The Wrangell School District — its students, staff and parents — will need to practice deep-breathing exercises to relieve the stress as they wait to see if the state Legislature and governor can agree on adequate funding for public education while at the same time waiting on Congress to reauthorize a quarter-century-old federal aid program for rural schools.
These are significant and serious stress issues, particularly for Wrangell.
State funding, based on a per-pupil formula, and the federal Secure Rural Schools money that comes through the borough, together account for more than 70% of the school district’s projected revenues for the 2025-2026 school year.
The state funding formula in statute hasn’t budged in eight years, while inflation has eaten away at what local districts receive — as destructive as rust on steel pilings but much more visible than the underwater damage.
Despite multiple legislative attempts to boost the formula, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has resisted agreeing to a permanent increase unless he gets what he wants to help charter schools.
Students are left in the political dust of inadequate funding, which is no way to treat children.
Then, as if it couldn’t get worse, it did. The U.S. House of Representatives failed to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools program before it adjourned last month. Though the Senate passed the legislation unanimously in November, the Republican-led House got so wrapped up in its own internal budget squabbling that the school funding program never came up for a vote.
If House members were students, they would get an F for not even trying.
Hopefully — at least that is the plan — Congress this year will take the equivalent of a make-up test on the funding and retroactively reauthorize the program, which has paid the borough more than $800,000 a year for schools and streets. Until then, the borough can use its reserves from past Secure Rural Schools appropriations to paper over the funding gap — but that paper bridge will not hold up very long.
If all goes well and Congress does its job, if the Legislature and governor do their job and the borough contributes as much as it can, the Wrangell School District will still be short revenue to cover spending in 2025-2026 and will have to dig into its reserves. But at least it could safely get by one more year as the school board and borough assembly work together on a long-term solution to providing a quality education for students.
- Wrangell Sentinel
Reader Comments(0)