Juneau School District preps for grim budget

The Juneau School District anticipates a deficit ranging from $1.3 million to $3.3 million. (Creative Commons photo by Tax Credits)
The Juneau School District anticipates a deficit ranging from $1.3 million to $3.3 million. (Creative Commons photo by Tax Credits)

As the Juneau School District looks to figure out its budget next year, the biggest obstacle is not knowing how much money it’ll get from the state and city. So it’s come up with four scenarios, ranging from the best case to the worst.

The Juneau School District anticipates a deficit ranging from $1.3 million to $3.3 million. One of the variables is how much the state will give, which is determined during the legislative session. It could affect how much the city can contribute.

The district’s budget is due to the Juneau Assembly by the end of March, about three weeks before the legislature is scheduled to adjourn. .

“So we’re going to have to kind of guess what the legislature will actually do,” says David Means, the district’s director of administrative services. “But we have another two months almost to watch the legislature and usually sometime in there we’ll have some kind of sense of what their thinking is.”

In the past four years, district spending has been almost flat – one time retirement funding aside – while costs continue to rise. This has forced the district to scale back. Just last year, the district eliminated about 19 jobs.

“Special education took a huge cut last year and then classroom teachers also took a cut,” Means says.

In the best case budget scenario for next year, the district would get $65 million from the state and city. Superintendent Mark Miller says the district likely wouldn’t have to cut teachers. In other budget scenarios, it would.

“You really can’t solve multimillion dollar budget crisis by cutting $5,000 here or $4,000 here, you really have to look at the big ticket items when you have to make reductions that right now we’re being asked to make,” Miller says.

In the other scenarios, classes would get bigger in grades three to 12 and high school activities would take a hit, calling for student participation fees. District level expenses, like professional development for teachers and recruitment, would be reduced. Kindergarten to second grade classes would only grow in the worst case budget scenario.

Miller says it’s important to take a balanced approach when making cuts.

“Can I say we’re keeping our activity budget exactly the same, while at the same time putting more kids into a kindergarten class? And I don’t think realistically, you can do just one or the other,” Miller says. “I think realistically you have to try to balance your reductions between elementary, middle, high school and district to do what’s right.”

The district has already explored options suggested by the public, like closing an elementary or high school; Means says neither would save money.

The community gets to weigh in on the school budget during two public forums – one on Feb. 3 and another Feb. 9.

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