The Haines Borough School District is at risk of losing $154,895 if school enrollment decreases as expected this fall.
Interim superintendent Rich Carlson said the school’s enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year is estimated at 233 students, down from 253 this year.
“A lot of it has to do with a fairly large senior class and a fairly small incoming kindergarten class,” Carlson said. Nineteen students are graduating this month. He added that several students left in the middle of the school year. “Enrollment goes through an ebb and flow. We’re in somewhat of a downward trend over the last 15 years, but this is an anomaly more than anything else,” Carlson said.
The borough school board reviewed the fiscal year 2019 budget at a workshop on May 9. The school projects a loss of $116,028 from the general fund at the end of the fiscal year in June 2019, bringing the total from $470,468 to $354,439. Carlson said this is mostly due to a loss of revenue from the state from decreased enrollment and an increase in expenditures for insurance. District insurance costs increased by 8 percent, which Carlson said “ripples through every line item” in the budget.
Also in next year’s budget, the district plans to decrease funding for legal services from $18,000 to $10,000. With superintendent turnover and a recent wood shop accident, Carlson said the district needed more legal advice, but “some of the legal issues that we’ve had are a thing of the past,” he said.
The district also saved about $23,000 by going out to bid for a much cheaper internet package, and $12,500 for new auditing services. The school’s new administrative structure, with the hire of a dean of students, will save the district about $10,000 a year.
“It’s a lean budget, but it’s a budget that’s doable,” Carlson said. The school board is expected to approve next year’s budget at a meeting on June 5.