Hours before the Sitka Assembly met last night (4-22-25), the Alaska Legislature failed to override Governor Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a bill that would have raised the base-student allocation, or BSA, by $1000 per student.

Instead, Governor Dunleavy has proposed a $560 per-student increase. That’s lower than the $680 the governor approved last year, and which Sitka’s school board was counting on in its most recent draft budget.

The Sitka School Board is already grappling with cutting four elementary teaching positions or dipping further into its reserves to balance its budget. If Dunleavy’s proposal goes through, School Board President Phil Burdick told the assembly that more cuts could be on the horizon.

“If the $560 comes through, then our budget that we built, which is built on $680 at this moment and balanced, will be short there, and will be short the money that we were expecting from you,” Burdick said. “That balanced budget included four more cuts to staff. So we’re looking at further cuts and further reductions…unless something miraculous comes out of Juneau in the next month. So that’s the bad news.”

The assembly budgeted to fund schools to the cap, or the maximum allowed by the state, anticipating an extension of last year’s one-time funding increase. As a result, Dunleavy’s proposal would also reduce the amount the assembly has budgeted to contribute to instructional funds.

Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said he couldn’t imagine the position the school district was facing, and the challenges of trying to budget with an unknown.

“At least our revenues are somewhat accountable and predictable, where your revenues are absolutely not so. This assembly has done just about everything that we can in order to make sure that the schools continue to be successful,” Eisenbeisz said. “And it’s disheartening at this point to hear that, you know, four is the minimum of cuts, and we’re looking at potentially more here, depending on on how the the stones fall. So thank you guys for your tenacity and keeping after it.”

While the legislature’s path forward is still uncertain, the school board’s April 30 deadline to finalize its budget is looming. The group will meet in the Sitka High library for a work session and budget hearing tonight at 5:30.