Mat-Su school district dealt another blow

Frontiersman editorial board

Just when district officials thought it was safe to go back to the budget process, data from the recent Alaska School District Cost Study threatened to take another $1 million or more from district coffers in the future. The study was conducted by the state Dept. of Education and Early Development (DEED), and the formula may have been unfairly applied in the Valley.

One serious problem with the formula is that it heavily weighs salary, but rather than consider actual salaries paid by the district to teachers, it uses statistical averages for the Mat-Su Borough. Those who conducted the study concluded that it is cheaper to conduct business in the Valley because people in the Valley are willing to work for less. In a community where there are currently more service and retail jobs than professional jobs, and where a fairly significant number of people are on some kind of assistance, it is imperative to consider the actual salaries paid to professional people -- like teachers and administrators.

It should also be mentioned that, even if the actual salaries had been considered, the data was collected before the new contracts were awarded to Mat-Su's teachers and classified employees.

According to the cost study, Mat-Su is the cheapest place in the state to conduct education. While the district has run into some financial difficulty in recent months, it also has made great strides in cost cutting and streamlining, and a new emphasis on applying district policies more consistently throughout the borough will make the district even more efficient. Our district should not be penalized for being more cost-effective than others.

With the new legislature now in session, Mat-Su schools are hoping for some relief from Juneau. Several bills could increase the amount of state funding here, which is critical for Valley schools. We hope that the difficulties facing our school district will move education to the top of our legislators' priority lists. There are many pressing issues facing our community, but none is more critical than education at this time.

It should also be pointed out that, while the district has been under some fire, it has also been treated unfairly at times. In a recent editorial we identified some proposed cuts as stop gap efforts in response to budget shortfalls this year. In fact, those proposals, including cutting some programs and closing an elementary school, are proposed for the FY04 budget. Until this recent news about the funding study, district officials were confident the FY03 budget could be balanced.