Mat-Su school district facing fiscal pressures
WASILLA - The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District is facing fiscal pressures, ranging from a multimillion-dollar payout into a state retirement system to contract negotiations with nearly all of its 1,700 employees.
At the same time, it is the only large district in Alaska where enrollment numbers jumped this year, yet the district's budget picture is bleaker this year than last.
When school opened in the fall, several hundred unexpected students enrolled in district high schools and a new charter school program.
All told, enrollment in Mat-Su schools this year increased by more than 800 students, to more than 14,400, according to preliminary counts supplied by district spokeswoman Kim Floyd.
Enrollment dropped at the state's other large districts in Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Despite the influx of students and a corresponding increase in per-pupil state funding, district officials predict a shortfall of about $5 million in next year's budget. The exact amount of the budget is unknown but is expected to exceed this year's $139 million figure.
The budget gap, more than twice that of last year, could erode everything from money for basic school supplies to efforts to keep classes small.
Mat-Su officials had expected growth this year, but not this much. Projections sent to the state last year to set 2003-2004 funding levels fell 350 students short of actual enrollment, according to Eddy Jeans, school finance manager with the state's education department.
Even if the projections had been accurate, the additional state education money might not have been enough to cover the expenses of serving 800 more students, Mat-Su officials said.
"It's not always a linear process where 300 more kids equals (enough) money for 300," chief administrator Bob Doyle said.
While the enrollment spike brought more state money, the district experienced a net loss because it had to hire more teachers, Doyle said.
Beyond the enrollment changes, however, the biggest problem they face is a dramatic increase in the amount of money the district must pay into the Public Employees' Retirement System and the Teachers Retirement System, a hurdle facing districts statewide.
The state has asked the Mat-Su district to pay $3 million into the program, Doyle said. Officials attribute that to rising health insurance costs for retired employees, as well as system income lost when stock market investments soured.