More than 100 Ketchikan educators gathered Wednesday afternoon, wearing red t-shirts and holding picket signs that said “raise the BSA” and “fund our schools.”
The demonstration was part of a coordinated statewide action, an attempt to convince state legislators to raise the long-stagnant base student allocation, or per-student funding.
Sarah Campbell leads the Ketchikan Education Association and helped organize the event ahead of the School Board meeting later that night. She said the Board agrees with the need for more state funding.
“They support the BSA increase. We’re all on the same page. We all want the same thing,” Campbell said. “It’s just a matter of on the state level, can they pull it together? To then yes, agree upon a budget, and then will the governor also agree with the Legislature on how much to appropriate?”
There was a packed house at the School Board meeting, with four Board members and many community members in the audience wearing “Red for Ed” t-shirts. District staff presented a budget based on flat state funding. If per-student funding stays the same, the district is anticipating a budget deficit of roughly $6 million.
Daniel Schuler manages the district budget and said at the meeting that making up that deficit would require major cuts. Those could include the loss of as many as 45 full-time positions, plus funding for activities.
“It’s a document that certainly I would never want to, ever want to bring to a Board of Education,” Schuler said. “But it’s something that we’re forced to do.”
Ketchikan’s School Board voted to move forward with that drafted budget and will consider it again at a special meeting Tuesday, April 30, with the intent to bring it to the Borough Assembly for approval at their May 6 meeting.
Multiple board members encouraged constituents to contact their representatives and the governor to push for a BSA increase.
