School district cuts inevitable

The success of our students and your school district hinges on community involvement from parents, business partners, and all Mat-Su residents. With this in mind, the School Board and Administration have established a goal to increase stakeholder involvement in the MSBSD budget development process.

This year, the District has produced a 2016-2017 Preliminary Budget Handbook and a video outlining the budget calendar, current financial forecasts, and citizen participation. The new handbook and video are available on the District website http://www.matsuk12.us/financial-info.

The District is asking the Mat-Su Borough for an additional 6 percent to absorb the cost of more than 1,000 additional students—708 in 2015-2016 and the expected projected increase of 363 next school year. While we are continuing to grow, keeping education at even the current level for 1,000 more students will cost more. That does not take into account any rising costs from other expense items.

The FY17 Preliminary Budget for the MSBSD is a constantly changing, living document. It is a spending plan, but a plan built on unknown revenue amounts. The School Board and Administration has made it clear that the District planned to use a portion of the unassigned fund balance currently held by the MSBSD. That initial amount was $6.1 million. Depending on the outcome of all funding sources, including from the State of Alaska and the Mat-Su Borough, the budget deficit ranges from the best case scenario of a shortage of $9.4 million to a worst case scenario of a $14.2 million shortage.

The District is faced with several variables, including the notification to the District by the NEA Health Trust that there will be a 25 percent increase to Health Insurance—12.5 percent will realized by the District and 12.5 percent by employees. That increase alone represents 5.38 percent of total benefits. In order to meet the rising costs, the District is estimating possible reductions in staffing to meet the budget needs.

After input from parents, employees, and community stakeholders through the FY17 Budget Open House process which included an online survey, the District worked with principals and administrators to plan for possible reductions to the MSBSD workforce. As it stands now, the proposed cuts are: cut 2.5 Administration positions; increase the Pupil-Teacher Ratio by two for high schools (28:1 increased to 30:1) and by one for middle schools (27:1 increased to 28:1); reduce by two positions amongst Small Schools; reduce by five percent the School Site Discretionary Budgets; cut to part-time Elementary Instructional Coaches. These proposed cuts eliminate 30.5 jobs for a total reduced in expenses of $3.6 million.

In order to increase public knowledge and stakeholder involvement in the MSBSD budget and budgeting process, the School Board and Administration made it a goal this year to produce a 2016-2017 Preliminary Budget Handbook and accompanying informational video outlining the entire process, data, and tips on how to be involved. The handbook is available on the District website under Financial Info, www.matsuk12.us. You may also access a new Preliminary Budget video.

One important foundation of the MSBSD budgeting process is that funding follows the students. That means that the District strives to allocate funding to meet all students needs equitably and in a scalable fashion. As shown by responses to the FY17 Budget Survey, the top five priorities from students, parents, staff, and community members were ranked as follows:

* School Safety

* Class Size

* Facility Maintenance & Custodial

* Student Activities (Co-Curricular: Drama, Leadership, Sports)

* Career & Technical Education

Knowing that we have financial challenges does not change the mission of the MSBSD: We prepare all students for success. There is a reason why we say, “We are MSBSD!” — it is because we all contribute to the success of our students.

Susan Pougher is president of the Mat-Su Borough School District School Board. This column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman or its parent company, Wick Communications.