Sterling Elementary School is no longer set to close this year, though the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education warned Thursday that more schools — potentially including Sterling — will close next year.
The closure of Sterling Elementary was added to the district’s preliminary budget on April 22 — a reduction in cost to the district of more than $700,000 in next year’s budget.
At that time, community meetings had already been held for Nikolaevsk School, the other school set to be closed this year. Sterling students and teachers spoke out in May against the move to close their own school, saying they weren’t given the opportunity to grapple with the changes. While Nikolaevsk was closed before the end of the school year, Sterling was left uncertain of its fate until a July 7 vote of the full board.
During a finance committee meeting of the board of education on Thursday, the cut was removed from the budget draft that will be advanced to the full board in July. Board president Zen Kelly said, moving to reverse the proposed cut, he didn’t want Sterling to be closed this year. But, he said, it could be closed next year.
The board will begin meeting at the start of the school year to explore school consolidation, he said. Consolidation comes with benefits, Kelly said, because more programs and opportunities can be offered to fuller schools.
Sterling could also be a part of the discussion around a consolidation of multiple Soldotna schools currently being explored by the Kenai Peninsula Borough.
The conversation of “what we’re going to do with Sterling” begins September at the latest, Kelly said. They’ll also talk about closing schools on the southern and eastern regions of the Kenai Peninsula.
KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland said he’d like to see decisions about school closures made in the winter or early next year. That leaves time for staff and students to adjust, understand the closures, and prepare for what the next school year might look like. He, too, said there are benefits to consolidating students into fewer schools.
The challenges with making cuts and talking about school closures this year, board vice president Jason Tauriainen said, stem from stagnant funding from the state and late movement on education funding by the Alaska Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy. He said that years of inadequate funding from the state have taken their toll — Sterling, among other schools, will be considered for closure next year.
“I think we’re looking at three to four (school closures) next year,” he said. “Unless there’s a change in how the state chooses to fund and prioritize education of our students.”
The budget developed by the finance committee this week will be considered for final approval by the full board on July 7.
A full recording of the finance committee meeting will be made available at the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s BoardDocs website.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
