Community Schools face cuts under Murkowski budget

MAT-SU -- Gov. Frank Murkowski's proposed budget -- if it is adopted as is -- may have some profound effects on the school district and the Mat-Su community.

Murkowski's proposed elimination of funding for Community Schools could have an impact on hundreds of Valley residents. This would mean an approximately $40,000 reduction from Mat-Su Borough's community schools program, Kim Floyd, public information specialist for the Mat-Su Borough School District, said, unless some form of alternate funding can be found.

The state administration's apparent belief is that Community Schools can seek funding from local school boards and communities, Floyd said, but with a tight budget already, it would be a hardship for Mat-Su.

"We are already in a position where resources are scarce," Floyd said Tuesday.

Mat-Su Community Schools Director Sue Tischner said the effect could be devastating to a large number of youth organizations, home-schoolers and Christian schools who use school facilities after hours. Tischner, who has been with the school district for 20-plus years, was shocked, she said, to find the program was poised on the cutting block.

"It'll basically close down [the buildings] after school unless each individual principal lets people in," Tischner said. That would probably not happen, she said, because there would be nobody to oversee the people using the facilities.

Currently grant funding provides for Tischner to oversee the program, two people to work four hours a night, and for custodial care of the buildings after hours, she said. With the proposed scenario, she said, there would be no one available to keep track of hundreds of children in a gymnasium. Community Schools classes are held regularly at Wasilla Middle School and Su-Valley High School, along with open use of gymnasiums and inside tracks.

All schools in the district are also used at capacity for youth organizations, meetings and evening activities, Tischner said. Tischner said she is not worried about her own job, but more concerned about where the people using the facilities will go.

"… I feel bad for the kids. The programs are packed -- even the schools like Larson and Teeland are full," Tischner said. Without the state money, Tischner said, she is uncertain where it will leave the many people who use the facilities.

Ron Swanson, Mat-Su Borough director of Community Development, said if funding is eliminated for community schools, it will be up to the borough to decide how to recoup the nearly $40,000 pass-through grant currently slated for community schools.

The small amount of money saved in the state budget by cutting funding to community schools would not be worth the loss of the resource the program provides to Mat-Su residents, according to Brian Laughlin. Laughlin is a basketball and soccer coordinator and volunteer with Matanuska Youth Activities Council, one of the many groups using school facilities after hours.

"A lot of these kids are not doing much in the way of recreational activities in the winter time," Laughlin said. There are a considerable number of kids involved in activities such as MYAC, he said.

In Palmer alone, there are currently approximately 500 youth involved in soccer and about 350 in MYAC's basketball programs -- and coordinating all the after-school activities would be a nightmare without Tischner, Laughlin said.

"It is very valuable to have someone over there like Sue coordinating all this," Laughlin said, "because it's an incredible amount of work. The benefits far outweigh the cost."

Concern over the possible cut was also expressed at Wednesday night's school board meeting. Chief School Administrator Bob Doyle at the meeting said that without the state funds the school board would have to seek help from the borough to find a solution for keeping the buildings open. User fees, he said, would not be enough to make the program self-supportive.

But, Floyd said, the district is continuing to pin its hopes on the legislators to keep the funds intact. School administrators are working closely with Valley legislators to lobby for keeping community schools funded, she said.

After the legislature finishes its work in Juneau, it will be up to the borough to make the next move, Swanson said, depending on whether or not the legislature accepts Murkowski's proposal.

"Our community is tapped into a great deal to support extracurricular activities and school funding," Floyd said. "It's a value added to the school … it helps create a better community," Floyd said.