By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
With available funding $2.8 million short of the needs for the 2023-24 budget, the Sitka School Board passed a resolution at Wednesday night’s meeting appealing to the Legislature for a raise in per-pupil funding.
The resolution cites the inflationary pressures that are making it more difficult for school districts to hire and retain quality teachers, and states the board “strongly urges the Alaska State Legislature and Governor Dunleavy to adopt a bill and fiscal year 2024 state budget that increases the BSA (base student allocation.)”
Without more state funding for the 2023-2024 budget, the Sitka district could lose 15 teaching positions, 14 percent of the teaching staff, Superintendent Frank Hauser said.
“We’ve talked about it so much over the last several months, in terms of the need for increased school funding and the situation with the base student allocation, or BSA,” board member Tristan Guevin said. “Will it increase? Will it not?”
In Juneau Wednesday, members of the House minority caucus walked out of the chamber to stymie an effort by the majority to link a one-time school funding increase with another fiscal proposal, the nonprofit Alaska Beacon news agency reported. (See story, this page.)
At the core of the School Board resolution is a hope to link the BSA to the rate of inflation.
“Some of the language really focuses around the idea of inflation-proofing the BSA because oftentimes, there’s a narrative that school districts are just asking for more money, right, we just want more and more money,” Guevin said. “And I think it’s really important to emphasize that that’s not what we’re asking for. We’re asking for education funding to keep up with inflation.”
Felix Myers, Sitka High School’s student board representative, encouraged Sitkans to reach out to legislators.
“As a community, as people who care about education, care about our kids and making sure that they have the best education possible… it might only take 15, 20 minutes to put together an email saying, ‘I support this bill, please add value, increase the BSA.’ Because the damage across the state is untold if this doesn’t happen,” said Myers.
The number of teaching positions to be cut could potentially rise to 17 if the board hires an assistant superintendent, Hauser noted. Hauser is leaving the job at the end of the school year, when an interim superintendent will take over. Steve Bradshaw, a former Sitka school superintendent, has been hired for the temporary position and has asked the board to hire an assistant superintendent, a position that will cost $175,000.
Other Business
Also at Wednesday’s meeting the School Board approved a new regulation providing guidelines on the naming of school facilities. Names are to “stand the test of time… Special consideration may be given to those names that have special meaning to the students and community. The name shall take into account the Indigenous Tlingit people of Sheet’ka (Sitka).”
When naming or renaming a school, the policy calls for the formation of a “committee with diverse representation,” ranging from Sitka Tribe of Alaska and tribal elders to students and city representatives.
“I’m really excited to see this moving forward… This is something that the school district and the Tribe and others have been working on for a little while now,” Guevin said.
Regarding the yearslong process of renaming Baranof Elementary, he said he’d “like to see Tlingit language incorporated into this as part of that name.”
Board member Melonie Boord expressed interest in representing the board on that renaming committee.
The board also heard a presentation on the Alaska Reads Act, legislation passed in 2022 to ensure kindergarten through third grade students are proficient readers.
Summarizing the law, Hauser said it “is designed to improve reading outcomes, expand high quality pre-K opportunities, direct support and intervention services to low performing schools and provide early identification of struggling readers. And it also requires intervention services for K-3 struggling readers.”
Students at or below the 40th percentile of reading performance are to receive additional instruction.
Guevin was unsure whether the district will be able to finance additional education for so many kids.
“We’re talking about 150 kids who are going to require significant intervention services without really having much additional revenue to do that,” he said.
Replying to a question from the high school board member, Felix Myers, Hauser said the Alaska Reads Act will likely cost the district between $220,000 and $400,000 – and possibly over half a million dollars – to implement, though the law came with only a $30 increase to the BSA. For Sitka that would amount to less than $100,000.
“More is needed to be able to have a district like ours do this properly,” Myers said. “Because I think right now, there’s a larger statewide conversation about whether or not this is an unfunded mandate.”
The board meets again today at 6 p.m. for an executive session on Steve Bradshaw’s superintendent contract. The board will next meet at 6 p.m. April 16 for a budget work session at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
