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Officials from the Juneau School District will be making their case in front of the Juneau Assembly today to put much more public money into high school sports and activities.

The district recommends the city put in an additional $365,000 toward those high school programs. Superintendent Peggy Cowan said the district's request is based on the work of a task force assigned by Mayor Bruce Botelho and Juneau School Board President Andi Story to come up with a formula to pay for sports and activities that would make them more equitable and lessen the need for fundraising.

Currently, both the city and School District put in $200,000 each for district activities. The task force estimated the bare-boned high school activities budget for next year would be about $2.2 million. They recommended the School District cover half that amount, the city put up a quarter, and participating students and their parents be responsible for the rest.

"For years it's been a shared cost," Cowan said. "And we're asking them to continue to help share the cost."

The district's budget for next year, recently approved by the School Board, includes $710,000 for high school sports and activities, which is about $400,000 short of what the task force recommended.

Cowan said the district and School Board did its best to meet the task force's recommendations, but had other budget priorities to fund as well. She said the increased funding was an "incremental" step.

But Assembly member Jeff Bush, who also was a member of the sports and activities task force, said he was disappointed the School District expects the city to come up with the full amount of the task force's recommendations after falling short of those recommendations themselves.

"I don't think the primary responsibility (for funding sports and activities) is the city's," Bush said, adding that the School District is already getting extra money from the city for day-to-day operational costs.

Thanks to the state pumping in more money to the district, the city is allowed to up its contribution to pay for the district's operating costs.

The city manager's proposed budget for next year puts $24.1 million toward the operating budget, which is up $1.6 million from this year's budget and is the maximum amount the city can give under state law.

Funding for activities falls outside that maximum amount, as does some transportation costs. The district also is asking the city to fund $35,000 to transport homeless students and an extra $70,000 to fund buses for activities.

The district will likely have plenty of company lining up to ask the city for new money during this year's budget season.

Flush with an unexpected $5 million extra surplus to spend thanks to rising interest rates and timber-related federal revenues, Assembly members will have to sort who gets what.

Botelho said there is an "increasing list" of requests for new money, but added he expects the Assembly will craft a conservative budget, recognizing that the new money likely won't be reoccurring.

Bush said he was doubtful the Assembly would agree to fund the full amount requested by the School District and the task force, but added it was too early to say what amount, if any, the body would add toward activities.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, to be perfectly honest with you," Bush said.

Botelho said he expects the city's budget to be finalized by the end of next month.

• Contact Reporter Alan Suderman at 523-2268 or e-mail alan.suderman@juneauempire.com.