Ideas for saving money tossed around in school budget workshop

The Wrangell School Board held a work session Monday night to discuss next year's budget. The district is currently undergoing its budget season, looking at the financial year for 2021. The current draft of the FY 2021 budget has the school district operating at a loss. Total revenues are estimated at a little less than $5.7 million, while expenses are around $6.5 million. The largest costs for the district include $2.7 million for "instruction,'' about $831,000 for "operations and maintenance of plant'' and about $597,000 for "district administration support services.''

Estimated losses for the district are about $863,258, according to the budget draft, with an end-of-the-year fund balance deficit of about $376,000. The current budget for the current year, FY 2020, estimates an end-of-the-year fund balance of $578,999. With these numbers in mind, the school board spent the workshop considering different ways they could cut costs and save money.

There were several ideas proposed by members of the school board. Kim Powell, with the school district, said that many of these ideas were purely speculative and unlikely to happen this year, if at all. One idea that was raised was to switch the district to a four-day work week. The board also considered offering resignation bonuses to staff. Another idea was to reduce graduation requirements, holding 50 minute core classes, and longer elective class blocks. They also discussed the potential for a deal with the borough, where they would make bulk purchases together. Another idea proposed was to close Stikine Middle School. This would require restructuring the district to go from Kindergarten to sixth grade, and then seventh to twelfth grade. Another idea the board discussed was researching different food service options for the schools. This could include parent volunteers, a community food service or the culinary arts program providing meals.

Of all the ideas considered, Powell said there was only one that they are going to move forward with in the near future. This will be to remove $40,000 from the general fund, earmarked for student transportation.

"We have a lot of moving parts to figure out as we look at our budget process,'' Superintendent Debbe Lancaster wrote in an email to the Sentinel. "We have been talking in small groups, meeting after meeting, and working out what we believe is best for all of our students. This will be a tough few weeks, but we will sort through this keeping our shared vision in the forefront. We will continue to look at ways to decrease our general fund expenditures and seek ways to increase our revenues.''

A joint work session with the Wrangell Borough Assembly, to further discuss the budget, is scheduled for March 10. The final draft of the school budget is scheduled to be submitted for state approval by the end of May.