State Briefs
Mat-Su schools lay off 48 employees
ANCHORAGE - The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, facing a $3 million budget deficit, is laying off 48 employees.
The layoff notices went out Wednesday to support staffers in 14 different jobs ranging from custodians to maintenance supervisors to special education clerks. The action saves the district $600,000 but leaves a shortfall of more than $2.4 million still to make up.
Eighteen of the 48 were offered half-time status in their positions. The district also gave 19 employees involuntary transfers, meaning they will keep their jobs but must move to another department or school.
No teachers were laid off because they work under yearlong contracts, officials said.
The Mat-Su district hasn't let this many employees go for at least 10 years, said Bob Doyle, the district's interim chief school administrator.
The layoffs will ripple out to nearly all the 34 schools in the district, which serves 13,600 students. More than 900 people teach in the district. Another 700 provide support services.
District officials pointed to three major causes of the deficit:
• The district lost some state funding after a state audit of October enrollment revealed that the Mat-Su had overestimated the number of students in the district by at least 100 students. The state provides money to school districts based on how many students are enrolled.
• A new Correspondence Study School targeting home-school students lost $500,000.
• A new teacher's contract, signed in September, included a $3,000 across-the-board raise for the district's 940 teachers. A contract for support staff approved in November included a 2 percent raise and cheaper health insurance.
Kenai awards contract to restore river
KENAI - The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly has awarded a contract for riverbank restoration along one of the most popular red salmon fishing sites on the Kenai River - about 400 feet of shoreline below the Kenai River Center in Soldotna.
The Assembly authorized the contract for riverbank restoration work and construction of elevated walkways, stairways and other development that will help control erosion while enhancing public access.
Peninsula Construction Inc. submitted the winning bid of $357,582. Borough officials expect the project will be completed by Sept. 1.
A combination of federal, state, local and nonprofit funding will pay for the project.
The way fishermen make their way to the riverbank has caused much of the habitat destruction, said Rob Robson, director of the borough's Capital Projects Division. Anxious to get to the river, people simply slide down to the beach, and when they leave, scramble back up, slowly eroding the embankment.
State wants more time for federal order
JUNEAU - State officials are asking the federal government for more time to submit a plan to improve Alaska's child protection agency.
Health and Social Services Commissioner Joel Gilbertson asked for a 90-day extension to conduct a nationwide search for a new Division of Family and Youth Services director.
"We expect the new DFYS director to fully implement the program improvement plan. It's critical that we have the benefit of that person's input before we submit the plan," Gilbertson said in a press statement Wednesday.
Alaska's program improvement plan was supposed to be filed with the federal Department of Health and Human Services by Dec. 18. It is in response to a federal audit conducted in September that found widespread deficiencies within the agency.
The Division of Family and Youth Services is the lead agency in the state's child protection system. It investigates reports of abuse and neglect and oversees foster care programs for threatened children.
NMFS takes public comment on crab buyback proposal
ANCHORAGE - The National Marine Fisheries Service will take public comment until Jan. 27 on a proposed $100 million buyback program in the crab fishery.
The buyback would affect 335 federal permit holders who fish commercially for king and Tanner crab in the Bering Sea and around the Aleutian Islands.
Under the proposal, fishermen would be paid for withdrawing their vessels from the fishery and surrendering their fishing licenses. Fishery managers say the move would bring the number of fishermen more in line with the allowable harvest of crab.
The buyback would be financed by a loan to be repaid over 30 years from fees assessed on crab fishermen who continue to fish.
Under the program, the fishery service would solicit buyback bids from the fishermen. The bids would be stated as a percentage of the fishermen's production. The agency would accept the lowest percentage bids until it reached $100 million.