With the deadline for the School District to hand the city a balanced budget only days away, the School Board Wednesday discussed changes that would prevent the reduction of teaching staff that was considered at a work session last week.
The version of the budget the board took up at Wednesday's work session assumes there will be an increase of at least $680 per student in state funding.
The Legislature passed a $1,000 permanent increase but this week failed to override the governor's veto. Since then, the governor has proposed a $560 BSA increase, and a legislative alternative with a $700 increase is being considered in the Senate Finance Committee.
Board president Phil Burdick noted the fiscal situation will be uncertain until legislators and the governor arrive at an agreement, but said he's encouraged by the Senate committee's adding the BSA to a bill on cell phones in schools.
“They attached a $700 BSA increase and 10 percent increase to transportation to that bill, which is super interesting to me, because (Sens. Lyman Hoffman and Bert Stedman) lead that committee, and they both voted no for the $1,000. So they must have, I mean, they obviously knew that they were going to add the $700 onto this cell phone bill… It’s such a moving target,” Burdick said.
Only a week ago the School Board held a work session on a draft budget that would cut two teaching positions at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary and another two at Xoots
Wednesday’s draft budget preserved those jobs without drawing down reserves. It calls for a smaller than anticipated health insurance increase and eliminates duplicated contracts left in budgets in prior years.
Superintendent Deidre Jenson summarized some of the changes to the board.
“We put the nurse back to full time, we put the data manager back and all the teaching staff except for the halftime intervention at Blatchley because we lost grant funding,” she said.
Though the amount of funding to be expected from the state isn't known, Jenson advised the board to proceed with a budget designed around a $680 boost in funding – the amount Alaskan school districts received last year as one-time funding – and revise the budget later if needed. With the $680 figure proposed by Jenson there would be $750,000 in reserves.
Board member Tom Williams recommended that the district have a backup plan prepared in the event of a $560 BSA increase instead of the hypothetical $680.
“We all know we're holding our breath all the way to the end of the month, but if it were me, I'd have a shadow budget with the $560 in it ...to give yourselves an idea of how much of an impact that would be, so that when we have to come back, whatever that amount is, those line items have already been identified,” Williams said.
With the $680 figure the budget makes no cuts to elementary special courses, or electives in high schools and adds $70,000 for curriculum work and $20,000 for technology – both line items which would have seen cuts in last week’s draft.
After months of work to ensure each line item is accurate, Jenson believes her latest version of the budget is very close to reality. In recent years, the district has ended each fiscal year with an unexpectedly large fund balance, which was then rolled over to help fill gaps in the next year's funding.
The budget approved last year cut 18 teaching positions – saving a little under $2 million in the fiscal year 2025 budget that came to about $22.1 million. The proposed FY26 budget is just under $23.8 million.
Because Wednesday’s meeting was a work session, the board deliberated but took no action and did not vote.
One line item cut from the budget was a proposed $2,000 stipend for School Board members. It would have been a first for a school board, and was quickly shot down.
“Do you think we should get stipends? Just read the room. I think it's enough, no… Take out our stipends and put it towards librarians,” Phil Burdick said. That move will save the district the $10,000 total for the five board members.
The board also discussed restoring librarian positions, but no decision was made.
The possible costs for a librarian range widely, Jenson noted, from a bit over $16,000 for part time staff to $155,000 for certified full time staff.
“We should be definitely focusing on having some sort of library services... What that looks like? I'm not sure. I can't speak to what this would reflect,” board member Paul Rioux said.
School libraries are open, Jenson noted, but there are no librarian positions.
Keet Gooshi Heen music teacher Susan Brandt-Ferguson spoke at the work session, urging the board to use the fund balance to save all teaching positions.
“Don't hesitate to spend that money that we have for next year," Brandt-Ferguson said. "It's only for next year. We are not a group that gets to save money, In fact, the state slaps you on the hand when you save too much. So the worst case, we have to cut next year, but don't cut this year so that we can avoid cutting; use the fund balance.”
The board plans to meet again at 5:30 p.m. next Wednesday in the Sitka High library to vote on adoption of a budget, which must be submitted to the city no later than May 1.
