State and education groups form Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center to tackle teacher shortage

The Alaska Council of School Administrators (ACSA) told the House Education Committee on April 14 that the state faces an acute teacher shortage and that a newly formed Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center (ARC) will serve as a stakeholder hub to implement recommendations from the state’s Teacher Retention and Recruitment (TRR) playbook.

“Some kind of benefit is better than none,” ACSA Executive Director Lisa Paradis said in response to a question about whether modest defined‑benefit retirement options would help retain educators. Paradis and other presenters told the committee that a suite of policies — not a single solution — will be necessary to stem shortages and improve retention.

What the committee heard: DEED Deputy Director Kelly Manning summarized turnover and vacancy data showing the problem’s scale. Citing Regional Education Lab Northwest analysis, presenters said Alaska’s teacher turnover rate is about 22%, with principal turnover near 18%; turnover is substantially higher in rural‑remote districts. Manning and Paradis also described steep increases in first‑day vacancies in recent years and emphasized the practical impact of vacancies that go unfilled despite emergency certificates or substitutes.

ACSA and ARC activities: Paradis said ACSA’s board decided to add a division — the Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center — to coordinate implementation of the TRR playbook. Jennifer Schmitz, director of ARC and an ACSA staff member, told the committee ARC’s work has three strands: (1) a steering committee to implement TRR playbook recommendations, (2) Alaska Teachers and Personnel (AT&P) services to centralize job postings and host job fairs, and (3) international‑hire support to assist districts that sponsor teachers from abroad and to reduce middlemen that can charge fees to educators.

Jennifer Schmitz said ARC’s first virtual job fair had strong interest from international applicants: about 1,600 people initially signed up, roughly 700 attended the event, and about 1,450 of the registered applicants were international applicants. Schmitz said about 14 district participants took part in the fair; ARC is vetting international candidates and working with districts to connect them to openings.

Other implementation steps include a new exit‑and‑stay survey being developed by the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) to collect longitudinal reasons why educators leave or remain, and a planned omnibus bill that DEED and partners say will translate several playbook recommendations into statute. Paradis said the ACSA and partners are running multiple pipeline programs (aspiring principals, early career principal supports, new superintendent cohorts) designed to grow local leadership and reduce reliance on out‑of‑state recruitment.

Committee members asked for additional data. Representative Andy Story asked for a breakdown of vacancies by special education and classroom positions; Deputy Director Manning said the department will provide follow‑up. Members also requested detail on how many positions are filled with emergency certifications and the relationship between headcount changes and vacancy percentages.

The presenters framed the work as long‑term and multi‑pronged: central coordination through ARC, improved data collection (ISER/REL), targeted pipeline and induction supports, and potential legislative and retirement‑system changes to address compensation and retention.

No formal committee action or statutory changes were decided during the hearing; presenters said they would provide requested vacancy breakdowns and further data to the committee.