KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Maggie Wall/KMXT
The Alaska Legislature continues to struggle to come up with a funding plan for the state’s education system. That has put a real wrench into plans for the local school budget.
Because of deadlines and timetables, the Kodiak Island Borough School District must present a budget for next year to the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly on Thursday. To meet the Thursday deadline, the school board had to approve its proposed Fiscal Year 2015 Budget at last night’s regular meeting.
So, how do you prepare a school budget in the range of $50 million when the bulk of your funding comes from the legislature and the legislature hasn’t yet figured out how much it will provide in funding?
The Answer: You base the budget on what you do know, pick a mid-range figure for what the state will provide, and you hope for the best.
The school board and borough assembly will meet in a special joint work session on Thursday. Hopefully, by then they will know what the legislature will fund so they can adjust the proposed budget based on actual figures.
The school board approved a $51 million budget for Fiscal Year 2015 which begins July 1.
The budget assumes the legislature increases the Base Student Allocation by $185, and it asks the borough for $522,000 more than the current year.
