Funding, construction and projects focal point of joint assembly, school district meeting

Piggybacking off the September 3 meeting of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) school board, in which Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 legislative priorities, capital funding, and maintenance requests were approved, the topics were again discussed at a joint meeting of the MSBSD and the Mat-Su Borough (MSB) Assembly on September 9.

First, was an update on current building construction progress presented by Cole Branham, Project Management Division Manager for the MSB, who reported that several elevator projects for Big Lake Elementary, Palmer High, and Palmer Junior Middle School are in the final design stages with an anticipated completion for those designs in October and work to begin in the summer, when school is out of session.

“This is part of the effort we’ve had ongoing to address some of major maintenance we’ve had at the schools,” Branham said, noting that the district has a lot of aging infrastructure that the Borough has been trying to chip away and bring up to date, alleviating some of the burden on maintenance departments.

Branham also highlighted the recent completion of the Mat-Su Central School at the end of last school year, which the Borough combined with new road construction at Catherine Drive, a 2021 infrastructure project that helped control congestion in the area.

“We felt it was a pretty successful endeavor to combine those projects and get them all done in one fell swoop.”

He also told the joint meeting members that the groundbreaking at American Charter Academy was successful and that he is hoping the foundation will be in place before the severe winter weather hits, as well as power and heat.

Branham also discussed the plan to build a new home for Birchtree Elementary next to Shaw Elementary, and said that when the contract goes out to bid, it will include the construction, updates to Shaw and will include improvements to the traffic, which Assembly member Stephanie Nowers said was already bad. Branham told the members that in addition to extending Foxtrot out, the Borough is working with the school district to stagger the start times for both schools to alleviate traffic congestion that comes with parent drop-offs and pick-ups, but nothing has been set in stone yet.

“We do recognize that for a year, there is going to be a somewhat challenging period at this school because the roundabout is scheduled to be a year behind.”

Deputy Superintendent Katie Gardner spoke about the Capital Improvements Projects, reiterating the MSBSD’s understanding that the top three projects—replacing the roofs for Colony Middle, Wasilla Middle, and Talkeetna Elementary Schools at a cost totaling $7.8M—is expensive and that the MSB may need to readjust the order

“In looking at these projects and their ranking, it was important for the district administration to make a recommendation that held true to our rubric and process so we have at the top of our list, our top priorities.”

Gardner explained that the roof projects are at the top instead of other projects like the boilers and generators that are aging is that they are still currently working. “They’re past their useful life. They’re requiring significant maintenance, but they still work. Whereas the roofs requiring attention very regularly and sometimes causing damage within the building.”

When Gardner moved to the legislative priorities that the board approved last week, she said the school board adjusted the timeline in advance of the assembly’s process so that where there is a common interest and support from both bodies, they can be incorporated into each agenda.

MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani spoke about the start of the school year, with 13 bus routes being cut for FY26. Dr. Trani said that cancellations and combinations should continue to reduce over the next several weeks as drivers return and new drivers complete their training. “Historically, September is a very challenging time to provide bus service in the Mat-Su.”

He also addressed an earlier issue in which seven schools were cut from the CEP program, eliminating free meals for students depending upon qualifying events. “We monitor the number of qualifying at a school and at some point, we end up being underwater.” He said they could have kept the schools in the SEP program but would ultimately lose more money because they aren’t actually enough people who meet the qualifications.

When discussion turned to the budget, Gardner told the assembly that the school board did adopt a budget in June that included several reductions:

-15% cut to school discretionary budgets

-18% cut to department discretionary budgets

-13% cut to district managed contracts

-$1.6M cut to the transportation subsidy

-159.71 Full-time employee positions cut

Gardner explained the budget included Governor Mike Dunleavy’s veto to the statewide education budget and remained the same despite the veto override last month. If the veto had remained, it would have meant an additional $7.1M in cuts to the MSBSD.

“The veto override essentially means that there aren’t additional cuts that have to be made,” Gardner said.

She also said that many of the same budget challenges from last fiscal year will remain for FY26. Some of the challenges the district faces is maintaining the fund balance following the expiration of COVID relief funds, enrollment instability as fewer students enrolled in FY25 than previous years, though the count period for the current school year is not over. She also noted an increase in popularity of correspondence schools. “Where those students choose to enroll does impact how much money the district receives from the state.”

“We’re a service organization that doesn’t raise it’s own funds, and you can only have as much service as the funds coming. So you have to simply cut service back when the funds aren’t coming,” commented school board member Ole Larson, reminding people that funding by the state is the major issue and that the MSB has been “exceptionally well with their funding.”

MSB Mayor Edna DeVries thanked the district administration officials for presenting their information and commended the district administration for their continuing hard work.