The Mat-Su School Board and the Mat-Su Assembly met last week to discuss the school’s funding crisis last week. They came away from the discussion still very much in flux. KTNA’s Colleen Love has more.

The Mat-Su School District requested a $9.4 million increase in funding for the next school year from the Borough Assembly last week. The School District is estimating that it will receive around $6 million less from the State than in previous years.

Half of that $6 million decrease is due to a reduction in enrollment in traditional schools in the Valley. The other half of the decrease, is an amount the State has determined that the Borough should pay, due to higher assessed property values. The School District maintains that without the $9.4 million increase, the district will be forced to close three Lower-Valley elementary schools and cut teaching positions.

But Borough Manager, Mike Brown, stated that he is only proposing a $2.2 million increase to the school district for next year. That’s around a $7 million difference. Brown says providing the $9.4 million would require a higher mil rate than the cap allows. He also added that funding education up to the cap would increase property taxes for residents. He added that the ongoing feedback from Borough residents is that they want less taxes, not more.

“We had a conversation last year around a fuel excise tax that went to the ballot. Voters said “no.” Now we’re having a conversation where a sales tax proposal is to be discussed after we get through the budget process. It’ll go to voters as well. And voters might say “no” again. But the reality is, we’re looking at it, and we have to recognize that having a tax structure in place for 60 years doesn’t change overnight.”

Mat-Su School Superintendent, Dr. Randy Trani, stated that the district currently embraces a model of school choice. And while he firmly believes in school choice, he says it’s not the most efficient way to run a school district. According to Trani, in addition to the traditional brick-and-mortar schools, there are also now seven charter schools in the district, the Mat-Su Middle College, Mat-Su Central and a Hybrid Learning Academy.

But choice does not necessarily extend to the farthest northern schools in the district. For many of those students, it would be a 70 mile drive south to take part in some of the other options. Susitna Valley High School has seen it’s teaching staff and curriculum trimmed substantially during the last decade. The school was unable to offer chemistry or physics classes this year, which are basic requirements for many college admissions programs.

Almost three hours of public testimony followed the Borough presentations. Students, teachers and parents pleaded with the Borough to provide more funding to keep the three Lower-Valley elementary schools open.

School Board Member, Ole Larson, painted a dire future for some of the Mat-Su traditional schools, if funding continues to decrease.

“As a school district we are succeeding. We’re here to say to you, we need some help. We need a planning period for the next three years. What I’m getting at, if we continue to go down in funding and continue to cut teachers, continue to close schools, what’s going to end up in the brick-and-mortar schools, is a failed school system. We don’t want any of our schools failing.”

Assembly Member, Stephanie Nowers, sympathized with the School Board, wondering what the two Boards could do to cobble something together, but she warned that there seemed to be a misconception about what the Assembly is capable of doing.

“I do want to be clear that the Assembly doesn’t have a secret pot of money. That’s your money. That’s your money we collected and 42% of the local property taxes go to schools. The other 60% goes to fire, ambulance, roads, trails and all the other services the Borough provides, so to pull money from your roads or your fire service, there’s a cost to that. And we have heard, in terms of listening to the community, that they do not want more property taxes. So that’s the rock and the hard place.”

Assembly Member, Bill Gamble, asked Dr. Trani what the administration is doing to promote brick-and-mortar schools. Trani responded that his administration doesn’t promote brick-and-mortar schools. It promotes choice.

Brown asked the School District to provide the Borough with an updated budget, reflecting any money the district has saved from the ongoing Durham Bus strike. Brown said that anything the Borough could provide above the $2.2 million increase would likely be a one year benefit and may prove difficult to sustain. He pointed out that the school district will likely also be back next year to plead an even more dire situation, unless both the traditional funding model and the school district see some significant changes.

The Borough’s share of funding for the school system will not be finalized until after its own budget discussions, which will conclude in mid-May. For KTNA, I’m Colleen Love

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