Anchorage School District board considers projecting state funds to avert layoffs, warns of long-term deficit

The Anchorage School District Board of Education on May 6 discussed a plan to project a conservative $560-per-student increase in the state base student allocation, a move administrators say would let the district reabsorb many displaced staff and avoid immediate layoffs but would still leave large multi-year deficits if the legislature or governor reduces the final funding.

Superintendent Miss Sullivan opened the budget discussion, citing recent legislative movement on House Bill 57 and saying the bill “passed with 48 of 60 votes,” and that the board could choose to take a “calculated level of risk” by assuming some level of increased revenue now so staff can be placed before year end.

The district’s chief financial officer, Andy Ratliff, told the board the finance committee recommended using a conservative $560 BSA assumption (below the $700 figure in some proposals) to amend earlier staffing cuts. “There was a little under $40,000,000 that was added back based on a $560 BSA increase,” Ratliff said. He said that about $30 million to $31 million of that would go directly into classrooms and about $9.7 million into instructional support,…