Two jobs at Xóots Elementary have been eliminated in the current draft of the Sitka School District’s ’26 budget, along with two at Keet Gooshi Heen. The Sitka School Board will have to decide how deeply to draw on district reserves next year to keep those jobs. (KCAW/Woolsey)

Note: View the most recent Sitka School District budget. The school board’s next public hearing on the budget is set for Wednesday, April 23, 5:30 p.m. at the Sitka High Public Library.

The four teachers – two at Xóots Elementary, and two at Keet Gooshi Heen – have already received  their notices of non-retention, superintendent Deidre Jenson told the board at its work session on April 16.

But those letters could be rescinded, depending on how far the school board chooses to draw down its reserves.

How much in reserves would the Sitka School District have to spend to save elementary teachers?

The Sitka School District traditionally keeps around $1 million in reserves, to cover emergencies or other unplanned expenses.

To keep two teachers, the district would need to spend the fund balance down to $557,000.

To keep three teachers, the district would need to spend the fund balance down to $447,000.

To keep four teachers, the district would need to spend the fund balance down to $337,000.

Other positions likely to be cut:

School nurse reduced to approximately half-time.

Data manager (duties redistributed to Blatchley assistant principal).

Loss of two positions funded by Sealaska Heritage Institute grant and a CLSD (literacy) grant.

Paul Rioux, who served a previous term on a school board that also faced a serious budget crisis, steered the group back to this fundamental question, as the conversation veered toward an hours-long micromanagement of specific line items.

“I’ve done this a few times in the past and we’ve come to this point, and we’ve been like, we want to add two teachers back, go find us $400k, or kind of that 10,000-foot view thing,” said Rioux. “Not that I’m saying to do that. I’m just saying that in the past it’s been pretty broad. It hasn’t been, ‘What’s this line? Let’s cut $20-thousand and move it to this line.’ It’s been, ‘We want a librarian. Go find us $300-thousand. I’m not saying that’s the only way to do it. I’m just saying that, in my experience, that’s how we’ve done it.”

Board president Phil Burdick wanted to allow all board members  time to have their questions about the budget answered, something he didn’t think was possible in a two-hour work session. He wanted the administration to revisit the budget, and to find a way to balance it that was consistent with the board’s previous direction to keep class sizes low, especially in the early elementary grades, and to update both the curriculum and technology used by students.

“While we have a balanced budget at this moment, we also have some cuts in places that we at the table have said that this is something that we want to focus on,” said Burdick. “So instead of getting into the line items, I just wanted to talk about the actual bigger picture of what it is that we’re facing, right?”

Board member Tom Williams felt that there were opportunities for cost savings in the budget – like staff travel and some administrative expenses – that could be converted into teaching salaries, but the answers to his questions were not obvious or straightforward. Clearly frustrated, he said, “I’m drowning.” His fellow board member and daughter-in-law, Amanda Williams, was also unhappy with the ongoing loss of teaching staff, and increasing class sizes in kindergarten. “21 is a lot,” she said.

(Note: The Sitka School District has experienced a 31-percent decrease in instructional staff since 2015 – 19-percent of that loss just this year alone.)

Amanda Williams also found some of the coding and categories impenetrable, and some of the expense items unrealistic. A former Science teacher at Blatchley Middle School until her job was cut last year, Williams pointed out that $300 for classroom supplies for a year in her old classroom was far from adequate. When someone asked how teachers would manage, Burdick – a former teacher himself – said quietly, “Out of their own pockets,” suggesting that this had become the unwelcome new normal for educators in a time of shrinking public funding for schools.

Board member Steve Morse was quiet for most of the work session, but when asked for his thoughts, he was hopeful. With less than two weeks before it’s due to be sent to the assembly, the Sitka School District actually had budget numbers that balanced.

 “This is the most transparent budget I’ve ever seen, and it’s balanced,” he said. “And I think that what we’ve come up with is we would like some of the things put back in there, like positions for teaching.”

House Bill 69, drafted by Sitka Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, would have topped up the state’s funding for public education by another $1,000, the first permanent increase in nine years. Both the House and the Senate passed the bill with slim majorities compared to last year – even Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman was among the “no” votes this time – so HB69 was far from veto-proof. As expected, the governor promptly vetoed it the morning following the school board work session, saying he’d accept an alternative bill with a $560 increase.

If this alternative bill passes, it’s likely to create headaches for the Sitka School District, whose present draft budget is built on an anticipated $680 increase from the state, with time running out to rebalance the numbers before the budget is due into city hall by the end of the month.