As the Kenai Peninsula School District faces another year with a budget deficit, popular line items like school pools and theaters are back in the conversation. District administrators and board members have been outspoken about the impending deficit, and had a discussion about some aspects of the budget Tuesday.
The Board of Education’s finance committee considered three familiar sections of the budget in that early discussion. The purpose of the meeting was to inform the board and public about costs associated with different areas, and not to propose cuts.
But those three areas were extracurriculars, pools and theaters. Last year, when the district considered similar cuts while facing a $13 million deficit, a packed room of community members showed up in protest, and thousands signed a petition to keep pools open. Some one-time state funding and savings allowed the district to operate those services this year, but administrators have warnedthat the same problem already exists for the next fiscal year.
The extracurricular budget includes travel expenses, safety costs, stipends for athletic coaches and salaries for athletic directors. It totals more than $1.5 million.
Pool expenditures concern staffing costs for pool managers, without whom the pools would be unsafe to use. Salaries and benefits for those positions cost the district about $680 thousand, and there’s an added $200 thousand in utilities. Last year, when the district considered those same closures, it also began a discussion about transferring management of the pools — which are widely used by adults and community organizations outside the schools — to those communities.
“You’ll have very passionate people coming in asking that we don’t close the pools,” said Nikiski Board Member Jason Tauriainen. “So we did discuss breaking this cost off to the communities, but it’s going to take them forming a service area to be able to pay for it.”
KPBSD is the only district in the state that manages its own pools. There are seven across the peninsula. Some board members called for taking the next steps to transfer responsibility for the pools to cities or service areas.
The final item, theater technicians, costs the district an estimated $680 thousand.
Although these three categories are commonly on the chopping block, Superintendent Clayton Holland pointed out that they’re insignificant in the broader scope of necessary budget reductions. He said the board should look to the peer-to-teacher ratio, and how changes to that number could reduce payroll costs.
“That’s where the money is,” he said. “So this is a big chunk we’re looking at today, but it’s really a drop in the bucket compared to where we need to go.”
The board will continue its budget discussions as it approaches the next fiscal year. The full Board of Education meets next Monday at 6 p.m.
