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Over the objections of one board member, the Kenai Peninsula school board on Monday approved a $137 million budget for fiscal year 2009.

On an 8-1 vote, the board adopted the budget as recommended by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District administration. The total includes $120,209,256 in the general fund and special revenue funds of $16,888,975.

Projected enrollment is 9,053.

According to Chief Finance Officer Melody Douglas, "It is likely that a budget revision will be necessary after final legislative education funding action."

In a memo to the Board of Education, Douglas reported that Gov. Sarah Palin signed the house bill establishing education spending for fiscal years 2009 through 2011 ? "an unprecedented action in Alaska's history."

In recent years, the school district has had to draft a fiscal budget without knowing for sure how much funding the Legislature was going to approve for education.

Douglas also said the budget will need to be adjusted to reflect "the impact of legislative action on charter schools, adjust the in-kind budget and to address an expected increase in health care costs."

School board member Debbie Brown cast the lone opposition vote on the budget and said, "I feel this budget falls short of what folks are asking."

In her opinion, more funding should have been directed toward vocational education through the borough school district.

"I'm not satisfied with some of our prioritizing," Brown said, adding that the budget is focused on the top 10 percent of students academically and on the "not proficient" end of the spectrum.

"We're not focused on the 70 percent of kids in the middle," she said.

Brown expressed disappointment that the proposed budget "is going to implement 15 percent of the total for programmatic staffing."

Beyond core staffing for such offerings as language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and physical education, programmatic staffing provides advanced placement opportunities at the high school level and such alternatives as foreign language, music, drama, creative arts and industrial arts in middle schools.

District Superintendent Donna Peterson countered Brown's criticism saying the school district is "fully staffed at 100 percent of core (curricula) and we wanted to add 20 percent for programmatic staffing but we weren't sure we could sustain that over three years so we rolled it back to 15 percent."

Later in the meeting, Soldotna Middle School Principal Sharon Moock thanked the board for its budget and said, "We didn't just get 15 percent (for) programmatic staffing, we got 115 percent. Everyone will benefit in every area."

In other action, the school board approved revisions to the policy governing school-sponsored field trips including a prohibition against the use of 15-passenger vans. Eight-passenger vans are allowed under the board policy.

During a work session before Monday's school board meeting, Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones provided board members with an update on student nutrition services.

Jones said the school district is required to meet federal standards in food offerings in the school lunch program including a set number of calories, the percentage of fat and amounts of iron, calcium, vitamins A and C and protein.

Using a printed flyer Jones cited the KPBSD cheeseburger meal offered in school lunch rooms, comparing it with the federal standards and with the content of a cheeseburger meal purchased at a peninsula fast-food restaurant.

The district meal provides 801 calories with 29.5 percent fat, compared to 1,280 calories in the fast-food meal, which contains 32 percent fat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture target level for such a meal is 634 calories with 30 percent total fat.

"When your child comes home and says the meal at school was terrible, you need to ask was it terrible because it has less fat and is more healthy," Jones said.

Overall, the district's Student Nutrition Services menu meets USDA criteria for nutrient content.

"Healthier meals are being offered," he said.

Assistant Superintendent Glen Szymoniak reported on the district's wellness policy, pointing out several areas of success achieved since the previous annual review.

The school district is meeting or exceeding beverage standards for elementary and secondary schools, the use of physical activity such as doing pushups or running laps has been eliminated as punishment, nearly all elementary schools have a 15-minute recess per day and all elementary schools now have 60 minutes of physical education per week.

Szymoniak said information contained in the wellness report was derived from surveys conducted by school nurses throughout the district.

He said representatives from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation will attend the next meeting of school administrators "to ensure our focus on healthy lifestyles."

Phil Hermanek can be reached at phillip.hermanek@peninsulaclarion.com.