ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Anchorage, Alaska school district obviously has huge money problems.

The following excerpt from Alaska Dispatch News, dated Dec. 13, 2013, sets the scene:

“The Anchorage School District is trying to deal with a projected $25 million budget shortfall for next year. But the financial chasm is projected to deepen, with an estimated budget gap of $49 million through the 2015-2016 school year.

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“The bottom line: 600 or more positions may have to be cut over the next two years, with up to 214 of those coming from teaching positions.

“The district has faced funding shortfalls over most of the last five years. A $25 million budget deficit for the current school year was closed by spending some of the district’s budget reserves and cuts to such things as support staff, services, and supplies.

“But that will not likely be the case next year or the year after that. And the teaching positions that will likely be cut over the next few years won’t all come from teachers who retire or leave their job.”

Forward to Jan. of 2014, when the district announced the elimination of 219 positions, including 159 teaching jobs, according to an article published by The Nation.

Forty-seven elementary teachers were cut loose, along with 35 middle school teachers and 33 high school and alternative school teachers.

Those cuts came on the heels of 419 other school district jobs that had been eliminated over the previous four years.

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Meanwhile, the district’s budget deficit had ballooned to $23 million for the 2014-15 fiscal year.

With so many educators being released, to the detriment of many students, why in the world did the district pay 176 employees, mostly administrators, over $100,000 per year in straight salary in 2012-13?

Those 176 employees made a combined $19.5 million in straight salary, plus an extra $6.3 million worth of benefits that year.

Only 26 of the 176 employees were teachers.

That comes out to $25.8 million spent on what amounts to a handful of employees. How many teachers could be retained or hired for even a third of that amount?

As one woman commented online, “I keep hearing about all the teacher positions they plan to cut…do they plan to cut any of the administrative side? Seems like ASD is awfully top heavy on administration.”

The top salary in the district went to Superintendent Edward Graff, who was paid $192,618 in straight salary and received $45,267 worth of benefits. That’s comes to a grand total of $237,885.

Coming in second was Wesley Bell, supervisor of information technology, who made $148,080 in straight salary and $41,880 worth of benefits.

He was followed by principal Rosemary Fish ($140,989, 38,671), principal Cheryl Guyett ($136,910, $38,303), principal Louis Pondolfino ($132,904, $38,043), chief human resources officer Todd Hess ($128,773, $39,458), principal Danny Gallego ($128,652, $39,908),  principal Richard Stone ($128,368, $36,365), principal Samuel Spinella ($128,107, $37,360) and principal Bonnie Goen ($127,892, $37,014).