Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly sets local KPBSD contribution at $62.36 million after heated public hearing

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly voted 8–1 on May 5 to adopt Resolution 20-26-025, fixing the borough's local contribution for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District at $62,359,080 for fiscal year 2027. Assemblymember Neeson moved to adopt the resolution; Assemblymember Eklund cast the sole recorded dissent after her amendment to raise the total to the statutory cap failed earlier in the meeting.

The vote followed a public hearing that drew school district leaders, teachers, parents and students who urged the assembly to fund schools “to the cap.” Jason Torianan, president of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District board, said the request was “a big ask” but framed it as necessary to avoid further cuts and to push the state to fix the base student allocation formula that board members and commenters said shifts an unfair burden onto local taxpayers. “This should be the wake-up call,” Torianan said.

Speakers at the hearing described concrete impacts of reduced funding. Dr. Erin Pierce, a Bear Creek teacher, said study halls were displacing core instructional time, library aides and other support staff face cuts, and classes and jobs are being eliminated. “Funding education to the cap is not an abstract policy decision. It is a statement of values,” Dr. Pierce said. Special-education teachers and parents testified that cuts to student-support services and nursing staff would harm students with greater needs.

Assemblymember Eklund offered a lay-down amendment to increase the local contribution to $68,685,024 — the maximum amount the borough could provide under the statute cited in the school-funding calculation (AS 14.17.410 as referenced in the packet). Her amendment would have added $6,325,944 to the mayor's proposed education allocation. In explaining the amendment, Eklund cited the borough's higher-than-projected unreserved general fund balance and argued the increase would restore library aides, theater techs, extracurricular fee support, certain transportation costs and student health services that would otherwise be cut under the district's scenario planning.

Opponents of the amendment, including several assembly members and the mayor, warned that funding at the cap would be fiscally unsustainable without additional revenue and would rapidly deplete the borough's fund balance. Finance presentations earlier in the day showed education already accounts for roughly 67% of the borough's general fund budget, assembly members noted. “If we funded to the cap, we would be out of money in the fund balance in like two years,” President Tunseth said during debate. Legal counsel clarified that the resolution historically functions as a floor-setting action tied to the budget process and is not the final appropriating ordinance.

When the amendment was called, the motion failed. The assembly then voted to adopt Resolution 20-26-025 as written, with the clerk announcing “8 yes, 1 no; the no vote was cast by Ms. Eklund.” The resolution sets the floor amount the borough will make available from local sources to fund district operations and advances the FY2027 budget process; the final budget ordinance that appropriates funds is scheduled for future sessions.

Mayor Macheicky and several assembly members said they will continue lobbying the state for a change to the base student allocation formula and pursue other avenues to shore up long‑term school funding. Assemblymembers and commenters also urged greater public discussion of local revenue options — including modest mill rate changes — if the community wants to restore services beyond the adopted floor.

The assembly’s action tonight preserves funding levels the borough and district negotiated through the budget process but leaves open the possibility of future amendment to the ordinance that ultimately appropriates FY2027 funds. The school-district hearing dates for related ordinances are May 19 and June 2, when additional public comment and final appropriation decisions are expected.