Delivered to the JSD Budget Committee on January 17, 2012:

Good evening.

Two years ago, we set a course for systemic change in our schools.  The Board’s adoption of our Strategic Plan set forth nine specific initiatives to strengthen our ability to provide every child with a meaningful and rigorous education for each student, every student.  We are now two years into that work and progress is being made. 

Last week, the Board formally adopted seven “Indicators of Success” – measurements by which we will hold ourselves accountable for full implementation of the Strategic Plan and growing the success of our students.  We are collectively committed to being accountable for our decisions – at the policy level, at the administrative level, and at the school level.

In the past few years, through the dedicated work of our employees and strategic investments in teacher training, several system-wide success stories have emerged.  Graduation rates for Juneau students are up at both of our comprehensive high schools.  Achievement in reading has climbed steadily for four years based on higher national standards, and math achievement has increased even more dramatically.  We are on the right track. 

Tonight, I bring you a budget that could seriously undermine our progress.  We are proposing a budget we believe best equips us to continue to expand student success, but there are limits to what can be accomplished with these dwindling resources.  Our students cannot afford the consequences of giving up on the work driven by our Strategic Plan.

Other districts statewide are experiencing successes of their own, and their progress is equally threatened unless school funding is strengthened statewide.  An investment in schools is an investment in our community’s future and our state’s future.  Our progress is threatened unless our budget picture changes dramatically. 

Beginning in November, we asked our community to provide input on how we might reduce the budget and continue to make progress on educating all students – each one, every one.  I would like to thank those in our community and in our school system who took the time to provide suggestions.  While not all of those ideas are included in this proposal, they were all considered and taken seriously.  People here and elsewhere in our community will have other ideas about how we should balance the budget and, as this process continues, we will listen to those ideas. 

I want to thank each of you on the budget committee in advance for your work in the weeks ahead.  I’d like to thank those in the audience for caring enough to be here this evening.  These are important matters and they deserve our full attention.

It has been estimated by the Alaska Association of School Business Officials that moving existing program levels forward would require an increase of  $320 to the State Base Student Allocation or BSA.  That level of increase would be unprecedented and is, I believe, extremely unlikely.  The Governor’s budget proposal is for no increase next year or the year after or the year after that.

This budget proposes significant reductions and a few essential additions – investments and supports we have ignored too long at the expense of our ability to effectively deliver on our mission of educating our students – each one, every one.  Our task, as it was last year, is not just to reduce the budget.  Instead, it is to shift resources strategically to invest in well-researched practices that hold promise for increased student success.  This is a difficult challenge in our current fiscal reality.

As I share this proposed budget for our 2012-2013 school year, I would like to underscore how incredibly difficult and painful this process has been to date – and there are many more conversations to go before a final budget is adopted.  I want to thank our school and department administrators for their dedication and collaboration in this arduous process.

In developing this proposal, we are balancing two serious responsibilities.  The first is our need to continue improving our effectiveness in educating our students – again each one, every one – so that she or he graduates prepared to succeed beyond high school: at universities, in trade programs, serving in the military, or contributing in the workforce.  The second responsibility is our statutory obligation to put forward a balanced budget. 

Our funding for next year is uncertain, as are some of our expenses.  As a result, tonight you will see a graduated budget that aligns with different funding scenarios – none of which are certain.  It is unlikely that we will have a clear revenue picture before the Budget Committee concludes its work in February or the School Board is required to adopt the final budget in March. 

The sequence and timetable for state funding are not consistent with building a long-term systematic approach to create high quality programs, nor is it conducive to building morale with our dedicated staff.  Instead, it is a system of school funding that screams to be fixed.

Our State Legislature is now in session and the decisions they make regarding public school funding will be of immense importance to us.  Our City and Borough of Juneau Assembly has not yet finalized their budget or indicated the level of local support they will provide.  We currently have the good fortune of receiving remarkable support from our Assembly.  We are hopeful that will continue, even though the City and Borough faces budget challenges of their own.

Just as our funding is uncertain, so too are some of our future costs.  We cannot be sure of our fuel costs, legal costs, special education costs, etc.  We are bargaining with our two largest employee groups and are not likely to know the financial implications of that process for weeks – perhaps months. 

In checking with sister school districts in the state, most are developing budgets based on a zero increase in the Base Student Allocation (BSA) and the loss of last year’s one-time “state aid” or “energy funds.”  You will see that our base scenario is built upon that assumption as well.  If additional revenues become available or we are able to hold the line on increased costs, we propose that a few specific reductions be restored.

Last year, we adopted a budget that significantly reduced programs, and this year’s additional reductions will have an even greater impact on programs, the people who do our work, and on our students.  Our effort in developing this budget has been to try to keep cuts as far away from the classroom as possible.  For example, five of the 23 jobs located in our central office building at 1208 Glacier Avenue are being eliminated – that’s a 22% reduction.  Still, at the current level of funding, it will be impossible to avoid an impact on classrooms and many of our support systems.  It is a cold, hard and unavoidable reality of the current funding available.

By far, our resources are most deeply invested in people – hardworking, dedicated people who go about their work every day trying to make a difference for every student – each one, every one.  These proposed budget reductions will impact many of our employees at every level.  Job losses – more than 60 in all – and reduced work hours will impact our students and the people who serve them. 

This proposal again includes a disproportionate level of cuts at the administrative level.  Three school and department administrative positions are being cut, representing 12.7% of the administrative staff.  One of the six Cabinet level administrator positions is also being cut, a 16.7% reduction.  For the second year in a row Cabinet level administrators will be taking a pay freeze and a two-day unpaid furlough.  School and department administrators are stretching out this year’s proposed modest increase over the course of two years.

This proposal eliminates more than 34 classified employee positions and reduces the hours of many more, representing an 11% reduction in that employee group.  The proposal also eliminates more than 26 teaching or other licensed employee positions, a reduction of nearly 7%. 

Over the past few days and earlier today, supervisors have been meeting with people whose jobs are specifically identified in these proposed reductions.  As you might imagine, these are not easy conversations.

These job losses and reduced incomes will also impact Juneau.  More than 60 of our colleagues, friends and neighbors will lose their jobs.  To put that into perspective, picture a full size school bus filled with talented and hard working people.  Now, watch as that bus drives onto the ferry and out of our community, and those people seek employment elsewhere.  Businesses that count on the income produced by those jobs will be impacted.  Non-profits who rely on the contributions of those employees will be impacted.  This is an issue that stretches well beyond the doors of our school district.   (The Juneau Economic Development Council estimates these job losses would result in a negative economic impact to Juneau of $11,449,401.00.)

This proposed budget does not diminish our commitment to the success of our students.  It does represent, however, the reality of trying to be more successful with less.  As much as I believe our employees are not afraid of hard work, I also believe there are limits to a “do more with less” strategy.  I want to be very clear; we remain dedicated to effectively serving our students within whatever resources become available.

In closing, I want to emphasize that the current level of funding for public education is detrimental to the future of Alaska, to its economic development, to the strength of our communities, and to the future of our students.  Unless we are willing to further invest in the greatest resource we have – the capacity of our state’s children – we are undermining the potential of Alaska.  I urge policymakers at every level to seriously consider what the investment priorities should be to ensure the long-term viability of our communities. 

To see the proposed budget, list of additions and reductions, fact sheet and budget information click here.