Students are returning to school soon. We spoke with Haines School Superintendent Roy Getchell about the coming year. We talked about State funding, curriculum requirements, and free lunches.

The School year is about to start. The Haines school is fully staffed and fully certified, according to Superintendent Roy Getchell.

Getchell: “Our board received an overview from our accrediting body that looks at the Haines high school, we had a really nice review, we are accredited for six years, we did really well.”

Getchell says there were no surprises in the school’s assessment. This year the school will start implementing the Alaska Reads Act. The law is meant to help all students read at grade level by the third grade. It mandates some training for teachers, and screening students to identify the ones that are falling behind.

Getchell: “It’s just more focus and awareness of students and where they are and how to ensure that they are reading.”

If a student is found to not read at grade level, their teacher will create an individualized plan. The school will update the student’s parents or guardians regularly, and enroll their help to get the students to perform at grade level. 

These new requirements cost money, and Getchell says despite the state’s increase to per-student funding or the  Base Student Allocation, the funding falls short.

Getchell: “We are going to get an increase to the BSA this year, which is good, it’s $30, but that’s going to be $18 000 in total for us. And when you think about inflation and the pressures that we’ve had over the last two years, that’s a drop in the bucket. And that money is meant to implement the Alaska Reads Act. Which is much more expensive than $18,000.”

Governor Mike Dunleavy has cut an expected increase in state funding by half. The state’s funding to schools is unknown every spring when school districts are creating their budgets. This has led some school officials to complain about the resulting unpredictability. Getchell says if the state does not step up in the coming years, the school will have to make hard choices.

Getchell: “Whenever funding becomes an issue you really have to start prioritizing, and it’s like choosing ten important things, of those ten important things which one or two are you willing to, as a community or as a school, to eliminate.”

But he says he has experience working during times of economic downturns.

Getchell: “Usually what that means is larger class sizes, fewer staff, because so much of our expenditure are staff, but when these kinds of things occur, it reduces services that the people are usually used to.”

Getchell says when the budget becomes tied up in the legislature, planning for the school year is difficult.

Getchell: “We start to develop our budget in November when we estimate our enrollment for the following year. We never know until the budget is passed, which this year was June 15the, what our funding is going to be. So we had about two weeks’ notice as to what our funding amount was.”

Getchell says it worked out this year, but the situation is less than ideal.

Getchell: “The bottom line is the state of Alaska has a constitutional obligation to fund its schools.”

  One bit of extra assistance this year will come from the federal government. Enough Haines students in K-8 have qualified for the US Department of Agriculture’s Child Nutrition Program. It means that all students up through grade 8 will receive free breakfasts and lunches. High school students are also eligible, and Getchell encourages parents to apply.

Getchell: “”I think this is really good news for our families, it’s a big expense, it’s expensive to raise children, I think this will be a really big help to our families with children.”

School staff are coming to work next week, and the classes will start on the 22nd.

Getchell: “It’s always an exciting day, for an educator it’s almost like Christmas, it’s the day that you wait for. The first day back, when you come for inservice, or after vacation sometimes it’s hard. But once you get back, everybody is just waiting for the arrival of the students. That’s always an exciting day for us. And I know it is for parents too. Hopefully for their kids as well. We think it is.”

The school year in Haines starts on Tuesday morning, August 22nd, at 8.25.