KPBSD begins ‘challenging’ budget planning process

  • By Kelly Sullivan
  • Saturday, October 11, 2014 8:58pm
  • News

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District faces some tough choices as the process of planning next year’s budget begins.

KPBSD Superintendent Steve Atwater started a budget development meeting by asking the public and school site-based councils to review site budgets, specifically to look at how well funds are being used.

“Your task tonight is to offer input to the school board on where the district should reduce expenditures and where it should increase expenditures,” Atwater said “Given our deficit model of balancing our budget, all increases should have a corresponding decrease.”

The school board is responsible for deciding where the allocated funding is received at the 43 schools operating in 21 communities on the Kenai Peninsula.

Atwater said the school district should no longer solve its deficits by dipping so deeply into the district’s reserves. It is expected that balancing the FY16 budget will be a challenge, he said.

At the beginning of the 2014 fiscal year general fund balance was $26.5 million, and dropped to $15.5 by the beginning of the 2015 fiscal year, according to the KPBSD Annual 2014-2015 Budget.

“We talked about looking within all of our budgets and seeing if there is money in there that can be repurposed,” said Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones. “Or, if we are not using it for the greatest potential for increasing student achievement.”

The school district has no way to generate its own funding, Jones said. The state provides 72 percent of the district’s general revenue fund and the borough assembly allocates 27 percent, he said. The remaining 1 percent comes from other sources.

Of the money allocated by the assembly, 31 percent is raised through property tax, and 69 percent comes from sales tax, Atwater said.

For a property owner with home valued at $250,000 with a $50,000 exemption, the household is contributing $440 to education every year, which Atwater said he believes is a reasonable amount.

Last year the borough assembly did not fund to the highest allowable meaning an additional $3.5 million could be given to the school district, Jones said.

Newly elected Kenai Peninsula Borough assembly member Blaine Gilman attended the Kenai Central High School location of the Thursday videoconference budget meeting. He ran a campaign for the Kenai seat on a platform of funding education to the cap.

Gilman said he saw the votes he received as a mandate for funding education to the cap, in a previous Clarion interview. He said the results were not a surprise as he sees the Kenai community as one that wants education properly funded.

Listed in the school district annual 2014-2015 budget, as a “significant issue” was that the borough has not funded education to the cap since fiscal year 2010. During the 2013 fiscal year the Borough contribution fell below the prior year’s contribution for the first time, according to the current budget. The legislature changed the foundation formula calculation in 2013, shifting more funding responsibility to the state and lowering the maximum amount that could be contributed by the borough.

Salaries and benefits make up 84 percent of the general fund budget, Atwater said. Certified salaries account for 31.68 percent of the budget, employee benefits account for 40.29 percent, and support salaries 11.11 percent. Last year, 8.5 full time employees were laid off in the district.

Funding from the state also largely depends on how many students are enrolled, according to the 2015 budget. In 1998 the number of incoming kindergarteners was smaller than the graduating class, and the cycle of decreasing enrollment has continued.

Every year it costs more money to pay for the same amount of services as the year before, Atwater said. Using the fund balance has been a short-term approach.

Over time the reserves will become depleted and there will not be any remaining money, Atwater said. Rather than make large cuts in one fiscal year, revising the budget now will allow the district to transition to a smaller budget in a slow, but steady process.

 

Reach Kelly Sullivan at kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarionc.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in News

The Kenai Peninsula College main entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Chiappone and Dunstan to speak at the KPC Showcase

Kenai Peninsula College continues its showcase with two new speakers this week and next

U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, talks about issues of concern regarding the proposed merger of supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons during a floor speech in the House chamber on Wednesday. (Screenshot from official U.S. House of Representatives video feed)
Begich leads in early results, but Alaska’s U.S. House race won’t be immediately decided

About 245,000 ballots had been counted by 11:32 p.m., and Peltola trailed by about 5 percentage points

The Alaska governor’s mansion on Wednesday. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is considered a contender for a post in Donald Trump’s second presidential administration. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Election summary: Trump wins, GOP takes over U.S. Senate, Alaska may get new governor

Begich and repeal of ranked choice voting narrowly lead; GOP may lose control of state House.

Nesbett Courthouse in downtown Anchorage on Oct. 7, 2024. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Voters line up at the polling site at Anchorage City Hall on Nov. 4, 2024. City Hall was one of the designated early voting sites in Alaska’s largest city. It is not a designated site for Election Day voting. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska Republicans lose two seats in state House, increasing odds of leadership switch

Rural Alaska precincts had reported few results by 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night.

Donald Trump won or was leading as of Wednesday morning in all seven swing states in the 2024 presidential election. (Doug Mills / The New York Times)
Donald Trump returns to power, ushering in new era of uncertainty

He played on fears of immigrants and economic worries to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.

A voter is handed as ballot at Woodworth School in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. One of the most consequential presidential elections in the nation’s modern history is well underway, as voters flocked to churches, schools and community centers to shape the future of American democracy. (Nick Hagen/The New York Times)
Trump verges on victory, picking up Pennsylvania

Donald Trump has captured Pennsylvania, the biggest prize of the seven battleground… Continue reading

Signs and supporters line the Kenai Spur Highway in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Update: Unofficial results for the 2024 general election

Preliminary, unofficial election results as of 9:55 p.m.

Poll worker Carol Louthan helps voters submit ballots at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Update: Bjorkman, Ruffridge, Elam and Vance lead in election night results

Several residents said that they came out to vote because they knew this election was “a big one.”

Most Read