The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development opened a 30-day public comment period Thursday on a proposal aimed at reducing the amount of funding municipal governments can provide local public schools.
On June 4, educators, lawmakers, and parents demanded more time to comment. DEED said it put forward the regulation to avoid failing the “disparity test,” but those testifying disagreed that local contributions are the issue.
While the comment period provides the public more time, questions remain — the Juneau Board of Education has called the terms of the draft regulation “ambiguous.”
“We have not heard back any answers to some of the questions that have been posed,” said Juneau School District Superintendent Frank Hauser.
The Juneau Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution in response to DEED’s draft regulation during a special meeting held the same day the regulation was opened for public comment, opposing the limitation of local government funds.
JSD estimated that the first draft of the regulation, released in November, would incur a $2.1 million cost to the district. It included funds allocated to food service, student transportation, community schools, the Learn-to-Swim program, high school and middle school student activities, and pre-K programming. JSD’s total operating budget for the coming year is about $95 million.
The version released by DEED on June 2 is significantly more impactful to districts statewide, according to Hauser.
Britteny Cioni-Haywood, chair of the school board’s Finance Committee, said the new version could cause a loss of $8 million next year, but “even that is uncertain.”
“We don’t know if they’re going to make us count plowing of streets — we don’t know what that looks like,” she said. “We’ve never really counted that as a city budget item, and so there is still a little bit of uncertainty about that.”
A deeper analysis by the district’s finance officer of audited statements resulted in a projected $8 million loss, according to Cioni-Haywood. The draft regulation includes parking lot plowing and the use of public pools or libraries for school functions as services factored into the maximum limit of municipal aid.
The state board is scheduled to consider on Oct. 8 the limits on local contributions, according to a public notice released Friday with the draft regulation. Earlier this month, the board postponed a decision to consider local contribution limits as an emergency regulation.
The Juneau school board views it as a possibility that it could be pushed for approval again sooner than October.
“As with all things related to school funding, the uncertainty prevails,” said JSD board president Deedie Sorenson.
Board members also remain undecided on continuing the district’s universal free breakfast program, choosing to delay the decision.
Public comments on the draft regulation are being accepted until 5 p.m. on July 23 at eed.stateboard@alaska.gov.
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356.
This story has been corrected to clarify language around the loss of funds the Juneau School District would experience.
