Juneau School Board eliminates budget committee, resolves activities fund deficit

The Juneau School Board had a regular meeting Monday night. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
The Juneau School Board had a regular meeting Monday night. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)

The Juneau School Board voted this week to eliminate its budget advisory committee. Instead, it will use school site councils, board work sessions and public forums to gather community input. The district expects the next budget year’s deficit to be $2.5 million.

School board member Barbara Thurston says the decision means the board will have more opportunity to discuss the budget as opposed to just approving it.

“On the other hand,” she says, “I’m going to miss the input. We had several community members who, over the years, have contributed a great deal to the discussion in terms of knowledge, in terms of insightful suggestions, questions.”

The district will hold the first public meeting on the budget Dec. 2. In January, it’ll focus on working with school principals and site councils. Superintendent Mark Miller says all councils will meet together, then break into smaller elementary, middle and high school groups

“The input as to what’s critical and what could potentially be reduced is being made by the people who are going to be most directly affected by it,” Miller says.

School board member Lisa Worl wants the district to reach a more diverse population than it has before.

“I think that’s something that the board has struggled with, trying to find that voice. One easy way at least that we can do within this scope is to reach out and make sure that our community members, especially ones that we tend to partner with a lot with some of our diversity and equity, know about these key dates and invite them,” Worl says.

The district will release a preliminary budget Jan. 27. More public forums will be in February along with school board work sessions.

The school board also took care of a more than $130,000 deficit in its student activities fund by transferring money from a transportation fund.

The activities fund pays for coaches, advisors, officials and student travel mostly within the region. It gets money from the city and from the district’s operating fund. In the past few years, the money transferred from the operating to the activities fund has dropped significantly.

Superintendent Miller says the school board will have to make some tough decisions.

“What we spent really hasn’t changed. The difference is we’ve budgeted less and have not changed our practice. So the question that I think needs to be – Are we going to change our practice or are we going to change what we budget of some combination thereof?” Miller says.

Originally, the district had suggested resolving the deficit with operating fund money. But during public comment, Laurie Berg suggested transferring money instead from the transportation fund.

“As a member of the public, I’m much more concerned about you funding summer school for kids who need extra help or some of the money should go to some of your strategic goals. It’s just really troubling to me that you would bail out this activities budget with the general fund dollars,” Berg says.

District Administrative Services Director David Means says the transportation fund provided by the state has no restrictions. He expects the same deficit in the activities fund next year.

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