The Ketchikan School District seal on display at the superintendent’s office. (KRBD file photo by Leila Kheiry)
Ketchikan’s school board is set to hold its first public hearing Wednesday on next year’s budget.
It’s just shy of 1% larger than the current year’s $41.1 million budget. That’s despite a projected quarter-million-dollar cut in local education funding that district officials hope to make up through an increase in state aid.
School district officials say they don’t anticipate layoffs. And spending on personnel is planned to rise by about $1 million to roughly $36.5 million. In a memo to the school board, the district’s business manager, Katie Parrott, says the budget aims to preserve core education programming.
But Parrott cautions that many items sought by school administrators won’t be included in the budget.
The district proposes cutting about $200,000 in supplies, services and equipment. That would reduce the amount of money available for things like student travel and teaching materials and media, the latter of which would be cut by about 8%.
Ketchikan’s school board is set to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Borough Assembly Chambers in the White Cliff Building. The meeting is open to the public, and it’s also broadcast on local cable channels and live-streamed at the borough’s website. Public comment will be heard during the meeting.
