At a special meeting tonight, Nome’s Board of Education is scheduled to finalize its 2016 budget. Anticipating a tremendous loss in state funding, Nome Public Schools expects to make difficult cuts over the next several years.
Last week’s budget work session was somber, as the board weighed how far they felt comfortable dipping into the general fund versus what reductions the district could bear. NPS has already lost $208,000 in previously promised one-time funding, and the $200,000 Pre-Kindergarten grant. But the state’s proposed 4.1 percent cut to the Base Student Allocation, a formula that calculates how much the state spends per student, is still being hotly debated in Juneau. It would amount to axing an additional $320,000 from the district’s 2016 budget.
Superintendent Shawn Arnold says he’s trying to avoid staffing reductions that many schools in the state are looking into.
“If the BSA isn’t restored, they’re looking at over 1,000 educator cuts around the state,” he said.
NPS has already offered contracts to staff for the coming academic year, but Arnold says, “If indeed next year is the best of the worst, we may not be able to at this time next year issue contracts to non-tenured staff.”
Board President Betsy Brennan says the district has already cut 5 full-time positions for next year, and there’s no “fluff” in the budget.
“We are at what we believe is a bare-bones skeleton crew right now with the one-time funding reduced and the 4.1 percent to the BSA cut, which is a bleak picture,” said Brennan. “But that’s also saying that we’re going to take almost $600,000 out of our savings to balance our budget.”
The general fund is about $1 million, so balancing the budget without further district cuts for next year would amount to slicing their savings account in half. That’s not a decision anyone on the board feels comfortable with.
However, Business Manager Paula Coffman says she still has to crunch the numbers for this fiscal year to see if any savings are notable. In the meantime, Superintendent Arnold and the board are seeking feedback from the community about their priorities when it comes to trimming resources from the district.
“Is athletics more important than teachers?” Arnold asked. “Transportation—do we need to look at a larger radius for the buses to save on a bus route? Increased class sizes—I mean, that’s not something I would recommend, but if that’s something that we’re willing [to do], larger class sizes in the high school in order to keep smaller class sizes in the elementary?”
The pool, which NPS shares a substantial maintenance cost for, slid onto the chopping block for board member Jennifer Reader.
“Closing that pool at $250,000 is looking pretty good right now! That’s a lot of money,” Reader said.
Board members also recommended examining the meal program, student travel, and grant-funded programs like JROTC for possible savings. But for Brennan, now is the time to utilize the general fund, while brainstorming cuts for the future.
“I’m willing to go into it a little bit more this year, because I know the next two years are going to be very scary. You know, we need to do what we’re talking about right now and make the hurt not as bad this year because it’s going to be really bad the next two years,” said Brennan. “Although obviously we can’t just use all our savings. But I think I am willing to try and get through this coming year without much blood and then go from there.”
Public attendance at board meetings has been lacking, and with painful cuts predicted for the next few years, the board wants to make sure the community realizes what’s at stake and voices their priorities as decisions are made. A public survey is available on the Nome Public Schools Facebook page.
The City of Nome needs the district’s finalized budget by Thursday, even if the legislature is still in session.
