By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Sitka School Board held a special budget work session Wednesday to update members on possible new strategies concerning Gov. Michael Dunleavy’s announced budget.
“The point of the meeting was to share information with each other because they cannot talk amongst each other unless they are in a public meeting,” District Superintendent Mary Wegner said. “All of the board members have been getting questions and suggestions from members of the community and trying to gather information.”
Wegner said there isn’t enough information coming from the Legislature to create a clear path forward, but School Board members shared positive feedback they obtained from the Legislature.
“They caught each other up on information learned since they last met,” Wegner said. “They talked about the assumptions they want to use to build the budget.”
The district would be facing a $1.3 million deficit budget if it had the same level of funding from state and local sources as last year. But with the Dunleavy cuts to statewide education funding, the Sitka deficit would be increased by $3,093,187.
The board has been counting on fully funded $5,930 per-pupil funding by the state, but is not sure about Sitka’s share of the $30 million extra for schools the Legislature set aside last year for fiscal year 2020, in addition to the $20 million bonus for FY2019.
As for the district’s share of the $30 million, the School Board “doesn’t want to bank on it yet,” Wegner said. “We might get some of it, but not probably all of it. So that is one of the assumptions, that we will have a flat Base Student Allocation at $5,930 but the $30 million might be in question.”
The board is willing to consider using whatever they have in their fund balance, roughly $205,334.
“Maybe they won’t use all of it but they’re willing to keep that number up there and see where we land,” Wegner said.
The board was not willing to bank on receiving federal Secure Rural Schools funding of about $200,000, which the school district splits with the city.
“It is not insignificant,” Wegner said. “But there is no legislation and there is no movement right now at the federal level so we at this point do not want to put that in as an assumption that we might get that money.”
For perspective, $100,000 is the average cost of salary and benefits for a teacher or district staff member.
“I always like to say we are of course going to look at every other thing other than reducing teachers,” Wegner said. “When we get down to all of those things, like using fund balance, non-personnel efficiencies, those kinds of things, then we get down to teachers.”
Eighty-four percent of the budget is for personnel, Wegner points out.
Wegner and various board members had just returned from meetings in the Capitol with legislators who lead committees that impact public education.
“Our approach is we just want to arm those that are fighting for or dealing with us, with the best information we have going forward,” Wegner said.
She said the overall attitude from legislators they talked to was that Dunleavy’s budget was unacceptable.
“Last year the Legislature said we are tired of having our legislative session dominated by funding for public schools,” Wegner said. “They also said they do not want to be holding public schools hostage until the very end. They really heard that the June and July passing the budget hurt our ability to offer contracts to teachers, and we lost teachers.”
Last year there were 153 unfilled teaching positions in the state, and Wegner said that was because the Legislature could not get education funding figured out.
Wegner said David Teal, from the office of legislative finance, clarified that last year the Legislature not only passed FY19 education funding but also FY20 education funding, and the FY20 funding was passed with a deferred implementation date.
“So it would happen in FY20,” Wegner said. “So the Legislation had no intention of dealing with education funding at all this year until Dunleavy’s budget came out. So if they don’t open up any kind of funding for education, the $20 million, the BSA or the $30 million, then our funding is intact because it went through the legislative process and was not vetoed by Gov. Walker and is legitimate legislation with a deferred implementation date.”
Wegner said even with a positive result in the Legislature the Sitka School District will still have to cut some positions because health, utility and contract costs have continued to rise.
“And we are not getting increased funding from our three funding sources, local, State and Federal,” she said.
Wegner said no decisions have been made on what will be cut to balance the budget.
The school board will hold a budget hearing open to the public at 6 p.m. Monday in the Sitka High library. The board will meet for a budget work session with the Assembly on April 4, at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
