Fewer staff, less screen time: What’s changing in Mat-Su schools this year

What you need to know:

• Budget cuts will be more visible this year. After nearly $40 million in cuts over two years, the Mat-Su School District has closed three schools and eliminated support positions, including assistant principals and librarians. The district also cut about 50 noncertified staff positions this year.
• Additional state funding could restore some services. The district could receive about $18 million in one-time state funding this fall, potentially restoring student activity transportation and covering increased employee health care costs, a school roof repair and emergency reserves.
• Other changes are coming for students and families. Regular school bus service is expected to be stable, elementary schools are reducing noninstructional screen time, and the district is developing a public process for selecting schools for closure if more shutdowns are necessary.
• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

PALMER, Alaska — As parents pack lunches and ready school supplies for the start of the new school year this week, there are a few updates and changes Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District officials want them to know about, district Superintendent Randy Trani said in an interview last week.

Those include how ongoing budget uncertainty will affect students, what families can expect from bus service as the year gets rolling and updates to screen time in elementary schools.

Here's what families can expect.

Noticeable cuts

After two years of deep budget cuts tied to lagging state funding and falling enrollment – $14 million for the 2025-26 school year and about $25 million this year – students and families are going to notice what's missing, Trani said.

The most noticeable loss, Trani said, is the closure of Glacier View School and Larson and Meadow Lakes elementary schools, with teaching staff and hundreds of students previously assigned to those buildings rezoned to new locations.

But the deepest cuts across the district are to staff, including building administration, he said. Elementary schools also no longer have assistant principals, and secondary schools no longer have dedicated librarians, he said.

The district also cut about 50 noncertified staff positions, including janitors, secretaries, paraprofessionals and cafeteria workers, he said. More than 170 such positions have been eliminated since the 2024-25 school year, according to district data.

If families didn't notice the staff reductions last year, they likely will now, Trani said.

"Up until now, we did that thing that districts do," he said. "They try to make cuts as non-perceptible to people as possible. They're going to perceive it now."

The staffing loss will likely be felt most by students who need extra teaching attention, such as those with individualized education programs, or IEPs, said Rick Morgan, president of the Mat-Su Classified Employees' Association, which represents district noncertified workers.

"Teachers are going to have to carry more of the burden of the individual instruction that's in the classroom because there's going to be less paraeducators there to do it," he said.

A possible funding boost

While staffing levels are unlikely to change for the new school year because contracts are already set, whether other approved cuts to district services go forward depends on how much additional money comes to Mat-Su from the state, Trani said. The amount won't be known until after Aug. 31 because it is tied to oil revenue figures that are not yet final, according to the legislation authorizing the funding.

If all the approved money comes through, Mat-Su could get about $18 million in extra one-time funding, with plans to spend it on some programs and services that were slashed during the spring budget process, Trani told the school board during a regular meeting last week.

That could include restoring some student activity transportation, including for sports; paying for increased employee health care costs; repairing the Talkeetna Elementary School roof; and bolstering a reserve account used during funding emergencies, Trani said.

All adjustments will be presented to the school board in mid-September, Trani said at the meeting.

Steady bus rides for school days — but less for activities

After contract negotiations and a related driver strike caused more than eight weeks without school bus service late last school year, students and families can expect consistent pickups and drop-offs this month as classes resume, Trani said.

Officials with Durham School Services told the district they have enough drivers to staff all regular and special education routes, he said.

Still, unless the state's funding boost comes through at the end of this month, families will see less bus service for student activities, including sports.

That means games or events for which students received district-funded transportation last year might not have it this year, leaving parents to provide rides or schools to pay for transportation through fundraising, Trani said.

Reining in screen time

Administrators are working to balance the amount of time students spend on screens each day by reducing screen use outside of instructional time, Trani said.

The district can't avoid screens in classrooms because moving to a paper-based curriculum is prohibitively expensive and state and federal testing is computer-based, he said. But administrators can put guardrails on their use.

"We are purposefully looking at reducing non-instructional screen time, making it very purposeful, particularly in the elementary school," he said.

Last year, the district rolled out a "no phones" policy that dramatically lowered screen use in middle and high schools by banning the use of personal devices during passing periods and breaks, including lunch.

This year, officials are focusing on slicing screen time for elementary students on district-provided devices when possible, Trani said. Gone are the days when Chromebooks were sent home with all elementary students, a practice that was largely tied to remote learning during the pandemic, he said. Instead, those devices typically stay in the classroom.

For children in kindergarten through second grade, the new policy means devices will typically be shared among multiple students rather than assigned to each child. Teachers will also be asked to stop playing movies in class during breaks and using screen time as an alternative to other recess activities, he said.

Planning for future school closures

While Trani said he hopes the district does not need to close any more schools, the step could be necessary if student enrollment continues to fall and the state doesn't increase funding levels.

But instead of selecting sites through an internal process, Trani wants to make sure any future decisions include a clear selection process crafted by a group of stakeholders.

"I would like that process to happen at a broader level without putting a single name of a single school on it," he said. "If the funding level doesn't change, if the birth rate doesn't change, then closures will happen again. And here's the metric or rubric that we will use to decide which school."

The committee, which was first requested by borough officials and Mat-Su Assembly members during the spring budget process, will include a broad array of staff, including building administrators and facilities officials, he said. If new closures are needed before the 2027-28 school year, the locations will be selected and presented to the school board using the process created by the group, he said.

Trani said he plans to present a proposal for the committee to the school board later this month.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com