District proposes school program cuts, sports fee increases

Anchorage schools superintendent Carol Comeau today is proposing significant cuts in next year's district budget, among them summer school for elementary students, interscholastic sports for middle-schoolers and graduation coaches for at-risk high school students.

More than 50 jobs -- most of them currently filled -- would be cut, said Comeau.

"I think it sends shock waves," Comeau said about the biggest cuts the district has faced in many years. "It's disruptive. ... This level of cuts is going to be very painful for our schools."

In addition to the cuts, the administration is recommending fee increases for everything from facility rentals to the student charge for participating in high school sports.

Based on expected flat funding from the state and a 1.6 percent increase in local tax support, the district anticipates a shortfall of $9 million to $12 million in the money needed to maintain this year's programs through the 2011-12 school year, district officials said Tuesday.

That's just regular school programs and doesn't include those started with a two-year, $59-million boost from federal stimulus money that will disappear after this school year. The district spent the majority of the stimulus money on one-time expenses such as technology. It also spent some on trial programs, but it never counted on the stimulus money continuing, said Comeau.

Comeau would like to keep pieces of the stimulus-funded programs, including one that helps middle school students focus on careers. But she would cut other general fund spending to do it, she said.

The administration's budget proposal, being presented to the School Board in a work session today, includes $635.1 million for the general fund. Other funds such as debt service and food service bring the total to $811.9 million.

That compares with a general fund budget of $617 million and a combined budget of $789.4 million for the current school year.

Increases in employee salaries and benefits and in the cost of goods and supplies, and $2 million worth of new expenses transferred from the municipality of Anchorage have contributed to the rising costs, say district officials.

Among the expenses from the city are a requirement that the district bear the entire cost of having police officers in schools instead of sharing the cost with the city, and new fees for district programs that use city trails or the football stadium.

The School Board is holding work sessions from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today and Thursday at district headquarters near Northern Lights Boulevard and Boniface Parkway. The board will hold two votes on the budget, a preliminary one Jan. 26 and a final one Feb. 3. The budget then goes to the Anchorage Assembly, which sets the spending limit for schools.

Among the cuts and fee increases proposed:

• Summer school -- Eliminate the elementary school program, reduce the middle school program targeted at catching kids up, and charge more for high school summer classes.

• Sports -- Make middle school sports and other activities intramural instead of competition between schools to save transportation money; hold an end-of-season jamboree. Create a three-tier fee schedule for high school, with those sports that are more expensive costing more. The rates would be $175, $185 or $195 depending on the activity. Gymnastics, swimming and diving, and hockey would cost the most.

• Graduation support -- Coordinators to help students do what they need to do to graduate would be eliminated.

• Assistant principals -- One high school and one middle school position would be cut.

• Libraries -- 17 positions for library media aides at all levels of school would be eliminated.

• Drugs -- The district would end the Safe and Drug Free Schools program, and cut nearly two full-time positions.

• Secretaries -- One secretary position would be cut at each comprehensive high school. A new computer program that monitors attendance would help make up the difference.

The expected shortfall for the upcoming school year would be even more, except the administration proposes tapping two sources of money that could be available for one year only: a federal save-teacher-jobs grant of $7.6 million, and the district's own fund balance, a savings account. The School Board allowed for use of $3 million from the fund balance.

The federal grant will pay for 82 teachers and means class sizes for next year can stay the same as this year, said Comeau.

The district expects flat funding from the state, which pays for more than half of school spending. The district has support from the Anchorage Assembly for a 1.6 percent increase in local property taxes, also a major source of school funding.

The district held public meetings in December to get suggestions on what to cut and what to preserve. People valued maintaining class sizes and recommended the district look for energy savings and for some work like snowplowing to be contracted out, Comeau said.

As a result, the district plans to hire an energy conservation manager and to contract out snow removal in some areas to test the notion that private contracting will result in savings.
Fisherman's Choice Charters