The worst of the Juneau School District’s financial crisis may be past, but its newly hired chief financial officer won’t necessarily get a soft landing as she’s scheduled to begin the job 12 days before the school board is supposed to submit next year’s budget to the Juneau Assembly.
However, Nicole Herbert, currently the director of accounting services at the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, is arriving from an area with plenty of financial turmoil of its own as officials are contemplating a consolidation plan that could result in the closure of five elementary schools. District officials may make that decision by February, right before Herbert is scheduled to start her new job in Juneau on March 3.
Herbert’s selection as the Juneau School District’s new CFO was announced Friday. She will replace Lisa Pearce, initially hired as a consultant a year ago to help analyze and then resolve what was called the biggest financial crisis in the district’s history, who accepted the CFO job in July and then in October announced she would resign once a successor was in place.
“Ms. Herbert brings a wealth of experience to the role of Chief Financial Officer in the Juneau School District,” Superintendent Frank Hauser said in a prepared statement. “We are fortunate to have someone with her background and expertise stepping into this critical leadership position.”
Herbert, in an email to the Empire on Monday, stated she applied for the job here “because I believe we share a commitment to aligning financial decisions with the district’s mission.”
“Providing transparent and accessible information helps foster meaningful conversations with stakeholders about how to move the district forward,” she wrote.
The struggles at the Fairbanks district — and Juneau’s — are occurring throughout the state, with the Anchorage School District proposing the closure of four schools by May (down from an originally proposed seven after public outcry) and some rural districts facing decisions officials have said could be even more impactful since there are few things to cut. State funding that has remained essentially flat for a decade is largely blamed for many of the shortfalls.
Herbert, in her email, noted budget struggles are an issue other districts across the country are experiencing as well.
“I see districts proactively analyzing their fiscal landscape — whether from a conservative or optimistic perspective — and engaging stakeholders in meaningful dialogue,” she wrote. “This approach ensures that tough decisions are made with the district’s long-term success in mind, ultimately serving students in the best way possible.”
The full scope of the Juneau School District’s financial crisis was unveiled after the resignation last Dec. 1 of Administrative Services Director Cassee Olin, who was subsequently blamed for accounting errors and providing incorrect data to district administrators and school board members making budget decisions.
Pearce was hired at the onset of the crisis based on her consultant work for numerous schools since 2018, before which she was the chief financial officer for Fairbanks school district from 2014 to 2018 as part of a career in school finance dating back to 1993.
Herbert joined the Fairbanks school district as a finance officer in 2017 after five years working for a public accounting firm. The district has received a Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Association of School Business Officials International every fiscal year since 1993.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
