School district budget subject at MSB, school board meetings this week

Funding and budgets for the school district was the subject of discussion during both the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (MSB) Assembly meeting and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) School Board meeting this week.

During the MSB Assembly meeting on March 18, assembly members discussed Ordinance 25-030, an ordinance establishing a joint Assembly/School Board Committee on School District Funding Issues. The task of the committee is to evaluate and become knowledgeable about all aspects of the school budget and provide recommendations for action by the Assembly and School Board related to funding strategies, legislative proposals, code changes, and any or all other issues related to school funding, school finances, and fiscal considerations. The Committee may consider operational issues, capital issues, bonding issues, and any and all other issues related to School District funding.

While there is already a joint MSBSD school board/MSB Assembly committee, which discusses budgets and finance, as well as buildings and student outcomes, this specific committee would solely focus on finances.

“The intent is to create a committee that would solely focus on finances,” said MSB Attorney Nicholas Spiropoulos. “The committee would evaluate all aspects of the school budget, provide recommendations for actions, legislative actions, code changes, and any or all issues related to school funding and school finance.” He added that other aspects could include operational issues, fiscal operations, or bonding issues.

The committee would consist of three Assembly members and three School Board members appointed by the Mayor, as well as staffed by the Borough Manager, Borough Finance Director, School District Superintendent and the School District Deputy Superintendent of Business and Operations, with the option for the Borough Manager and Superintendent to assign others to staff the Committee meetings at their discretion.

Tom Bergey, who is a member of the MSBSD School Board spoke, not as a representative of the board but as a private citizen, saying he supports the ordinance.

“Whenever we assemble a budget, when the Borough provides finances to the school district, the state of Alaska penalizes the school district,” Bergey said, explaining that the tax dollars being collected by the Borough and distributed out to the school district, .50 cents of that is going to educational outcomes, while the other .50 cents goes towards filling the hole that the state created, but that this committee could work on finding creative funding ways to avoid spending funds that way.

“In light of that, I see a need for this body for us to move forward. If we were able to prevent the state from cutting the school district’s budget by the allotted amount based on tax dollars collected by the Borough that, in essence, could amount to a budgetary increase to the school district without accumulating any additional tax assessment. So there is a lot benefit that could be derived from this.”

Another benefit Bergey said that could come from this is public trust and transparency. “Communication builds trust and the more communication between the school board and the assembly, the more trust will be created. The more we do this in public, the more trust we develop with the constituency.”

“In the future, meeting at the end of the year, being able to sit down between the two bodies and create legislative priorities for the school board and how we structure (the) budget…I think it would benefit us,” said MSB Assembly member Dmitri Fonov, who sponsored the ordinance.

“I would want to caution is that the Borough Assembly not try to supplant the school board’s decision making on where to cut the budget,” said MSB Assembly member Stephanie Nowers, who supported the ordinance while reminding members that while they fund the school district, the school board decides how to spend the money.

The ordinance passed unanimously.

The discussion of budgets was picked up the next day at the MSBSD School Board meeting, where Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani, along with Deputy Superintendent Katie Gardner presented the proposed budget for the school board to vote on and move forward to the MSB Assembly.

“The only thing I can guarantee about this budget is that it’s wrong, and it won’t be what we ultimately adopt in June,” Dr. Trani repeated a statement from the last school board meeting about the budget as it needs to be presented to the MSB Assembly next week and as officials await more funding information from the state.

“This plan involves us making estimates about what revenues and costs might be, and it has substantial cuts within this plan. But I also think it’s a reasonable ‘ask’ at this point in the legislative process for us to ask this level of funding from Juneau.” He said that the reason that the school district is looking at the number of cuts being made in the proposed budget is not because the MSBSD has a spending problem, but rather that there is revenue uncertainty at the state level.

Dr. Trani tried to put a positive spin on spending, pointing out that the MSBSD has the lowest spending per pupil and district administration, while being the most proficient at producing graduates out of the “Big 5” school districts that includes Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks-North Pole.

“What we have done in the Mat-Su Borough is show great results with the resources that we’ve gotten both from the Borough, as well as the state.”

“We need to ask for what we need to continue.”

Dr. Trani said they have asked the MSB for a 4% increase in funding, or $78,033,127, while asking the state for 3.2% increase in Base Student Allocation (BSA), or $6, 960, from last year’s budget.

Gardner told the school board that all of the numbers presented are based on the proposed 3.2% BSA.

In the budget, Gardner explained that there is a slight increase in personnel expenditures though there is a significant reduction in personnel to keep the numbers from increasing further. There is also significant decrease made to non-personnel and district managed contracts.

“This is the most we could do to still be able to sustain operations.”

She then explained that a majority of the district’s spending is related to personnel, with just over 80% of all expenses are found in salaries and benefits, and that one area the district has to look at in terms of a deficit is personnel reductions.

She explained that in the past the district has used one-time funds, be it from COVID funds or state funds, to maintain class sizes. The district has been able to maintain their current pupil-to-teacher (PTR) ratio primarily because there are positions outside the metrics that have been allocated in years with higher enrollment. However, those are also the most vulnerable. “Those are the positions that we are first looking at to reduce positions.”

Aside from expected retirements or resignations, Gardner said that at this time, there are no expected layoffs will be required in order to implement to proposed budget, though there may be staff movements from one building to another. If the BSA increase is not what is currently planned, Gardner warned that have to implement layoffs or terminations of personnel in probationary status.

“Any cuts to education are a direct attack on our students, our workforce, and the future of our community. For years, our schools have been flat-funded by the state while costs continue to rise, forcing districts to do more with less,” said Rick Morgan, President of the Classified Employees’ Association in response to the proposed budget. “Despite these challenges, we want to thank our school district administration for their efforts in stretching every dollar to keep as many educators and staff employed as possible.

“However, this is not a sustainable path. Our schools cannot function without the dedicated classified employees who keep them running—yet flat funding and potential cuts put essential services like intensive resource programs, behavior support, other special education services, and basic support staff services at risk. We urge decision-makers to prioritize education funding and invest in the system that ensures a strong future for our students and our community.”

The school board unanimously passed the proposed budget.

To view the proposed budget, please visit www.matsuk12.diligent.community/document/598576e0-09e8-4dbd-876d-7190beb50574/

There will be a joint MSB/MSBSD meeting on March 25, at 6:00 p.m. at the MSB Assembly Chambers, in which the budget is to be further discussed.