The future of the Kenai Peninsula’s K-12 schools dominated discussion at a Soldotna town hall Friday. The event was held by the Kenai Peninsula Borough and Soldotna Republican Rep. Justin Ruffridge, and capped a trio of similar public outreach meetings hosted by the borough.
Although the evening kicked off with two wide-ranging presentations from Ruffridge and Borough Mayor Peter Micciche, education was the topic du jour. The discussion came days before the school board was set to vote on a spending plan that closes four schools, shutters pools, and eliminates library staff on top of other broad, deep cuts.
Both Ruffridge and Micciche say education funding is flawed at the state level.
Ruffridge is part of a group of lawmakers tasked with studying and making recommendations about how the state pays for education. The group toured a handful of central Kenai Peninsula schools last year. He has big plans for what that could look like.
“One that obviously would take an immense amount of work is to rewrite the foundation formula from its entirety,” Ruffridge said.
Ruffridge is referring to the formula the state uses to determine how much money school districts receive each year. The formula attempts to compensate districts fairly depending on their specific conditions – like how expensive the district is relative to Anchorage and how many students receive special education services, among other things.
The formula has caused some problems for the Kenai Peninsula this budget cycle. An uptick in the assessed value of Kenai Peninsula property shifted the burden of millions of dollars in school funding from the state to the borough.
Micciche says the borough can’t afford to pick up the extra cost. It’s part of why he doesn’t support giving the district the maximum funding allowable under state law. That amount is also called the cap. The assembly funded to the cap last year, but Micciche says it won’t happen again.
“We will not be funding to the cap,” Micciche said. “We have a very different assembly. We will not be funding to the cap.”
Ultimately, assembly members will determine school district funding, though Micciche has hinted at a possible veto. The borough budget isn’t due until June.
Among town hall attendees, the planned closure of the school district’s seven pools was a concern, as were opportunities for home-school families and maintenance of school facilities.
Will Hubler runs the pool at Kenai Central High School, and says he’s doing everything he can to try and keep it open for next school year.
“Since we're one of the highest drowning deaths for young kids in Alaska and with all our water, I just hate to see them close all seven pools,” Hubler said. “And I am willing to work with whatever you have.”
Micciche says there’s been some positive movement toward keeping certain pools open. Central Peninsula Hospital, for example, uses the pool at Skyview Middle School. But he says a recent failed service area vote in Ninilchik shows an unwillingness from some borough residents to pay higher taxes to keep pools open.
“I don’t think every pool makes it, but I think the primary pools will make it,” Micciche said.
Micciche and school district administration are meeting with the Soldotna City Council on Wednesday to talk about the planned closure of the Soldotna school pools.
Home-schooling is also another shared focus of Micciche and Ruffridge.
In Juneau, Ruffridge says he’s working to remove financial disincentives for home-school students, who are funded at a lesser rate than students who attend brick-and-mortar schools. And Micciche favors a more concentrated local effort to convince non-district home-school students to come back to the district.
“When 35% of your market share walks out the door, you should probably ask them why, and that has not happened,” Micciche said. “The only home-school parent meeting that has occurred in this area was one organized by me.”
Micciche estimates the district could recoup about $13 million if every student enrolled in a non-school district home-school program moved to the district. But he also empathized with some concerns raised by attendees who home-school, and says he’s thought about pulling his youngest child from the district.
In general, Micciche says he wants the borough and district to work together better, and move past a “us-and-them” mentality. He says the borough wants to help and has expertise the district can learn from, especially on business matters.
Ultimately, Ruffridge and Micciche say it’s important for constituents to weigh in on issues they care about. And Ruffridge says that means being part of solutions, too.
“We really need a lot of people that say, ‘Hey, this is a thing that we could do better,’” Ruffridge said. “And then your conversation to me starts a conversation with somebody else, and then hopefully, through that effort, we can, you know, move in a direction that we all think is something that we would like to see.”
The clock is ticking for state lawmakers to pass education policy this session, which runs through next month. The last day will mark the end of a two-year cycle that starts over in 2027.
Listen to Friday’s full town hall on our website.
