The Juneau School District is getting an extra $5.7 million, rather than the initially expected $5.2 million, from a one-time increase in the state’s per-pupil funding formula for the current fiscal year. Some district officials are hoping to use roughly $100,000 of that to extend the free student breakfast program, set to end this month, for the rest of the school year.
A concern, however, is continuing the breakfast program after that is an ongoing cost and there’s no assurance of an ongoing increase in state funding and/or another source of funds to pay for the meals.
The extra funding was mentioned while a proposal extending the breakfast program was being discussed by the Juneau Board of Education at its meeting Tuesday night, with a special meeting to vote on the proposal expected to occur later this month. Superintendent Frank Hauser said the amount is based on “what percentage of students we have compared to the state overall” and that number was higher than projected when the state budget was signed in June.
The one-time increase adds $680 to the $5,960 Base Student Allocation, which has remained largely flat since 2017 and thus become a primary issue for school officials and many lawmakers who say the erosive effects of inflation are causing major hardships for districts statewide. A significant permanent BSA increase has been a top issue during the legislative session the past two years and is again expected to be a major focus of the upcoming session that starts in January.
Hauser said an updated budget for the current fiscal year that includes the extra funds is scheduled to be presented to the school board in January. The school board in July opted to use most of the $5.2 million in expected funds to add back dozens of jobs that had been cut and opt out of a $1 million loan from the City and Borough of Juneau that had been sought to balance the district’s budget.
Gauging community support for continuing free student breakfasts
The Juneau School District has provided free breakfasts for many years, aided by significant donor support from community partners that vanished when the federal government began providing free meal funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the federal funding has ended and, with the district facing a major budget crisis during the past year that was partially resolved with large spending reductions, the school board approved a budget funding the free breakfast program for only the first half of the current year with the intent of subsequently assessing the cost of an extension.
Elizabeth Siddon, a board member who made extending the breakfast program an issue during her reelection campaign this fall, said a factor to consider is how strongly the community feels about continuing the free meals.
“I haven’t heard much about it, we haven’t received emails,” she said. While “I feel really strongly that we continue this, I just want to make sure that we’re sort of acting in what the community wants us to be doing.”
Heather Miller, who has been serving meals to students for the past decade as a cashier at Mendenhall River Community School, told the board during public testimony about the proposed extension “teachers are very supportive of this due to the fact…hungry children have a hard time learning.”
“I will say we do have many children with food insecurities at our school, and they really need to be able to eat and know that that’s available for them,” she said.
While no school board member expressed opposition to the concept of the free breakfast program, some concerns were expressed about whether community partners are willing to resume providing funding and parents not applying for free/reduced meals their children are eligible for.
Hauser said extending the breakfast program for the second half of the school year will cost about $115,500 and, while district officials are trying to find community partners, so far the only commitment is $20,000 from the Juneau Community Foundation.
While the remaining $95,500 could easily be covered by the extra BSA funding the district is receiving, board member Emil Mackey said “my concern is after this year what happens?” Among his concerns is a proposal by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration that could prevent local contributions from supplementing the breakfast program, inflationary food costs and the incoming Trump administration declaring it wants to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education — suggesting that might also affect school meal support provided by the Department of Agriculture.
However, Mackey also said he strongly favors finding a way to continue the program, even if district officials aren’t hearing from many families in need and many aren’t applying for free/reduced meals.
“I just want to remind board members that the people who are really going to speak for this program are going to be a few people that come to our meetings that are vocal advocates,” he said. “But the vast majority of people are people that do not have the time or ability to come to our meetings. People that really depend on free and reduced lunch, and a hot breakfast to feed their kids, the school board meetings are about as low on the priority list as we can get on a daily functional basis.”
The school board would need to approve funding an extension of the breakfast program before classes resume on Jan. 8 for the meals to continue uninterrupted. Board members agreed to a special meeting at a date to be determined later this month to vote on the proposed extension, which also allows time to seek additional potential community funding and get public input.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
