Next year’s school budget is up for approval at the Petersburg School Board meeting tonight.
The school district had to make lots of cuts to the budget. The district’s Finance Director, Shannon Baird, says that’s because state funding for public schools has not kept up with rising costs. The state’s base student allocation, which is essentially the funding for each student in a district, hasn’t increased since 2017.
Baird said that the biggest cuts in the budget come from staffing reductions. Next year the district will have four fewer teachers and one less aide. But none of them were laid off – multiple teachers retired or left the district this year. Some are being replaced. Alice Williams, who just completed her training as a teacher’s assistant at Rae C. Stedman Elementary, was hired to teach 4th grade. Noelle Bell, who is new to Peterburg, will teach 2nd grade. Jill Lenhard will be returning to town to teach middle school English Language Arts.
The budget is based on flat funding from the state, but the state operating budget includes $175 million in one-time public education funding. Gov. Mike Dunleavy can veto some or all of that funding, but he signaled last month that he wouldn’t do so. Dunleavy has until June 28 to sign or veto some or all of the funding.
Baird says if the one-time state funding comes through, it wouldn’t affect how money is spent this coming year. The district would use it to balance its budget and the rest of the money would be put aside for next year, making fewer cuts necessary in the future.
The district is also getting money from the Petersburg Borough Assembly. The Borough Assembly voted last week to give the district the maximum amount of funding allowed by law, voting to include $3.4 million in its budget for the coming school year. Baird told KFSK “We’re really grateful that the Borough is funding the district to the cap.”
This will be the last school board meeting for outgoing superintendent Erica Kludt Painter. Robyn Taylor, the district’s incoming superintendent, will also be at the meeting.
Petersburg’s School Board will meet this evening at 6 p.m. in the middle and high school library. KFSK will broadcast that live and will post the recording on our website, KFSK.org in our School Board Meeting Archive.
