School board postpones budget cuts

MAT-SU -- With hopes that House Bill 471 will provide additional funding for school districts across the state, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Board has decided to postpone budget cuts until the Legislature approves the final education funding numbers in May.

"Once the Legislature and borough make their decisions, we will have to do what we will have to do, we will have to cut a little, a lot, or nothing," said Chief School Administrator Bob Doyle. "The cut list won't go away, it's being put on hold, it's been tabled, the process can still go forward."

The school district is faced with $8 million in cuts to balance the fiscal year 2005 budget. If additional funding comes from the state, some or all of these cuts may be unnecessary. The board has decided to postpone those decisions until more is known about the actual dollar figures from the state, and possibly from the borough, that will go to the district. The board will be presenting its budget to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly by April 1 with the additional $210 per student allocation the district would receive if HB 471 passes.

If HB 471 passes, the state will provide an additional $4.6 million, through its education funding formula, to the district for FY2005. Because the borough has a different education funding formula than the state, the amount the borough ordinance allows for will be $1.7 million less than the amount the new state cap would allow for local funding. The borough could decide to fund an additional $2.4 million over the amount the current funding allows if HB 471 passes. The board may request that the assembly fund the district to the state cap based on HB 471; by requesting this the assembly will have to address the difference between the ordinance and the state cap. The assembly has voted in the past to fund above the local ordinance to the state cap, and has funded education fully the past three years. If all things go as planned, the district would receive an additional $7 million between the state and the borough, leaving only $1 million in cuts for the board to decide in May.

"I think if you want to have a place holder number, you want to have a number you can work with in the assembly," Doyle said. "If we lock down a low number early on, we will not be able to work with the assembly to fund education fully if state funding goes up."

All of the budget numbers, based on the funding available both with or without additional state funding, are projected numbers based on how many students the district believes will be enrolled in the borough in the next school year. The school board increased that number from 14,109 to 14,393 this week due to a projected increase in the Home School Support program. The school board acknowledged that blindly counting on HB 471 as is would be premature, so the list of possible cuts presented to the board earlier this month will not go away, the cuts will only be postponed with hopes that additional funds will come through. If the bill fails, and no other bill passes that would increase funding, the district will have to cut $8 million as planned.

"The list will not go away, even if the budget presented to the assembly doesn't show that," Doyle said. "It's critical that people know we haven't found $8 million." Doyle and the members of the board said that without continued pressure from the community to pass the bill, funding for education may not come through.

"This bill hasn't even hit House Finance [Committee], let alone anywhere in the Senate," said board member Robert Wells. "There's a lot of work that remains to be done, you've got to stay with this till May 12."

While a number of bills have been introduced that would increase education funding by different amounts, including the Democrats' HB 477, which would fund education by more than $400 per student, the board has chosen to stick with HB 471 because of its increased popularity in Juneau.

"While down in Juneau, the $210 figure was being used by the majority party," said School Board President Mike Chmielewski. "That in itself is a good indication of where things are."

There is talk around the legislature of a bill being introduced that would provide an additional one-time allotment of $35.8 million to the state's school districts to cover upcoming teacher retirement (PERS/TRS) costs. If approved, the district would receive an additional $3 million on top of the $7 million they are hoping for from HB 471 and borough funding.

"If PERS/TRS goes through, I think you'd be in the position to reinstate quality in our schools," said Doyle to the board Wednesday. Next Wednesday's public comment period on the budget during the school board meeting is still scheduled. Doyle asked that people continue to evaluate which cuts would be appropriate if additional funding falls through, but in the meantime also asked everyone to continue supporting additional funding from the state.

"Let's not distract ourselves and fight among ourselves over what should be cut-- let's work toward getting funding," Doyle said.