“I want to start with something simple but essential: Without students and without teachers we have nothing. No programs, no positions, no buildings," Selma Chichenoff said during the Jan. 15 townhall meeting.
Chichenoff is a former Kodiak Island Borough School District employee and a parent, who told school board members that the district’s budget should put students first.
“And if we want families to stay, to believe in this district again, then we must show them that classroom[s], not offices, are where our values live," she said. "I’m asking you to pause, to look carefully at where the money is going and remember that schools are not built by titles or departments, but by people who show up every day for kids.”
The school district is looking at a $4.5 million budget deficit going into next school year, but that is still a moving target. Declining student enrollment, rising teacher insurance costs and other factors are the main drivers for the budget shortfall.
Larry LeDoux echoed some of Chichenoff’s thoughts during an interview with KMXT on Jan. 16. He led the district as superintendent for six years total, from 2006 to 2007 and then 2017 to 2022. LeDoux said a school district’s budget reflects its priorities.
“If you want to know the philosophy of a district, you just look at their budget," he said. "And if you have a good philosophy, then increasing or decreasing the budget isn’t as difficult as it sounds because you know what’s important and what you have to preserve.”
LeDoux said making cuts are part of the budget process, but the way the school board and superintendent approach those cuts matters, especially during what he calls a “crisis”.
“Cuts don’t make the system, it’s the people involved that make the system, the teachers and parents and the kids," LeDoux said. "So if you look at the school system as just something that’s been cut or pruned down to nothing, then we have a problem.”
LeDoux has faced lean financial years too, and in 2020 he was in a position similar to the one current Superintendent Cyndy Mika and the school board find themselves in today. He considered shuffling students within the district’s four elementary schools and combining grade levels into one school, in part to address declining enrollment. That problem has not gone away.
District data show student enrollment has dropped every year for the last decade, since at least FY’2016. Today, the district has 1994 students enrolled. That’s down from 2,446 in 2016. And the district expects another 2% plus drop next year, for FY’2027.
Most education funding from the state is tied directly to student enrollment. Despite the Alaska Legislature approving a $700 increase to the base student allocation last year, district officials say it’s not enough to make up for declining enrollment.
Molly Keyse is a special education teacher at East Elementary who also gave public comment at the school district’s townhall meeting on Jan. 15. She asked the board for stability and said she’s tired of having the same difficult conversations year after year.
“We need people and we need a good team and we need stability over the next five to 10 years. Heck, three to six years, next year. I don’t want to be at this podium fighting for a school to close or not close again next year," she said. "I just don’t want to do it and I know you guys don’t want to do it.”
Earlier this month the school board appeared ready to cut programs and staff to balance the budget. But now they’re leaning in another direction.
This week the board requested Mika and her team explore additional reconfiguration options to meet not only next school year’s budget deficit for FY’2027, but also the projected deficits for the following two years into FY’2029. Board president Kerry Irons said on Jan. 19 that the board’s decision should, “minimize the turmoil, instability and frustration” for the community in her opinion.
The earliest the school board could take final action on next school year’s budget is during its special meeting on Feb. 2.
