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

City, School Board At Odds Over Cuts

By TOM HESSE

Sentinel Staff Writer

After two and a half hours of confused discussion and little progress,  Sitka School Board members decided Wednesday night to try again next week to solve their budget crisis. 

The principal item on Wednesday night’s meeting was a final vote on the 2016 budget. The meeting was highlighted by confusion over how a possible staff reduction would affect the district’s programs, the ripple effect of defunding Community Schools, and a back-and-forth with city officials about the board‘s budget process.

The board met in the multipurpose room at Keet Gooshi Heen elementary school, before an audience of concerned teachers, parents and city officials including finance director Jay Sweeney and Administrator Mark Gorman. 

Early in the meeting the board voted 3-2 to reverse an action taken last week that would have protected the Community Schools program. During that first meeting, the board voted in favor of Tom Conley’s motion to pay for Community Schools with funds from the district’s reserve account. But at Wednesday night’s meeting, Conley made the motion to reverse that decision, and it passed on a 3-2 vote. Conley said he had changed his mind about funding the $235,000 program because over the past week he’d heard from various people that there were other ways to keep Community Schools going without funding it in the school budget.

At that point, the city administrator spoke up, expressing his frustration with the board’s budget process. 

“Your earlier action (to defund Community Schools) feels like the city has been handed a hand grenade with the pin pulled out of it,” Gorman said. 

That’s because the Community Schools program isn’t going to go away just because the School Board doesn’t have it in the budget. Public support for the program has always been overwhelming, and a large portion of funding comes from grants, making it difficult to cut the whole program. All of that support means that the program will likely be continued, Gorman said, and that removing it from the school budget is not so much a belt-tightening maneuver as passing the buck to the city. 

“And I have to express disappointment, because I didn’t feel that was a collaborative action, trying to solve a community-wide issue,” Gorman said. “And I ask you to think about, in the next couple weeks our Assembly chambers are going to be packed with volleyball players, basketball players, softball players saying ‘What are you all going to do to make sure we have our Community Schools program?’

“Last night we heard from the Assembly, what are you (the city staff) doing for belt tightening? We are looking at dropping positions, closing services, and so I feel we are doing the heavy lifting on behalf of the school, and I didn’t feel that is being reciprocated by the actions tonight. We have to work on collaborative solutions, and not just pass them off to the city. I apologize for stepping out of turn on this issue but I think it’s important to these deliberations.” 

Without having taken a vote on it, the Assembly had indicated it will provide an additional $1 million for schools in the city budget. The schools’ financial position was also improved by Tuesday’s news that Secure Rural Schools funding was approved by the Senate and has been sent to President Obama for his signature.

Prior to the board’s vote to defund Community Schools, Gorman asked the board to “explore our options rather than making (Community Schools) an orphan.” But the board opted to keep the $235,000 in district reserves following a report from business manager Cassee Olin, who recommended that reserves be kept at a minimum of $850,000. The board’s previous vote to keep Community Schools in the school budget would have cut reserves down to $600,000. 

For that reason, as well as the board’s plan to make cuts in teachers and staff, board president Lon Garrison responded to Gorman by saying the district had done its share of “heavy lifting.” 

“It is not my intention to simply shift these things to the City and Borough,” Garrison said. “What we’re doing is trying to look at our budget and doing what we have to do to make ends meet. And the only other option is to eliminate positions. And to say that we have not eliminated positions is false. We are eliminating positions. They are being eliminated via attrition. So far we have not had to RIF (lay off) anybody but that can still be on the table. To say that we’re not doing that kind of lifting is not correct.” 

That amendment to defund Community Schools was as much progress as the board made in terms of actual motions. The action led to a number of other issues regarding the budget, particularly concerning the Blatchley pool, another expense that the board had previously voted to keep in the budget.

The board kept the $140,000 for pool operation in the budget, but by cutting Community Schools, it will lose the administration position required to operate the facility. 

After a number of people voiced support for the Cold Water Survival Program, which was cut at a savings of $9,000, the board discussed ways to restore that to the budget. But the pool operation and Cold Water Survival are facing the same hurdle: administration. For the pool, it’s the loss of Community Schools support and for Cold Water Survival, it’s the loss of a district staff employee to manage the program – an expense on top of the $9,000 figure.

Board Vice President Jennifer Robinson, seeking to illustrate the bind the School Board is in, proposed cutting a fourth staff position to fund an administrator for the pool. Cass Pook seconded the motion, which would have increased the district’s staff cuts to four full-time teaching positions (valued at $100,000 each between salary and benefits).  For almost 20 minutes the board tried to get clarity from the administrative staff on what the cuts would mean for the schools, all while avoiding the term “layoff.” 

“At this point (with four fewer teachers on the payroll) we would not be in a position where we would have to have a RIF (Reduction in Force),” Garrison said. 

Even if the district were to cut a fourth position, it wouldn’t mean a layoff. Instead, the district would just allow another position vacated by retirement to go unfilled. It would, however, require a greater shuffling of teachers to get the remaining staff in the right grade levels. A number of teachers and staff spoke against cutting teaching positions. Robinson said she expected their reaction when she made the motion. 

“If I make a motion to eliminate the pool everyone is going to come forward and say no, we need to keep the pool. If I make a motion to cut a teacher, everyone is going to come forward and say no, we need to keep the teacher.” 

Her motion failed, with even Robinson voting against it, and it wasn’t the only attempt of the night to find other places in the budget to save money. 

Board member Tim Fulton, who joined Cass Pook in voting against defunding Community Schools, said the board couldn’t cut Community Schools without also discussing the cost of operating the Performing Arts Center. 

“I cannot support taking Community Schools off this budget and keeping Performing Arts in the budget,” Fulton said.

A little later on Fulton made an amendment to that effect, which would have pulled the $250,000 for the PAC. The motion failed for lack of a second. 

The meeting wasn’t entirely filled with cuts. Support for the cold-water survival program led the board to put the $9,000 back into the budget, despite a warning from Superintendent Mary Wegner that the cuts to staff would make it impossible to administer the program within that figure. 

“It’s not just the cut ... it’s because when we cut in one place it has ramifications in other places,” Wegner said. 

A representative from the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA), which coordinates with the district to teach the program, said they would be willing to find alternative ways of administering it, including sharing an Americorps volunteer. The board took no action on the administrative role, but did discuss putting $66,000 back into the budget for managing the pool, with the hope of also having that person administer the Cold Water Survival program. 

After a long discussion, and some concern that a rift was growing between the city’s intentions and the district’s, Conley proposed holding off on any further decisions. 

“I feel like we’re in a dangerous spot,” he said. 

The board plans to meet again next Wednesday. The hope is that by then members will have an answer as to what level of state funding they can expect from the Legislature, which is scheduled to adjourn Sunday. If the Legislature reduces some of the cuts to education they have already indicated, then the district will have more money to work with. If those cuts stay the same or get worse, then board members will know they need to make more cuts in the school budget. 

As it stands now, the 2016 school budget shows expenses totaling $19,840,890. That’s down from the $20,066,890 the board entered the meeting with. They cut $235,000 for Community Schools and then added $9,000 back in for the cold water survival training. 

The spending plan still includes $140,000 for the Blatchley pool, but neither the pool nor the cold water survival class has an administrator. The district’s budget reserves are up to around $826,000 following the change to defund Community Schools. 

Prior to the meeting Wegner explained some of the cuts in greater detail. She said $500,000 was cut before getting into staff and program cuts, which means the district has no cushion to fall back on. For example, she said, the district will not be able to afford to hire another paraprofessional if an extra one should be needed. 

She also explained that the technology budget, which has been brought up a number of times, has also taken cuts. 

“There’s a 10 percent cut in technology. It’s the highest level of cut we asked any department to take,” she said. 

The board will meet at 7 p.m. next Wednesday either in the Keet Gooshi Heen multipurpose room or the Sitka High Library.

 

 

 

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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.

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