The Kodiak Island Borough School District will decide in the next month whether or not to close an elementary school. The district faces an $8 million budget deficit on top of a $4 million reduction last year. That’s according to a letter from the district’s superintendent, Cyndy Mika.
She said drastic measures are one of the only ways to bridge the gap, and closing either Main or North Star Elementary could save the district around $3 million a year.
“How many maintenance tickets over the past few years have we had on those buildings and what do they cost?” Mika said. “And what are big items that might be coming up in those facilities?”
Mika will make her recommendation at the Board of Education’s work session on Jan. 7. The district will open a survey on its consolidation plan the next day and then hold a community town hall on Jan. 13.
The board will discuss the budget at its retreat on Jan. 16 before making a decision at its meeting on Jan. 20.
The superintendent acknowledged the short timeline in the letter, saying that the decision must “take place prior to other variables” like staff contracts. She said “A delay in the decision puts the district in a difficult position with retention and recruitment of qualified teachers.”
Mika said tenured teacher jobs are likely still safe, but administrative positions could be cut as part of the closure.
“We’re going to do what we can, but we need to stabilize our budget,” she said.
She said she’ll likely lay out some programming cuts at the meetings as well.
Kodiak would be the latest among several districts to close schools in recent years, joining districts in Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks. The cuts are partly due to declining enrollment and flat funding from the state government.
The Alaska Legislature has only approved one-time boosts to school funding since 2017, aside from a small increase for the Alaska Reads Act. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy cut the one-time funding approved last year from a draft budget he presented earlier this month.
Even if the state did increase its per-student education funding formula by hundreds of dollars, Mika said it still wouldn’t solve the district’s financial problems. She said she’s still going to advocate as hard as she can.
“I’m prepared to go to the Hill and speak. And also, any time the bills are up for public comments, I’ll be down at our legislative office here, standing in line to speak, give my three-minute testimony,” Mika said.
The Legislative Session starts on Jan. 21.
Editor's note: A previous version of this article stated the Legislative session started on Jan. 17, which was when it started in 2024. It has since been corrected.
