Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed a roughly $270 million cut to K-12 education funding Wednesday as part of his 2020 budget proposal. Now, school districts across the state are assessing what those cuts mean.
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District spokesperson Pegge Erkeneff said the specifics of the cuts are unclear.
“We do know that there's significant decreases to K-12 education, but we haven't been able to determine the amount of funds that will be reduced for KPBSD because there's not enough detail that’s been released by the governor and the [Office of Management and Budget] office today,” she said.
The governor’s proposal does not mention whether it will cut the base student allocation, which determines how much state funding districts receive. The formula is based on the number of students in each district and it also determines how much funding boroughs and municipalities around the state are able to give to districts.
KBBI reached out to the governor’s office about the proposed cuts, but did not hear back in time for this story.
“We're working with the state and we're awaiting additional details right now to determine what it really means for our district" Erkeneff said.
Still, Erkeneff said the cuts are dramatic.
“The best thing to think about in terms of our district is that for every $1 million reduction to funding (so remember we can't raise funds) is the equivalent of 10 teachers," she said. "So approximately 10 teachers for every $1 million to our district."
Dunleavy also proposed cutting the state university system’s funding nearly in half, which could have ramifications for all three colleges tied into the system on the peninsula.
Gov. Dunleavy’s budget also proposes deep cuts to other agencies and departments. It’s also likely to impact boroughs and municipalities.
KBBI reached out to the City of Homer and South Peninsula Hospital, but both said they’re still trying to assess impacts of the budget. KBBI will continue covering how the governor’s budget proposal could affect the Homer area.
