The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during its Aug. 4 meeting separately reversed some cuts to activity stipends paid to coaches in the coming year and increased fees for activities.
As part of a suite of steep budget reductions that slashed staff and programming this year, the district’s final budget adopted in July called for a halving of all activity stipends — funds paid to coaches for everything from football to Battle of the Books. After the Alaska Legislature on Aug. 2 delivered an additional $3 million to the local district by overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of education funding, overturning part of the stipend cut was the first and so far only change to the budget that the school board has made. Activity stipends for middle school programs were reinstated in full. High school activity stipends saw an increase in funding from a 50% cut to only a 25% cut.
The budget adjustment was approved unanimously, though there had been less consensus on what level to set funding at earlier in the meeting and multiple members voted against the successful amendment to fully restore middle school stipend funding.
That difference means the district will be spending an additional roughly $300,000 — around a tenth of the money restored in the veto override — on sports, for a total of around $800,000. The total cost of activity stipends before this year’s cuts was around $1.2 million. That leaves the reduction in spending on sports at around $400,000.
Under the new fees, authorized under a request from the Kenai Peninsula Schools Activities Association that was unanimously approved by the school board, a high school student would pay $300 to participate in a sport — up from $200. Middle school sports increase to $100 from $60 and there are other increases described for various other activities that pay specific, lower amounts like cheerleading, esports, band and choir. The change also lifts the family cap for KPBSD students from $700 to $1,050 and newly instates a family cap of $2,100 for students who aren’t enrolled in the district. Non-KPBSD students continue to pay double for sports — now $600 in high school and $200 in middle school.
KPBSD Board of Education President Zen Kelly said that the KPBSD is, compared to the other large school districts in the state, “the least expensive, in some cases by a lot.” He said the fee increase is “more of an alignment,” motivated in part by the district’s need to slash millions of dollars in its budget this year.
Despite the increase in the amount of revenue generated through activity fees, district staff said during the meeting that sports will still be left fundraising to cover their expenses. Beyond just a coaches stipend, teams need to pay for travel, equipment, uniforms and other costs. Nikiski volleyball coach Stacey Segura said that her team spent $41,000 in expenses last year, not including her stipend. That can’t be met by student fees alone and takes, she said, a lot of fundraising and a lot of community support — and they’re only one sport team at one school in the district.
Multiple KPBSD coaches spoke in favor of restoring funding on Monday. Many said they feared that without the reduction they would be forced to call on their communities to fundraise to pay their salaries. Jennifer Hornung of Nikiski Middle/High said she will be asking “our already cash-strapped community for even more money,” specifically to pay herself — “does that invite trust?”
“By cutting stipends you are choosing, whether intentionally or not, to leverage the passion that coaches have for their team and their kids,” Hornung said. “Cutting stipends means you get the same workforce for half price. You know we’re all going to show up. You know we’ll all do the job anyway because the kids trust us to do it.”
Kelly said that the framing of “fundraising your salary” is “incredibly inappropriate.” He said that fees can cover salaries and the fundraising burden can be messaged as being for uniforms and travel.
Rep. Justin Ruffridge, speaking as a business owner rather than a lawmaker, said he was wary of the increasing reliance on community fundraising to support valued programs. He said his business and his employees are facing the same “difficult environment” that the school district is.
Tabitha Blades, one of Soldotna High School’s principals, pointed to sports as something that can’t and shouldn’t be cut. She said that it brings students to school and keeps them engaged.
“It is the single greatest intervention, single greatest carrot that we have — at least at the high school level — to help those kids,” she said.
A full recording of the board meeting will be available at the KPBSD BoardDocs website.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
