Juneau Assembly OKs school district budget, discusses automotive program

Beth Weldon addresses her colleagues at a May 14, 2018, Juneau Assembly meeting.
Beth Weldon addresses her colleagues at Monday’s Juneau Assembly meeting. Weldon had expressed interest earlier in keeping the school district’s automotive program going. Also pictured are Jesse Kiehl, left, Loren Jones, Maria Gladziszewski, Norton Gregory and Rob Edwardson. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)

Until the Legislature passed an operating and capital budgets over the weekend, setting school funding levels statewide, Juneau officials basically had to guess how much money their schools would receive.

Turns out, those Juneau officials made good guesses.

Juneau Assembly members approved Monday a $85.8 million school district budget without changes, funding Juneau’s schools for the 2018-2019 school year.

The budget is about $45,000 more than will be available, the head finance officials with the city and school district said. They will adjust it next year after they make official student counts.

David Means, who directs the school district’s administrative services, didn’t stay up late watching the Legislature this weekend, but he is glad it’s over.

“One of the critical things that we always worry about is, we have to notify our non-tenured teachers by the last day of school if they’re going to have a continuing contract for the next school year,” Means said. “We’re getting down to the wire here, it gives us about two weeks, and it’s good timing on their part that they have resolved their funding questions.”

The school district’s automotive program still is not quite resolved.

School officials cut $40,000 from their budget that covers rent for an auto shop at the University of Alaska Southeast’s Technical Education Center.

About 80 high school students a year take the classes.

Assembly members and city staff briefly discussed options Monday for keeping the auto shop going.

They referred the issue to the assembly’s finance committee for discussion at a future meeting.

Jeremy Hsieh

Local News Reporter, KTOO

I dig into questions about the forces and institutions that shape Juneau, big and small, delightful and outrageous. What stirs you up about how Juneau is built and how the city works?

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications