The Wrangell School Board met Monday night, Dec. 14. Two main topics of discussion in the meeting were revisions to the current budget, and a look at the upcoming budget season for next year.
The revisions to the current budget, FY 2021, were largely cuts in expenses. Staff travel was reduced from a $3,000 allocation to $65, according to the meeting's agenda packet. Student travel was cut in half from $5,000 to $2,500.
Funding for supplies, materials, and media was also reduced from $125,000 to $75,000. One reduction in revenues was in TRS, from $300,000 to $135,000. Another big revenue reduction was from Foundation support, reduced from about $3.8 million to $3.3 million. One area where money was added to the budget was under PERS, which was increased from $55,000 to $203,000. Insurance and bond premiums went up from $89,000 to $108,000. Leeann Wiggins, Business Manager Intern, said that this was a relocation of funding rather than a true increase, because property insurance was moved to a different section of the budget, under maintenance.
In all, total revenues for the revised budget lowered from about $5.68 million to $5.11 million. Expenses shifted from about $7.72 million to $5.48 million.
"We revised everything we possibly could," Wiggins said. "We reduced all the supplies and any kind of spending areas. Travel, we reduced. Professional technical, we went down a little bit because a lot of that's not going to be happening because of COVID. Most of it is a reduction in any kind of spending."
Upon further discussion by the school board, the revised budget was approved.
The assembly also briefly discussed the new budget season for FY 2022. Superintendent Debbe Lancaster, in her report to the board, gave a look at some of the major
assumptions the district would be making for next year. The future budget would be based on a student count of 259, and with a fund balance of $368,877. The district is also assuming flat funding from the legislature and the same local contribution from the City and Borough of Wrangell. On top of that, they are anticipating a 10 percent increase to health insurance costs and a 30 percent increase to property insurance costs.
During the meeting, the board heard from Ryan Howe during the public comments section of the meeting. Howe said that the teacher's association was still putting together a professional opinion on budgeting for the district, but he came to them that night to share his personal thoughts on the matter as a teacher and a parent. He wanted to caution against any cuts to instructional staffing, he said, as this would really impact the district's ability to provide an education during current circumstances.
"If we are in an intractable budget situation and there doesn't look to be a rebound in enrollment heading into next year, I strongly recommend that the board use all available resources to meet the budget deficit, including and especially our reserves, and further that non-instructional cuts be conducted before any proposed change to classroom resources," Howe said.
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