Budget season has begun for Sitka’s schools, and leaders are again calling for more funding. At a board meeting last week (1-7-26), Sitka School Board President Phil Burdick said the push cannot stop with last year’s state funding increase.
“Bottom line is, we need a bigger bottom line, and that means revenue,” Burdick said.
Last year, the state’s per-student funding formula was increased by $700. Burdick noted that that was only $20 up from the one-time funding increase in 2024, and was not in keeping with inflation.
“A BSA, Based Student Allocation, raise of $1,940 would get us back to the buying power of 2011. That’s 15 years ago. So we still have a long way to go. $1,250, in fact,” Burdick said. “And just one final thing, the reason why I bring up funding education as often as I do, [is] because public education is the bedrock of a strong democracy and a healthy economy and resilient communities.”
Burdick said there are opportunities to secure more money for Alaska’s schools when the legislature is back in session this spring. Legislators could overturn Governor Mike Dunleavy’s veto of Senate Bill 113, which would bring tax revenue from some online businesses, like content streaming services, to Alaska.
“It could be up to $65 million that could help pay for the long, long list of deferred and major maintenance that has gone unaddressed for years around the state, as well as fund some of the mandates that statutes require,” Burdick said.
While the legislature won’t be in session for another couple of weeks, there may be more federal money on its way. Secure Rural Schools is federal funding that goes to rural communities, and can be spent on schools or roads– in recent years, it’s landed at roughly half-a-million dollars a year for Sitka. The city typically splits that money halfway with the district. Superintendent
Deidre Jenson said President Donald Trump reauthorized the funding last month.
“It’s supposed to be retroactive, from back to 2024 and approved to 2027. We don’t know the amounts yet. I kind of have semi-confirmation that we’re supposed to know what the amounts are for ’24 and ’25 45 days from the date he signed it,” Jenson said. “So that was December 18. So we’ll hopefully we’ll get to know more about that soon.”
On February 5, the school board will meet with the Sitka Assembly in a work session to review the budget for next fiscal year.
In other business the board approved its capital needs list for Fiscal Year 2027. It also honored the district’s wrestling and swim teams. At the end of the meeting, the board went behind closed doors in an executive session to discuss a complaint lodged against the superintendent.
