Anchorage schools eliminate elementary health teachers, shift to integrated model

Anchorage School District will eliminate dedicated elementary health teachers starting next school year and integrate health education into existing reading, physical education, and social-emotional learning programs. The restructuring follows cuts to elementary specials.

The district is eliminating standalone health teachers as part of a reorganization prompted by the board taking roughly $4 million to $5 million from elementary specials, a board member said during a work session. Health content will now be delivered through the Core Knowledge Language Arts reading curriculum in kindergarten through third grade, through PE classes, and through 30-minute daily social-emotional learning blocks.

The Anchorage School Board approved a 2026–27 budget in February that cuts more than 500 staff positions, including over 300 teachers, and closes three elementary schools. The board described the reductions as severe but necessary to close a large deficit. Parents, students, and educators filled meetings to testify against the approximately $90 million in proposed cuts, warning that reductions could harm student health and academic achievement.

Kindergarten through third grade students will receive seven to 25 hours of health instruction annually through CKLA reading units covering topics such as the five senses, nutrition, and body systems, a district administrator said. The curriculum delivers information orally, so students who are not strong readers can still engage with the material, the administrator said. More than 90 percent of K-3 classrooms already implement CKLA, she said.

Fourth and fifth grade teachers will teach targeted units on human growth and development and substance abuse prevention using existing Great Body Shop materials, which the district will retain and reuse as non-consumable resources. The district will train those teachers on the units, which used to be part of grade-level instruction before Anchorage adopted dedicated health teachers.

Physical education classes will increase from 90 minutes to 100 minutes weekly and will cover seasonal awareness, dressing appropriately, hypothermia, environmental safety, body mechanics, nutrition, and energy. Social-emotional learning blocks will continue using the Second Step or Connected and Respected curricula, covering empathy, bullying prevention, and healthy living standards.

The district is not asking schools to change daily active play requirements at recess or active eating time at lunch under existing wellness policy, the administrator said.

The change was spurred by the elimination of 27.5 art and music teachers, which cascaded into reductions of about 20 specialist positions in health and PE, the board member said. The curriculum team faced an impossible task implementing the new model without pilot testing, compressed training timelines, or a task force to develop implementation goals, she said.