The Haines Borough School District will be seeking a larger borough contribution to schools this year. school board and borough assembly members meet jointly 7 p.m. Tuesday in the high school open area.
The borough last year contributed $1.9 million to the district’s $5.33 million budget.
Superintendent Michael Byer this week said he doesn’t know how much more he’ll be seeking from the borough, but he expects his budget will increase due to negotiation of a new contract with staff and increased energy costs. “We’d like to see an increase” in the contribution.
The last staff pay increase came in 2008. It raised base pay 3 percent and cost the district about $150,000.
Byer said it’s too early to estimate the cost of new contracts, but said Haines Education Association members have cited recent raises for borough employees of 3 percent, plus additional increases for select positions. “The HEA brought that up. They’re aware of those figures.”
Compared to recent years when the Alaska Legislature forward-funded schools, the district’s budget schedule will be delayed at least a month to determine state and borough funding levels, Byer said this week. He expects to submit a draft budget to the school board in April.
“I think we’ll know a lot more toward the end of March on what the state intends to do,” Byer said. “It’s difficult to budget without hard and fast numbers from the state and borough to work with.”
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has said he’d fully fund schools but has proposed no increase in the base student allocation, the amount the state appropriates per student, Byer said. The state last year contributed roughly $3.5 million to the school budget.
The school will see an increase in “area cost differential,” funding rural districts get to offset costs greater than those at urban schools, Byer said.
The cost of providing district health coverage also won’t be known until April or May, Byer said. Another big unknown is whether federal funding in lieu of timber receipts will continue after next school year. The funding was $368,000 of last year’s borough contribution.
New funding requests to the board this year include expanding open gym to a Sunday session and bringing back drivers’ education. Byer said he’d have the cost of the open gym session ready by next week. They include paying for an employee in the gym and one outside to monitor halls, as the state fire marshal’s office has prohibited an interior gate previously used to cordon off the gym.
The cost of more gym time should come from the borough, which funds Community Education, Byer said. “I don’t want to take general fund education money and put it toward Community Ed. That money should go to students.”
Drivers’ education would require a car with dual controls, as well as instructor time, he said. Byer said he expects the district would align its budget with priorities established in its recent strategic plan.
Because state funding won’t be known until later, requests for additions to the school board may not be decided until April or May, Byer said. “We have things knocking on our door, and they’re held in abeyance until we know our funding.”
In other school news, Byer said a bucket in the rafters was used to catch a leak in the school’s new gymnasium during the recent Triple Threat Tournament. The leak is at least the third one in the new school addition, he said. Two others were located near the school entrance and cafeteria.
The gym leak didn’t coincide with an ongoing leak problem over Byer’s office, he said.