Gov. Dunleavy making his budget announcement on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. The governor’s strategy of targeting cuts that could be covered by federal COVID-19 relief struck some legislators as risky. House Speaker Bryce Edgemon (I-Dillingham) responded, “From our initial understanding, federal funds can only be used for expenditures incurred due to COVID-19, not expenditures unrelated to the COVID-19 response. The governor’s vetoes gamble with vital programs like Medicaid, community assistance, school bond debt reimbursement, K-12 education, homeless grants, the Alaska Marine Highway System, public broadcasting, the university, and more. There is no guarantee that the federal government will pick up the tab. This approach is incredibly troubling to me.” (Image/Office of the Governor)

The governor’s veto of $30 million in education funding on Tuesday (4-7-20) has radically altered the budget picture for the Sitka School District.

The veto will cost Sitka’s schools an estimated $276,000 in lost revenues.

Note: The Sitka School Board will hold its next budget work session 6 P.M. Thursday, April 9. You can find the link to attend the meeting on the Sitka schools website.

Sitka superintendent Mary Wegner says the budget conversation in the district has now changed. She told KCAW “We didn’t assume we’d get it, but getting it meant that we didn’t have to cut.” Until Tuesday’s vetoes, the district was working on a budget deficit of only about $25,000.

Watch the Governor’s April 7, 2020, budget briefing.

The prospect of a year without a budget struggle meant a very light turnout for a public hearing before the Sitka School Board Monday evening (4-6-20). Only 20 people logged in to the remote meeting — about ⅓ the number of participants who had recently attended meetings to choose an interim superintendent.

And there was only one question from the public. From Roxann Gagner, the president of the Sitka Education Association.

Her question was then answered by board president Elias Erickson.

Gagner – I’m just wondering with the state of funding, and income, for the city — what kind of information have we gotten back on them for their desire to fully fund to the cap? I’m just curious whether that will actually happen.

Erickson – I know at this point they have voted to include full funding for the school district in their budget, and they have not made any changes to their FY21 budget since then. And so at this point, yes they’re still en route to carry that out, however I don’t believe the budget has been adopted in its final form yet. However there haven’t been any changes to that.

The Sitka Assembly on February 6 in fact did approve (6-1 with Richard Wein opposed) funding the school district to “the cap,” or the maximum allowed by state law. In Sitka’s case: $7.6 million dollars. But that was just a step along the path to producing a finished budget. Much has changed since then: first, a global pandemic and travel ban that will undermine the city’s revenue forecast for the summer visitor season, and now the governor’s vetoes. In addition to taking out the $30 million in direct funding for schools, Gov. Dunleavy on Tuesday vetoed $100 million in school bond debt reimbursement and $32 million in community assistance — cuts that will affect Sitka’s municipal budget by several hundred thousand dollars.

Sitka’s school teachers won’t get a pay raise next year.

The Sitka School Board on Wednesday (5-1-19) approved a new three-year contract with the Sitka Education Association that foregoes a pay raise next year, and includes relatively small raises in the two following years.

Both the district administration and teachers’ union say uncertainty over education was critical to the compromise, which is intended to keep more teachers in classrooms.

Among many other variables, negotiations with Sitka’s approximately 120 certified teachers have loomed over the district’s budget process for most of the year.

Superintendent Mary Wegner told the school board that negotiations were not especially adversarial.

“We have been negotiating since November,” she said. “And when we started we were pretty far apart on a lot of issues. But it was a healthy discussion that was incredibly productive. And what we have is an important document, a testament to our support for teachers, and the support we place on them.”

The three-year deal leaves the pay scale at current levels for next year, then bumps pay 1-and-a-quarter percent in the 2020-21 school year, and then 2 percent in the 21-22 school year.

The school board in April passed a budget that shrinks the district by eight positions. Further reductions could be possible, depending on the outcome of a political battle between Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who’d like to cut education funding by $300 million next year, and the legislature, which wants to see a far less drastic cut — or maybe no cut at all.

Sitka Education Association president Roxann Gagner says that the no-raise provision of the teacher’s contract was intended to offset some of the pressure on education funding.

“We were aware of what was happening at the state level — as hopefully everyone is,” said Gagner. “But when you are in a situation like our district is in of losing teachers, it’s awfully hard to tell the membership that money matters more than positions. If we’re advocating for smaller class sizes, we need more teachers in the district.”

The contract is similar to one approved by the SEA in 2016, which also had no pay raise in the first year, and then relatively modest increases over the next two years. A new teacher in the district in the 2019-2020 school year will earn the same pay they did this year: $49,600. Over three years that will climb to $51,224.

A veteran teacher with a Masters Degree and 15 years or more of experience will earn $79,225 during the first year of the contract, and $81,820 in the third.

Teachers who coach or supervise activities sign extra-duty contracts for compensation beyond the base pay scale.

Gagner has been a teacher at Blatchley Middle School for 17 years. She believes Sitka’s teachers are a good value.

“Teachers are always going back and getting more education. Our pay needs to recognize that we are professionals doing a professional job, and that the quality of education in Sitka is above standard in Alaska, and in a majority of the rest of the nation.”

The school board’s vote to approve the contract was unanimous. Member Eric Van Cise was absent.