Funding of Brett Arena, school funding highlight Borough Assembly meeting

On Tuesday, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly held a work session with two items on the agenda.

The first item was approval of a contract for $3 million for work on the Brett Memorial Ice Arena. Funding for the project was part of the recreational bond package approved by voters in 2016. Assembly Member Barbara Doty recused herself from voting, citing her ownership interest in one of the companies that bid for the project. The other six assembly members approved awarding the contract to F-E Contracting, Inc. without objection.

That brought the meeting to the topic that involved the bulk of conversation, school funding. The topic of school funding brought out a number of people who pressed the assembly to prioritize school funding.

Tracy Martin, a teacher at Meadow Lakes Elementary School, said some schools in the district lacked counselors. Martin pointed to issues facing the Valley, including opioid addiction, methamphetamine, and fetal alcohol syndrome disorder. She said, “We are dealing with all of those social issues at our school every day.” Without counselors, more of the burden of dealing with the impact those issues have on children falls on the teachers. Martin also made an economic argument for increased school funding. She said, “"Good schools create a good economy…It's good to put your investment there."

Other teachers from the Mat-Su Borough School District also spoke. They spoke about the loss of arts and other secondary classes in addition to a general increase in class size. Tim Walters, President of the Mat-Su Education Association, echoed those points, stating, “"Our district has the dubious distinction of having the largest class sizes in the state."

The discussion at the assembly level focused on the work of a committee that had examined the existing school funding ordinance and looked at alternative school funding formulas. The committee consisted of Borough Manager John Moosey, Borough Attorney Nicholas Spiropoulos, Finance Director Cheyenne Heindel, and Assembly Members Ted Leonard and Randall Kowalke. The goal of the committee was to find a solution to the current school funding formula, which Borough Manager Moosey called “broken.”

Borough Mayor Vern Halter echoed that sentiment. He estimated that, if the borough were to follow the ordinance, which was passed more than twenty years ago, school district funding would drop by between fifteen and twenty million dollars. While that ordinance is still the law for school funding, the assembly makes the final call on appropriations each budget year.

Moosey said the current funding formula is convoluted, and difficult for the general public to understand. The committee wanted to make that process more transparent. Moosey added that a complex system hurts transparency and the image the public sees of the borough’s budget process. People sometimes feel, as he put it, “If you can’t understand it, what is the Mat-Su Borough trying to pull?”

While no legislation has been introduced, the idea being discussed on Tuesday centered on a fixed mill rate equivalent of 6.25 mills for school funding. MSBSD Superintendent Monica Goyette called the idea a good start, but said that the district would prefer 6.5 mills. She stated that next year’s anticipated deficit is $7 million, and that using the 6.5 mill figure would reduce that by more than half. Even then, Goyette said the district would have to increase its ratio of students to teachers.

Of the five largest school districts in the state, MSBSD receives the least in local funding contribution. Superintendent Goyette said she understands that the tax base in the Mat-Su is very different from Anchorage, Juneau, or Fairbanks, but that those districts have managed to increase funding per-student by at least $200. She said that figure in the Mat-Su is thirteen dollars.

In addition to the revenue request, Superintendent Goyette said the district is looking at ways to streamline its budget. Goyette stated, “We are really looking forward to finding efficiencies within our district so we can direct more money directly to the classroom.”

Assembly Member George McKee pushed back on the request for increased funding. He cited test results of standardized tests and the need for students from the district to take remedial courses upon reaching college. McKee asked, “How is money going to improve this?” Goyette responded with the correlation between funding and graduation rates, saying that there is a link between money and academic achievement.

Other assembly members had questions regarding funding sources other than property taxes, and how that impacted local contribution numbers for other districts. Assembly Member Doty brought up sales taxes in Juneau and Kenai, and Assembly Member Jim Sykes asked about federal and military funding in Anchorage. Sykes also questioned why the mill rate is still being used as the major source of school funds. He said he believes natural growth in the area may not keep up with the needs of the district, and questioned why alternative revenue sources, such as a sales tax, are no longer being considered.

In addition to school funding, there is also a draft ordinance to look at the borough’s tax cap. Currently, the borough is only allowed to raise revenue to a point established by a formula. The cap is determined by adjusting the previous year’s cap by the five-year population growth average and the consumer price index for Anchorage.

Both the school funding and tax cap ordinances are scheduled for introduction on March 20th and public hearing on April 6th.