Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education

The current landscape of school cell phone policies in Alaska is inconsistent – there are no statewide rules. And on the Kenai Peninsula, the policies can vary from school to school and, sometimes, from classroom to classroom.

There’s also transportation money and Maintenance of Equity funding allotted to the district. Gov. Mike Dunleavy could still veto either of those items, or the $175 million one-time boost.

The budget — which uses 100% of the district's unrestricted fund balance and still includes $7.8 million in cuts to staff and programs — was approved in an 8-1 vote Monday.

In a Monday finance committee meeting, Board of Education members created budgets that account for no increase to state funding, a modest increase, and a large increase. The full board will approve a preliminary budget in April.

The legislature failed to override Gov. Dunleavy's veto of a $680 per-student funding increase by just one vote. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will now craft a budget with no legislative funding increase in advance of a May 1 deadline to present a balanced budget.

The agreements include a 3.5% raise for teachers and a 6% raise for support staff. The parties chose a one-year extension, rather than a normal three-year contract, because of uncertainties about education funding.

The Board of Education's Information Committee met Thursday morning to discuss talking points and bills that are priorities to the district, including a Base Student Allocation increase. Board members and student representatives will travel to Juneau later this month.

The new ad hoc committee met Wednesday to divide up areas of research, including student attendance, cost implications, quality of life, union negotiations and community impact.

Senator Jesse Bjorkman and Representatives Ben Carpenter and Justin Ruffridge attended a discussion Monday, where Kenai Peninsula Borough School District board members discussed the district's legislative priorities, and heard from lawmakers about theirs.

In a finance committee meeting intended to inform the school board and public about different expenditures, members discussed the costs of extracurriculars, pools and theater techs. The school district is facing a large deficit for the second year in a row, and has warned of possible cuts.