The Kenai Peninsula Board of Education Finance Committee met on Monday, Jan. 13, where discussions began on the reality of the district’s looming $17 million budget deficit.
According to Superintendent Clayton Holland, the Base Student Allocation–a term the public has become painfully familiar with over the last couple of years–would need an increase of approximately $1,000 for the district to see a meaningful bulk of that deficit offset.
“This year, with [the deficit] being close to 17 million and most of the fund reserves gone at this point, we will be looking at a BSA [increase] of $1,000 gets us to about $16 million dollars,” said Superintendent Holland. “They could get by with very minimal cuts with a $1,000 increase.”
Last year, the district faced a $13.7 million deficit.
Education funding dominated the 2024 legislative session in Juneau, and the state legislature initially passed a historic education bill that would have increased the BSA (money districts receive per student) by $680. However, that bill was vetoed by Governor Mike Dunleavy. An attempt to override the veto failed, and the legislature scrambled to provide a one-time, $175 million funding solution to districts across the state.
That amount equaled a one-year $680 boost, but it didn’t come until June, which was almost too late. Holland says the district needs the legislature to move more quickly on education funding this year.
“Part of the problem we have is last year, for instance, we got our budget on June 28th. The fiscal year starts in July. And so it leads to a lot of guessing and trying to make predictions, and all along, people having no idea what’s really going to happen. It’s pretty frustrating for people in the public. It’s frustrating for us, too,” said Holland.
Holland says that with the deficit and budget at their current levels, the district would have to consider “drastic measures” if no increase is provided.
One solution, which would cover about $6 million of the deficit, Holland says, is increasing the student-to-pupil ratio by five.
Holland added that school closures are likely to be a part of the conversation. “It’s going to have to be, I hate to say that,” he said. “I think some of those cuts that we’re looking at are not palatable in and of themselves. You know, when we started looking at a 1-to-40 ratio for staffing at a high school. It’s not good.”
The 2025 State Legislative session convenes next Tuesday, Jan. 21.
