Ketchikan’s borough assembly on Monday approved about $2.4 million for the school district to spend in the coming school year.
The vote provides funding for several teachers, special education paraprofessionals, and the district’s athletics and activities programs. Prior to the approval, the district had not budgeted any money for those extra-curricular activities.
School Board President Stephen Bradford said he’s very pleased the borough approved the funding, because practices are about to start.
“We have some athletic teams that begin practice on [July] 27th,” he said. “So you know, those coaches would like to know if there’s funding.”
For months, the district had been bracing for severe cuts, based on its cautious assumption of no new state funding. But the district also budgeted for more money than was initially approved by the borough assembly.
Back in May, the district delivered more than 50 layoff notifications to teachers and administrators, many of which were quickly called back after the borough approved more funding.
Then in late June, Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed a one-time state funding increase. But until Monday night, the district was still waiting on the borough to sign off on the full amount of local funding they’d requested.
With the combined state and borough money, Bradford said they’re able to avoid virtually all teacher layoffs. But they are still downsizing.
“We are still eliminating, oh, two dozen positions probably, district-wide,” Bradford said. “And we’re doing that by not making some new hires that we had hoped to make and by allowing some attrition retirements and teachers who have left the district.”
Bradford said those reductions are largely due to declining enrollment.
The district is not immediately acting on this new funding approval, because Borough Mayor Rodney Dial has indicated he may veto the assembly’s vote due to an accounting concern. As of Wednesday afternoon, Dial had not yet issued a veto.
