2024 Coalition for Education Equity Priorities

Coalition for Education Equity represents the unified voice of our members, which makes us a strong and powerful advocate. Our membership determines our strategic direction and guides our priorities, which focus on ensuring equitable access to quality public education for all children in Alaska.

Our Priorities

Equity in reading outcomes. Support statewide access to quality Pre-Elementary programs for all children in Alaska and support improving reading outcomes for all students. Support the Alaska Reads Act (SB 8).

  • One of the clearest paths to closing achievement gaps and improving student performance for our highest need students across the state is through access to high quality pre-elementary programs. The Coalition for Education Equity believes high quality pre-K should be accessible for all Alaska students and has worked to protect and expand statewide pre-K funding for the past ten years. We support statewide access to high quality pre-elementary programs for all children in Alaska.

  • At the same time, Alaska must invest sufficiently and equitably to improve student outcomes in reading. Without this targeted investment, gains made in quality pre-elementary programs can be lost. The connection of quality pre-elementary to effective K-3 reading instruction provides the necessary follow up to build on these gains and address potential learning disabilities by implementing the best practices in reading instruction. Addressing both provides the best opportunity to ensure Alaska’s children learn to read and are ready to read to learn.

Adequate investment in Alaska’s public education system and public schools. Support consistent, predictable, adequate funding for our schools and DEED. 

  • The Coalition for Education Equity believes that a thriving state requires a successful education system. This means that we need a stable, sustainable, and predictable budget supported by diversified revenues.  We know that further reductions to our education budget are not in the best interests of such a successful education system and that cuts would, in fact, do damage to our education structure. The Coalition for Education Equity recognizes that opportunities for youth to come to school prepared to learn, and to leave school with the ability to pursue further education or a meaningful vocational occupation are obligations guaranteed in Alaska’s constitution.

  • Adequate investment in Alaska’s public education system necessitates a State budget that is not balanced on the backs of our children and our schools. We ask the legislature and administration to ensure that education funding sources are reliable and adequate and that funding decisions are made in a timely manner that enables school districts to plan efficiently and responsibly.

Broadband capacity/access/costs. Equitable access to high-speed Internet for our schools, students, and families.

  • There is inequity in access to the Internet for our students across Alaska. This is especially true for our BIPOC children and children in rural Alaska. For many families, access to the Internet is cost prohibitive, and with much of our education delivery moving online this fall, lack of Internet access is exacerbating access to education for these students.

  • With close to 4000 students in areas of extreme poverty, many of our students in Alaska do not have the same level of Internet access as students in areas with more affordable Internet access. This of course raises a serious equity issue regarding education delivery. We ask our legislators to continue looking at how we can use existing (or new) funding and mechanisms to get affordable Internet to our students and families in the near term, and work on viable solutions for building an infrastructure for statewide access to high-speed Internet in the future.

School construction and major maintenance. Equitable funding of school construction will ensure all Alaska children have safe facilities in which to learn. Reliable investment in major maintenance will reduce deterioration of schools, and save the state millions of dollars in future full school replacement costs. Work to ensure reliable, adequate, and equitable funding for school construction and major maintenance.

  • Capital improvement is needed in our schools, especially major maintenance projects that have been languishing. Some of our school districts have schools that are in danger of becoming unsafe, and with the COVID-19 pandemic, ventilation is a new concern that needs to be addressed. Are our school buildings safe for our children? We seek investment in major maintenance, which will keep our schools safe and contribute to our state’s economy.

  • Additionally, we seek to work with DEED to review, improve, and reduce expense of CIP application process.

Recruitment and retention of quality educators. Recruiting and retaining quality teachers has a significant impact on student outcomes. Work to increase pathways for locally prepared teachers, reduce the challenges that lead to teacher turnover, and expand the practices that lead great teachers to stay. Additionally, our state must address the issues that affect Alaska’s competitiveness in educator recruitment: salary and benefits, retirement system, professional development and support, teacher housing, and connectivity.

Other issues

Community capacity issues affect the ability of children to learn and how schools must allocate resources. School leaders see a need for more community level supports such as social workers, OCS, behavioral health specialists, law enforcement, etc. We highlight these issues and advocate for community level support.

The Coalition for Education Equity acknowledges and supports efforts at diversifying our economy to further sustain our budget revenues, identifying efficiencies in government that do not compromise local control, and the development of alternative fuels and other energy sources to reduce the cost of energy in rural Alaska.