After years of flat state funding, budget vetoes were ‘a slap in the face of public education,’ superintendent says
More Alaska school administrators spoke out Wednesday against Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s deep cuts into education funding that lawmakers passed earlier this year.
“The Legislature worked hard to come to an agreement, and this is really a slap in the face of all public education,” says Scott MacManus, superintendent of the Tok-based Alaska Gateway School District.
MacManus and many other administrators say they’ll have to cut funding to accommodate Dunleavy’s budget vetoes, which include a $108 million reduction to the state Education and Early Development Department. He also cut in half a one-time $175 million schools-funding measure approved by the Legislature.
McManus says his district will probably among other things consider scaling back its health-insurance plan.
“In Alaska Gateway, we have a fairly generous insurance plan for our teachers and our classified staff,” he said, “and it’s definitely a recruiting tool in these very difficult times of recruiting staff.”
MacManus says it’s hard to attract young teachers and support staff to a small, out-of-the-way town like Tok. So over the years, the district has made its benefit package a selling point. But now that may have to change.
“We’re going to have to look at opening up our negotiations to see if we can trim some of the costs out of that,” he said. “That’s not nearly enough.”
MacManus says if the district school board OKs that proposal, it’ll make recruiting staff even more difficult. And also retaining those who are already employed there.
“We’re losing staff,” he said. “It’s already been a problem, and now it’s going to become a bigger a problem.”
The Delta Junction-based Delta-Greely School District apparently won’t have to deal with much impact from the governor’s funding vetoes -- at least, for the coming school year.
“Fortunately, we were not depending on those funds from the state to balance that budget,” says Superintendent Shaun Streyle said. He said the district school board adopted the coming year’s budget last week.
“We did not make any cuts,” he said, “and we were able to balance our budget without those funds.”
Farther up the road, in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, it’s another story. The district’s chief school administrator, Karen Melin, says the governor’s vetoes will have a big impact on the district’s ability to fund operations.
Melin wasn’t available Wednesday, but she said in a prepared statement that “Several of the programs and staff positions we hoped to maintain for this next school year may not be kept, due to lack of state funding.”
Melin says the district school board will have to re-evaluate programs and staffing in next year’s recommended budget, which the board is scheduled to consider adopting in Tuesday’s meeting.
Juneau School District Superintendent Bridget Weiss told Alaska Public Media on Tuesday that Dunleavy’s veto creates a revenue shortfall for the district of three-quarters of a million dollars.
“It's very discouraging to constantly have to be begging, really, for the basic necessities to have high-functioning schools,” Weiss said. “So, it is -- it is really disheartening, and I know our teachers are feeling that as well.”
Officials with both the Anchorage and Mat-Su school districts say the vetoes won’t impact their budget for the coming school year, but will be factored into the fiscal year 2025 budget. Mat-Su Superintendent Randy Trani says that the veto could require program cuts or increased class sizes. And he says he’s concerned about the message the governor’s vetoes send to educators.
“A budget reflects your priorities,” Trani said, “and I'm worried that K-12 education isn't a, you know, isn't the priority right now.”
MacManus, the Tok-based superintendent, agrees that’s the message state officials seem to be conveying to school districts now, after seven years of no schools-funding increases and last-minute deep cuts into the Legislature’s education budget. He says it’s almost as if state officials want to slowly strangulate public education.
“I just really fear that that’s the plan, that that is what is being done intentionally,” he said. “And I consider this to be intentional neglect of a constitutional obligation by the government.”
Editor’s note: Alaska Public Media’s Tim Rockey contributed to this report.
