The Haines Borough school board on Tuesday looked at ways of reducing a $283,000 projected deficit in its draft operating budget for the coming year.
Members identified a half-dozen options for bridging the gap during a three-hour workshop on its $4.6 million spending plan.
They included cutting half of district travel ($24,000), delaying the upgrading of computers ($35,000), reducing a bookkeeping position ($20,000), and eliminating a support staff and a teacher’s aide position ($80,000).
But other identified sources of savings would come from changes to employee insurance and pay, and most of those are subject to upcoming negotiations with employee unions. Board members at Tuesday’s meeting weren’t confident that employees would be willing to make many concessions.
“I really don’t think the teachers are going to agree to hold firm (to previous years’ compensation agreements),” board chair Anne Marie Palmieri said.
After the meeting, Palmieri said teachers last year received a pay stipend. “The teachers have indicated they want to see an increase in their salary schedule and not a one-time stipend. They’ve been very clear about that.”
Talks between the district and the union are scheduled for April 7 and April 14. Total district salaries – not including benefits – account for half of the district budget. The next board budget workshop is 7 p.m. April 15.
Figures presented Tuesday included about $370,000 in reduced state funding, including from a drop in enrollment, plus about $50,000 less from the Haines Borough. The borough’s contribution is listed as $1.7 million, or 80 percent of its maximum contribution under state law. The state’s anticipated contribution is $2.61 million.
The district is doubling its Internet capacity. The cost of the service is increasing from $42,000 to $212,000 but, because the school will be reimbursed 80 percent of those costs instead of 50 percent last year, the increased cost to the district will be only about $20,000.
Superintendent Ginger Jewell told board members the Internet upgrade was necessary. “We get maxed out. I have to go away and do something else for 20 minutes and it unclogs itself,” she said.
Board member Sara Chapell suggested borrowing from reserves to cover the entire amount of the deficit, which would still leave the district $513,000 in the bank.
Jewell said anticipated staff raises would still need to come from the $513,000. Also, sources have told her that state funding “is not going to be any better next year.”
The state’s contribution to the budget is based on projected district enrollment of 252 students. The district currently has 268 students and historically underestimates how many new students are arriving.
Noting that the district typically underestimates the next year’s enrollment by about 15 students, Palmieri suggested it use an estimate of 260 students for next year.
Palmieri emphasized that the budget is still a draft and is fluid. “These are things that we’re just kicking around at this point. We’re evaluating our options.”