Kodiak Island Borough Assembly approves $13.8M for schools, $836K below district request

The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly voted Thursday to provide $13.7 million to the Kodiak Island Borough School District for fiscal year 2027, $836 thousand below the district's request. The vote came after years of state funding cuts that had already forced larger class sizes and higher out-of-pocket costs for Kodiak families, and as the district planned to drain its savings to stay afloat.

The 6-1 vote followed contentious debate over how to balance school funding needs against borough tax pressures. Assembly Member Bo Whiteside proposed the compromise figure after the Assembly rejected a deeper cut to $12.2 million.

The school district had already reduced its budget by $2.7 million before requesting borough support. Superintendent Bo Whiteside warned that additional reductions would eliminate positions including aides, mental health staff, and nurses.

Assembly Member Scott Smiley said the district, not the assembly, controls its budget. "They have cut more than $2.7 million this year and $2.5 to $2.7 million for the year before that and the year before that," he said.

Borough Finance Director Jared Griffin said federal support that had helped bridge funding gaps is gone. "COVID money helped bridge those gaps for a few years, and as have federal grants for numerous years. COVID money is gone," Griffin said. "We voted in an executive branch in D.C. that eliminated those education — federal education grants that provided for a lot of the services our kids rely on."

Assembly Member Zac Johnson said he told his children the education they are receiving this year is probably the best they will get while in school. He said state legislators told him there is no appetite to fix education funding until the state's constitutional budget reserve is fully depleted.

The 2026 state legislative session included a one-time BSA increase and heating relief, but those measures have not reversed the longer-term funding pressures facing districts like Kodiak.

The Assembly will take up the borough's budget and levy ordinances at a special meeting May 28.