On Thursday night, Governor Dunleavy cut the equivalent of around $200 to the base student allocation for the next year through line-item vetoes, leaving school districts across the state with less money than they budgeted for.
When the Mat-Su Borough School District submitted its budget for the next year, it did so expecting a $700 increase to the Base Student Allocation. An increase that, according to Mat-Su Borough School District Public Information Officer John Notestine, would have just matched funding the district received in previous years after accounting for things like rising costs with “contracts, utilities, and operations”.
Now, the school district is looking at around a $500 increase to the base student allocation. Notestine said that the decrease results in $7 million less in funding than the school district had budgeted for.
Notestine said the district will have to cut expenses. He added the district hasn’t decided what specifically will need to be cut, but everything is on the chopping block: staff, class sizes, transportation, school programs, and student activities.
Notestine added that the Mat-Su Borough School District is implementing a “temporary hiring and spending freeze.” He said the freeze aims to give the district time to assess the full impact this reduction in funding will have on the upcoming school year.
Notestine said the district will strive to continue providing quality education, but the dramatic decrease in funding will make that more difficult.
