We Don’t Get Families Back by Limiting Their Choices — We Get Them Back by Being Better

This past week forced some hard conversations in our schools and in our community. Proposed closures, budget reductions, and the very real fear employees and families are feeling right now are not theoretical. They are personal.

But if we’re going to move forward, we have to be honest about something that makes people uncomfortable:

Public education didn’t just lose students.
We lost trust.

Not all at once. Not because of one decision. And not because families suddenly stopped caring about neighborhood schools.

We lost trust because somewhere along the way, we allowed the mission to drift away from what parents expect when they send their kids to us — strong academics, safe schools, and a clear path to a successful future.

Parents didn’t leave because they were “anti-education.”

They left because they had choices — and they used them.

And they should.

Trying to limit correspondence or other options isn’t a strategy. It’s an admission that we’re afraid to compete. Public education in the Mat-Su has never been at its best when it’s protecting a system. It’s at its best when it’s proving its value. If we want families back in our buildings, we have to earn them back. That means a renewed focus on the core mission:

Reading. Writing. Math. Science.
Career and technical education that leads to real jobs.
Graduates who are prepared for life — not just a ceremony.
It also means looking in the mirror — and that includes those of us in labor.

I’m proud of the work our union does protecting employees, enforcing contracts, and making sure the people who keep our schools running are treated with dignity and respect. That work matters.

But we also have to be honest with ourselves: when the conversation in education becomes more about adult issues than student outcomes, parents notice. And when parents notice, they make different choices.

That’s not an attack. That’s a reality check.

This isn’t just on educators, and it isn’t just on the district. Administrators have to create buildings where the academic mission is protected. The school board has to continue advocating for the resources our district needs — and they do, whether people see it or not. The Borough and the State have to provide stable, predictable funding so we can plan for the long term instead of cutting our way through every budget cycle.

Because here’s the truth: you can’t compete for students while operating in constant financial crisis.

But funding alone will not bring families back.

Trust will.

Trust is built when: Parents feel heard. Classrooms are focused and effective. Schools are places where students are safe and learning at high levels. Trust is built when the system proves — day after day — that it is about kids first.

This is not about defending brick-and-mortar schools.
This is about renewing their purpose.

Public education today is not a monopoly. It’s a choice. And if it’s a choice, then we have to compete for our students and families — not by tearing down other options, but by being the best option.

We have the people to do it. I see it every day in the classified employees who keep our schools running, in the teachers who refuse to give up on kids, and in the communities that still show up for their neighborhood schools.

The question isn’t whether public education can win back enrollment.

The question is whether we are willing to do the work to earn it.

Because once we do that — once the focus is back where it belongs — families will come back.

Not because we told them to.
Because they want to.

— Rick Morgan
President, Mat-Su Classified Employees’ Association