The latest State of Alaska public educational performance reports have now been released, and they tell two very different stories. To properly understand the two tales, we first have to realize that many rural Alaska schools have such poor testing performance that they skew the statewide averages heavily downward. Without singling out any particular rural community, digging through the data one can find many where the failing category for proficiencies in language, math, and science are over 80%, and many are even higher, some almost a total enrollment-wide failure. This lack of a rudimentary educational foundation in those communities is undoubtedly not the sole fault of the school districts, as the villages themselves have cultural and geographic challenges that make education extremely difficult and expensive, but they do drag the statewide mean lower.

You have such a modern concept of rural that your last parting question as you board a small aircraft out of Fairbanks to head into the Alaska wilderness is: “Tell me again, how far is Walmart from my Apartment?”

Many rural districts can only find teachers from out-of-state to fill those teaching positions, and teacher retention in rural Alaska is one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome for rural school districts. I have personally spoken with multiple superintendents of rural Alaska schools, and one story stuck out to me. Imagine being a first year teacher in your young twenties, and you think you want to teach in Alaska, so you take a teaching job in a river village. The pictures are majestic and beautiful. You have such a modern concept of rural that your last parting question as you board a small aircraft out of Fairbanks to head into the Alaska wilderness is: “Tell me again, how far is Walmart from my Apartment?”

Teachers like these very often quit before finishing the year from the shock of Alaska-rural living, despite the fact that breaking your contract permanently eliminates any opportunity to teach elsewhere in the State. Imagine then the difficulty for these rural school districts to manage a classroom without a teacher, mid-year, and it is not hard to understand how educational outcomes will slide and languish for so many rural students.

So let’s take the statewide results and understand they are being skewed downward through no direct fault of any particular district, and instead let’s compare the largest, most modern and well-funded public school district performances from the three communities of Anchorage, Mat-Su and Fairbanks against the three charter schools who will expand if Ballot Measure 1 in Mat-Su passes this November.

The statistics recently reported on the state’s website can be summarized in the below chart for the purposes of comparison, (rounded to the nearest whole percentage point.)

The difference could not be more stark between these public school outcomes, with the performances measured apples to apples. The overall districts’ versus public charter schools in the Mat-Su are an almost inverse of outcomes. Roughly 2/3 of students in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Mat-Su Traditional Public Schools are either failing or falling behind, while roughly 2/3 of the three charter schools slated to expand from the school are proficient or advanced in their studies overall. Results are even better for math and science outcomes among charter schools.

The proof is in the performance pudding. At the beginning of this school year, there were 448 students waitlisted and unable to send their kids to JUST these three thriving public schools . For parents who are unable or unwilling to consider homeschooling their children, Alaska’s public charter schools are exceptional, and in the Mat-Su specifically, performing highest in the nation. Obviously, parents want that kind of success for their students but sadly, these schools are full to the brim.

The only conclusion one can draw is that charter schools are working exceedingly well in Alaska for a variety of reasons. This is the reason why it is so vital to the Mat-Su residents to pass ballot measure one, which is slated to fund the expansion of three of the Mat-Su Borough School District’s thriving charter schools. As a community, we must prioritize funds to programs that are effective, and that means allowing these programs to grow. We must invest in what is working.