The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District released their preliminary Fiscal Year 2017 budget on February 1, which details potentially 35 full-time employee positions being cut.
District Spokeswoman Pegge Erkeneff says there will be positions eliminated in the upcoming year, some because of a decline in enrollment and others because of the District’s budget gap.
Erkeneff: ” So one of the things is to date, we’ve had reductions in building this budget of over $3.1 million and it’s possible that more reductions might be necessary based on what comes out in the final budget to the state and how that’s effective in the borough. But specific to our employees, we are looking at, between our schools and District office reductions, 35 full-time employees. And our preliminary budget that’s out right now reflects the reductions of the salary and benefits of those positions.”
A memo by Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones to the School Board shows the positions on the chopping block include teaching positions, support staff, and administration.
The preliminary budget estimate for Fiscal Year 2017 is $138,327,000 with estimated revenues coming $284,000 short, which would need to come from the district’s fund balance.
Those numbers do not include the $50 Base Student Allocation amount that Governor Bill Walker left in his proposed budget that was submitted to the legislature in December.
Erkeneff says that budget is working its way through the State House and the District is waiting to see if the BSA remains in the budget once it makes it through the Senate.
She urges the public and community members to join in the development of the District’s budget by attending one of the public meetings about it scheduled for next week.
