Though the Wrangell School District now projects 259 students to enroll for the fall semester based on the belief that more families will send their children back to the classroom, enrollment would still be down 13% from pre-pandemic numbers and the latest draft budget shows a loss of five teaching positions from this year.
School board members reviewed the latest draft budget at their March 18 meeting, with more work to come before adopting a spending plan for next school year.
State funding for school operations is based on enrollment, which had been around 300 students before many families put their children into homeschooling or other programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly cutting into Wrangell's student count.
Some budget help is on the way from the federal government. Wrangell will receive a share of the almost $360 million allocated to Alaska education in the American Rescue Plan Act signed by the president two weeks ago. State Education Department officials said Tuesday they are waiting on more information from the federal government before setting funding levels to individual districts.
The Wrangell district has received about $370,000 in two previous federal pandemic relief programs.
The district's operating costs for next year totals about $5.164 million in the latest draft.
School Board Members David Wilson and Patty Gilbert both asked at the March 18 meeting that the board hold more budget workshops to determine spending priorities.
"There's just too many variables right now," Wilson said. "There's too much unknown and I really want to know more. There's so much cutting. Cutting five teachers, that's definitely going to affect what we're doing, as well as other things. I think we need more information, and try to gather up more, and maybe have a work session on prioritizing. It's clear that we need to do something."
The draft budget presented to the board was the second from the administration. The first was based on an even lower student count, just 200 students, cutting even deeper into state funding.
Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said the first draft was as lean as the administration could make it. It involved cuts to salaries and benefits, reductions in hours for teachers and support staff, and the loss of a custodian, she said. The second draft shows fewer cuts, but she cautioned the board to remember it is still just a projection of the district's financial situation at this time.
"It's a projection based on a little bit more knowledge we have," Lancaster said. "Just to give you an idea of where we're going with the budget thinking."
School Board Member Cyni Crary asked how Lancaster came to the projection of 259 students for next year. The superintendent said school administrators have been in regular contact with families to talk about their comfort levels for returning their children to the classrooms. There has been some reluctance, as far as safety and the district's face mask requirement, but she said they have heard from several families that their children would come back.
"I believe that I heard one of the administrators said they have confirmed as much as you can possibly confirm in March, looking at August, that 36 students would be returning," Lancaster said. "There were a significant number of the secondary kids that were going to be returning."
She added, "I am totally assuming that the kids are going to come back. ... If they don't, for whatever reason, then you've got a year to figure out, with your new superintendent and great technology skills, you've got a year to work with the staff and figure out a great distance-learning [program] or think of ways to increase the revenue."
Lancaster will leave the job June 30. Bill Burr, from the Delta/Greely School District in Interior Alaska will take over as Wrangell superintendent.
"Create a home school program. There are solutions on the horizon," Lancaster said.
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