The Bering Strait School District board approved its fiscal year 2027 budget during a special session Tuesday. The budget includes deep cuts to staff and activities. The district says it hopes to retroactively fund the line items in the future.
The budget includes $81.79 million in expenses, leaving a surplus of roughly $1.19 million. The district has run a deficit for the last several years, which drew down its cash reserves. The district’s Business Manager, Tammy Stromberg, told the board that rebuilding the reserves, which pay for day-to-day school operations, is now essential to keeping the district’s cash flow stable.
“This brings us to the point where we have a deficit, a fund balance that is getting too low, so we need to find a way to reduce our expenditures and still provide the things that the communities, the children need and want, as well as fulfill our mission as a district," Stromberg explained. "In order to make our expenditures fit within our existing revenue, we had to make cuts, and this was not an easy process.”
She said the base student allocation – the dollar amount the district gets from the state for each student – has not kept up with inflation while district spending has not slowed down. Stromberg told the board the district has also been squeezed by declining enrollment, which reduces the total funding it gets from the state.
The new budget eliminates 21 teaching positions. It also cuts $688,000 for staff and student travel, including for wrestling and cross country, while preserving funds for basketball, volleyball and Native Youth Olympics. Stromberg said she hopes the funding can be restored with help from local orgs or state funding down the line.
“So this is a budget that is meant to be revised, we'll be monitoring it carefully throughout the year, and bringing back anything that is going to require adjustment by board action,” Stromberg said.
The budget reduces maintenance personnel days and educational technology and business office hours to cut an additional $370,000. The budget also trims the site supply budgets by $150,000.
The deep cuts come as the district, along with school districts across Alaska, wait to find out how much they will receive in one‑time funding tied to high oil prices. Lawmakers authorized up to $115 million statewide through House Bill 263’s “waterfall” mechanism, but the exact amount depends on how much oil revenue actually materializes this year. The state revenue commissioner won’t certify that figure until late August, a few days after BSSD reconvenes for the new school year.
Board Treasurer Willow Olson said the district has to be cautious until the state confirms how much of that oil‑surplus funding will arrive later this summer.
“We are not like we don't have tons of extra money, and we can't be going on spending space,” Olson said. “But I believe with the numbers presented by Ms. Stromberg, and I'm very confident and feel good with her numbers, I think we will be okay.”
The special board meeting came just a day before the district’s final budget was due to the state.
