Ketchikan school board confronts $4–5 million shortfall as students and residents plead to save music and libraries

Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District leaders told the Board of Education on May 13 that the district faces a newly identified budget shortfall in the mid‑millions and laid out a proposed budget revision that could eliminate positions, cut library services and reconfigure activity travel.

The superintendent opened an extended work session saying the district’s year‑end accounting revealed an operating deficit originally estimated at about $4.6 million that has fluctuated with continued review. To close the gap staff proposed a multipart plan: request up to $5 million in short‑term borough assistance, advance state foundation payments where possible, reclassify some expenditures, and reduce staffing and discretionary spending to bring the FY27 budget closer to balance.

Why it matters: the plan includes up to 18 additional full‑time equivalent reductions (about 15 teaching positions), the elimination of the final district librarian position and related cuts that would alter how students access library collections and extracurricular travel. Staff also outlined logistics to close two school buildings and transfer or redistribute materials, furniture and equipment.

Student and community reaction was immediate and vehement during a long public‑comment period. “If music and the arts go away, you know, let’s just go over to the airport and…