The Haines Borough School District will likely see a funding boost from the legislature’s new budget, but may not know the final amount until after the next school year starts.
In recent months, superintendents across the state have advocated for more funding from the state, including Haines superintendent Lilly Boron, who called the situation “dire” while at the state legislature in Juneau in March.
The legislature’s approval of a new state budget last week included last-minute education funding increases on top of the annual amounts required by state law. In total, the additions are projected to add $374,000 of classroom funding to the Haines district this year, plus another $1.5 million specifically for maintenance to the Haines School.
On the classroom-funding side of things, the legislature voted to give districts a one-time funding boost. That was in lieu of a proposal to increase funding through the state’s statutory funding formula, which would’ve delivered larger funding amounts annually.
The one-time funding is split into two categories, one of which has been termed “energy relief.” That pot of money will reimburse schools for their annual average electricity and heating-oil costs over the last three years.
Haines’ state representative, Andi Story, was the original sponsor of the education package that included the energy relief. She said Tuesday the plan should deliver aid to districts disproportionately hit by rising energy costs following the outbreak of war in Iran.
“We hear of fixed costs that are incredible in some districts, of communities with 60% of their dollars going toward energy costs,” Story said. “Helping with energy costs will benefit rural areas significantly. As districts plan they know they can get help with energy costs, and they can spend those funds that would have been spent on fixed costs in the classroom instead.”
Alongside the so-called energy relief is a pot of general classroom funding going out to districts. Of the $374,000 of revenue to the Haines Borough School District’s budget for the upcoming school year, $79,000 is estimated to come from the energy relief side, and the other $293,000 from the more general payment.
District leaders, however, are not yet counting on the full amount coming through.
The funding has been tied by the legislature to the price of Alaska-produced oil, currently high alongside global energy prices, and filling state coffers with extra revenue.
Boron said Tuesday she’s been told the terms are that if North Slope oil prices stay above $80 a barrel through June 30, the funding will come through. If not, the amount may be less.
And on top of that, the budget still needs to be signed into law by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who has the power to veto any line-item spending, including potentially the education funding, which he has vetoed in each of the last two years.
Boron said she expects to know exactly how much state funding to count on, and the details of how it can be spent, by the end of August. But at that point, the upcoming school year will already be in full-swing. The school board must meet next week to approve the school’s final budget for the year, even though there’s no final number on revenue set in stone.
“I don’t want to budget for something that doesn’t ultimately come,” Boron said. “If we get that money then yes, it will help us with our programs. But we simply can’t count on it until we get it.”
According to Boron, the funding does have to arrive — if not this year, then soon. In collective bargaining negotiations, the district agreed to a 5% salary and wage increase for staff this year, followed by a 4% and 3% increase the next two years.
“This one-time funding would be extremely helpful, and the borough has been very supportive, which I appreciate,” Boron said. “But the increases we’ve promised in negotiations, we need to see state support for that.”
Amid the uncertainty, there are some positive signs for districts counting on the money. For one, North Slope oil prices have remained consistently over $110 a barrel for the last month.
And Story this week indicated that there’s reason to believe the funding will avoid a governor’s veto — the other potential stumbling block.
“One of the reasons we were looking at a one-time increase was because it was something the governor said he would be supportive of,” she said.
School repair projects funded
As legislators have built their plan this year to put extra revenue towards education, there’s been a question of what type of education funding hike would be adopted. On the one hand, districts like Haines have repeatedly asked the state to keep pace with inflation on classroom funding — the type of funding that can, for instance, go toward teacher salaries.
But there are also dire needs in the state for capital funding to maintain physical school buildings, addressing issues like black mold, collapsing roofs and sewage backups.
To that end, the legislature added $83 million of school capital funding to its budget — money that was not in the governor’s original budget proposal.
Some of that is headed to Haines. Pending approval by the governor, the budget dedicates $865,000 for Haines School locker room repairs and $623,000 for Haines School roof repairs.
The roof repairs have already been completed and the $623,000 will reimburse the borough for some of the project’s cost, Boron said.
The locker room repairs have long been planned but have not been funded, or started. The state funding this year represents a significant portion of what is estimated to be a nearly $1.3 million project. The borough’s capital plan proposes spending on a design for the project next year.
Spending for those types of major maintenance projects ordinarily comes from the borough’s budget, not the school district’s, so the capital funding won’t directly bolster school district revenue.
The road ahead
Haines district officials have long said state funding must increase to keep pace with inflation. They’ve also been consistent in saying that if funding does increase, the priority will be salaries, which they say must rise in order to recruit and retain staff.
The school is losing 11 of its staff members from the current school year, and has so far replaced seven of them. The remaining open positions are a kindergarten teacher and two special education teachers, Boron said. The district, however, can run their special education program, even if the positions remain unfilled, through a combination of remote contractors and paraeducators working under a certified teacher. That system “allows (the district) to remain in compliance and provide services for students,” Boron said.
The political odds of increased school funding may also change next year with a new governor in office. Dunleavy, who is term-limited and will leave office this year, has vetoed major education funding increases passed by the legislature in both 2024 and 2025.
Story, who chairs the House Education Committee, plans to continue an education policy push if reelected this fall. One of her proposals would deliver schools a definite funding amount from the state before school budgeting season, which she says would address the current budget-timeline mismatch.
That bill gained traction in committee hearings this year but failed to pass.