Facing deficit, Mat-Su school district plans budget hearings

MAT-SU — The Mat-Su Borough School District is taking its budget on the road with hearings from Butte to Talkeenta.

The hearings run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and will be at Fronteras Charter School on Feb. 12, Knik Elementary on Feb. 13, Butte Elementary on Feb. 17 and Talkeetna Elementary on Feb. 18.

A presentation posted on the district website shows the district is struggling with a $7 million deficit, and that’s with flat staffing levels — the equivalent of 1,795.59 employees this year and increasing to 1,797.63 this coming year.

Of that deficit, $2.5 million results from the end to a one-time safety and security grant from the state; $1.4 million is from increased health insurance costs; and $2.1 million is due to regularly scheduled increases to salary for all employees.

It all translates to just about a $7 million short fall. Projected revenue is $244 million and expenditures are projected at $251 million.

The presentation does not include solutions for how to close that gap. But the district has said it expects to ask the Mat-Su Borough for a 3 percent increase in the contribution it received from the borough last year.

That equates to a $52 million request for borough funding; about $1.5 million more than last year.

State statutes set both a minimum and a maximum on the amount of money the borough can give the school district. That minimum is just under $26 million. The maximum is just more than $65 million.

Among other things assumed in this budget is a flat contribution from the state with no increase or decrease in the so-called Base Student Allocation.

Gov. Sean Parnell in his state-of-the-state address proposed increasing the BSA as part of an education reform agenda in which he also called for passage of an amendment to the Alaska Constitution that would clear the way for students to use public money for private education.

He said his plan is to raise the BSA annually for the next three years.

It won’t quite close the budget gap, though. Parnell has proposed essentially a 1.5 percent increase, which would pencil out to about $2 million for Mat-Su schools.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.

What: Hearings on the Mat-Su Borough School District Budget

When/where: Meetings run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the following schedule:

Feb. 12 — Fronteras Charter School

Feb. 13 — Knik Elementary

Feb. 17 — Butte Elementary

Feb. 18 — Talkeetna Elementary