Mt. Edgecumbe students perform during Elizabeth Peratrovich Day (2-16-15). $4.6 million in funding for the boarding school from the Department of Education and Early Development (EED) will continue next fiscal year.

With education a hot button issue in the ongoing budget debate, one school in Sitka is definitely safe this fiscal year. The state-run Mt. Edgecumbe High School will continue to receive $4.6 million from the Department of Education and Early Development (EED). That money goes directly towards boarding over 400 students from around the state.

Downloadable audio.

Dionne Brady is a Mt. Edgecumbe alumna. Class of 1991. Back in February, when the House Finance Subcommittee was talking about what cuts could be made to education, she was surprised that Mt. Edgecumbe came up. The conversation, led by Representative Lynn Gattis of Wasilla, asked how much the school cost the state. But as Brady put it, the underlying question for many teachers and students was “whether or not Mt. Edgecumbe is even needed anymore, at all.”

Brady is a social studies teacher and she said her first reaction was denial. “Even as a government teacher who should have been more aware of the possibility that state revenue that’s so dependent on oil would decrease, that this school might not exist forever never occurred to me. I’ll confess that my second – because it’s like a second home to me – my second reaction was anger.

Brady took to the Friends of Mt. Edgecumbe Facebook page, which has almost 1000 followers. A network of alumni around the state began making phone calls, writing letters to legislators, and uploading photos of themselves with Braves sweatshirts and hats. Their colors are maroon and gold. Brady said it was a springboard point for lessons in her class, to “kind of show students how the government works and how the budget process works.”

“Underclassmen who definitely knew they wanted to continue their education at Mt. Edgecumbe were very worried at that time,” said Brady. “I think this just sort of validated what we’ve been telling them. That it’s not  not an inalienable right for Mt. Edgecumbe to exist. In fact, we  live in a fishbowl with people always trying to see whether Mt. Edgecumbe is doing the job it’s kept open in order to do.”

And according to the administration, what the school is trying to do is provide an educational alternative for students around the state, some in rural places with less opportunities. Ayla Reynolds is a new student I met at the beginning of the school year. She’s from Savoonga, an island in the Bering Sea.

“It’s a big world out there. There’s a lot of stuff to do than stay at home on an island,” said Reynolds. “It’s the same old routine every day on an island. I couldn’t envision how it was going to be [at Mt. Edgecumbe] because it’s a new adventure.”

Superintendent Bill Hutton said he’s relieved the funding will continue, but with one major hitch: it may not be enough this year to cover the rising cost of operating the boarding school. Contracts for dorms and food service, as well as personnel costs, are up.

“And with flat funding – flat sounds like it’s perfect, but really we have incremental increases in expenditures,” said Hutton. “We have to cut in order to be prepared for those.”

Also of major concern for Hutton is how much money the school receives from the legislature per student enrolled. The legislature proposed a cut of 1.1% to the foundation funding, which translates into $46,000 less for Mt. Edgecumbe. If that figure survives the special session, it will leave the school — and likely many others — with  a deficit.

“As of right now, we’re about $220,000 short for next year,” said Hutton. The school’s annual budget is $10 million, with 45% coming from the legislature, 45% from the EED, and 10% from grants.

To prepare, Hutton is planning to purchases a minimum of school supplies, reduce travel for student activities, reduce dual-credit programs with the University of Alaska Southeast, and keep two and a half open teaching positions empty.  But much is up in the air.

Hutton’s experience speaks to the odd situation many superintendents are finding themselves in as their await the final budget: to plan for a financial future with a foggy crystal ball.

The state-run boarding school came under the microscope last week (2-18-15) when Wasilla Republican Lynn Gattis called a hearing to consider whether the state might save money by closing the school, or transferring it to the Sitka School District. Gattis chairs the House Finance Subcommittee on Education & Early Development.

Mt. Edgecumbe enrolls more than 400 students from around the state, many from rural villages. About 80% of the student body is Alaska Native.

But after the Department of Education’s Heidi Teschner told the committee that it would actually cost more to educate students in their home districts than at Mt. Edgecumbe, Gattis said she was satisfied.

At the subcommittee’s final meeting on Tuesday (2-24-15), Gattis told Southeast representatives that she wasn’t targeting the school.

“This wasn’t easy for any of us,” she said. “As we processed through Mt. Edgecumbe High School, I know that it was tough, we only had one high school that was under this department. So it wasn’t easy for any of you folks, and I do feel for the folks from Southeast. It may have felt that we were looking specifically at your schools, and that’s not so. Other representatives throughout Alaska have taken hits, and we tried to do it as equalized as we could.”

“This is going to be a tough year,” she added.

The subcommittee left the school’s funding untouched at the levels proposed by Governor Bill Walker. The governor’s budget sets aside $10.8 million for the school in fiscal year 2016. That’s slightly higher than its 2015 funding.

That recommendation will now go before the full House Finance Committee.

Mt. Edgecumbe students Candace Schaak and Jerry Active cheer for the Braves during the Region V Basketball tournament in 2010. (KCAW photo/Ed Ronco)

Mt. Edgecumbe High School went under the microscope for the second time in two weeks, as legislators look for ways to reduce state spending.

The state-run boarding school in Sitka was the subject of an hour-long hearing in the Education Finance Subcommittee of the House on Tuesday evening (2-18-15). The subcommittee heard testimony from officials with the state Department of Education, who took pains to demonstrate that Mt. Edgecumbe is an important choice for Alaska’s students — and a significant bargain.

Downloadable audio.

Wasilla Republican Lynn Gattis chairs the House Finance Subcommittee on Education. She didn’t schedule the hearing to sing the praises of Mt. Edgecumbe. She wanted hard data.

“Certainly there’s a lot of emotion involved in this — and I know it’s a great school. That goes without saying. I’ve heard a lot of stories. I know a lot of people personally who’ve graduated from Mt. Edgecumbe. My point in the exposure and what we look at is not whether it’s a good school, but how much it costs, whether it can be replicated elsewhere, how it came to be, what it is now, what students go there, and so forth.”

Department of Education deputy commissioner Les Morse explained that Mt. Edgecumbe began as a Bureau of Indian Affairs school in 1947, built on the former Naval Air Station in Sitka. The BIA closed the school in 1983. It was reopened by the state two years later.

“Because there was a high demand for that type of a boarding facility that created a comprehensive program for students, as a choice in some cases. And that comprehensive program could fulfill academic needs of certain students, maybe the social/emotional needs of certain students, and activity needs.”

Morse said that demand has been sustained. Mt. Edgecumbe’s enrollment has doubled since the 1990s — with a spike in 2005 when the administration of then-Governor Frank Murkowski decided to expand the school. Mt. Edgecumbe now enrolls over 400 students. Last fall, 360 students applied for 176 openings.

Mt. Edgecumbe scores applicants on 10 criteria — only one of which is the availability of a local high school. Those applicants without a local high school are weighted more heavily in favor of acceptance. The state statute is specifically non-discriminatory, in either ethnicity or geographic location.

Rep. Gattis explored this idea further.

“I understand the kids from Kongiganak, Kotlik, and Koyuk, and so on, but Sitka has its own high school. I guess that is my question: You have 34 kids from Sitka. What puts them at the top of the pile, that they wouldn’t go to their own home high school?”

Rep. Gattis posed her question to Mt. Edgecumbe superintendent Bill Hutton, who appeared telephonically. He said local attendance was highly variable.

Hutton — There’s room in the classrooms, but not in the beds. We’re trying to get as many students as we can, and that’s what happens if they want to come.
Rep. Gattis — It totally makes sense that you have students not boarding there, but just coming for the day from Sitka. Of course, it takes away from the Sitka Schools, but I tend to be a very pro-choice person — so the kids have chosen to go to that school, and I understand that.

Juneau Rep. Sam Kito added that Mt. Edgecumbe enrolled 46 students from Anchorage, as well as students from Palmer and Wasilla, Bethel, and Nome.

While 80-percent of Mt. Edgecumbe’s students are Alaska Native, Rep. Gattis acknowledged that its scope was statewide.

“What I’m hearing you say is that this is a school for Alaskans — not necessarily Alaska Natives. But all Alaskans have the same level of opportunity depending on where they come from.”

The subcommittee also asked questions about the science and engineering programs offered at Mt. Edgecumbe, and whether those programs were duplicated in other public schools. Mt. Edgecumbe boasts a staggering graduation rate — nearly 98-percent — and high test scores. Deputy Commissioner Morse said this was a benefit of “a captive audience.”

But mainly, subcommittee members were interested in costs. Mt. Edgecumbe is budgeted at $10.8-million, but it’s a combination of per-student funding, inter-agency funding, and state and federal grants.

Heidi Teshner, the director of administrative services for the Department of Education, broke down the costs for the chair.

Teshner – It would cost approximately $2.3-million more for the state if all these kids went back to their home districts. That’s not exact science, but a rough estimate.
Rep. Gattis – I think that was probably the most important answer to the question that we had last subcommittee.

Mt. Edgecumbe isn’t the only residential program in the state. The three other major schools are in Galena, Lower Kuskokwim, and Nenana. But Teshner told the committee that Mt. Edgecumbe is the least expensive — about $10,000 less per student over the school year — based on state aid and residential schools funding.

Teshner — Does anyone have questions on those two comparisons?
Rep. Gattis — No, that was probably the biggest answer, like I said.

The Subcommittee on Education did not adopt any formal recommendation on the future of Mt. Edgecumbe during this hearing. Before moving on to other topics, Chairperson Gattis asked Mt. Edgecumbe superintendent Bill Hutton straight up: Could this school be absorbed by the Sitka district?

Hutton replied, “To maintain this same level of opportunity for students — as much money as we’re spending this year — it’s going to cost somebody that money.”