Davis Hovey: Brian, you’ve been following all of the closure discussions pretty closely – what’s going on?
Brian Venua: The gist is that the Kodiak Island Borough School District is going to be short $8 million in its budget for next year and its Board of Education is looking at some drastic measures.
That includes asking the superintendent, Cyndy Mika, to research what closing a school could look like. Public discussion was opened early this month, and both the board and district staff have been flooded with comments.
The board originally slated this past Monday (Jan. 21) to vote on its decision, but now is holding a special meeting on Wednesday (Jan. 23) instead.
DH: It seems there’s been a lot of back and forth – what schools have been on the chopping block? Is there one that seems more likely than others?
BV: It’s pretty complicated. The superintendent has considered closing each of the four elementary schools near town and even Kodiak Middle School at one point or another.
Back in December, Mika was looking at Main and North Star because those two have the fewest classrooms. A lot of rumors started to swirl around Main, but when it came to the first board work session about closures on Jan. 7th, she recommended closing North Star or Peterson. North Star because it had the fewest students that lived near the building, and Peterson partly because it’s the oldest facility.
Right before a town hall meeting with the board, the superintendent recommended taking Peterson off the chopping block again. A few days later, East Elementary was suggested in part because of maintenance costs.
The recommendations have changed around a lot. But, at the meeting on the 21st, it sounded like the likely outcome could be closing North Star as a school, but keeping the building as part of the district as a sort of community center or office space.
Board members could also change their minds again, and do something completely different at the special meeting.
DH: You mentioned earlier the district is facing a pretty huge deficit – what happened? How did we get here?
BV: It’s a huge budget cliff that’s been a long time coming. Gov. Mike Dunleavy hasn’t been on the same page on education funding with Alaska lawmakers in years – the last major increase for education funds was in 2017. There’s been one-time funding boosts, but the fact is the district can’t count on those every year. Even in 2023, Dunleavy cut a one-time funding boost in half.
That’s on top of the district serving fewer students. The student count has been shrinking for years, so staff are predicting that pattern will continue, which means less funding from the state again.
Some people have said that the district should have fewer staff to account for that. It’s important to note it cut $4 million last year for its current budget, too. A lot of that was made up by eliminating positions after people quit or retired.
The superintendent says she’s trying her best to avoid layoffs, but some people will likely be offered different jobs.
DH: I’ve seen a lot of people talk about stratification too. What is stratification, and how could it help the district with the hole it’s in?
BV: All of Kodiak’s elementary schools currently teach kids from kindergarten through fifth grade. If they’re stratified, that basically means that students in lower grades will all be in one school, with upper grades in another.
It’s hard to say what grade the schools will split on, but the idea is that teachers at the same grade levels will be more able to work together. Instead of having one kindergarten teacher in one school and two in another, all three would be in the same building.
It also makes it easier to increase class sizes and reduce the amount of teachers the district might need at a single grade level.
DH: How much would closing a school or stratification even save? What’s the plan for the building if the board votes to close a school?
BV: If the district went through with the superintendent’s initial recommendation? to close North Star while stratifying East and Main, it could save up to about $2.8 million.
If they go through with the board’s plan from its last meeting, the district would have to rent North Star from the borough and wouldn’t save as much.
It might be a good compromise since a lot of people are very passionate about keeping the building somewhat accessible since it is the newest elementary school, even though its roof needs work.
DH: What should people expect at the next special meeting?
BV: Pretty much all of the meetings since discussions started have run about three hours or longer, and I’d expect about the same out of this one, too. A lot of people are passionate about education and want to keep schools open.
The board and staff wish they could keep all of the schools open, too, but I’m expecting them to decide to close one next school year for financial reasons.
There is a lot of energy in Juneau right now as the Legislative session starts that could get the school district more money from the state. Kodiak’s representatives seem to think so at least, but the consensus is that it’s too late to save a school now.
