Juneau School District Juneau school district is battling the possibility of a $9.5 million operating deficit when it starts work on its budget for the coming year City Manager Katie Koester told the Assembly on Monday evening. District officials will need to tackle the deficit by close of June.
The city regularly contributes as much as it is able to contribute to the school district’s operational fund. But during an Assembly session on Monday evening mayor Beth Weldon said that their options to help with the deficit are confined.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We must take a look in the context of an Assembly at ways to assist those in need,” Weldon said. “But it’s a shame that because we only fund up to a certain amount that means our hands are pretty much tied. If you’ve got creative ideas I’m sure they’d love to hear about it.”
The deficit of nearly $2 million was carried into the previous fiscal year, while $7.5 million is derived from the current fiscal year.
The district has temporarily employed Lisa Pearce, a school finance consultant who was previously employed in an assistant to the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District’s chief financial officer responsible for budget planning. Pearce will replace Cassee Olin, the district’s director of administrative services, who left last month.
According to the report the district presented to city officials on Friday, the salaries of staff as well as health insurance benefit have been “significantly over budget” in the current year. This is the greater than 5 million dollars of the budget deficit for this year.
Employee contributions to retirement plans were also not budgeted, according the report. In addition, lower-than-expected enrollments have caused the deficit, as the state’s funding is determined by numbers of pupils that reside in districts.
An interview was conducted shortly after this meeting Koester stated that the Assembly might consider moving certain expenses out of the budget for district into the city’s budget.
“That doesn’t mean the Assembly will be able to do that, and it does not suggest that the district won’t wish to engage in those conversations however, I believe this is the kindof creative thinking that the mayor was talking of,” Koester said.
Concerns about funding for the state are also likely to be the focus of the budget process for this year. Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget for the state doesn’t include a long-term increase in per-student funds or extend the once-in-a-lifetime education funding that was passed in the previous year.
District officials will be discussing the budget update on Tuesday evening. The school board’s session starts around 4:00 p.m. via Zoom and the regular meeting begins with a 6:30 p.m. on Juneau Douglas Yadaa.at Kale High School library as well as on Zoom.
the KTOO’s Clarise Larson was the reporter for.
