School budget scenarios would cut staffing, programs

As the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District grapples with a projected $17 million deficit, the Board of Education on Monday began work on a set of draft budgets to represent different levels of state funding. Even at the highest level of funding, the drafts describe significant cuts to staff and programming.

There are three budget reduction scenarios described in a document created by the board’s finance committee during a meeting in Homer this week. The most generous scenario reflects a $1,000 increase in the base student allocation — the amount of money the district receives from the state per student — as described in a House bill considered by the Alaska Legislature this session.

The next scenario describes a $680 increase to the BSA, matching the amount of one-time funding the district received from the state last year, and the third describes only a $340 increase.

At the highest level of funding, the district is projecting $152 million in revenue, while at the $340 increase they would only have $141 million to work with.

The three-tiered approach resembles that employed by the board in the face of uncertain funding last year, where the board implemented cuts that they later reversed when more funding materialized. This year, though, members of the board said they need to implement some cuts regardless of the level of funding received to begin rebuilding their savings.

BSA increases by $1,000

In the scenario where the BSA is increased by $1,000, the draft budget describes cuts to distance education programs, eliminates elementary school counselors, scraps the Quest gifted and talented programs, eliminates library aides at schools that have librarians, reduces workdays for pool managers and theater techs, cuts funding for hockey ice rentals, and cuts a variety of other funding for supplies, district office salaries and extracurricular transportation. The largest cut in the budget is a reduction in staffing for Connections Homeschool to one teacher per 150 students, totaling $576,000, and it also would close the pools at Ninilchik and Susan B. English Schools.

Some of those cuts, like extracurricular transportation, members of the board said, would mean passing on those costs to programs, rather than seeing extracurricular travel halted.

After making all those cuts, the document says, the district is projecting a surplus of around $4.6 million. Further cuts are expected to be proposed next month as the board continues to explore possible school closures. Board President Zen Kelly said he has also asked Superintendent Clayton Holland to find and propose significant cuts to district office.

The surplus is important to rebuild the district’s finances, board members said, and also accounts for ongoing negotiations with two unions who represent district teachers and support staff — where those unions are asking for significant raises. Holland encouraged the board to create a budget that doesn’t leave them in “a precarious place” yet again next year.

Some opposition to the proposed cut to distance education was voiced by board member Virginia Morgan, who said that the program is important to provide opportunities to rural students — sometimes critical to their ability to meet graduation and scholarship requirements. KPBSD Assistant Superintendent Kari Dendurent said the district could shift to ensure that students can receive the credits they need despite reduced staffing, but noted that if a teacher was lost during the year, “the reaction time to be able to fill a hole would not be as quick.”

BSA increases by $680

All of those cuts are repeated in the budget for a $680 BSA increase, with the addition of cuts to middle school reading, programmatic staffing, student support liaisons, special education aide workdays and the Kenai Peninsula Middle College School program. Despite all those cuts, only a $2.1 million surplus is generated.

BSA increases by $340

Finally, projecting for a $340 BSA increase, all of the cuts are retained with the addition of cuts to staffing. The district uses a pupil to teacher ratio to calculate how many staff are in a school, and the cuts described would increase that ratio — resulting in cuts to staffing at each school. Projected increases are as high as four students per teacher to a new ratio of 34 to 1 at the high school level, and lower for middle school and elementary school.

Those staffing cuts alone would mean eliminating nearly $2.5 million in salaries and benefits.

The district would still be facing a $1.1 million deficit.

Each of the draft budgets, Kelly said, will be “evolving” documents. More cuts will be brought forward in the coming months, and the district will also adjust as funding sources and expenses become more clear.

The board has to submit a final budget to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in April, however, potentially before any funding materializes from the state.

A full recording of the meeting, and the draft budgets, will be available at the KPBSD’s BoardDocs website.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.