School board closes in on placeholder for budget

PALMER -- The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Board discussed how they should continue on with the budget process during a work session last week while uncertainty remains about state funding.

For now, the board continues to be optimistic that either House Bill 471 or Senate Bill 1 will pass and become law, adding more than $400 per pupil to the education foundation formula. The board must have the budget to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough by April 1. If the state has not already authorized additional funding for education, however, the board plans to have $8 million in cuts the budget on paper only. Each cut will be in a placeholder position for the budget, with plans for restoration if additional funds are provided by the state.

School district chief school administrator Bob Doyle said that while these cuts are still a possibility, no pink slips will be handed out unless necessary after the state legislative session has ended.

"I don't believe pink slips are warranted, given the house and senate bills, but, then again, this is not a done deal," Doyle said.

Board president Mike Chmielewski agreed.

"It's still a guessing game and we can still be very much surprised," Chmielewski said.

The board met with the borough assembly last week and explained that while the cuts will possibly be included on paper in the first draft of the budget, the second the Legislature funds more money to education, those cuts will be eliminated. Also, if the state does increase the funding, the amount the assembly can fund locally goes beyond the amount the local ordinance allows by $2.7 million. The assembly would have to hold a vote in order to raise the amount funded to the state cap.

"I believe the assembly members will have two questions," Chmielewski said. "First, if we add two million, what will it cost in terms of the mill rate; and second, they will ask what will the money pay for."

Board members decided that keeping in touch with the assembly about changes in the budget would be beneficial.

"We have been gung-ho with the Legislature, but we need to be focusing on the assembly too," said board member Linda Menard. "We need to make sure they are in this with us."

Contact Jen Ransom at jen.ransom@frontiersman.com.