Ten Million Plus Budget Adopted by School Board

Ten Million Plus Budget Adopted by School Board

By Julie M. Morgan
Star Reporter

SCHOOL BOARD--After little discussion, The Valdez School Board voted unanimously to approve the $10.9 million budget for FY06 during their hour long meeting on Monday night.

The budget, the highest in Valdez City Schools history, is currently $1.3 million more than the FY05 budget. It is based on district wide student enrollment of 800. Student enrollment is down 4.19 percent from this year's student count of 835 and still further reduced from the previous year's count of 864. TERS, the Teacher Retirement System, is blamed for a huge chunk in the increased budget despite lower enrollment projections. The state passed on a huge deficit in the system to local municipalities to make up the shortage, with the caveat that the burden could not be passed onto employees, leaving local governments to deal solely with the burden.

According to the budget, state contributions per child are currently unknown. The district has budgeted $3.9 million at an estimated $4576 per student, but expect to get additional funding from House Bill 1, which will raise the base student allocation. The Alaska State 24th legislature will end their current session on May 10.

The district will ask the city for $6.1 million, the maximum contribution, when the school board presents the budget to the city at a May 2nd meeting.

The district has made a prioritized "wish list" should additional funding become available. Topping the list is funding a budget for assigning of a grant writer to an existing administration position. Technology made the list figuring 3rd and 4th in the list. Plans are to upgrade existing computer technology in the high school lab instead of replacing individual units costing as much as $60,000 for the new system and build a new student information system for $70,000.

Other Sources of revenue include receiving $250,000 from the Federal and local lunch programs, $20,000 from interest earned on reserves and excess funds held throughout the year and $23,500 from doubled activity fees from Gilson Junior High and Valdez High Schools.

The district plans to make several revisions to the budget should the additional funding come through after the end of the current legislation session.