Facing rapidly declining enrollment, poor student test results and growing number of families who have opted to leave standard public schooling for homeschool, the Fairbanks School District is set to permanently shutter five schools.
The school board will take up the matter at its Feb. 4 meeting, when it considers the district’s recommendation to close down five elementary schools – Hunter, Midnight Sun, Pearl Creek, Salcha and Two Rivers. If approved, these schools would be shuttered at the end of the current school year.
“Over the past 20 years, student enrollment has steadily declined, while the number of school buildings has grown,” Fairbanks Superintendent Luke Meinert explained in an information video about the pending closures. “Consolidation addresses the high cost of maintaining under-used facilities.”
He claimed the closures would help the district maintain current class sizes and “quality programming.” By closing five schools in one fell swoop, Meinert said this will avoid having to revisit school closures year after year.
Despite the dramatic drop in enrollment, the district continues to push for increased public funding of education, especially now that Democrats control the Alaska State House and Senate due to Republican defectors joining their ranks.
Since the 2002-03 school year, however, Fairbanks has lost 3,340 students, dropping from 15,140 to just 11,800 this year. Whether the district will continue to shrink is unknown, but several factors are working against the standard brick-and-mortar school system.
Amid chronically low student assessment scores, radical DEI and LGBTQ programming and deep concerns about parental rights, the Fairbanks District has seen a mass exodus of families who have opted for homeschool or private education options. Currently, about one in five of Alaska’s public-school students now homeschool. Thousands more attend growing private and religious schools, or choose to homeschool independent of state funding.
In many instances, families are simply unsatisfied with the quality of public education.
According to the latest reports, 65% of Fairbanks students are failing in basic reading and math, while 57% are failing science.
Despite these dismal assessments, the district continues to impose polices that carve out precious academic time to promote divisive LGBTQ ideology, including the teaching of so-called “LGBTQ history.” Likewise, the district has come under fire for actively promoting the idea that children can choose to reject their given sexuality in favor of a new preferred “gender identity.”
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
The district currently offers LGBTQ classes and maintains bathroom policies that allow students to use whichever facilities correspond with their preferred gender identity. The district also has numerous official guidelines regarding LGBTQ pronoun usage, student name changes and policies that permit students to dress as the opposite sex if that facilitates their so-called LGBTQ “identity.” It also has a policy, which instructs teachers and staff to hide a child’s “gender transition” or “sexual identity” from parents whom educators deem unsupportive.
In addition to students simply leaving traditional public schools, Fairbanks’ steady enrollment losses are compounded by Alaska’s plummeting fertility rate, as families choose to have fewer children.
Despite the dramatic drop in enrollment, the district continues to push for increased public funding of education, especially now that Democrats control the Alaska State House and Senate due to Republican defectors joining their ranks.
The education funding debate is expected to dominate the State Legislature this session with conservatives typically arguing for greater accountability, more school choice options and expanded homeschool and charter opportunities. Spearheaded by the National Teachers Association of Alaska, the left has consistently demanded more education spending, but without meaningful academic accountability measures in place.
TAKING ACTION
— Click here to find out more about the upcoming Feb. 4 Fairbanks School Board meeting.
