On the Kenai Peninsula and around Alaska, school districts are closing schools as a way to save money. Last year, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District shuttered the K-12 school in Nikolaevsk, and this year four more buildings are on the chopping block. But closing a school means a lot more than shutting the doors – for the district and the school community.
The gym floors creaked as more than 50 parents, students and staff filed into Sterling Elementary School’s gym Wednesday night. Signs on the red-striped walls explain the difference between “inside” and “outside” voices, and offer motivational encouragement like “Yes You Can!”
During the school day, the gym bustles with students taking physical education and eating lunch. But that night, the tone was solemn. It was the setting for the third of four public meetings the district is holding at schools the board is proposing to close to save money.
The district is forecasting a roughly $8.5 million budget shortfall if it wants to offer status quo staffing and programs next year. That has the board mulling broad and deep cuts.
Superintendent Clayton Holland opened the discussion with a recognition that the district and school are in a tough place, and with a call for input from attendees that he can share with school board members as it prepares to vote on budget cuts.
“I value the school. This is not the place I want to be here right now tonight. So I understand frustrations associated with this, but I'm here to hear you, and then I can take back what I can.”
It’s the second year in a row Sterling Elementary has been put on the chopping block. A boost in state education funding saved the school last year. Superintendent Clayton Holland says they consider several factors before proposing a school for closure. Those include enrollment trends, building vacancy and location relative to other schools.
And in Sterling, the conditions are just right. Holland shared a chart that shows enrollment at the K-6 school dropping over the last five years; the school is running at less than half capacity. It’s only ten-and-a-half miles away from the elementary school in Soldotna. And there are hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of deferred maintenance at the building.
But attendees say the community’s loss isn’t worth the district’s estimated cost savings. Current Sterling Elementary students would merge with Soldotna Elementary School, in a building proposed for reconstruction in a school maintenance bond passed several years ago. Soldotna Montessori Charter School also shares the building.
Attendees said they’re worried about bigger class sizes and poorer building conditions. And many expressed concerns about longer bus rides to and from Soldotna. The farthest student would spend 30 minutes more riding the bus, each way.
Arianna Jicha is a Sterling Elementary alum who now goes to Skyview Middle School. She doesn’t want her old school to close, and says she thinks she knows more than some of her classmates due to the education she received at Sterling.
“It’s not putting the kids first. It’s putting other things first. And there’s other budget cuts that could be made than closing schools in small communities.”
Bus rides are a common theme among school closure conversations on the Kenai Peninsula. Holland said that’s because the district’s 42 schools are so spread out – across a borough the size of West Virginia. And it’s expensive to add more school buses – the district estimates each one costs over $100,000. And the district’s already trimmed routes to save money.
The district estimates it will save about $700,000 the first year after closing Sterling Elementary. But those savings decrease over time because of a section of state law that incentivizes many small schools over a few large ones. And once the building is closed, it cannot reopen for at least seven years. The Kenai Peninsula Borough is trying to change that seven-year rule.
It’s unclear what would happen to the Sterling Elementary building if it closes. In addition to classes, the school also hosts Native Youth Olympics and the Sterling Judo Club, of which Holland and Jicha both are members. The fate of those programs is unclear, too.
Wednesday’s meeting in Sterling capped similar events in Seward, where the district is considering closing the middle school, and in Kasilof, where Tustumena Elementary is at risk. The district is also holding a meeting with River City Academy early next month.
Holland says the board will vote on school closures at its April 6 meeting in Homer.
