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Matanuska-Susitna superintendent flags $22.5M shortfall; parents, teachers urge borough to fund schools and pause closures
Summary
Superintendent Randy Tray told the Assembly the district faces a $22.5 million shortfall and asked the borough for $3.289 million; a long public-comment period followed with parents, teachers and advocates warning closures and staffing cuts would harm students with disabilities and urging the Assembly to fund the district to the cap.
Randy Tray, superintendent of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, told the Assembly on March 3 that the district’s proposed budget “addresses a $22.5 million shortfall,” and asked the borough for an additional $3.289 million to offset rising state assessments.
Tray said the draft plan would protect classroom teachers where possible but include reductions in administrative positions, consolidation of three schools, cuts to transportation and nursing staff, and elimination of instructional coaches and some librarians. “The school board will consider this,” he told the Assembly, noting the board will meet to adopt a budget and return to the borough later in March.
The presentation was followed by more than three hours of public comment dominated by pleas to preserve neighborhood schools and specialized services. Dozens of parents, educators and service providers described the practical consequences of closures and staffing reductions for students with complex medical needs and disabilities.
Mary Beck, a parent advocate at Lynx Community Parent Resource Center, told the Assembly: “Flat funding in a rising cost environment is not neutral. It is effectively a cut.” Beck warned that cuts commonly fall first on specialized programs and said that if the borough funded the district “at the maximum allowable appropriation, we would not be facing a deficit right now.”
Teachers and specialists described what they called an imminent loss of consistency for high‑need students. Heather Bowman, a first‑grade teacher at Meadow Lakes, said parents are not opposing choice; they are fighting to preserve programs that meet their children’s needs. Carrie Johnson, who described her son’s progress in the RISE program, said forced moves would cause regression for students whose educational gains depend on stability and trained staff.
Several speakers urged the Assembly to pause any decisions about school closures until the district produces a written continuity plan that explains how individualized education program (IEP) services, staffing, transportation and transition timelines would be maintained without interruption.
What happens next: Tray said the school board will bring an adopted budget to the Assembly later in March; Assembly members will consider the borough’s required local contribution. Residents and advocates said they will press the borough to fund the district to the statutory cap and to require a public, resourced transition plan before any closures take effect.
