LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Schools, Assembly Open Budget Talks
By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
Improved communication between the Sitka School District and the Assembly was forefront during the two entities’ joint budget work session Thursday at Sitka High School.
“I just want to say my appreciation to the Assembly members who were able to join us,” District Superintendent Mary Wegner said today about the meeting. “I think the biggest takeaway is the need for ongoing and collaborative discussions around the school district’s budget. I really appreciated the opportunity to have the discussion so early on in our budget process – this is really the start of our process. We shared some information with the school board at last week’s meeting, but this was our really big discussion around it with anybody outside of the board and the takeaway was there was a desire to have more frequent communication.”
Wegner said the Assembly’s interest showed a real commitment to Sitka’s students and a desire to understand why it matters to invest in the district.
In the Thursday night discussion school board member Eric Van Cise said the school district and the city are interdependent.
“The district is a big part of the city’s budget, and what happens in the school district matters to the city as a whole,” he said.
Wegner presented to the Assembly the same financial information that she gave to the School Board last week, with additional information to the Assembly members on how to read the school budget, “because the school district budget is a world of difference from the Assembly budget.”
For example, she said, the city closely follows a line-item based model in drafting a budget.
“We used to have a budget like that, but had a lot of feedback that it wasn’t transparent,” she said. “When you deal with a school district they really want to know what is the impact to students in the classroom.”
Wegner said the board made a decision in 2014 to pick an “outcome based” style of budgeting.
“Meaning you look at what you hope to get out, what you hope your investment will achieve, and then you budget accordingly,” she said. “The city is used to seeing up-front, at the beginning of the process, a very detailed budget breakdown in a very large binder.”
Noting that the school district’s revenues are from local, state, and federal sources, she said: “Our process, because we don’t have any control over our revenues, school districts as a whole have to work on what their revenue and their expenditures are,” she said. “But their actual budget document doesn’t get developed until the very end of the process. School districts, as a rule, don’t go through and have this very detailed budget during their budget process.”
Wegner and district business manager Cassee Olin say the district is starting the 2020 budget process facing a deficit of $1,380,103, even with the expected loss of three teaching positions next year because of declining enrollment.
Deputy Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz asked what other factors were affecting the deficit projected for the 2020 budget.
“The majority of the gap comes from revenue, and student enrollment is down,” Olin said. “Employee salaries… loss of funding from Secure Rural Schools… health insurance for employees is up 12 percent....”
Teacher salaries go up every year because they are based on individual teachers’ years of experience and added education qualifications.
“That is an expensive item too,” Wegner said.
An April 4 meeting has been set for the Assembly and School Board to meet again.
Eisenbeisz suggested partnering an Assembly meeting with the school board work sessions.
“We’re going to look at the options,” Wegner said. “We will see what’s possible. We will have the Assembly secretary and the School Board secretary work together to get dates identified.”
At Thursday’s joint meeting, Assembly member Richard Wein questioned how the Assembly is expected to figure an amount for school financing when so little is known about the school budget at the present time.
“The city does not make its budget in a vacuum,” Wein said today. “The Assembly has to consider many competing needs and interests. The school district needs to take a long hard look at what their real needs are.”
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.