The Wrangell Public School Board will get a first look at its budget next month for the upcoming year, which begins July 1, 2017.
At its December 14 meeting, school superintendent Patrick Mayer reported the year’s budget would be reflecting expected reductions to revenue sources. He explained the district will be putting together its draft budget operating under four assumptions, which may change as the new year unfolds.
One of these is a student enrollment count of 273, which takes into consideration part-time students. Health coverage premium costs are also anticipated to increase by about 10 percent over the coming year, which Mayer explained would still be significantly lower than previous increases.
Another assumption is an overall decrease
in state funding for the public school system, following cuts to the university system over the past year. In that round of cuts, Mayer noted the K-12 system had gone largely unscathed, but seemed due for a decrease as state spending had decreased by 44 percent.
“It’s a conservative approach,” he prefaced,
but Mayer anticipated a five-percent drop in state support during the next budget cycle. He estimated this could translate into about $690,000 for Wrangell’s district.
In Gov. Bill Walker’s draft budget released
last week, his K-12 education budget was proposed to increase by half a percent over FY17 totals,
from $1.255 billion to $1.261 billion. However,
compared to FY15 levels set prior to the budget crisis, the total would represent a 6.7-percent reduction overall.
The governor’s budget is not a final figure, but rather one option ahead of negotiations between the Alaska House and Senate, each of which will be producing draft versions of their own.
Secure Rural Schools
funding is also “on the ropes,” Mayer cautioned. It provided $848,000 to WPSD last
fiscal year. Primarily benefitting rural schools and funded through the Department of Agriculture, the federal program was reauthorized for two years in April 2015. “This is as late as it’s gone where really there’s been no discussion about it in Congress,” he commented.
Looking ahead, Mayer expected a first draft could be expected by the board’s mid-January meeting, and that a version would be ready for public comment by February. The next draft round would happen in March, with a finalized budget headed to the city before its May 1 deadline. Revisions could be expected in June, adapting to state-level changes as its own budget is adopted.
In other school business, board members approved revisions to its policy on student drug testing for extracurricular programs, reflecting updates to state law. The policy will allow for up to 10 percent of students participating in a particular program to be selected for testing. A third-party program would undertake the random selection and testing, results of which would remain confidential.
“This is one of the specific reasons we went with an
outside entity,” Mayer explained.
The board also approved a revised policy on its presentation of sex education, similarly mirroring state guidelines by requiring all related programming be publicly presented prior to the class period.
Mayer also reported progress on the district’s involvement with the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, which has expressed interest in developing a residential accelerated middle and high school at Wrangell’s former Institute property. Currently a special committee with members representing the schools, city and Wrangell Cooperative Association has been reaching out to the Tanana Chiefs Conference for support. TCC is an influential body within the Alaska Federation of Natives, whose own endorsement of the project would be instrumental in the school’s funding and development.
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