KIBSD to slash $2 million from budget after Dunleavy’s education funding cut

The Kodiak Island Borough School District is figuring out how to cut about $2 million from its budget. That’s after the one-time education funding boost approved by the Alaska Legislature was slashed in half. Gov. Mike Dunleavy reduced the funding in his line-item vetoes on June 19. 

Cyndy Mika is the school district’s superintendent. She was on vacation in Texas when the news broke that she and the board will have to adjust their plans. 

“From the beginning, we heard ‘Pro education! Pro education!’ and so we felt comfortable creating our budget based on the budget bill,” Mika said. “And so it was a shock when we heard about the line item vetoes.” 

The Kodiak Island Borough School District had already prepared a budget that relied on that funding. 

Mika said she, the board, and district staff have been working nonstop all week to deal with the changes. The district has no plans to cut personnel and are instead primarily looking at shrinking the budget for supplies. 

“It’s disappointing for all the advocacy that we had going on – not only by those of us in the central office but also by our teachers and parents and even our students wrote letters,” she said. “Our legislation really came through for us in the one time funding, and we were really counting on that.” 

Mika said the school board is planning to pass a new budget on June 26. School districts must submit their budget by July 15.