The Petersburg School Board unanimously approved next year’s budget Tuesday night.
The budget is based on flat education funding from the state. Finance Director Shannon Baird said they’re hopeful Gov. Mike Dunleavy will approve $175 million in one-time public education funding in the state operating budget – he signaled last month that he will do so. That amount is roughly equivalent to $680 in per-student funding, known as Base Student Allocation, or BSA. But Baird said she didn’t want to base the budget on funding she wasn’t sure the district would have.
“I thought it was best to show you a flat BSA, we’ve always been conservative, and I think it served us well,” she said.
If the district doesn’t get the additional state funding, they’ll need to use more than $300 thousand from their reserves, or “fund balance.”
The new budget has lots of cuts, and some increased fees. Baird said that the biggest cuts 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. The district is also saving money by buying fewer electronics for their students – incoming freshmen will be expected to use the laptops they received in middle school instead of getting new ones. And the district will pay a lot less for pool use next year because they’re cutting the time they use the facilities in half. But students will get the same amount of swim, just with more kids at a time – and more lifeguards.
It was outgoing Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter’s last school board meeting. Activities Director Jaime Cabral presented her with an award from the Alaska School Activities Association, or ASAA.
“The AASA board has voted to award an honorary ASAA Gold Lifetime Pass to you, Mrs. Kludt-Painter,” he said. “This pass will grant you and a guest complimentary admission to all high school interscholastic activities from the local through state tournament levels for the rest of your time.”
The award is given to people who have made extraordinary contributions to high school activities in Alaska or at the national level.
School Board President Sarah Holmgrain has worked with Kludt-Painter for nearly a decade and got a little emotional at the end of the meeting.
“The last, almost ten years has been a great partnership and I would not have wanted to do it with anyone else,” she said. “Your patience, resolve, kindness, and steadfast dedication to students, staff, and the district has always been apparent and appreciated even in times when it may have felt otherwise. You led us through some very difficult situations and years and I’m not sure as a board member and a community member I could have kept my resolve without your support.”
Kludt Painter’s last day with the district is June 31. Her replacement, Robyn Taylor, will begin work on July 1.
