Welcome to the Anchorage Education Association

As the school year closes, there's still a lot going on. The ASD Board and administration are still working out details in the coming year and will be meeting during June. We have members nervously sitting in layoff status, but some assignments are starting to come through.

I urge you to stay in touch. We'll be updating events on the AEA Facebook page and to your personal email at home. If you're not certain we have a good personal email account for you, please send it to Mary.Nibbelink@NEAAlaska.org.

Make plans to be on the Park Strip June 8 for the Labor Picnic. AEA is part of that effort this year. We'll have a table there, and a special frisbee for folks that stop by. Come have a burger or hot dog with ALL of your best friends in Anchorage!

And stay in touch! The office is open until late June, and I can be reached anytime at Andy.Holleman@AnchorageEA.net.

Have a good summer.

Changes in Funding

There are changes in funding and ASD moves ahead with implementing the changes passed by the ASD Board. Please check this link for current information about layoff notices, displacements, and other budget or employment issues.

We're in what is likely the final week of the legislative session. To be honest, we didn't expect a lot of good news out of what was proclaimed to be "The Education Session."

There was a bill to bring vouchers to for-profit and religious schools, to pull our health insurance out of our hands and to the State, to gut due process assurances for educators - all while providing no funds to stop the cuts to educators across the state.

Most of those bills are stalled out, and there is a serious discussion about how much money to add to the BSA.

What changed the most is a concerted effort by a group of parents to make education funding a priority. They have terrific political insight, and have been tireless in demonstrating to legislators that the public wants teachers back in classrooms. They want support staff working with teachers. They want PEOPLE delivering services to their kids. But a key thing they have demonstrated is that PRESSURE WORKS!

In a political system like democracy, it is supposed to work.

In this final week, I urge you to go to http://greatalaskaschools.org/ and click the button "Join Great Alaska Schools." You'll begin to get emails asking you to take action. Most of the actions can be completed in 5 minutes. Because they are coupled with hundreds and hundreds of parents.....THEY WORK.

I would ask also that you be on the lookout for emails from Ron Fuhrer and myself. They will be focused more on issues that matter directly to educators (like insurance, pension, tenure, etc). Sadly, there is not much in there to actually help educators, but a lot of the bad stuff has stalled. We need your help to stall it for one more week.