Daily Sitka Sentinel

Final School Budget Brings Teachers Back

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

In a lightly attended meeting Friday, the Sitka School Board unanimously approved a $20.8 million budget for the 2017 fiscal year.

The budget was based on the projected approval of a city contribution only $100,000 less than last year’s. The Assembly has not yet approved a figure for local funding, but indications from the last Assembly meeting were that the members would reject the Citizens’ Task Force recommendation of a $200,000 cut in favor of a reduction of half that amount.

The total city contribution for academic activities in the school budget is $6,183,762. The total budget last year was $20 million.

The board balanced the budget with a $1.6 million draw from the district’s reserve account.

Board members said they hoped to have sufficient funds to add back two of the three teaching positions that were cut last year.

“We felt strongly we wanted to add two teaching positions back in,” School Board President Tim Fulton said. “That’s all part of this.”

There was no debate on the budget, and the meeting was over in less than a half hour.

The School Board said asking for $100,000 less from the city than last year will allow two of the three positions to be added back.

“We felt this was a good compromise,” Fulton said. “It will be taking reserves to $953,000.”

Fulton and Superintendent Mary Wegner spoke with the Sentinel after the meeting. Fulton said the city’s additional $1 million for schools last year made a critical difference. That $1 million increase, less $100,000, was carried over to this year’s support.

“Thanks to what they did last year,” Fulton said. “If they hadn’t brought $1 million to the table it would’ve devastated us. We’re very appreciative.”

“Had the city not been there last year we would’ve been in a different situation today,” Wegner agreed.

The budget is based on an assumed student population of 1,300, about the same as this year. The budget also includes about $17 million in employee expenditures; $3.8 million in non-employee expenditures; $160,000 in cuts in district and school board travel; and $200,000 to add back two teaching positions.

The cuts of three teaching positions last year caused scheduling difficulties, particularly at the high school, where more than 90 students were left without options for an elective class. Teachers of other subjects who were qualified to teach math stepped in to teach math; others were asked to pick up physical education classes, although they were not PE teachers.

“The professionalism of each and every teacher should be honored,” Wegner said. “We protected programs and made the staff do backflips. They did it with style but it’s not the best (situation).”

The School Board made a different choice this year, Fulton said.

“We’re a different board this year,” he said. “Last year, the board felt the reserves were important; this year the board felt having teachers in the classroom was preferable over stronger reserves.”

The two said they believe the budget hearings went well, with a strong community turnout to weigh in on programs that mattered most to them.

“We really appreciate the community’s involvement in the process,” Wegner said. “I think we learned a lot about what the community values. Besides what they value there were actionable items that can help us make it better in the future.”

After a strong showing of public support, the Performing Arts Center and the after-school Ventures Program were spared cuts by the School Board. But at the same time the board said it was looking to the nonprofit Friends of the Performing Arts for ideas on reducing costs and increasing income for the PAC, and was looking at adjusting fees to cover some of the cost of Ventures.

“I appreciated the positive, collaborative outpouring of public sentiment,” Wegner said. “I also appreciate the board took a risk I’ve never seen before that they are willing to dig deep in reserves.”

Hearing from the public and teaching staff about the effect of cutting three teaching positions helped.

“We were that close to the edge, and we went over it,” Wegner said.

Fulton said the discussion is not yet over, as the board works with the city on the citizens task force “grand bargain” and the debate on how to ensure a sustainable future for the city and schools.

The total contribution requested from the city to the school district for FY17 is $6,767,521. That includes funding for other items that don’t appear in the school budget, such as the Blatchley pool, Community Schools, activities travel and major maintenance.

The board had a public hearing prior to convening the formal board meeting. Resident Dan Rear provided the only testimony, in the form of a prayer, and was asking the board members to join him in a prayer when Fulton thanked him and said he was at the time limit for testimony.

Also from the public, teacher Pam Kernin thanked board member Tom Conley for coming to one of the drumming classes for elementary school students. “They thought it was cool you took the time,” Kernin said.