Teachers, staff and the public press Anchorage board on vacancies, resignations and large class sizes

Multiple public speakers and board members used Tuesday’s meeting to highlight staffing shortages, large class sizes and teacher retention concerns and to urge policy and funding responses.

Corey Aist, identified in the meeting as a community member, told the board the district had "60 unfilled elementary teaching positions" as of that night and said last year was the fourth consecutive year in which "400 AEA educators resigned or retired from ASD." Aist said 61 of the district’s 301 first-year teachers hired in 2024–25 had already resigned and calculated that the district invested about $30,000 per new hire — "over $9,000,000 in total" — and that those 61 resignations represented roughly "$2,000,000" in lost investment.

Multiple classroom teachers described large class sizes and related strain. Susan Ritter, who said she works at West High School, detailed numerous class rosters: several periods of 31–35 students, a daily load she described as 160 students across periods, and library service for 2,888 students with 1 certificated staff member and 1 assistant. Natasha Graham, an Anchorage Education Association board member and longtime ASD teacher, read a list of class-size examples from multiple schools, including kindergarten classes of 26–31 students, a fifth-grade class with 41 students, and middle- and high-school classes with 37–43 students in some sections. Several speakers said special education and ELL students were in classrooms with high student counts, increasing the burden on teachers and classroom aides.

Public testimony urged the board to prioritize compensation and other retention levers. Aist said "without a certificated educator in every classroom... your school board goals and student outcomes are at risk" and urged the board to use its levers to make ASD more competitive. Board members noted the scale of the problem and asked administrative follow-up: Member Higgins said the public needs to pressure state elected officials for more funding; Member Wilson and Member Holloman described efforts to recruit recently retired educators back into classrooms.

In response, Superintendent Dr. Bryant highlighted that the district has seen some positive staffing signs in high schools — "we only have, I believe, 2 high school vacancies the last time that I checked the staffing report" — and reiterated that lowering class sizes and hiring more teachers requires funding and state support.

Why it matters: teacher vacancies and large class sizes affect instructional quality and the district’s ability to meet its graduation and equity goals. Commenters tied staffing and compensation directly to student outcomes and district program capacity.

What the board may do next: board members urged public advocacy to state legislators for more funding, asked administration to monitor vacancies and retention data, and raised the idea of examining benefits such as Social Security participation through collective-bargaining channels as a potential recruitment/retention tool.