Alaska State budget cuts discussed by the Mat-Su Borough assembly and school district; More deep breaths are needed

The talk of the state of Alaska is Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget and the impact it would have across the state if enacted as is. It’s sending shockwaves and causing angst in every municipality. It’s an equal opportunity slasher to all budgets. The Mat-Su Borough and Mat-Su Borough School District included.

On Feb. 26 a special Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting was held to discuss the impact of the Governor’s proposed budget.

The Mat-Su Borough is stating that missing funding from the State as proposed would include:

• $18.3 million for school building construction debt

• $39 million in the base student allocation for the School District

• $710,563 in port debt service

• $1.972 million in shared revenue

Among those seated at a table in front of the assembly were Mat-Su Borough Manager John Moosey, Borough Attorney Nick Spiropoulos and MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Monica Goyette.

Moosey started the discussion by explaining that after a trip to the state capitol with Mat-Su Borough Mayor Vern Halter and Assemblymember Ted Leonard he believes there will be a lot more discussion on the governor’s proposed budget followed by a budget from the legislature and projected line item vetoes from the governor. It would take a 45 out of 60 combined vote of both the house and the senate to overturn any vetoes according to Moosey.

After receiving the budget that Wednesday following it’s release, Moosey called a directors meeting and charged them with looking at every expense.

“We currently have your directors looking at all areas of our operation. There is nothing that is sacred. We are looking at every item. What we didn’t want to do was act like we had our hair on fire. We want to do a measured and proactive approach.” Moosey reported.

After his trip to Juneau for the Alaska Municipal League conference Moosey offered some insight.

“We certainly saw a lot of discussion. I’d love for this to be done by the time I get this to you by April 15, but I live cleanly so I don’t take any medication to let me believe that this is going to be a reality,” Moosey said

Moosey stated that the borough gets hit hard on the $214 million school bond that was voted in by the voters in 2011. It was an approximate 70/30 split in funding with the state. The Walker administration squeezed it to more of an equal partnership. This proposed budget would put all of the onus on the Borough. Dunleavy was a member of the MSBSD school board in 2011 and voted for the bond which passed on a 4-3 vote according to Halter. Halter stated later in the meeting that he believed Dunleavy was the deciding vote.

After stating he felt the budget was fair across the board because everyone in the state has been equally affected.

“I will say this about the debt. We went into the school bond debt in 2011 it was presented to us by the school board. Mr. Dunleavy was on the school board at that time. He’s governor now and I appreciate that. It was presented to pass on to the voters in the Mat-Su as 70/30 split. It passed with pretty good numbers. This is the one issue that probably bothers me the most, is to renege on a partnership. And that’s what it is, it is a simple partnership. And yes, everybody understood that it could be a one-year funding. Oil company subsidies… taxes are subject to one -year funding also. That’s the most disappointing one. Mr. Moosey and I met with Gov. Dunleavey and the crime wave in the Mat-Su Borough is well documented. And I hope he will stick with what he told us. That public safety is his number one priority,” Halter said.

Goyette presented to the assembly that night as well. No matter where you stand on school funding, I believe a tip of the hat is in order to Goyette for how she has handled the number of issues that has befallen her after she took the reins of the school district when then Superintendent Gene Stone abruptly resigned for personal reasons.

Everything happens for a reason and sometimes that reason comes into view way down the line. I don’t know if Stone had the fortitude to handle what Goyette has had to deal with in her short tenure. On this night before she discussed the affects the proposed budget would have on the district, she defended the school district against the rhetoric from certain members of the public that children in her district are under educated.

She stated that we constantly hear statistics as to how the state of Alaska is doing in education or how poorly it does. What her message to the borough assembly was that evening is that it is not the case in the Mat-Su Borough. She presented data on where students in the borough rated on the ACT college entrance exam.

“Last year Assistant Superintendent Amy Spargo worked with the University of Alaska and they paid for all of juniors to take the exam for free. We had probably three quarters of our juniors take the assessment,” Goyette explained

According to Goyette juniors from various levels of ability and home support took the ACT. It was facilitated through the school process. The students scored higher than not only the state of Alaska but the nation. They attained a composite percentile ranking of 63 percent while both the state and the nation scored at 56 percent. Mat-Su students scored higher in English, math, reading, science and composite.

Meanwhile graduation rates are climbing each year. In FY2010 the graduation rate was 70 percent in FY2018 it was 83 percent. This fiscal year it is projected at 85 percent and 86 percent the year after.

For me these statistics pass the eye test as well. The Mat-Su Borough produces some very outstanding students that go on to impressive D-1 Universities. I’ve never heard the per capita stat on that one but I bet it’s pretty high. When I attended the Saturday legislative town hall in Wasilla a week ago. I was floored when a gentleman during his two-minute speech to the Valley Delegation said that 86 percent of the students in the Mat-Su Valley are illiterate. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful and only deters us from really attacking any deficiencies that do exist in the district.

The proposed budget as it stands would underfund K-12 education in the borough by $39.6 million. State reductions would include $30.4 million in Salaries and benefits, $6 million in Non-personnel and $3.2 million in charter schools.

When the discussion turned to reduction in staffing by job classification Goyette explained that Administrators would be reduced by 2.75 FTE (Full time equivalent). Principals reduced by 10.75, supervisors by 5.75, class room teachers116.75, other teachers by 104.25, teacher aides by 50.5, support staff by 22.75, district staff by 15.75, custodians by 19.75 and maintenance workers by 6.75. According to State statute the cut in teachers will be based on tenure vs non-tenure as opposed to teachers by department.

Assembly member George McKee then interrupted Goyette with more of a statement than a question.

McKee to Goyette, “My question to you is why do schools exist?”

Goyette replied, “To educate children.”

“Then who educates children?” McKee asked.

“Teachers,” Goyette responded.

“Okay, then how can you in good conscience even talk about equal distributing any reductions. That in fact absolutely floors me,” McKee stated. “The purpose of the schools is to provide instruction to the students. It is not to provide jobs to administrative personnel. I’m sorry but it isn’t,” McKee expanded. “We know that teachers have the impact on student learning but if a child is sitting in front of you and they didn’t eat for the last 24 hours no matter how good your multiplication lesson is they’re not going to learn it. At some level we need people in nutrition services, it’s the same thing with nurses, it’s the same thing with counselors if students were abused the night before. We have to meet all sorts of primary needs for students so can achieve our goals for learning. I call it our conditions for learning. While I wish that everything could be about priority. I wish that every kid that came through the door was warm, slept well, had a parent that read to them and kissed them and fed them and packed a great nutritious lunch for them. That isn’t the reality within our community,” Goyette stated.

Goyette’s response was impactful. There’s more to an operation than what meets the eye and those within the organization truly know the operation. It’s not the borough’s responsibility to provide oversight on how the funding or whatever will be left of the funding is handled by the school district. That responsibility lies directly on the school board.

Meanwhile decisions will have to be made by the Borough Assembly, Borough School Board while the State Legislatures hash out a budget. Which is not expected to be finalized before deadlines on notifying teachers about their job status pass come May or property tax notifications are sent prior to July 1st.

Deep breaths and a big sigh.