There are 59 school districts and/or educational service agencies in Alaska that hire certified teachers and administrators. All are members of Alaska Teacher Placement, and list openings with the ATP Applitrack database.
There are also several districts that have their own Applitrack system which display their listings in our search results, but the links go to a separate database the school districts maintain themselves, not through ATP. These are sometimes referred to as the Big Five Districts, and originally included Anchorage, Mat Su, Kenai, Fairbanks and Juneau. In the last year two additional districts - Kodiak & North Slope - have begun to run their own Applitrack databases for job postings. Candidates can import parts of their ATP Applitrack applications into all seven of these systems, but because the data fields are slightly different with each, there will also be additional information you will need to input. See our FAQ sheet on this for more information on how ATP's Applitrack system and the other districts interact.
Alaska's approximately 500 public schools are organized within 55 school districts. These include 34 city and borough school districts and 19 Regional Educational Attendance Areas. REAAs serve students living in towns and villages in politically unorganized areas of rural Alaska. Alaska definitions of "city” and "borough” are not necessarily indicative of an urban setting, but refer to form of political organization.
Alaska schools vary greatly in size. High schools in Anchorage, the state’s largest city, may serve more than 2,000 students. Schools in other urban areas such as Juneau, Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula, or the Matanuska-Susitna Valley may serve hundreds and are similar to schools in small cities in the rest of the United States.
Many schools in rural areas are small, some with 20 or fewer students at a variety of grade levels.
Note: Although the state boarding school in Sitka, Mt. Edgecumbe High School, is included in the total of 55, a number of statewide correspondence schools are operated directly by districts, and are therefore not counted as separate districts themselves.
- Alaska EED maintains a School District Directory page on their website. This has been called their "Rolodex" for many years.
- EED also maintains a list of current Alaska School District Contacts & Websites. These change slight each year as ISPs change.
- They also have a list of current Alaska Superintendents (updated summer of 2016), and a downloadable "field guide" of photos (last updated in 2015).
- The Community & Regional Affairs office maintains a combined list in Excel format of school district contacts (last updated 1/29/16)
- Teacher Supply & Demand Report – teacher turnover data about districts
Districts and Locations
The "road system" in the state includes only a small portion of the state. Use the About Alaska page to learn more.
Because the state is so geographically diverse, it's a good idea to use a map to understand a little more about where each is located. You can use the map below to locate Alaska's school districts. All but six have at least some type of website, and we've linked their names to each district's main page.
A school district's website is potentially an excellent way to get a feel what life is like for teachers and administrators working there now. Look for clues about what each organization stresses in its programs, approaches and interactions with the public.
It's helpful to see the districts on a map of Alaska. Please click on the map below to access our MAP PAGE to access the different school district websites around the state:
How Much Do Teachers Make?
By far, the most common request for information we get at Alaska Teacher Placement is from candidates asking about Alaska's pay scale.
» Myth Number 1: You will get rich as a teacher in Alaska!
Unlike some parts of the country, Alaska's school districts are all responsible for reaching agreement with an official bargaining unit representing the teachers in that district. There is no state pay scale. Each district sets its own in agreement with a union – either local NEA, or AFT associations in most cases.
There was a time when school districts in Alaska paid teachers significantly more that other parts of the country, and offered many recruitment incentives. Those days are gone. Salaries are somewhere in the middle of the pack when adjusted for cost of living, and only in the top third in raw dollars.
The recent economic struggles in Alaska brought about by the crash of oil prices has had a significant impact on school districts because the vast majority of school funding in Alaska comes from oil tax revenues, not property taxes. Several articles and feature stories in national newspapers this year have made education funding in Alaska a national story. Although districts are indeed struggling, they still need to keep the doors open, and hire new teachers every year to replace retiring and relocating staff. The budget process this year resulted in urban districts laying off some teachers, increasing some class sizes, and reducing non-core programs. Hiring has not stopped, but jobs have been posted more sporadically as budgets and funding shifted.
District hiring incentives, such as moving allowances, signing bonuses, round trip airfare for teachers to their village from Anchorage, and cost of living adjustments are beginning to make a comeback. Each district is offering something a little different.
Districts also try to help reduce taxable income with subsidized housing, "cafeteria" medical expense plans, and other strategies. They offer good insurance plans, decent pay, much better housing, and meaningful staff development. If you are primarily seeking to teach in Alaska for financial consideration, you should look more closely at Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, California and several other states. That doesn't mean teachers are suffering hardship in Alaska. They are, for the most part, paid a living wage in the majority of districts.
District Salary Schedules
We have attempted in the past to list District Salary Schedules for the benefit of candidates. However, we are not able to keep the salary schedules for all districts up to date and this has caused problems for our candidates and districts. Therefore, we are no longer posting this information. Please contact the districts directly for salary information, or use this link where we have set up a search assistant.
More links will be added here. If you would like to suggest or correct a link, please email us.