By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
To make ends meet without slashing teaching positions, the Sitka School Board approved a budget for fiscal year 2024 that anticipates a modest increase in state funding and fills gaps by drawing down the district reserve account.
At Thursday night’s special meeting, the board voted 3-1 in favor of the budget scenario with the fewest cuts. Three options were on the table, all of them based on the assumption that the Legislature will approve a $450 increase in per-student funding (BSA).
As approved, the FY24 budget will draw $1.78 million from the district’s financial reserves, leaving the reserve account with a $10,872 balance. The other options on the table would have left between $193,140 to $267,134 in the fund balance, at the cost of losing teaching positions at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary. The only position trimmed in the budget as accepted will be a half-time job at Sitka High.
In total, the FY24 budget comes to about $23.9 million, an increase of roughly $1.2 million from the revised FY23 budget. The assumed $450 BSA increase – or equivalent one-time funding – would amount to $1.175 million for the district if passed by the Legislature.
At the beginning of the annual budget process, the district faced a $2.8 million shortfall to fund a budget with no loss of staff or programs.
Speaking in favor of the budget option put forward for a vote, board member Tristan Guevin said it would be best to avoid cuts, and that, historically, the district fund balance has been underestimated during the planning process.
“Oftentimes, we project far under what the fund balance actually is,” he said. “At the end of the year, I did an actual analysis of that using those budgets… Over the last 13 years, our projected fund balance is on average about $1.4 million under what it ends up being… If we pass this (budget) as a board, as a school district, we’re taking the risk on the BSA, we’re taking the risk on those fund balance projections… It’s worth taking that risk,” Guevin said.
The assumption of a $450 BSA increase puts Sitka in solidarity with the Juneau School District, he added.
In the future, Guevin hopes the community will engage in discussion about a properly sized, sustainable school budget.
“Have those conversations about what is a sustainable budget for us, and there are many elements of that, I think, one thing I think we can do, the school board and the school district working more closely with the assembly in the city,” he said.
Part of that conversation, he said, will likely include “a comprehensive approach” to examine pupil-to-teacher ratios, or PTRs.
Board member Todd Gebler acknowledged the risk of reducing reserves almost to zero, but agreed with Guevin that it was the right move.
“It’s an enormous risk. And a lot of it – you can put a label on it – the state is not doing what they should for us… But in order for the teachers to do what they need to do, small class sizes are important,” Gebler said.
In the approved budget, which was option 1.3, no positions were cut from Keet Gooshi Heen. Option 1.2 – the only other choice that received any support at the board table – would have cut two full-time positions at Keet. All three budget proposals re-established the assistant superintendent position, which was cut several years ago to save money. Steve Bradshaw, who has been hired as interim superintendent starting July 1, asked the board to reinstate the assistant position, which will cost about $175,000.
In a discussion immediately prior to the vote on the budget, District Superintendent Frank Hauser summarized the options.
In scenario 1.3, which was eventually approved, “there is no FTE (full-time employee) reduction from Keet Gooshi Heen; they retain the FY23 PTR, the staffing levels that they had,” Hauser told the board. “When you look at scenario 1.3 compared to scenario 1.2, the main difference is that scenario 1.2 shows a reduction of two FTE from Keet Gooshi Heen, and that would equate to a PTR increase for grades four and five.”
All three options also include a full-time reading specialist position that would split their work between Baranof and Keet Gooshi Heen, he noted.
Much like Guevin and Gebler, board member Melonie Boord was reluctant to draw down the reserve account, but prioritized keeping teachers on the payroll.
“When we first started talking about this, it was pretty scary to use that fund balance, but I will take the path of least resistance at this point… I don’t want to lose teachers,” Boord said.
In the final vote at the close of the 45-minute meeting, Guevin, Gebler and Boord voted in favor of budget option 1.3. Board president Blossom Teal-Olsen voted against, speaking in favor of budget scenario 1.2, which would leave reserves at $193,140 and cut two positions at Keet.
“I am very uneasy to bring the fund balance down to the number that we have – which is $10,872” Teal-Olsen said. “That’s saying that we are 100 percent OK going forward with very few answers right now, and that’s part of the frustrating part of the whole budget process. And so, in a perfect world, I would definitely, without a doubt, go with 1.3. But I cannot bring myself to be OK with walking away, knowing that it would jeopardize our whole community, knowing that our fund balance would be left at such a level that’s banking on a lot of things coming through.”
She expressed concern the board will face additional difficult decisions when the time comes to form the FY25 budget, possibly without money in reserves.
Teachers in Support
Mike Vieira, president of the Sitka Teachers Association, was in the audience. Under public comment he expressed concern about the big draw from the fund balance, but supported scenario 1.3. He was thankful for the way school officials listened to the union’s concerns.
“I think that the staff feels like we’ve been very included in the participation of this process,” he said. “We’ve been listened to, we’ve been responded to - and that’s not always the case… (Option) 1.3 - I think that puts us all in the same boat. Because 10,000 bucks in the fund balance, if you can’t meet payroll, that’s us,” Vieira said during the public testimony segment of the meeting. “... I feel a little uneasy with that too; I share your concern, Blossom. But I think with 1.3 you’re making a choice to invest in students.”
He described current PTRs at Keet as “very comfortable.”
About 20 school staff members were present for the meeting in Sitka High’s library, and a number voiced their thoughts to the board.
Teacher Tim Pike, who is also a member of the Assembly, supported option 1.3 and said drawing down reserves could be a way of moving forward with conversations on school funding.
“We’re going to be talking about how we are going to adapt the district to this, to match the budget that we are going to be going forward with. So this might be a better option for encouraging us to actually have the hard conversations that we might need to have to figure out how we’re going to change the district in the direction that’s going to make it sustainable over the long term,” Pike testified.
Another teacher, Ryan Myers, said he’s heard arguments in the Legislature that school districts should reach into their own reserves before asking for more money from the state.
“I’ve heard that an argument against raising the BSA was, ‘Well, there’s just all these fund balances around the state. Why don’t they just spend those?’ Like there’s no problem here,” said Myers. “… If we get to an uncomfortable spot – and I imagine most schools in the state are going to be in an uncomfortable spot – then it takes that off the table as an excuse… It may be a necessary uncomfortability.”
Though the budget process has included a number of difficult discussions and decisions, Keet teacher Maggie White said, “I’m shocked in the best way. And I just really want to single out Mr. Gebler. I’ve never had a meeting like that in our library this week. And I just want to say thank you for listening to us. I really felt heard. I felt like our whole staff felt comfortable, felt heard and felt supported. And it is awesome.”
Non-Tenured Contracts
As a fail-safe, and in order to ensure district finances don’t dip into the red if a state funding increase doesn’t materialize, Hauser said some non-tenured teacher contracts are “on hold.”
“If for some reason that $450 doesn’t come through and there is no BSA increase or it’s less than $450, then that budget that was just adopted, that leaves $10,000 in the fund balance… that means that we would go into a negative budget,” Hauser told the Sentinel after the meeting. “And so tenured teacher contracts have gone out; they are out there… A portion of those non-tenured teacher contracts are on hold right now for distribution because if that BSA increase or equivalent doesn’t come through, then we’ll have to find a way to balance the budget.”
The district currently has 26 non-tenured, certified staff on hand, each one costing about $110,000 to employ for a year.
Speaking publicly during the meeting, Blatchley Middle School music teacher Drew Larson urged the board to ensure non-tenured contracts go out as soon as possible.
“When I was first hired, I was on the extreme end of the budget process,” Larson testified. “My contract wasn’t handed to me in 2019 until the week before school started, because that was the year of the government shutdown. And so I know firsthand how much stress that can add to a newer teacher… Once this budget gets passed, if you can get those contracts for those non-tenured teachers, it is such a weight off their shoulders.”
A Sitka teacher earns the job security of tenure after three years and one day on the job.
In his remarks to the board Pike said it’s urgent for the district to give assurances to the non-tenured staff as soon as possible.
“I encourage you to offer your non-tenured teacher contracts. Because if we wait until June, when the governor’s done (with the state budget), we’re going to lose people,” Pike told the board. “And these are quality people; we spend a lot of time trying to make sure we have quality people in front of our students.”
