Alaska School Districts

There are 59 school districts or service agencies in Alaska that hire certified teachers and administrators. All are members of Alaska Teacher Placement, and list openings with the ATP Job Bank.

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.
• 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.

What 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.

District hiring incentives, such as moving allowances, roundtrip airfare for teachers and their dependents from Anchorage, free or almost free housing, and signing bonuses – all of which were frequently part of the packages teachers signed 12-20 years ago – simply don't exist in today's changed economic climate.

Districts still 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, Connecticutt, 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.

Links to Other Resources

Some other lists of districts and contact information for Alaska school districts:

• Alaska EED's List of District Websites
• Alaska EED's List of Superintendents
• Alaska Association of School Administrator's Field Guide to Alaska Superintendents in PDF format. Excellent resource for Superintendent spotting at Job Fairs!

More links will be added here. If you would like to suggest or correct a link, please email us.