Borough assembly listens to pleas from students, teachers

PALMER — Pleas to preserve and even increase levels of education funding dominated the second of three nights of public testimony regarding the Mat-Su Borough’s proposed new budget, as one by one, students, teachers and community members stepped to the microphone to offer their testimony.

Students spoke passionately about the impact school, and in some cases, individual teachers have had on their lives. Others, looking ahead to the tightest education funding in years worried about how large class sizes would affect the quality of education and the safety of students.

The proposed 2018 Borough budget has shrunk by $9 million over last year. The proposed local funding for schools maintains the same level of funding as last year, $55.8 million.

The adopted comprehensive budget for fiscal year 2017 was $401.6 million. The proposed comprehensive budget for 2018 is $392,519,858.

“Status quo in funding is a loss for our schools. It’s been going on for years that funding has not kept up with growth,” said Tim Walters, president of the Mat-Su Teachers Association. “We have some of the largest class sizes in the state already, and these class sizes (of 30 or more) are unsafe… In our district, there is no fat to cut. It impacts kids, impacts their education. These are all hard decisions, but our kids’ educations are at stake.”

As heartfelt and pointed as the public comments were, the real test of their effectiveness was the response they drew from the assembly members. And in comments that followed, those responses were quite telling.

Assembly member Dan Mayfield opened comments by lending some hope to the discouraged public school-backers.

“You guys rocked it tonight,” Mayfield said. “What concerns me the most is with the (decreased) funding there’s an inevitable increase in class size. The kids pay the price for that, especially the disenfranchised kids.”

Mayfield went on to say that he had an amendment in mind for the budget — one that he didn’t want to speak in detail about prematurely — that might help allay some of their fears.

“I’m definitely on your side, definitely on your team,” he said. “I’ve been looking at the budget trying to find opportunities to increase funding, but I haven’t been successful in finding all of the money. I have found some, but I’m not ready to introduce an amendment. That would require the support of the other assembly members and that may be hard-fought because it is a tough budget.”

Assembly member Randall Kowalke cautioned against making any radical changes to a budget so fragile.

“All budget items become constituencies,” Kowalke said. “It isn’t that I don’t understand that the school system is in tough (shape) going forward… But this is like repairing an aircraft at 20,000 feet. Any mistake we make could be catastrophic.”

Assembly member Jim Sykes noted that while the borough may not be able to do much more to increase school funding, there is the possibility of instituting a sales tax to help cover the lost revenue. He pointed out that passing a borough-wide sales tax would help diversify the tax burden, taking some of it off of property owners, who, currently are the only ones taxed.

“Our school district is still increasing in enrollment and we’ve proven we can’t increase all of the state funding that has been lost and provide funding for the new load,” Sykes said. “If the borough has failed at anything the last few years it’s been to diversify the tax burden.”

Sykes said that reducing funds to support a growing school system would only serve to reduce population. And with property taxes the only means for gaining revenue, and those mill rates capped by borough law, reducing funding for schools may hurt the budget more than it helps.

“If we have less people, less property owners, then the tax camp works against us,” Sykes said. “As long as the population increases, then (the tax cap) is OK. We need to seek other revenue sources and have a broader discussion about that.”

Sykes then made the point that, even if he and the assembly are supportive of putting the sales tax on a special election ballot, their work isn’t done.

“If something goes on to the ballot, you don’t have to convince us,” Sykes said. “You don’t have to convince us; you have to convince your friends and neighbors and other taxpayers.”

Sykes added that for the budget to be completed by the July 1 start of the fiscal year, the assembly would need to be done with its work by about June 1, but did add one, mildly cryptic caveat.

“We do have the authority to make supplemental appropriations,” Sykes said. “I don’t know if it’s ever been done before but we do have the authority.”

In his turn to speak, assembly member George McKee turned the tone in a radically different direction. McKee joked that he might be better off surrounded by ‘bullet-proof glass’ before making his comments.

“You’re not going to like what I have to tell you,” McKee said. “You really should go down to the LIO (Legislative Information Office) and testify to the state senate where they’re deciding whether to (institute) a state income tax… They’re $700 million short — there’s no more money, folks and I cannot vote for an increase to the school district budget…. Why? Because the school district is our biggest consumer of dollars and we have a limited amount of dollars.”

McKee pointed to the price of oil as the starkest reality.

“Two years ago, Alaska oil traded at $115 a barrel. Tonight, Brent Crude was at $52.10. (Experts) say oil will not go above, and stay above, $60 a barrel for the next five years… We’ve got to look at reality,” said McKee, who pointed out that his wife of 49 years is a teacher. “I’m not anti-teacher; we just need to look at the amount of money we’ve got… What does the future look like? Last year we lost 9,100 jobs — most of them in the oil industry. We’re going to probably lose 9,000 more this year, and 1,500 of those are (in the borough). Those are big-ticket jobs… With no jobs on the North Slope, we’re not going to be able to pay the taxes we impose.”

Borough mayor Vern Halter closed comments by reminding everyone of the limits in power the assembly has.

“It’s not about what’s right for the borough; it’s about what’s legal. Right now, we’re caught in the trap of a tax cap,” Halter said, adding that hopes for a sales tax to fund schools would likely suffer the same fate as past propositions for taxes on gravel and alcohol. Halter added that diversifying the tax base is important, but not nearly so attainable as it is for his counterparts in Anchorage. “We’re a residential property tax-paying borough. It would be nice if we had more commercial (tax base), but we flat don’t.”