The Aleutian Region School District approved its budget for the 2024-2025 school year on June 6. According to Superintendent Mike Hanley, it's the healthiest budget the district has seen since he’s been on the job for the last five years.
"I'm really happy about this budget," he said.
The district includes public schools in Atka, Adak and Nikolski in the western Aleutians, but Adak's school closed last year due to low enrollment.
Hanley said this year's budget is unique because of the Adak closure and a school in Nikolski opening. Instead of the state cutting off all funding for Adak, there are "hold harmless" funds that allow the district to maintain facilities and cover other expenses associated with closing a school.
Hanley said the district also received increased state funding because the Nikolski School is reopening. The school was closed for over a decade due to low student enrollment, and he said state funding is dependent on the number of students.
"We are in a place that most districts aren't, for two reasons: a little bit of money coming in from when we closed Adak and a community in Nikolski that has volunteered a building and teacher housing," Hanley said.
Hanley said the Nikolski community helped with the district's overall costs by providing resources to the new school.
"We can run a school really well with a fully certified teacher," he said. "It still doesn't cost us like what it would to have a building standing up. So, I'm excited for our district. This is the best financial position I've seen us since I've been here."
Hanley said the Aleutian Region School District has been frugal in keeping spending aligned with anticipated revenue. He said $256,000 remains in the budget for the upcoming school year, even after allocating $200,000 to the district's maintenance account. Hanley said if the district found a budget shortfall, the board could authorize a transfer to cover an expense that isn't maintenance, like catastrophes.
"If a boiler goes out or a roof collapses, or something, a lot of that gets used,” said Hanley. “But it's a very healthy balance to have sitting in our major/minor maintenance account."
The district tries to stay on top of maintenance, he said, because fixing big problems can be very expensive. For instance, a building structure issue can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Hanley
A one-time increase to the base student allocation (BSA) fund for the upcoming school year is waiting to be signed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. If he approves it by the June 28 deadline, it would provide an additional $153,000 for the Aleutian Region School District.
Alaska has kept the BSA the same amount since 2017. Many schools around the state said they have been forced to make teacher and program cuts due to a lack of state funding.
Hanley said this extra funding could help the district maintain a healthy financial position for Western Aletuians' schools. He said if the budget becomes tight in the future, the boost could temporarily alleviate the need for cuts.
