier include a meaningful salary increase and a boost to the employer healthcare contributions and a number of other things um that I'll direct you to on our website in a moment. Um just for the community's awareness that ratification vote of AA membership is scheduled uh January

08528th through the 30th. So uh the next steps will lean on that decision point. But really, my point of bringing it up was just to recognize our educators for the work that they do every single day, often under very difficult circumstances and uncertainty that's oftentimes outside of their control. But at the end of the day, teachers are the single most important factor when it comes to the learning environment of our classrooms. And I just want to offer my sincere gratitude and I look forward to the ongoing collaborations regardless of what happens with the tenative agreement. But I'm so happy that we're at this new milestone after many, many months of dedications and sacrificings of time on the parts of our teachers who have a lot going on during their day jobs. So to have these

086conversations over 15 months was a very big lift for them and I look forward to seeing what the next three to four years looks like. Um but again, I also want to acknowledge AEA leadership specifically for their role in engaging in problem solving with our district on this agreement. It took persistence. It took long hours. And it took true professionalism. And I look forward to the next steps in this process because really our goal as a district is to create the conditions to improve our position to retain our educators. We need every single educator that's willing to be within the Anchorage School District. And I hope that this agreement gets us closer to that point. And of course, there's always more to go. and I look forward to the conversations with President Sitz and others

087to make sure that we continue to work towards um great conditions for our educators. Um and then lastly, if the agreement is ratified, it would come to the board on February 3rd for approval. So there may be questions as to what are the specifics in that agreement. Uh I won't uh relay all of those tonight, but please do visit our website and if you click on the hot topics page, there's an Aea ASD negotiations page where all those tales are laid out. Uh with that said, I do want to transition to a couple of updates with regards to the budget because even though we've taken a step forward to attempt to add some stability um with regards to our workforce, I do need to be clear that ASD is in a severe budget crisis. So

088for the 2627 school year, we are projecting still a deficit of over $80 million. And I bring this up even though I've uh said this many times over the past several months. Um many people are wondering how does this relate to the BSA increase that happened in the summer. I I thought that you know our problems are behind us. But I want to recap the reality of what's been happening over a year ago when we were having these conversations with the legislature. We made it very clear that our purchasing power not just within ASD but across the state has decreased substantially um closer to the magnitude of 38%. And yet we've only seen a modest revenue increase of about 2%. So we're in this crisis for a couple of reasons. So yes, two things are

089true at once. We did receive a permanent $700 BSA increase. That was historic, but inflation had eroded our purchasing power closer to the tune of $1,800 plus, and it gets higher and higher every year. The other thing that the public needs to understand is that when we balanced the budget for the year that we're currently in, we were advised by legislators and parents and families that really wanted to make sure that we could preserve as many incredible programs and opportunities for our students as possible. So, we made an intentional choice to invest the equivalent of an additional $700 in BSA dollars for our students. But that funding is not permanent. That was from our emergency reserves. So by the end of this fiscal year, those funds will be gone. So the crisis that we're in

090is equivalent to a $700 BSA per student reduction. And there's not $700 per students of administrators or custodians or bus drivers. It really does come down to our classroom. So, I say all of that to say um that my leadership team and I have spent dozens of hours um consulting with technical experts and others reviewing line by line every sort of budget so we can tackle ways to become more efficient and streamline and to make administrative reductions and non-classroom reductions. That work is still going on today. that even after we're done with that process, it is essentially mathematically impossible for our students not to feel that impact because historically ASD does invest the majority of its dollars directly towards our classroom and student support services. That is how large our deficit is. It is so

091large that every corner of the district will be impacted, including student services. So, right now, what my team is doing is reviewing what those reductions could be. It will just be a proposal that we'll provide to the school board um by the first meeting in February, at which point it will be public and the public can start providing feedback on those specific budget reductions. But again, for the general public's awareness, the legislature is the one that allocates the resources to the district and the school board and I are tasked with figuring out how to allocate those dollars. So, the reality is is that this is going to be one of the most severe budgets that we've had to pass in a very long time. And I I want to be very clear about that because

092I I feel that the community senses that like in prior years, we can talk about a deficit and at the end of the day, we can lean on fund balance or some one-time funding from the legislature. And I just want to start uh putting that alarm signal out there that those resources from the legislature may not come. We're going to advocate um hard for our educators and our students and their achievement. Um but I also want us to be clear as to what we're going into over the next um couple of months. So, um, with that said, um, I also wanted to address a different topic, um, which is our operational levy, which is another thing that happened last Monday, which I announced in partnership with Mayor Lef France. So, I want the public to

093be aware of what's going on there. So, on Monday, the the mayor and I held a press conference where um she announced that she'll be supporting a one-time operational levy um that would go before the borders, the borders, that would go before the voters on the uh April ballot this spring. This will be the first time that I'm aware of that the district would be engaged in an operational levy. So, I wanted to make sure that the public understands exactly what that is. Um so in this specific instance a levy is different from a bond that the levy can be used for operational expenses. What does operational expenses mean? So on if this uh proposal is approved by the assembly uh next Tuesday, it will appear on the ballot as again a one-time levy um

094to the tune of about 1.8 million total. And when I say operational, it means that it's going to support specifically teaching positions and essential student services. So, in other words, if ASD um were to receive these dollars, if the voters were to approve this levy, um by definition, based off of what's on that ballot language, it would go directly to teacher positions and essential student services. So, to put that in perspective, what does $1.8 8 million mean for the Anchorage School District. That's uh equivalent to over 80 teacher positions. So potentially that unlocks an opportunity for us to hire educators to put in classrooms across the district. But let's go back to what I just shared. We're about to enter this severe budget crisis and we'll have to balance a budget by the end of

095February. We'll send it off to the assembly in March. So by the time April rolls around, the entire community and board and myself will be aware as to what that budget is. The voters will have an opportunity to review all of that information and to decide for themselves whether or not this one time investment could make a positive difference. And I will say from my vantage point of 80 teacher positions or the equivalent of that for our children could make a significantly positive impact out of a very severe situation. Um this can help mitigate some of the worst impacts that we'll see from this budget deficit. But I do recognize that this one is a one-time levy. It's not guaranteed to come back ever again. We're just talking about one time. But I also want

096to make sure that we understand what the money would be used for. And lastly, I wanted to make sure that the public understands that I recognize that this is not um a trivial ask. Um $1.8 million. When you look at the the way that this levy would be structured, it would be equivalent to about if approved by the voters, of course, the levy would cost property taxpayers about $2740 per $100,000 of assessed property value. So, just as an example, the owner of a $400,000 home um would pay a onetime cost of about $10960. So again, it's not a trivial amount of money, but I wanted to make sure that the public heard from me that I'm committed to um proposing that every cent of these dollars goes directly into our classrooms because that's how we're

097going to move the learning forward. So again, there's a long time between now and April, and the assembly still has to deliberate this proposal at their meeting on Tuesday. But I wanted you to hear from the Anchorage School District that this is another thing that's in the mix that's new for the community, but could provide a powerful opportunity to help support our students. And lastly, um there's a lot of technical things I'm sharing. You might be wondering why did this opportunity come about in the first place? And to make a long story short, to put it simply, um when the base student allocation was increased by the state, it also unlocked an opportunity for the city to increase its investment towards its local schools. So, um that is why the levy is structured for that

098$1.8 million that represents the maximum that the city could contribute to its local school district. So, it is an opportunity. We will see how that conversation goes on Tuesday and then from there it would be up for the voters of Anchorage to decide whether or not this is the right moment to make this investment in schools. But I want you to know that um the equivalent of 80 teachers could make a positive difference for families all over the district. So with that said, I'm just going to close on that note and just say that our northstar remains the schoolboard goals reading, math, life readiness. This is going to be a severe budget crisis. we will get through it, but it's going to mean immense sacrifice and it's going to mean that we're going to have

099to be clear as to what's ahead. And even though it's not looking good, we're going to get through it. Um, but I want you to know that this is going to be different than it's been the past several budget cycles to where some of these reductions will have to be made. And when we have to make those difficult decisions at this DAS, it needs to be grounded in what we know will help our kids achieve in reading, math, life readiness because we need to ensure that no matter what our revenue is that all students are prepared for success in life. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Dr. Bryant. Member lessons, a brief question. >> Yeah, brief question. Um, I guess I'm feel like I'm putting you on the spot, but that's kind of what

100schoolboard meetings are. um from a timing standpoint, right? Members of the public will be um able to invited to testify starting, you know, at our next board meeting on the budget as a non-action item. When will the budget book be available to the public? You know, sometime is it sort of that 72 hours beforehand or you know, the Monday before the meeting? Do you guys have a sense, >> Mr. Lift? >> Yeah, our goal would be to get it and have it public on the afternoon of 30th on that that Friday. Um, that's our goal. That said, you know, cutting 80 or 90 million out of a budget in $20,000 increments isn't an easy task. So, we're very hopeful to get it to the 30th. That's our plan. We'll should see it then. If not,

101it won't be too far after that or can't be, I guess. Thank you, >> member Donley. >> Yeah, at our work session earlier, um there was a number brought up about the about the difference that the Anchorage School District gets per student versus the Matsue School District. I was just wondering if Mr. one of the staff has that actual differential. I think it'd be good to get that out to the public. Yeah, I mean the differential on the school the district cost factor 7% and that rolls through the multipliers for special ed and CTE. So it's somewhere higher than that. I think I rolled it through our formula and if we were to receive the same uh district cost differential as Matt see it be about a $25 million increase for our schools. But I

102I thought it was particularly telling the dollar amount per student that was mentioned this afternoon, >> right? I mean, what I wanted to make the point here is that our district is dealing with funding of $1,000 less per student than the district immediately to the north of us. and what kind of a financial strain that puts on the taxpayers in Anchorage and and our district to be able to deliver the quality services. It's I think it's pretty dramatic um differential >> Mike screen testing one two three that is a great point member Donley and I just want to put it in CEO speak as well I want the community to hear this three times so just so you know how the school funding formula works they actually look at the community that your schools are

103in and when they created the foundation formula They were trying to be equitable. They had figured it costs a lot more to um run a school district that needs planes to go between buildings and you know in places with high cost of gasoline. So we'll give them a multiplier. And they do that for every um burrow in the state including Anchorage. And when they created that formula, Anchorage was considered the baseline. So we get the lowest differential. It's a 1.0. But just to the north of us in the Matsu school district, um they actually get a multiplier because at the time based off of their calculations, they saw that apparently it was more expensive to live in the Matsu than Anchorage. So it was intentionally made they intentionally made a decision to give them a

104multiplier. Why does that matter? Because that may or may not be the case today. And for that reason, when we make comparisons between the Anchor School District and the Matsubo School District, one of the differences is that one district is getting a multiplier to the tune of that thousands that member Donley referenced that ASD is not getting. And this is something that the legislature can fix. >> Member Donley, >> a different question. We had some public testimony tonight from a parent who was concerned about study skills being um used as a English credit replacement. Do we have any kind of guidelines on that or are uh because it sounded really concerning. >> Thank you, member Donley. I'd be happy to get the board a summary as to the study schools course that's referenced so and

105broadly speaking how that applies to students credits um to provide some clarity on that. Thank you, Dr. Brian. Uh, we'll move on to member comments. Starting at my left, member Higgins. Any closing comments tonight? >> Thank you. Um, I appreciate all the comments again that everybody presented during the testimony uh within that and glad that we I appreciate greatly the efforts that have been made by both the ASD and the A.E.A. reaching um at least some tentative discussion agreement and and it's never an easy process. I have been in them too often. Uh so I appreciate that. The only other comment I have is that I have always given out uh the fur randi buttons uh for Christmas. Uh but they don't always come out before Christmas. Uh so I'll do that. I do know

106that the I don't have the full name of the student who did this one this year that won it. I do know everybody's gonna wonder Rachel in at Mir's Mrs. Crumbs class. That's all I can tell you. No last name. I'll I'll find it out for next time. But uh the buttons are kind of interesting because in Fondi, if you're not wearing a button, the Fondi police can pick you up and make you make phone calls to generate donations. It's kind of cool. Uh but I do have them for all the board members. And uh so I'll go ahead and support it that way. Thank you. >> Thank you, member lessons. Um thank you for the hard work of all team members um from the administration and from the educators themselves to coming to a

107TA. I really appreciate the work and uh hope that it is a successful um it ends in a successful the process ends successfully. Um, I did want to take a moment to uh give a very brief shout out to our own student, Miss Madison, um, Areola, because she was named a um, trying to get this right. Uh, she was an official alternate um to the United States Senate Youth Program. So, this is a competitive application. Um, another ASD student was one of two from Alaska who will be going to Washington DC. But I just wanted to give Madison just a brief shout out for all of her hard work and her leadership and um it's just commendable that you made it that far um in your application. So I appreciate everything that you do on

108behalf of 40,000 students and change. Um, and then finally, I it occurred to me that it is battle of the books season. And so, we have a lot of students who will be competing uh in their school battles, moving up to district battles, and this is one of the things that we were able to fund this year through the legislative override. So, we wouldn't be doing that without the work of our legislators. Um, actually, I think we funded that through the May vote. I'm mistaken, but uh it was not in our budget last February. Um so I'm really excited for all the students and um wish them good luck. >> Thank you, member lessons. Member Donley. >> Thank you. I just wanted to say how I'm frankly excited about it that that the proposed tenative

109agreement includes three additional instructional days. Uh this is something I've been advocating for for I think every year I've been here and I'm just ex really pleased we're going to have the opportunity potential here of having three additional instructional days. Um it's Alaska is unfortunately has the fewest if you combine instructional days and minimum instructional hours which is a state law and every state has a law like that. We are way way behind the national average. Really seriously behind. And so I think these days are very important to our students. And in three days may not sound a lot, but over a K through 12 education, you're you're talking more than a month of of instruction that that students going to get that they wouldn't get otherwise. So I think we can need to continue

110to as a state to push for additional instructional hours and additional instructional days. and I'm just really excited that we've got the potential to get some additional days for our district. >> Thank you, Member Dley. U Representative Madison, any comments? >> Um yes, and first I do want to um thank board member lessons for giving that. Thank you so much. Um it does mean a lot to be recognized in that way. Um, other than that, I would like to add um something I did mean to mention in my report, which is pretty important um pertaining to ASD is um that with student advisory board, I actually am leading a new committee that we're opening up on there. Um we're calling it the education committee for now. But essentially, we have projects lined out that would

111help increase the amount of student um participation and advocacy and um the amount of testimony we see at schoolboard meetings. Um, obviously we can see tonight that we didn't have any student testifiers, but that's something that's definitely been on my mind and that I would love to help change. So, as a result, our committee is working to create um templates that students can use that'll be accessible online um to basically see what they can say and what to put when speaking up at a schoolboard meeting. Um, as well as written newsletters that would go out to middle schools and high schools that could be used in each school's um media programs, newspapers, etc. that would update students on what different policies um or new updates that are being discussed in Anchorage School District um schoolboard

112meetings. And we're really hoping to try and increase the civic participation there. Um but we'll be meeting again and hopefully get these projects done um by the end of April. >> Thank you. Uh, member Wilson, >> I I would like to recognize um that today is the first day uh of the second session of the 34th Alaska State Legislature. They gave in today. So, um hoping for continued support of education in any form um that they can can manage it. We we can absolutely use all the help we can get. And I appreciate the mayor's support for an operational levy um or for the possibility of an operational levy to save as many positions and as um decrease the class size as as much as we can. Also wanted to share that uh the nominations

113for the school business partnership program spirit of tomorrow award are officially open. The nominations are due by Monday, February 23rd. The Spirit of Tomorrow awards are given to businesses, schools, educators, and students who have been nominated for their outstanding involvement with the school business partnership program to further educate and connect with tomorrow's leaders. There's three different categories: educator of the of tomorrow award, business of tomorrow award, and student of tomorrow award. So, please consider nominating either an educator, a business um that one of our schools has been partnering with or a outstanding student for this this award. The awards will be giving given out at the student or sorry at the spirit of tomorrow lunchon on April 26th, which is a Friday at Cuddy Hall. Thank you, >> member BMI. Uh just to uh thank

114again once again the bargain both bargaining teams for coming back with a tentative agreement. Um but in addition to budget we also have a bond on this. We'll have a education bond on the ballot. Um and so between bargaining budget and bonding we got all the bees covered. Anyway, that's all I've got. >> Thank you. Member Hullman. Any closing comments? >> None tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um the only comment I have is to thank the negotiating teams from both sides for a successful tenative agreement and I will reserve the rest of my comments as we await the AEA um ratification vote. Uh depending on how that goes, my comments will respond accordingly and I'll respect that process. With that said, would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Move to adjourn. Second made by

115Bellamy, second by Wilson. Seeing no opposition, we're adjourned at 7:41. Thank you. Approve.