The Kodiak Island Borough School District will receive its full ask of nearly $13 million in local funding for its next fiscal year.
That total is about $663,000 more than it was appropriated last year. That’s nearly six times the increase it got last year.
This budget considers the many cuts district officials made amid rising costs and a statewide funding crisis. Some of the drastic measures include closing North Star Elementary. Its remaining elementary schools are also stratifying to reduce the number of teachers it needs for each grade.
The district will also spend nearly $5 million from its fund balance to make ends meet, nearly draining its savings.
But this increase isn’t the end of the district’s financial woes.
The budget still relies on a $340 increase to the Alaska government’s per-student education funding formula, known as the Base Student Allocation. The Alaska Legislature passed a $700 increase to the BSA formula earlier this year that got vetoed by Governor Mike Dunleavy. That veto was overturned by legislators before the end of their regular session in May.
Some assembly members at the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly meeting suggested holding some of the money because the increase from the state was higher than originally planned for, but others questioned if the full increase will stand.
Gov. Dunleavy previously cut an education funding increase through a line-item veto in 2023.
If the full increase to education funding avoids a line-item veto, any extra money will go back into the Kodiak district’s fund balance.
The district likely will still need to make more cuts and reductions next year regardless, as added funding from the state and borough still don’t fully make up its deficit. Superintendent Cyndy Mika, said they would have needed about a $1,200 increase to the BSA to stabilize the district’s budget.
The district will finalize and submit its budget this summer.
