NOME, Alaska — With state funding cuts looming, Nome Public Schools is preparing two budgets this year — one that assumes everything goes according to plan and another that predicts significant slashes for public education.
District CFO Lucienne Smith said the first budget is fairly standard. At $15.3 million, it’s nearly identical to this year’s budget, apart from increases in staff salaries and a slight trim to supply spending.
“Here’s our Plan A budget, and it’s balanced. But what happens if the legislature comes back and says we have to cut 10 percent across the state?” she said. “We should have a Plan B ready.”
Smith said she’s already drafting that contingency plan. She will present it to the school board at an upcoming meeting.
In the meantime, Superintendent Shawn Arnold said the board needs to think about long-term funding for JROTC at Nome-Beltz Jr/Sr High. Sitnasuak Native Corporation has funded all or most of the program for the last nine years. Arnold said the district should stop relying on donations that could dry up.
“Even in past years with significant contributions from Sitnasuak Native Corporation, we’ve still had to go into the [district’s] reserve funding,” he said. “This year, that might not even be an option.”
The district has submitted a JROTC funding request to the Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation, but Arnold said that decision won’t be made until May.
