The Cordova School District Board of Education passed its annual budget with confidence during the body’s regular meeting on Wednesday night, even if state funding remains a bit uncertain.
Cordova School District Superintendent Alex Russin told The Cordova Times he’s confident about the 2025-26 budget, even though Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy still has an opportunity to line-item veto the $700 increase to the Base Student Allocation (BSA) by June 19.
The School Board, during its June 11 meeting, passed a balanced budget that outlined a $680 BSA increase, underestimating to be safe. A $680 BSA bump would net a total of $613,000 for the district.
Russin reiterated the budget has put the district in a good position even if Dunleavy cuts the funding back a bit next week. With the city’s full support and some cost-saving measures over the past school year – including reimbursement grants for technology purchases, utilities costing less than anticipated, and saving on a few open staff positions – the district is looking financially sound.
“Right now we’re confident with any vetoes that may occur,” Russin said, adding that the Board likely “won’t have to make any major reductions” even if the state funding isn’t quite what they anticipate.
Ultimately, the Board passed the budget based on known revenue and anticipated expenses, he said. The latter of which is more difficult to predict, according to Russin, since it has the greatest variables.
The district will also conduct budget revisions throughout the year to ensure it stays on track.
The confidence in the Cordova School District funding is nearly night and day from a few weeks ago, when the Board wasn’t sure if it would receive enough funds from the city and the state to cover operating expenses.
The district proposed around $900,000 in cuts just to balance the budget earlier this spring, before attending a Cordova City Council work session on May 7 to ask for $2.3 million in city funding. The council considered giving the district only a portion of the money it asked for, but ended up funding the entire request. In addition, the council on May 21 voted to raise Cordova’s property tax rate to help fund the school district.
This was all happening locally while the state government continued to spar over the BSA – Alaska’s per-student funding model.
The Alaska Legislature passed legislation outlining a $1,000 BSA increase in mid April, which the governor vetoed. Lawmakers came back to pass a $700 BSA increase in late April, and Dunleavy on May 19 vetoed the funding again. The Legislature overrode that second veto on May 20.
Now Alaska’s school districts are just waiting to see if Dunleavy will exercise his line-item veto powers – and if he does, to what extent.
