Lisa Pearce, who revealed and helped craft a solution to the Juneau School District’s financial crisis as a temporary hire during the past five months, will become the district’s new chief financial officer on July 1, according to an announcement by officials Friday.
Her hiring means Pearce, a longtime financial analyst who did similar consulting for numerous school districts on a temporary basis for the past several years, will transition to a permanent job where she will oversee the financial aspects of the Juneau district’s consolidation plan she played a role in crafting.
“Over the last five months, Ms. Pearce has demonstrated her exemplary abilities as an education finance specialist and problem solver,” Superintendent Frank Hauser said in a prepared statement. “She has faced challenges head-on and worked as part of a team to solve them. JSD and the Juneau community will benefit greatly from Ms. Pearce’s extensive experience, skill set, commitment to transparency, and forward-thinking approach to financial planning and budgeting.”
Pearce could not immediately be reached for comment.
She was the chief financial officer for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District from 2014 to 2018, and been a consulting chief financial officer for districts in Alaska and other states since, according to a press release issued by the Juneau School District. She has been in school finance since 1993 and worked in Alaska since 2012.
As the Juneau district’s chief financial officer she will be responsible for overseeing the district’s budget, long-range fiscal planning and projections. She will also manage contracts for things such as transportation and student nutrition, and serve a role on the labor relations team during teacher/classified/administrator negotiations.
Pearce was hired last December to scrutinize the district’s finances, following the release of an independent annual audit last fall that showed “deeply concerning” problems for the second straight year and the subsequent Dec. 1 resignation of Administrative Services Director Cassee Olin.
In a Jan. 5 report, Pearce reported the district was facing a $9.5 million deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30 — well over 10% of its total operating budget — including a $7.6 million shortfall this year and a deficit of $1.9 million carried over from the previous year. The shortfall was attributed to accounting mistakes in both revenue and expenditures, as well as the ongoing problems of flat state funding and declining enrollment.
Further scrutiny by Pearce showed the district was facing a deficit of nearly $10 million for the coming fiscal year as well, and sizable shortfalls in future years. That resulted in the Juneau Board of Education approving a consolidation plan effective July 1 that will place all students in grades 9-12 at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé, students in grades 7-8 and HomeBRIDGE at the renamed Thunder Mountain Middle School, adds sixth-grade students to elementary schools, and lays off 12% of the district’s staff.
The size of this year’s budget gap was revised downward somewhat in late January and then drastically in April, due in part to more complete and accurate information becoming available, according to Pearce and other district officials.
Much of the lower shortfall was due to the original budget projecting significantly higher health insurance costs for employees than is actually being paid out. Other factors include cost-cutting measures, the unexpected resignation of nearly three dozen employees between January and mid-April, and the city taking over maintenance costs for some facilities used by both the city and district for non-instructional purposes such as recreational activities.
However, the announcement the district had managed to turn the supposed $9.5 million deficit this year into a $633,185 surplus angered some parents and other residents, who argued since a “magic” solution was found for the current year’s crisis then the same ought to be possible in future years without the drastic step of consolidating schools. Also, some opponents of consolidation have said it appears the Alaska Legislature will approve a one-time $680 increase in $5,960 per-student funding that could result in an extra $5.2 million for the district next year.
But Hauser and other district officials have emphasized the current year’s shortfall and next year’s have different core causes, with the latter being an ongoing long-term dilemma needing a long-term fix.
Also, district officials say they are not counting on an increase in per-student funding since Gov. Mike Dunleavy could veto some or all of what the Legislature approves. Furthermore, they say while a $680 increase would allow fewer layoffs and program cuts, it would not be enough to prevent the need for consolidation.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
