KETCHIKAN — A court fight over the local school district budget is looking less likely as a committee of Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly and Ketchikan School Board members endorsed a plan to avoid another legal battle with the State of Alaska on Tuesday.
The vote came after the state rejected the Ketchikan School District’s budget in August because of in-kind contributions recorded by the borough and the district.
The contributions are related to the Assembly and School Board’s debate over contractual services — a group of more than $700,000 in charges to the district for borough services such as the Gateway Aquatic Center, athletic fields and fire protection — that inflamed in the past year.
As a compromise, the borough and district recorded most of the services as in-kind contributions — spending made on behalf of the district and recorded on its books, but never actually charged to it.
In August, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development said that setup was unacceptable, rejected the budget and requested the district submit a new budget without the charges.
The news had the borough considering a legal appeal of the state’s decision, as Borough Manager Dan Bockhorst has maintained that the borough is following state law.
At their Sept. 5 meeting, most Assembly members said they didn’t want to jump into a court battle with the state. On Tuesday, the Assembly-School Board Liaison Committee endorsed a plan that also avoids a legal appeal.
The committee, including Assembly members John Harrington and Felix Wong and School Board members Michelle O’Brien and Trevor Shaw, unanimously voted to recommend the two organizations adopt revised budgets, sign them “under protest” and pursue an administrative appeal.
Signing a document under protest would allow the borough to comply with the state’s demand but still object to it.
Harrington said the group should avoid a legal battle.
“I don’t think it gets us anything and it irritates people,” he said on Tuesday.
For the past several years, the borough was involved in a lawsuit against the state over education funding. In that case, the issue was the required local contribution, which mandates organized boroughs and cities with school districts fund a portion of their district’s operating costs.
The borough spent more than $300,000 on the unsuccessful lawsuit, which went to the Alaska Supreme Court.
Earlier in the meeting, Bockhorst told the committee that protesting the state’s decision without following up with a formal legal appeal amounted to “a feel-good response.”
The motion was made by Shaw and seconded by Wong. The committee’s votes are recommendations to their member groups.
• This story first appeared in the Ketchikan Daily News. It is reprinted here with permission.
