The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is anxiously awaiting for the legislature to pass the operating budget.
Public Information Officer Pegge Erkeneff said the biggest uncertainty is if the Senate’s Finance Committee’s proposed budget cuts stick or not.
Erkeneff: “Last fall we anticipated based on what happened at last year’s legislative session, what we would be at when we did our budget and we already heard later, earlier this year, that Governor Walker was eliminating $2.2 million in one time funding. That also reduced the local borough contribution to the district of half of almost $520,000.”
She said the district is fairly certain those will not be reinstated.
House Bill 72’s fate is also a big factor in the district’s budget.
Erkeneff: “There’s a proposal in there of a 4.1% reduction to the foundation formula and that would reduce the state contribution to our district alone and that’s $4.2 million but it also correlates to the local borough contribution of another million dollars. So what we’re waiting to hear, hopefully today, maybe tomorrow, is the equivalent of about over $5 million and that’s unanticipated and that’s already on top of a deficit budget.”
To give perspective, the amount of funding to be cut would equal the salary of 100 district employees.