Proposed Juneau School District budget assumes $400 increase to per-student state funding

The Juneau School District Board of Education began formal discussions on next school year’s budget Thursday. 

The budget is based on the assumption of a $400 increase to the state’s per-student funding contribution, also known as the base student allocation or BSA.

Board member Will Muldoon said until the Alaska Legislature passes a budget, there’s no way to know how much state money school district will actually get.

“We are currently in a situation where we either are facing a deficit on the budget we will be passing in the next 30 days, or exceeding statutory allowed fund balance,” Muldoon said. 

The legislature passed a $680 increase to the BSA last year, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed it. Lawmakers later passed one-time funding equal to the BSA increase.

The proposed budget is based on the assumption that some staff positions will be unfilled for next school year.

The budget does include some additions. Lower student enrollment projections means the district would need to hire fewer positions. But at the same time, the district is lowering the pupil to teacher ratio for fourth, fifth and sixth grade students, which means it won’t lose as many positions. 

Three grant-funded counseling positions are expiring this year. The district is budgeting to add back two positions to fill the gap.

But the budget also leaves several things up in the air, including universal free breakfast. The district spent about $115,000 this school year to maintain the program, but it isn’t in next year’s budget. The district is still in contract negotiations with unions as well. This could add additional costs the district hasn’t fully accounted for.

A budget work session is scheduled for March 6, and the board is expected to approve the budget on March 11.