At its regular meeting Tuesday night, the Unalaska school board approved a proposed FY27 budget. It includes flat funding from the state, but a slightly larger ask of the city, which almost always grants the district its full request.
“Fingers crossed, the city continues its historical willingness to contribute up to the maximum allowable contribution,” Superintendent Kim Hanisch told the school board.
The Unalaska City School District is asking the city for about $6.3 million for the upcoming fiscal year. That includes the school’s maximum contribution allowed by state standards as well as funding for special programs, like community schools, food services, student activities and preschool.
Hanisch said the budget committee built the draft around an estimated enrollment of 355 students. She said the group assumes the state won’t increase its funding for the formula it uses to allocate money to schools — also known as the BSA or Base Student Allocation.
“The committee says that, ‘yeah, we're probably not going to get any BSA. So let's just stay conservative and build a budget on a zero increase in the BSA’,” Hanisch said.
With eight intensive need students and no expected increase in next year’s funding, the district estimates the state will give Unalaska schools about $3.9 million. The city has contributed more than the state for the last four fiscal years.
The state only allows the district to keep a certain amount of money in its fund balance at the end of the fiscal year. This year, officials estimate that the district will exceed that amount of money by about $175,000. The school will have to find a way to spend that money by the end of June or return it to the state.
School Board President David Gibson suggested the board look for ways to redistribute those extra funds to the city. He said some council members might not be as willing as others to continue granting the district its full ask.
“It might be worthwhile — just as we're thinking about things, of maybe a show of good faith — we can give some of that money back to our city instead of giving it back to the state, and then that way, they will continue funding us how they have been,” Gibson said.
Under a recent budget revision for FY26, the district had planned to redistribute that $175,000 to technology services and maintenance. Still, Hanisch said district officials can look into giving that money to the city instead.
The district’s total expenditure budget comes in at about $11.5 million with a revenue of about $11.2 million, including special funds. That includes a $416,000 increase in spending for the general operating budget, which would be covered by the school district’s fund balance.
The draft budget will be submitted to the city on April 1. Hanisch said she’s expecting to present the budget to the Unalsaka City Council in mid-April.
