Senate Education Committee hears Mount Edgecumbe budget shortfall; DEED outlines stabilization steps
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Summary
State education officials told the Senate Education Committee that Mount Edgecumbe faces an approximately $1.6 million budget shortfall tied to contract increases and one-time COVID funds; DEED described staff cuts, new budgeting tools and a short-term plan to stabilize operations.
Juneau — Department of Education and Early Development Commissioner Dina Bishop told the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 11 that the state discovered a projected $1.6 million overdraw on Mount Edgecumbe High School’s books after the first payroll cycle last year and immediately began investigating and supporting the school.
Bishop said the department found contract increases (the dormitory contract rose about 24% and the food-service contract about 100% over several years), combined with multi-year inflation and a reliance on one-time COVID-relief funds, left the program with an unsustainable operating picture once those funds ended. "There was no inaccurate, no, misuse, if you will," Bishop said in response to questions about COVID-relief spending, adding that the uses were allowable but planners should have anticipated how to step down when the funds expired.
Superintendent David Langford told the committee he inherited a budget that did not include some services previously in place and that DEED and the school reduced personnel this year — "we did reduce by 4 teachers, 1 administrator, and 2 administrative support staff" — to help close the shortfall while trying to minimize impacts on students.
Deputy Commissioner Karen Morrison, who previously served as a school finance director, spent time on campus and worked with the superintendent to re-create budget lines and submit a balanced plan that will carry the school through the current year, Bishop said. Bishop added DEED is now using school budgeting tools and closer chart-of-accounts accounting to improve monitoring.
Committee members pressed DEED on why earlier warnings did not prevent the fiscal "cliff." Bishop said there were notices in prior years but that the campus’ funding flows — which differ from typical district chart-of-accounts structures — and a lack of clear, workable budgets at the local level obscured the risk until funds were exhausted. She told senators DEED will provide more detail to the finance committee and follow up on specific vetoed capital requests.
The department emphasized the priority is short-term financial stability and completing previously appropriated capital projects this year, while leaders said they are planning for enrollment-based funding changes ahead of FY27. The committee did not take formal action; finance committee members were told they will receive a deeper budget briefing the following day.
