Haines superintendent Roy Getchell and the district school board made a plea for more funding at a joint assembly and school board meeting Tuesday night, saying that the district’s finances were at a “make or break point” for the upcoming year.
The interim borough manager’s proposed budget for the upcoming year includes a $270,000 increase to school district funding over last year, short of the $540,000 increase the district requested.
Getchell emphasized Tuesday that the requested increase is needed to maintain the status quo. As the school’s budget draft stands, there are no increases to staff salaries. And if extra funding were to materialize, Getchell said it would likely go towards restoring full-staffing levels, with the school currently short on office staff, lunch-room aides, and paraeducators.
District officials lay responsibility for the current funding crunch at the feet of the governor and state legislators, rather than borough officials. Getchell said that the state “had not lived up to their obligation” to fund public schools, as is laid out in the state constitution.
School board member Michael Wald also struck a conciliatory tone addressing the assembly. “We come to you guys, hat in hand at this point, and say we’re about to be under water and we need your help,” said Wald. “We’ve pared things down as far as we can and advocated with the state as far as we can. This is a genuine request to do what you can to make our budget whole.”
The state’s per-student allocation has decreased 26% since 2011 when adjusted for inflation. The state legislature has made repeated efforts to increase that funding, only to be blocked by Governor Mike Dunleavy. Just last month, the legislature passed a bill raising per-student funding by $1,000 that was then vetoed by the governor. A new bill proposing a smaller $700 increase currently awaits the governor’s signature.
Getchell has previously said that without a per-student increase or one-time state funding boost, the district would face an $880,000 shortfall next year. Getchell said Tuesday night that if the $700 increase were to pass, the shortfall would be about $400,000.
While district officials were eager to show appreciation to the assembly, Getchell did point out that the borough’s school funding levels have also stagnated in recent years. In 2020, the borough funded the district to 86% of the allowed maximum. This year’s proposal would be 79%.
The district will be renegotiating its contract with the teacher’s union next year, which Getchell said was an even greater imperative for additional funding. “We want to be looking at not digging a hole so we can renegotiate higher salaries [next year],” Getchell said.
He told the assembly last month that raising teacher salaries is an area of emphasis for the district as making those salaries more competitive with states in the Lower 48 would address teacher recruitment and retention problems.
Assembly members expressed appreciation for Getchell and other school district staff, but gave little indication of whether or not they would meet the funding ask during upcoming budget hearings. One exception to that was assembly member Mark Smith, who said he thought much of the funding gap could be closed by repurposing “discretionary spending” elsewhere in the budget.
Assembly member Gabe Thomas also spoke to the need for school funding, saying that school cuts would lead to more families leaving the Chilkat Valley.