The Juneau Board of Education voted to end universal free breakfast, pay off food service and transportation debt, and create two new admin positions.
At its July 8 meeting, the board said it expected an additional $994,688 in revenue for the next school year, pending the outcome of the Alaska Legislature’s upcoming special session.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed $200 of the Legislature’s proposed $700 base student allocation increase.
The Legislature may vote to override the veto during a special session in August, which would significantly increase JSD’s budget.
Currently, the U.S. Department of Education has frozen $47 million in education grants to Alaska. The Juneau School District is facing additional uncertainty due to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development’s proposal to cap local contributions.
Board member Emily Mackey was concerned about how the local contribution cap would relate to RALLY, JSD’s after-school program.
The school board recently decided to sunset the program and is looking to transfer it to Auke Lake Preschool.
“If RALLY counts against the cap and the new regulations, because I fully expect that, that’s going to be steamrolled onto us by the Board of Education, by the State Board of Education,” Mackey said.
JSD Chief Financial Officer Nico Herbert said the district isn’t offering the program next year, so it will not count toward the local contribution cap.
Member Elizabeth Siddon expressed regret over not discussing the program change in more depth before shutting it down, especially with the extra funds available.
“I went back and listened to the board meetings. We received information. I would not call them discussions, and I agree with you that there were red flags presented, at which point a holistic budget conversation about RALLY would have been the thing to do,” she said.
RALLY was not a budget agenda item for this meeting, and no motions were made on the program. The board moved on to the budget add-back list and ultimately, the top three add-backs were adopted.
Board member Amber Frommherz said that given the budget uncertainty, the district should pay its outstanding bills.
“I would argue that these known bills, food and transportation alone, could be what we prioritize tonight, if we look at this budget holistically,” she said.
The board largely agreed on fixing the budget deficits in those areas. Herbert said food service could be scaled back in different ways, such as eliminating hot lunch and free breakfast. Mackey said the district must get its debt under control for a balanced budget in the future.
“It’s very unpopular for somebody to come out and say, ‘you know, let’s cut back on the quality of the food.’ But you know, we’ve made a lot of strides to really improve the food. Make sure there’s fresh options. Make sure that it’s wholesome food, but you know there, there is a cost to that,” he said. “And if you’re a kid that doesn’t get three meals a day, I’m not sure stressing fresh vegetables over them not being able to afford or obtain a meal at all, is a better choice.”
Universal free breakfast, which comes with a nearly $3 million price tag, will not continue next school year. The board ranked it No. 12 on the priority list.
Other items included hiring a librarian for the Dzantik’i Heeni campus, which houses Montessori Borealis, the Juneau Community Charter School, and Yaaḵoosgé Daakahídi. The board also agreed to hire a registrar for HomeBridge homeschool students, to be housed at JDHS.
Board president Deedie Sorenson commented on the new administrative position, saying there has been difficulty coordinating the HomeBridge program.
“Many HomeBridge parents and students take classes at the university, and because they’re sort of cut off from the high school, they struggle — figuring out what counts and what doesn’t count. And it would be very helpful for them to be able to have one contact person who makes sure that all of their credits are counted,” Sorenson said.
The rest of the add-back list didn’t make the cut. The next regular school board meeting is scheduled for August 12.
• Ellie Ruel can be contacted via editor@juneauempire.com.
