The district serves 11,800 students – a drop of more than 2,000 (2440) in the past 10 years. And that declining enrollment is the biggest factor in the deficit, as the state funds schools on a per-student basis. That multiplier is called the Base Student Allocation, or BSA.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Board of Education started working on the FY 2026 budget last November, shortly after newly-elected board members were sworn in.
Back then Chief Operating Officer Andreu DeGraw told them the buying power of state funding has not kept up with rising costs.
“Actual BSA is $5960, but the inflation adjustment there is just a little over 44,000. So, a significant difference in real dollars. Yeah, really 2013 dollars is what we're dealing with today.”
Since then, the school board made some very bitter decisions.
Last November they outsourced nearly the entire district custodial staff. In February, they voted to close two elementary schools and downsize a third – although some of that school consolidation was to “right size” the student population in school buildings, not just cost factors.
Last Thursday evening, March 20, it still felt wrong to board member Tim Doran, who
came in to the meeting ready to vote the budget down.
“As I look at the budget, it um, continues to foster a retractive mindset instead of building towards growth and enrichment. It's primarily focused on financial drivers rather than being student focused and education centered. And I think it acts in contradiction to our strategic plan.”
The board met four evenings last week, including a six-hour meeting Monday. By Thursday they had worked out a plan to increase class sizes by one student in every grade -- elementary at 26 students, middle school at 29 students, and high school class at 32 students.
The final document is $227.7 million. It assumes $60 million from the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, $13 million from the federal government, including money for kids in military families, and the biggest chunk, $122 million from the State of Alaska.
Board member Morgan Dulian said the flat funding from the state made many of the cuts untennable.
“We have been underfunded. Every child in this entire state has been grossly underfunded by the state, and we're here doing that work trying to figure it out,” Dulian said.
Board president Melissa Burnett said Thursday night before voting on the final budget that state money would make the difference in Pupil-to-Teacher ratio, which means the number of students in each class.
“And I am going to be dedicated to trying to decrease that PTR as much as we can. And I hope that our legislators are listening. I hope they're watching. I hope you're seeing what we're doing, and I hope that you pass a thousand dollars BSA and HB 69, and I hope that you do what's right for public education.”
House Bill 69 would increase the Base Student Allocation by $1,000 and make some statewide policy changes wanted by governor Mike Dunleavy. HB 69 passed the House in February, and is currently in the Alaska Senate.
The budget process was emotional, especially closing elementary schools. Members Morgan Dulian and Loa Carroll-Hubbard said they could not support an increase in class sizes, even though there were very few options to avoid it.
“I can't vote to support this budget, but it's not because I don't respect every single one of you and the work that you've done,” Dulian said.
“I do not support raising PTR. Smaller class sizes reduce teacher turnover by 47%. Smaller class sizes reduce teacher absenteeism by 30%. Smaller class sizes raise reading scores by 18% and math scores by 17%. Smaller class sizes raise the likelihood that students will ask questions by 62% showing higher engagement,” Carroll-Hubbard said.
At the end of the night, members Brandy Harty, Morgan Dulian and Loa Carroll-Hubbard voted against the budget. Tim Doran said it needs to be moved along to the Borough Assembly for their approval, so he voted for it, along with Melissa Burnett, Meredith Maple, and Bobby Burgess.
