School board grants Youth Court funds

The Mat-Su school board had its checkbook out last week, deciding who should get how much money -- $4,000 for Mat-Su Youth Court? $2,000 for the Association of Alaska School boards?

The first post-election meeting of the year began with Interim Superintendent Bob Doyle swearing in re-elected board members Mike Chmielewski and Bob Johnson Wednesday night. The board then voted Chmielewski as president to replace Dan Contini and chose Linda Menard as vice president and Larry DeVilbiss as clerk.

Following the reorganization of the board, the members once again took up the recurring task of deciding how to spend school district funds.

On the agenda for Wednesday night's meeting -- $4,000 for Youth Court and more than $2,000 for the Association of Alaska School Boards, both coming from the board's reserve funds. The board did vote to grant Mat-Su Youth Court the money, but not without dissent. Member Contini pointed out that both the cities and the Mat-Su Borough have already made donations to the group and that school district funds should go directly toward school district programs.

"If we're going to start donating to organizations, there are plenty of them," Contini said, before voting along with member Bob Johnson against the donation.

The majority of the board, however, supported granting the funds to Mat-Su Youth Court, saying the program is an important part of the community's overall efforts to help youth. Youth Court is an intervention program that removes juvenile criminal defendants from the traditional court system and puts them into a court where their peers serve as jurors, attorneys and judges.

The Youth Court has needed more local assistance this year following the state's denial of a $40,000 grant to run the program. Both the cities of Palmer and Wasilla, as well as the borough and now the school board, have chipped in to keep the program in operation.

Another check was slated Wednesday night to be written to the Association of Alaska School Boards to assist in its work to educate the public on Proposition C. The measure set for the November statewide ballot includes general obligation bonds for the renovation and construction of schools around the state, and the AASB has been widely distributing informational brochures on the measure.

The board was prepared to give the group $2,000 to support the effort, but both legal and financial concerns put the plan on hold.

"Are we spending school district funds to indirectly influence an election?" board member Bob Johnson asked.

District administrators said they felt it wasn't an issue because the AASB is distributing information to the public designed to inform, not sway, voters. The board was still uncomfortable, however.

"I think member Johnson has raised a very good point," Linda Menard said, adding that she would prefer to get legal counsel before handing over the money.

Some board members also appeared to have reservations about giving the AASB more money in addition to the more than $20,000 the Mat-Su school board already paid this year in annual dues. The AASB dues have been a matter of debate each budget year, with the board opting out of the statewide group some years because of the cost.

The $2,000 donation was deleted from Wednesday's agenda and will appear again before the board once legal counsel has been obtained.