State will appeal school funding ruling

ANCHORAGE — State officials announced plans Wednesday to appeal a court ruling affecting school funding statewide.

The November 2014 ruling in favor of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough essentially invalidated a longstanding practice of funding 34 of the 53 Alaska school districts, including Mat-Su Borough schools. Perhaps more important than the fact of the appeal — school budget officials said they had anticipated the appeal in both long- and short-term planning anyway — officials with the Alaska Department of Law said they anticipated filing a stay of the decision by the end of the week, and expected an answer by the following week. Officials also said they would seek a stay from the Alaska Supreme Court in the event that the Superior Court denied to stay proceedings, according to assistant attorney general Kathryn Vogel

“We plan to request the stay as soon as possible and will request expedited consideration of the stay,” Vogel wrote in an e-mail.

Were the stay to be granted, it could resolve budget issues arising from the lawsuit in the short term. Mat-Su Borough School District officials have said the ruling could result in the state being forced to make up the difference, if the ruling isn’t put on hold while the appeal makes its way through the process.

In the meantime, school officials are continuing with annual budgeting prospect unabated, said Luke Fulp, assistant superintendent for business services.

“It wasn’t done in consultation with the state,” he said. “We were just assuming the state would appeal.”

Budget preparations are presently underway, and the preliminary budget will be presented to the school board Wednesday, Fulp said. The budget was on-track to be submitted to state officials by July 15. The ruling has not affected the present budgeting cycle in any way, he said.

“The best case scenario would be a continuation of the current funding structure in which the required local contribution is fully funded,” he said. “The worst case scenario would be that the school district does not continue to be funded at the same level because the required local contribution becomes a responsibility of the state, leading to a proportionate reduction of state funding across all school districts in Alaska if the state determines that it is unable to meet this obligation.”

The ruling struck down a portion of school funding formula known as the required local contribution, essentially, a portion of school costs coming from borough or city coffers. Superior Court Judge William Carey ruled that because the funds were earmarked for schools, they violated a provision of the Alaska constitution disallowing for fees to be earmarked, according to court documents.

Borough officials, ensconced in their own budget preparations, were unavailable for comment Thursday morning.