Students, parents speak against proposed defunding of Quest gifted program

As the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District prepares a budget that contends with a $17 million deficit and uncertain funding from the state and borough, one of the largest proposed cuts is the elimination of dedicated staff in schools for the Quest program.

Quest is the district’s gifted and talented program, serving students from third through eighth grade with advanced courses, projects and activities like the annual Mind-A-Mazes competition or Future Problem Solvers.

It is the largest single line-item cut included in all three of the potential budget scenarios the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education has crafted for the coming fiscal year. In all three scenarios, the salaries and benefits of Quest teachers, projected to cost nearly $750,000, will be cut next year.

Students, parents and staff testified to the KPBSD Board of Education on Monday about why that program matters to them.

Nikiski Middle/High Quest teacher Brian Bailey said Quest is “a vital program which provides differentiated instruction, academic acceleration and enrichment challenges.” All are “crucial,” he said, to the development of some students who otherwise can find regular classrooms restrictive.

The Quest program “provides enrichment” and “benefits students,” KPBSD Board President Zen Kelly said during a budget work session. The proposed cut would remove the staff who operate the programs, but Kelly said they wouldn’t make it impossible to provide Quest in some schools. He said that individual schools could choose themselves to allocate programmatic staffing toward providing that service.

“We cannot do it all,” he said. “We have to decide, do we choose to sacrifice the core for enrichment?”

Susan Nabholz, who teaches Quest at Kenai Middle School, during the full meeting of the board that evening pushed back on the description of Quest as anything but an essential service. She said some children need the dedicated instruction and challenge of Quest, which comes at a key time for brain development. Quest teachers, who meet those needs, are “specialized teachers, the same way as special education teachers are.”

“No two children in the Quest program are the same,” she said. “Every single one of them deserves to receive an education that meets their individual needs, and, in fact, Alaska Statute requires that school districts do so.”

School board member Penny Vadla spoke similarly.

“Those are special needs,” she said. “We’re supposed to serve all of our students, not just some of our students.”

Steep cuts to Quest, KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland said, are part of the reality facing the district under a $17 million deficit. Other districts, like Anchorage and Matanuska-Susitna, have already either cut entirely or similarly reduced the scope of their programs.

During the full meeting of the board on Monday, people spilled out into the entryways of the assembly chambers and sat on the ground. Many, including students, teachers and parents, wanted to talk about Quest.

Quest, to Kenai Central High School Student Vice President Vail Coots, is “a place where curiosity and imagination are not just welcomed but ignited.”

“It’s a bridge between disciplines,” he told the board. “A space where science meets art, where math and engineering inspire ingenuity and creativity that is increasingly relevant in the modern age.”

To strip that away, he said, would be to remove programs designed to cultivate skills like problem-solving and creativity.

“For some students, Quest may be the only place they feel seen, the only time their talents shine, and the only reason they believe school has something to offer them,” Coots said.

Emily Porter and Morgan Hooper, both students of Nikiski Middle/High School, spoke together and said that Quest, as well as other programs like arts and wood shop, “are essential components of a great education.”

Bella Eskelin, of Kenai Middle School, said Quest had built her confidence and taught her skills that she’ll rely on as an adult.

Cora Thomas, of Soldotna Elementary, said she’d only recently moved to Alaska, and initially didn’t have access to Quest. She wasn’t being challenged the way she had been at her previous school in Utah, and it wasn’t until she transferred to SoEl that she found the challenge she needed in Quest.

“Kids need it.”

Her mother echoed that sentiment, saying that she’d seen her daughter “miserable” without the challenges she needed.

Kelly encouraged people to repeat their testimony to the Alaska Legislature, “the people who actually give us the money.”

“I guarantee there’s nobody on this dais that wants to reduce Quest,” he said. “Something is giving right now, unless we sit up and demand our Legislature and our governor to properly fund education.”

The full budget reduction scenario document, and records of board and finance committee meetings, can be found at the KPBSD BoardDocs website.

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