The Juneau Board of Education adopted its fiscal year 2026 budget and a statement regarding the need for a playground at the Dzantik’i Heeni campus during a special meeting Thursday night.

The $78.7 million FY26 operating budget achieves a $637,591 surplus by assuming the Juneau School District (JSD) will receive a $400 Base Student Allocation (BSA) increase or equivalent one-time funding from the state. The Alaska State House on Wednesday passed a bill with a $1,000 BSA increase and Senate majority caucus leaders say they support a $680 increase that matches a one-time hike in effect for the current year.

Board President Deedie Sorenson said it’s essential that advocating for a higher BSA continues.

“The big thing is that we need to continue to encourage the Legislature and the governor to raise the Base Student Allocation because otherwise we will be cutting three million dollars out of this budget,” she said.

The spending plan was sent on Friday to the Juneau Assembly for review and approval. Due to the uncertainty of state education funding, the JSD budget is likely to be further adjusted before and during the fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

Sorenson made an amendment to forward fund $300,000 from the FY25 budget into FY26 to cover the two grant-funded instructional positions at the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy program (TCLL).

“The program cannot function without those people,” Sorenson said. “They are an integral piece of the program.”

Jamie Shanley, assistant education director at Sealaska Heritage Institute, testified in support of TCLL and asked JSD to ensure the security of the teaching team and principal moving forward. Sorenson’s amendment was unanimously passed.

School board members also said during the meeting that a playground is an integral part of elementary school, and the DH campus cannot adequately function without one.

Last year, JSD faced a nearly $10 million budget deficit. This led to the decision to consolidate schools, including combining Floyd Dryden Middle School and Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School. The significant structural adjustments allowed JSD to stabilize its financial position while preparing for FY2026 with immediate and long-term cost reductions, according to JSD Superintendent Frank Hauser.

Juneau School District revenue for fiscal year 2026 according to the final reading on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Slide from Juneau School District presentation)

Montessori Borealis, Juneau Community Charter School, and Yaaḵoosgé Daakahídi High School moved to the DH campus. In the fall of 2024, the City and Borough of Juneau appropriated $75,000 to design a playground in response to the consolidation and the movement of elementary students.

A joint Assembly and JSD Facilities Committee Meeting will be held at noon on Friday, March 21, in the Assembly chambers to discuss the letter written by board member Will Muldoon.

School board members said their priorities are safety and accessibility.

“Having fencing at this playground is an important safety feature for me,” Sorenson said. “Most of our other schools have a lot more distance between bear habitat and their playgrounds — this one is really close. It just is unacceptable, I think that we would have a playground that isn’t secure.”

Jonathan Estes, a parent of three students attending the DH campus, testified for immediate safety measures to be taken this summer because the lengthy process has delayed the build to the upcoming school year.

“They don’t have a playground, but it also means they don’t even have access at times to the area that they have allotted for recess and for play times,” he said. “When the snow hits it freezes over, and that area is not maintained, and so the kids can’t access it. So at times recess has been provided in front of the school on the concrete and asphalt areas. Safety is utmost on my mind in this coming school year.”

FY26 budget highlights:

• Next year’s proposed budget assumes no staff vacancies — a $2.1 million extra cost compared to assuming the historical trend of a 3% vacancy rate will continue.

• It also lowers the pupil-teacher ratio in grades 4-6 from 30:1 to 28:1 by adding five full-time equivalent staff positions at a cost of $584,505.

• It makes a staffing adjustment due to an anticipated 3.1% enrollment decline (121 students).

• To mitigate the loss of the Student Wellness Advocates grant that funded three mental health clinicians at the secondary level, the budget includes two full-time equivalent staff positions for certificated counseling/social work support at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé and Thunder Mountain Middle School.

• Accounts for pre-paying $339,00 of recurring software needs in FY25.

• CBJ has historically provided the maximum allowed local contribution under the state foundation funding formula. This budget assumes that continued support, reflecting an increase of $572,673, for a total local contribution of $35,004,712 in FY26.

• The budget is based on a projected enrollment of 3,831 students (K-12), a decrease of 121 students (3.1%) from FY25. The projected enrollment also includes a 23-student count at Juneau Youth Facility and 65 integrated Pre-K students for an average daily enrollment of 3,887.

• The budget maintains the staffing metric adopted in the FY25 Winter Budget Revision (Feb. 11, 2025) and positions the district on stable financial footing by moving away from historical deficit spending. Additionally, it ensures compliance with Board Policy 3470 – Fund Balance, which requires maintaining a minimum 1.5% fund balance.

• The board must also determine a request from CBJ for FY26 supplemental funding for non-instructional programming.

• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356.