12/5/2025: Joint Assembly School Board Meeting

001Deltic check Good. >> Thank you. We're ready to go. >> All right. Good morning, everyone. We'll call this joint ASD School Board Anchorage Assembly meeting to order. Today is Friday, December 5th at 10:09 a.m. Uh, we'll conduct a roll call. We'll start with the school board. Miss Sullivan, call the role, please. >> Member Bellamy, >> present. >> Member Hollerman, >> present. >> Member Donley, >> here. >> Member Higgins, >> here. >> Member Lessons >> here. Online. Member Wilson. Member Wilson. >> President Jacobs. >> Present. >> You have a quorum. >> Thank you. Madam clerk, would you please call the role? It's my understanding that member Myers is excused. >> Yes. >> Member McCormick, member Martinez, >> present. >> Member Baldwin Day, >> present. >> Member Johnson >> here. >> Chair Constant >> here. >> Vice

002Chair Broly >> here. >> Member Voland. Member Silvers >> present. >> Member Rivera >> present. >> Member Girker, >> chair, you have a quorum. >> Thank you. And I would note that the code requires that we have a quorum of a majority in person. However, it does allow the chair some discretion uh to declare an ex exigency exists. And in this case, we have to have this meeting. It's in the charter. It's in the code. And we have seven members, one being on the phone. >> Thank you. Um, Member Hullman, could you lead us in the flag salute, please? Lead us in the land acknowledgement. We acknowledge that we gather here today on the lands, traditional lands of the Dina people of the Upper Cook Inlet. For thousands of years, the Dina have been and

003continue to be the stewards of this land. Uh the Anchorage School District is committed to diversity and inclusion and is with honor and respect that we recognize all indigenous people who live and learn in our community. Our next item is B1 minutes from the September 26, 2025 meeting. Those minutes are in front of members um in their packet. I'll give folks just a moment to read and then we'll ask for a motion to approve the minutes. If there are no changes, >> I'll move to approve them. >> Motion made by Vice Chair Broly and seconded by member Silvers. If there are no changes, is there any opposition to adopting the minutes of the 92625 meeting? All right, we've approved our minutes. Our next item is C1 approval of the agenda. There is an agenda in

004members packets. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as written? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion made to approve the agenda by member Baldwin Day. Seconded by member Broly. Is there any opposition? >> We have an agenda. Thank you everyone. Our first item today is public comment. We have one person signed up to testify, Mr. William Baxter. Mr. Baxter, you'd come join us at the table. Why don't you sit next to Dave and then you can borrow his mic. >> Mr. Baxter, you have three minutes. Please begin testimony when you're ready. >> Okay. I'm Bill Baxter and uh I uh bring some uh a paper visa here. It has uh uh it's got the probably the most uh uh uh Taylor Nelson and Bri uh is which is advisor of of for the

005state for FFA and Brian Scorby is a director of agriculture for Alaska and he's probably the probably the best people to talk to about FFA and another thing is um I see every month where agriculture is growing in Alaska. I see a lot of things happening in the agriculture like you know uh the different things are growing like the rodeo industry is growing and I t and I talked to uh Ken Piliter the country music industry is growing and a lot of things are growing in the agriculture and I see that uh uh it the numbers are getting bigger like you know like a the uh the fair when they had their auction was uh bigger this year and uh there was a turkey went for $5,600 at the uh auction and so it's uh

006all I can tell you it it's getting bigger and I'm not the only one who really has this desire for everybody has a lot of people have a desire for ragulture to to uh to uh get bigger in Alaska and I have other things You know, I there's another things I I pursue is, you know, uh fuel breaks in in uh in Alaska for forest fires is a good place for uh moose habitat, growth habitat, and that and that's another thing I I I push and also I push for uh commercial uh freshwater fishing too. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. That completes public comments. Item D. Uh, next is item E1, budget update, ASD. Dr. Brian Flores. >> Uh, thank you, President Jacobs. Uh, for this, uh, this meeting, we'd like to

007brief the assembly with similar information that we shared with the school board on Tuesday related to our proforma of our upcoming FY27 budget. Um, in short, if you as you've probably seen in the reporting, ASD is facing an approximately $80 million structural deficit, which is the result of a combination of extraordinary inflation, flat funding, and decreased enrollment. And we have a number of difficult decisions ahead as we start our budget development process. Our chief financial officer, Mr. Andy Ratliff, will provide a brief presentation. >> Okay. Thank you. So, we're going to go through our proformer budget quickly. I think this is going to be pretty close to what we told you in terms of total amounts a couple of months ago when we met. Um, but really just kind of show you how this kind

008of maths out. So really the purpose of our proform budget is to detail out what our budget deficit's going to be for the for the following year. And it's really based on our expenditures being what it' be our expenditures being if we want to keep the same programs and services for students that we have now what it's going to cost to do that next year and then what our revenue is going to be based on what's currently in state statutes and allowable under the municipal tax cap. Where we're at in the process is we're preparing our proform to get our de budget deficit. um will spend the next like six weeks or so getting a balanced budget, getting the document prepared to take that to the board so they can review and approve in February

009and bring it to the assembly by the first Monday in March. And then the assembly will have their two meetings to review and approve it as well. And then at the same time, state will be meeting in legislative session to hopefully we can update some of these revenue numbers, but um that's kind of the unknown at this point. So, here's those dates for the assembly. The 3rd and 17th of March is those meetings. The 3rd and 17th of February is for the school board. Um, and this coming Saturday, tomorrow on the 6th at Bartlett, we'll be having a budget work session for the community. Uh, at at Bartlett to kind of go over this balancing act software that we have that's really kind of a budget simulation where you can see um here's the scale

010of the deficit and what's going to have to happen to be able to uh get the budget to balance. kind of the backdrop of how we got here. This is the base student allocation over time which is really the kind of that um funding mechanism that we have through the state that sets our our revenue from the state and also in turn sets the cap on municipal uh contributions although that's we're coming up against a municap this year instead of the state cap. So, we'll go through that and what that looks like due to increases in that required local contribution. But really, um, we got a permanent $700 increase for FO for this current year, about $20 more per person than last year's onetime funding of $680. And this year, we use $700 BSA equivalent

011in savings or fund balance to be able to support ongoing operations, which we don't plan on having next year. We'll spend that down. We don't really have much in the way of savings. um after this is gone or at least not spendable. Um one of the challenges been state funding for school districts. This is across the state. Um the statewide K12 support for education for districts has increased by about 8 and a half% since 2017. Um most other departments are in the 30 to 50% range for increases which is a lot closer in line to what actual inflation has been. Maybe some of them are quite a bit above inflation, but 8 and a half% I mean that's also net of enrollment declines and shifts from the state government to local through that required local

012contribution as those as municipalities values grow. Uh the other thing that's creating issues is our enrollment declines over the time. This was coming from our kind of our right sizing presentation, but since 2016 we've lost nearly 7,000 students. Um although we're gaining prek students, our intensive needs population continues to grow very rapidly and our number of special ed students has grown as well. So as we're losing students overall, some of those more intensive needs and those higher um where you have to have more staff to students, those those things are growing. So that's kind of the backdrop is, you know, our revenue staying stagnant for years and our enrollments declining and it's kind of make it's making it uh difficult to get to balanced budgets year after year. Quick review of our foundation formula. There's

013adjustments in there. The the first one's a school size adjustment based on the brick-and-mortar students um kind of to create economies of scale so we get eventually more money per student for smaller schools. So fewer students you have at a school, the more money you're going to get per student. um kind of a sliding scale. So aggregate adjustment, you know, goes up by from 39,000 to 44,000. Um there's a district cost factor that Anchorage doesn't receive any increase for. It's about um every other district gets some increase on top of what their school size adjusted factor is. I think the lowest one is MATSU, which is at 7%. Uh higher than Anchorage. their special needs factors a 20% increase in that to provide for special education ELLL gifted and vocational education another one and a

014half% increase to provide for uh career and technical education and then the intensive needs factors based on the number of students times 13 so there's a 13 factor in there that'll provide funding to support those uh those students and then correspondence is the 90% of what their actual student count is so that ADM Tina 90% and so that gets to an adjusted total of about nearly 71,000 is our adjusted ADM. So when you're talking about what uh BSA increase might generate in terms of total dollars, you can roughly take that uh BSA amount times that 71,000 and that'll get the amount of money that it would generate for ASD. So here's what our revenue picture is looking like uh over for the next uh budget cycle. If there are no changes in the in either

015what our enrollment projections are are or in uh the state funding amounts, you'll see a property tax increase of about 9.7 million. We'll get into that a little later or at least on the next slide just show how that's relation to our required local contribution. You can see the fund balance at nearly $50 million is going away as that as we spend that out. um e- rate you see an increase that's more of an accounting issue where we have to increase the expenses and the revenue to record both of them um not necessarily new revenue but just a change in accounting practice foundation funding is from the state is uh decreasing by 15.4 4 million a little over 11 million of that is because that required local contribution is going up. So 11 million dollars

016required that the city has to pay comes out of state funding. So that's why you see that and the rest of it is going to be enrollment driven. Um have some reduction for impact aid and then the other big is the Medicaid reimbursement that we're still looking into to see if that's going to be accurate. It may be more than that but that's kind of the trending receipts that we've had for the last couple years. We're trying to utilize our services better and get more kids eligible to be able to claim more reimbursements. Um, but right now I just don't don't have quite that data. So that might get updated, but it's really not that big a pot of money that will materially affect these numbers. Um, so getting to that that required local contribution,

017uh, we worked with our the city's OM department to figure out what the municipal tax cap is for ASD will be. uh it's about 9.7 million is the maximum amount that we can request in additional taxes per the local tax cap. However, that required local contribution is going to be about 11.2 million increase and that's based on the full and true value of the property in Anchorage as of fiscal or calendar year 2025. Um so as that's gone up by about 8.8% the required local contribution has to go up by that same percentage. And then because we cannot collect that entire 11.2 million that's required, we have to reduce what's being given to us through that additional local contribution to stay within the city tax cap. Um so that's going to decrease our funding by

018about $1.5 million just because of that required local contribution piece. Then another 4.2 million decrease through uh enrollment changes uh over time. That little chart at the bottom shows what uh what it's changed over the last decade. So about $35 million or so has been shifted from the state to the city through that required local contribution while state revenue um over that same time period will go unless there's again if there's other changes. Uh this will be updated, but it'll be about $5 million less than what it was back in 2017 in terms of real dollars. Uh, so that's the revenue picture. Is there any questions on that before we move on to the expense side? >> All right. So, >> Vice Chair Bley. >> Yeah. Sorry, I was slow on the uptake. Can you

019and maybe you'll get into this later. Can you explain how the impact of the state revenue impacts our the maximum property tax because it it seems like it's going up. Or maybe you're going to get to that later. >> I'm probably not going to get to that later. Okay. >> So, good time [laughter] to answer that. So, it's uh so I I guess I don't fully understand your question. >> I I guess I just know that that the local contribution is somewhat tied to the the state numbers and so as those change or don't change, just curious how that would affect. >> Right. Yeah. So, as the state number goes up, our our that additional allowable contribution could go up. So with that going up, there's about like it's like a 23% ratio. So if

020the state provides $10 million extra, then the local contribute the local cap can go up by 2.3 million under the state statutes. Um, however, with that big of a required local contribution, we're going to be at that city tax cap. So we're not going to be able to reach the state maximum next year unless the city were to change something where they could contribute more. But um that's already a fairly large ask. So >> Okay. Thanks. Yeah, I think we're just all trying to understand how these formulas work and then what what's a policy choice versus what's something we have to do. Thanks. >> Right. And we're obligated to uh we can take the lesser of the state cap or the city cap essentially. And so we're going to be up at the city cap

021this year whereas the past several years we've been closer to the state cap. >> For our record, I want to note that member school board member Wilson joined us at 10:15. And then um if members in the room would like to activate their mic to join the queue um we can utilize that software. And then members online please feel free to raise your hand on Zoom. Uh but we have member silvers and then member Baldwin Day. >> Do you have a um chart or graph that you can share with us that shows us the fund balance your fund balance over time? >> Um yes I can get that to you. It'll be in our financial statements. We just finished our FY25 a few weeks ago. It'll have like our 10 year history of fun balance

022in there. >> Okay. Thank you, >> member Baldwin Day. >> Thank you. I I just want to be sure uh I'm understanding this correctly, Mr. Ratliff. So, uh so the required local contribution is a is set at the state level, but that work actually works in opposition to our charter and the tax cap, which sets a different limit for city contribution. Is that correct? So, those two things are working in opposition to each other in this case. Um, I mean, ideally they'd go up kind of equally, but in in this year, since we had such a big jump in that anchorage in our property values, the the state we're not going to meet that state cap, I guess. So, as the required local goes up, and that's kind of the rub is it just went

023up so much this year is we couldn't meet the entire uh the city's tax cap. So we have to take some out of that additional. So it'll end up being like a one and a half million dollar loss for us all things being equal there. >> Gotcha. And and so there's not an alternative way to make up that local that additional local contribution. >> I believe the city is beholden to an overall tax cap. So it would come out of this have to come out of the city's tax request if they are up to the cap. But we theoretically could approve uh exceed this if the city were to say no, we're going to take less money and hand it over to the school district essentially. >> Thank you. >> I think that's the um

024Becky may have a better answer, but I think that's the the gist of it. >> Thank you. That's helpful. >> But right now, we're preparing to go up to the school districts portion of the cap. >> Chair constant. Miss Baldwin Day just asked my question. Perfect. Mr. with proceed. >> Okay. So, as far as where our money goes, um you know, by and large, our money goes into either direct classroom instruction, which is our teachers, pair professionals, and supply services, software that goes directly into the classroom every day. Uh the rest 22% of it goes into student supports for counselors, new nurses, librarians, principles, sports supervision of those folks, curriculum development, social services, PD, those things. And then 13% goes into operations and maintenance or about 82 million. And administration makes up the last 5%

025of it, which is most of the folks at this table. Uh most of our back-end business functions and uh IT. Um, at the bottom there's a little chart that shows what the decrease from 25 or the change from 25 to 26 was. As we got new money back from the state, all that money went into instruction and supports and then we continued the reductions in operations and maintenance. We still ended up making about um 15 or$20 million in reductions and you know dozens and dozens of positions cuts to FY26. So that's kind of the starting point for this year. Um we're projecting we're about 87% salaries and wages in our in our operating fund. So as we have reductions there's not a lot of other stuff to cut before we have to get to people.

026So since 87% is people that's where generally the cuts are going to have to come from. Um, as we go through this, it does include as we've lost several hundred students this year, we're anticipating about 32 FTE being reduced just because of that student loss for this year. All keeping keeping the same PTR. Um, and then we're going to keep our attrition estimates about the current budget levels. We're trending pretty well on track to meet what we thought they were this year, which is about $40 million in savings from uh vacancies and turnover. So, here's our FTE by our functions through the state. Um, you'll see in FY27 just that 32 FTE coming out of the instruction where the teachers are. That's the only change we made right now, but as we get into actually

027developing the budget, of course, this will have to change as well. Uh, for salaries and wages, um, typically between two and 4% are the projections on some of the on the on the growth. Um we have four contracts that'll be out of >> [clears throat] >> uh out of their bargain agreement by the end of this year with our teachers union prof or principles maintenance and custodians groups. Um so those still have to be bargained. We did estimate increases in here. Um so that's not going to shouldn't be additive too much depending on how they settle. Uh so about 11 million increase in just salaries and wages are about 3%. So is that's um that'll go up. Uh other areas of concern are about or substitutes continue to go up. Added duty as that's a

028lot of summer school and that's kind of the extra help and that's a lot of that's going to be tied to the teacher salaries. So um one of the changes that they likely to make in that contract is going to be to tie some of those added duties to their base wage. So that's expected to trend up by the same rate as our uh certificated staff. Um the biggest thing here though is the biggest takeaway on this is on our benefits and our medical insurance. That's increasing by about 7% uh projected. You know, I think 10 to 15% annual increases in medical cost of I think what we've seen probably what the municipality's seen in uh private businesses. So that's really just eating our lunch is trying to account for all this medical costs that

029have just continued to like inc far outpace inflation and far outplace our our funding. Um but aside from that, we did take out some the metrics based staff on here. So you'll see that backing out. So that's that 32 FTE that we were discussing earlier. Uh but we didn't want to skew those other functional categories and say it's oh it's not going to go up by that much. And it's really because we didn't have the FTE in there. Uh so overall, we're projecting our salaries, wages, and benefits to go up by a little under 4% or about 22 million. On the non-personnel side, uh projecting about 2.8 million or $2.2 million in increases um mostly being with uh electricity, phone, internet, and then a loss of indirect cost recovery. So indirect cost is if we

030as we get grants, we're able to have take a credit back into our general fund for the indirect cost to pay for things like payroll, HR, budget, uh grants and development, all these things that assist in on the business side of operating these grants. Um as we have fewer grants and are projecting fewer grants to come in both at mostly at the federal level, we are um just projecting fewer dollars to be recovered through that indirect cost. Um, so overall, >> before we move on, can I ask you a question on this one? >> Of course. >> Thanks. So, 15% jump in phone and internet. Can you elaborate a little bit more on why it's so substantial this year? >> Yep. Um, and a lot of that's tied back to that rate where at on

031the revenue side when I was talking about that rate went up by a million. Um, the rate is a program that pays for the internet and phones are a portion of it. Um, and that's that's a federal program that we get money from. So, it's more a lot of this is a kind of an accounting issue. So, the cost is going up, but we also see that revenue, but it's not going to go up as fast. So, our actual phone contract really didn't change much. It's more of the accounting function and getting it in the right line items. >> Okay. Thank you. >> It's that one's a little more complicated, but it's >> Vley. >> Yeah. Thanks. And sorry, I was trying to figure out how to put myself in the queue. Um, I had

032a question about the health insurance. Can you remind me, are you guys self-insured or are there any I guess what if any mechanisms do you have to control those costs? >> Um, so we're split. We're uh the district has a self insured plan for I think around 15 or 800, 18800 of our employees. The teachers are under a separate plan and then I believe custodians and bus drivers are under separate plans as well. >> And is this separate plan the state's plan? Are they part of that or >> uh which >> uh like I know there's state employees in the the on the pension side we all kind of pull into the same pool. Is that true in the healthcare? >> No. No. So we're under our separate plan that's uh for ASD is one

033we just run internally. The public education health trust PHT runs the teachers plan and then I think the local 71 runs the custodians and then there's a teamsters plan for the bus drivers. So, >> thanks. And then just a brief comment. Um, our health care costs in the state are unsustainable uh for everybody who is paying them. Thank you. >> Yeah, I agree. >> Member Martinez. >> Thank you. Uh, just a follow-up question on the adopted budget slide. Uh, particularly I just want to ask a question about operations and maintenance. the 13% uh that is identified there at million is 13% of the FY2026 uh budget. I'm interested in understanding uh what $81 million of maintenance and operations represents versus the value of the the liabilities the properties u that the school district has in

034the first place. you know, do we have a sense? Do you have a today or can you get me a sense of what is the valuation of the school district's properties in total? Um, I want to get a sense of that with respect to life cycle costs and such. >> Sure. I think the acquisition value is around two billion in property. Um, the replacement value of course is going to be considerably higher than that as all a lot of these pro properties were uh purchased or built years ago. Um, so I don't know that I have the actual replacement value in hand, but the acquisition value is about 2 billion. Just to follow up and not necessarily today but to the information that you may not have offh hand today. I'd be interested in kind

035of getting a sense of the that relationship between the annual cost of maintenance and operations, the projected costs versus the valuation of the of the of the properties and the the liabilities or assets depending on which room you sit in. um you determine that so that we can get a sense of when we talk about fiscal crisis and we talk about um not being able to pay for what we have today. A lot of these things are structural for for years and time and primarily from the cost of the build, the way we bond, the way we don't necessarily build in life cycle costs early on, but we have to pay them over time, right? And so kind of getting a better sense of what that looks like uh so that the the public can

036get a sense of the these expected costs that we have and what it means to our current budget and and and how that takes money out of the classrooms. I think that's a kind of an important relationship. >> Yeah. And I mean by and large we can show you how that deferred maintenance backlog has just increased exponentially over time. It was up, you know, a couple hundred million a decade or so ago and now it's up to over one and a half billion, you know. So, we have all that and I think um I don't know they're going to have some presentations on the bonds that might have a little more information on this too. So, >> member Higgins, >> I'll just jump in real quick. I mean, we've had presentations that the deferred maintenance

037is over a billion and a half or somewhere in that category. And when you look at if you were running a private business that used to be the hospital with it, you have a certain percentage of the value, you just assume you're going to put into the maintenance operations that we are not doing. So we've got, you know, roofs that need to be replaced. And when you've got 90 something roofs out there and you replace one a year, uh, if you're lucky, and we're doing it once every few years, it seems like, um, we're so far behind. Blet is probably the best example of a school that's so critical in need of of major renovations, you know, um that it's it's in bad shape. I walk through there, you got leaky roofs, you've got thermostat

038controls, you got all kind of issues associated with it. So, just maintaining what we've got right now. And when you say billion and a half, that doesn't mean a billion and a half that the place is collapsing, but it's things that normally you would want to be considered to be with maintenance. you would maintain, you would update. We got boiler systems that are so old. Um, and efficiency is an issue. I mean, looking at the energy efficiency of these things, that really impacts things as well. So, all of our emphasis on bonds has been, you know, safety and then maintain what we've got uh in line with it. And it's going to be that way for a long time. But at least the state's matching us right now, but we haven't been expanding the size

039of those bonds. So from my perspective, I got really focused on this, walking through schools, seeing the roofs leaking, even the newer ones where, you know, um, baggage had a leak issue and I'm going, okay, that's relatively new. Um, but we have got so many serious maintenance type activities out there. Compliance in one case with Avaloop of course, but it's just um, uh, it's not something that we've got control of. and our focus has been on bonds, the responsible maintain what you got and keep it going and that's what we're going to do. The other problem will be even if you gave us money to replace all the roofs right now, we couldn't do it. There isn't people to do it out there with. So the so how many can we do more than one

040roof a year and it's going to take two years to do it. So we're behind on the maintenance, we're behind on the access to the skill sets necessary in this community to maintain what we even have. So we're it's a crisis not just for ASD but it's a crisis for the community as well that we need to somehow expand you know the the capacity of these skill sets so big which is why I you know I supported the um um the efforts to expand the career technology activities different career fields and all that but um I think back to the 90s when the crisis was there and they were selling the CTE equipment because they couldn't afford to even have the staff for maintain the programs and that's kind of where we are right now.

041So, but the maintenance is a big deal and um all we're going to do is put out the biggest fire. Member Hullman. >> I'd always like to remind citizens that part of this just comes from entertaining 40ome thousand kids every day that don't always have that heightened respect for the facility that adults might that that if they want to get a similar idea, they should invite 40 school kids into their home. Make sure they go in all the rooms and have some PE time and everything and see if their maintenance costs go up a little bit. uh even if the buildings didn't age, but of course the buildings age also, but yeah, it's it's a lot of money. >> All right. [clears throat] Um so recap, uh we think we'll be down about $56 million

042in revenue, mostly between the loss of fund balance and the state, uh revenue declines. Um, and then our costs are expected to go up by a little under 4% overall, driven a lot by salaries and healthcare. Some of the things we didn't add into this are these unfunded costs that we cut through this year's budget, including capital equipment replenishment, major maintenance to again that goes to repair our buildings, Chromebooks, and other curriculums that have were just eliminated out of those budgets that we're still going to have a need for all this stuff, but um they aren't included in this presentation. If we still wanted to meet the state standards for class size, that adds another $26 million. On the revenue side, uh we're still waiting on our demographic projections to get our school by school

043uh enrollment for this year or for next year. Uh that may change our revenue projection as well. We're looking at our fund balance. You know, you probably saw a article in the paper of we're reviewing and freezing uh job postings. So, we're looking through that to try to maybe save a little bit of money this year and then not have if we end up having to cut those positions, not have someone in them to lay off. Uh, so just trying to not hire someone in retirement, but also save a little bit of money to try to um soften the blow if we can. And then always the changes to those title grants, you know, we saw over the summer where some title two, title four money was uh eliminated and then brought back um going

044through the actual the natural process congress. there's a potential that that could be eliminated again or changed and reduced. So, we're watching that. And then, of course, the local contribution limits that uh we went through this summer and well also uh still waiting for the state to see if they're going to bring something back to the state board to approve those regulation changes, but at this time, we don't know what that'll look like. >> Chair Constant. So, [clears throat] um, because your slide just kind of reckoned with a bit of this year's finance. It raised the question in my head. What [clears throat] happened with the October count relating to um, our visitors from Western Alaska? How long did the state actually work with us on ensuring that those students are counted because they were

045in between places at exactly the point in time when the count was happening? And what impact is that going to have on us? >> Um, yeah. So, the state has indicated that they are going to give both districts full funding. So, a 1.0 for each of those students. Um, we're still trying to work through the mechanics of that because their their actual software won't allow us to have more than one FTE for each. So, we're trying to get through that mechanism to fund us. But, that's what the states told us repeatedly is that they were going to fund both districts at a 1.0 ADM. >> Then we had 17 progress, I guess, is your point. Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. And the counts get reconciled through March. So, it's a kind of ongoing process. >>

046Member Johnson. >> Yeah. Thanks. Sorry. I know you touched on this, but we're moving fast. I'm trying to trying to keep up. Could you explain a little bit more this change in state standards for for class sizes, a $26 million liability there? >> Yeah. So, um, in the last in the I guess it was in the last funding bill for that the state put out, they put in minimum or minimum minimum target class sizes that were I think was it 20? Trying to remember what they were. 23 at K through six. >> No, not the Pasades. The the state the CL the ones that went in the state HP the lad ass HB the >> I can pull that up for you here shortly but it's but I believe it was 23 at K through

047five and like 30 or less. I thought it was almost 27. >> Yeah. Anyway, I've got it somewhere here. I'll I'll find it for you shortly. >> Thanks. So, I guess I'm just trying to to think about the relationship between this, you know, $26 million increase um because of that burden, then going back to our adopt a budget slide when we look at how the money is being spent and that's sort of 26 million on top of what we already have in here for direct classroom instruction. So, would it be fair to think that means pulling $26 million out of a combination of these other buckets, operation maintenance, student supports administration? Is that kind of um fair characterization of of how we'd have to achieve that? >> Well, it's not a mandate necessarily. It is

048a target. So, they want you to set these targets, but it's not I don't think there's any penalty for exceeding it. And frankly, I don't know that there's any way that we can get ours down, like move $26 million from those other categories into that and then cut $80 million on top of that. Um, that's kind of the that's where you get to the really difficult piece. >> Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. So, this is hypothetical really. >> That Yeah, if we wanted to meet the state standards, it would cost an extra 26 million on top of how what our current P to get our PTR down to what they say it should be. >> Okay. Thank you, Member Johnson. I'll just note that there was significant discussion when that bill passed out of the

049legislature that there may not actually be enough K12 teachers to effectuate those class sizes statewide and so they truly are aspirational targets. Mr. Ruthless, please proceed. >> Right. And a lot of like statewide some of those schools don't have 26 kids in them. So it's pretty easy to meet the targets on on a lot of districts, but for a lot of the bigger districts, it is more difficult. Uh looking at transportation um expecting a slight a little decline in state revenue and to keep the same amount of property taxes uh we can increase through the municipal tax cap. The state revenue is based on uh student counts. So it's number of students in brick and mortar buildings times what'll be $529 for uh what is currently 529. Last year in one time we got like

050531. So we got a little bit of a decline in actual revenue. from 25 to 26. Um, but if we don't get anything else in 27, it'll be about, you know, $650,000 decrease. Our costs are going up considerably in salaries and in the contracted services. These are tied to the bus driver's minimum wage. Um, bus drivers required to get at least two times the minimum wage. So, as those minimum wage statutes kick up and um that goes up, so does our contra or our bus driver wages. Um, so that's going to go up by over 7% and I think the minimum bus driver will pay will be about $28 an hour come July 1. Uh, and that affects our contract too because they have to be paid the same rates. Um, so overall about $3

051million uh deficit in our transportation fund. So that's where we get about $83 million of total deficit that we're going to have to address. um it's unlikely we have any sort of relief from the legislature prior to actually having to create this budget. So, we'll create a budget that looks really austere and then come back hopefully, you know, God willing that we can come back and actually add some of these things back. But, um $83 million is not going to be an easy thing to address. >> Member Baldwe, >> thank you. Um so contracted services can you say a little bit more about what what that means? >> Right. So about twothirds of our routes are uh provided by Reliant Transportation. So a contracted a third party transportation provider is what those are. >> And

052is that because we don't we don't have enough bus drivers sort of inhouse to be able to cover the need? >> Um >> yeah I mean we've always had as far as I've been at the district we've always kind of had that split. So, I don't know if it's through, you know, a negotiating tactic or something to have that, but it's that I remember back go back to the 90s when my wife was on the school board, but the National School Board, so they viewed us, they were jealous of what we were doing because we have so much of it contracted out, which works out fine, but we have enough employees to be able to maintain things. So, we get the ability to contract out without being vulnerable to the contractor being unreasonable. and if

053we have a problem with the with the staffing issues, we've got the ability to cover the busing. So, it's almost a perfect management dream to have it set up the way it is because financially it works out pretty good from a from a practical standpoint. We we get the benefits of the contracting out. There are benefits associated but we also have the security with enough employees to be able to maintain it that we don't get um um give in to the contractor no matter what the cost is. So it gives us a good negotiating position. >> Member Broly. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um I guess my question is broader. Um is I uh this morning heard it was secondhand. It was a a report from Senator Wilikowsky at a community council meeting last night saying

054um the best we could expect is um inflation proofing from the Senate. So I'm not I'm not asking you to interpret his words, but I'm wondering um if you guys have been hearing from legislators on kind of what the what is realistic and and and is that just a one time that they are talking about? I mean I understand I should ask him directly but curious what you guys are hearing on the or have discussed from the board so far. Let me turn that over to some board members. I really haven't had any discussions with legislators to that have been or Dr. saying they're really advocating for massive increases in education funding. >> Vice Chair, I'll jump in to say that I I think based on the state's fiscal situation, which I think everyone here

055is aware um they lack a sustainable long-term fiscal plan um their operating budget for next year is underwater to start with to continue current operations. I anticipate there will be some discussion regarding a initial appropriation early in session that'll be onetime funds. Um I anticipate there will also be discussion regarding a inflation adjustment to the BSA. Um neither of those things are sufficient to our long-term needs. Neither of those things are guaranteed, especially with a lame duck governor and significant elections um coming up. That'll change potentially a number of legislators. And so I don't know that we're looking at much productivity out of Juno unless there's a huge swell of support and um logical leadership. Thanks. >> Yeah. Thanks. And just a quick followup. I wonder um because we I know we talk about labor.

056There was certain expectations around the BSA funding. I know it didn't necessarily have um kind of you know allocation strings attached to it, but wondering um how much the discussion has been on here's one pot of money versus here's some funding for transportation, here's some other pieces. Um and again, I know we're speculating at this point, but just curious what you've heard so far. >> Not much there. Um I I hope to have in have conversations as well as hear more soon. Um there's a lot in flux right now. That's great questions and things we should be talking about. Um I have member Hollowman, the member Dunley. >> Um I was at the Commonwealth North legislative discussion last night that that was well attended by some legislators around the state. Uh all very similar to

057what President Jacobs said. Uh they their budget is based on the price of oil that is higher than what it currently is at. Uh if it drops, they're in a bigger squeeze. uh if it turns around the other way uh things could get more manageable. Um there is the expectation that production throughput on the pipeline will rise which will help them out some but I think the the price is going to be a bigger indicator. I got the feeling from several people that they would like to do a cola for education to just help establish that as a tradition and as something that we could start to expect if they can uh while at the same time recognizing they've they've got a real problem financially uh and a big focus will be on uh some

058kind of a defined benefit retirement for public employees as as the big push. So unfortunately I don't think a noticeable increase in education funding is on the agenda as a priority. >> Thank you member Hullman. We'll go online to member lessons who had said her hand up. >> Thank you. Um I just you know if we hear conversations or are involved in conversations about inflation proofing I think it's fair to say and ask inflation proofing to what? if we're talking about inflation proofing to what we received for FY26, which was a $700 increase uh from the long stagnant um amounts previous to that, then I think uh I read on the paper this morning, it might look like $38 per student. And I ran the numbers really quickly. If you multiply $38 times about 71,000,

059which is uh you know, our rough AADM, that could net us $7 million if you round up. That's not going to close our gap. Nor is that inflationproofed to the purchasing power that we had back in the 2010 2011 school year. And that's really um that's a delta of I think the figure is uh $1,442 per student. So big difference between a $38 inflation proofing and uh inflation proofing north of $1,400 a student um in order to get us back to the purchasing power that we had. Oh, I guess is that before? No, it's when this year's high school, you know, sophomoresish were born. Um just for context, maybe this year's freshman. Thanks. Bye. >> Thank you, member lessons. We'll go to member Donnelly, then member Martinez. I just wanted to point out that for

060any hope of success with a long-range fiscal plan, it's going to have to include major structural reforms to state and local government throughout Alaska. We still have over 20% of Alaskans paying no local taxes to support their local schools. We have over 50 school districts in this state, some of which are incredibly small with less than 100 students. Those things need to be addressed in addition to just seeking more revenue sources. Member Martinez >> to go back uh to a slide. I'd like to see if you have other information for me or if you can get it for me. The enrollment slide, the declining student population. Do we have a sense of the the uh demographic data for who left who stayed behind to some extent? >> I don't >> soio economic status, demographic data.

061>> Yeah. Yeah, I mean we could go look like what the what it was back in 2016 and what it is now and do a comparison probably, but I don't have that offh hand. >> Right on. I I'd be interested in that. Um just as a value choice is often a an indicator of economic mobility. Um and so who's left behind in the public sector is often vulnerable working families and etc. But but to a more finer point, we often you also have demonstrated an increase in actual more vulnerable, higher needs student population. Um and so I want to get a sense of of kind of what we're looking who's left and and and and what we're actually confronting um with the student population that we have. >> Yeah, we can look into that and

062see what we can come up with. I would say that, you know, we've seen the decline more at the lower grades. So like with the lower the birth rates like fewer people just coming into the district overall. So it might be fairly similar but we can check it out and see. >> Right. Thank you. Member against Thank you. Um I was um in your note last session and uh remember Hollerman and talking to the individual legislators and senators. There was a strong agreement that we need to $1,000 last year, $1,000 this year. And they realized how far behind. And then focus to how much can we afford? We don't need adequate. We can't afford it. And we're not going to deal with the revenue side. And then they said we have to be realistic. Only

063the revenue side is really going to dictate this, not the need. So then the the good news is that legislature seems to understand they're not adequately funding public education from those discussions. They recognize that we are substantially behind uh but they want to focus on whatever we can have left over for education. We'll provide that and that will be the extent of it. So they're by their own acknowledgement they are not adequately funding the public education as they're obligated to do and that's the that's so that's the discussion is just whatever money they've got left over without raising any additional funding. Keep the oil taxes lowered. No sales, no income tax, no other sources. >> Member Halman, >> I did want to add u I was very heartened last night when Representative Cop speaking to

064the whole group noted that with that big BSA increase, other funding went away. He said the increase worked out to about $20 a kid um when it was all said and done. And I hope when you're talking to constituents, a lot of people are under the impression that we got a lot more money last year. it really after inflation was right at flat funding from the year before and and that's kind of what we're afraid of for the coming year. Uh the BSA increased, other things decreased. It was kind of a wash and and we just need to to make sure the public is aware of that. >> Thank you. Um, I recall a conversation with member lessons to member Martinez's point regarding who's left um that roughly according to deed calculations 5,000 students um

065in the Anchorage area have joined statewide correspondence programs um from districts outside of Anchorage and um that could be an indicator as to where students are going um and who those students are um and so I'm sure we'll work on getting additional information. Uh member Baldwin Day. >> Yes, thank you. Uh, member Hollowman, can you say more about what what types of funding decreased with the BSA increase? >> Um, I think and um Mr. Ratliff is is going to be more familiar with this than than I am, but as you go back each year, different things happen. Um, and I I'll drive back all the way to around 2010 or so when we had stimulus funds for a while. Um, we did get some real increases in a few years. along there. Uh there was

066a lot of COVID money for a few years where the state didn't do an increase, but then they did do an outside the BSA uh significant funding outside the BSA two years ago. That did not happen again. So it it's not anything consistent. It it's kind of been a um something something marvelous has happened, something terrible has happened almost every year. So it it would depend on which year you walked out, >> right? And we do have this slide that shows kind of how we've funded our budget that shows which pieces change. So in FY25, we had a $680 one time per student or per adjusted ADM uh funds from the state BSA equivalent, $680 and that uh then $700 of permanent money in FY26. So like a 3% point4% increase from the prior year

067on the BSA. Um, but Mr. Hollowman alluded to it. We did like some of those years we had ESRE money to help balance the budget. Some of it was state one-time fundings, but right now, you know, it seems like all those pots of money are ago. We have no fund balance. We have no esser money. Um, and then we just need to figure out what the state is going to do at this point. Believe member Lessons has her hand raised. >> Member Lessons, do you have a question or a comment? >> Apologies. I'll lower it. Right. Uh just real quickly, this is kind of a the statewide trend for the revenue and expenditures for transportation. So if we look at this program is statewide up through FY16, it was pretty well funded 100% by the

068state. Um you kind of see an anomaly in FY16 where there's a spike in expense. That was because ASD bought like $10 million in buses to help buy down our contractor uh amount. Um otherwise it would have stayed fairly stable. But you can see, you know, in the recent years that revenue just hasn't hasn't grown much, but the expenditures have um gone up considerably and we expect that to continue as we've had as [clears throat] those minimum wage laws continue to have our bus drivers being paid twice that. Um but in reality, you know, the the revenue in FY26 in total from the state is not a whole lot different than it was in FY13. Um probably more students back in FY13 statewide. However, probably a similar amount of routes that need run because we

069didn't actually close neighborhoods. We just lost students from those. Uh, so that's kind of the the driving force behind that deficit in transportation and really the the impetus between really trying to get the state to go back to a reimburseable model on that the way it used to be. >> Um, this is just kind of the all fun summary of what our revenue is projected to be all things. >> Sorry, Mr. Ratliff. Sorry, can can I ask you a question about that? Um, when when did that model change? >> Say it was 2010 or 11 maybe. I have to go back and check, but somewhere in the late odds, early teens, it was inflation, it was inflationproofed through FY16. So, we did get some like three years of inflation proofing on that, but after that,

070it was flat until, you know, we got like $29 more or $48 more than we had before since then. soon >> and me >> there have been some statutory changes but they were across the board increases so there hasn't been an update on any kind of data on the actual cost of delivering education in different areas of the state that should have been incorporated in those changes but never was I believe it objectively is discriminating against our students now because the proof is what happened last year with the federal funding issue where the federal government said this was inappropriate with districts were some smaller districts were using transportation funds for their general budget, general school budget, and that was improper. And that was because the formula was funding them more than they actually needed while

071we were quite dramatically shortfunded for what we needed. >> All right. So overall, we're looking at about a $75 million reduction in actual revenue. Um before you kind of account for those cost increases, uh most of it's within the general fund revenue, about $56 million decline, and about, you know, 17 million or $18 million in grants as we uh look at receiving fewer and fewer federal grants. Um really the key takeaways is it's going to require some massive cuts between transportation and our general fund to be able to and that's going to come out of programs and services for students at the district level kind of all across the board. We're going to have to make reductions unless some significant revenue adjustments are made. Um again shameless plug for tomorrow's event at Bartlett from 11

072to 1 to come out and kind of play with this model, engage the public to see, you know, kind of what the priorities are. Um, I don't know if you've got on to that balancing act model, but it's it's a really really depressing exercise to go try to get that to balance. Um, but where they're going to be there to answer questions like here's what this money goes to, what we pay for, and help um just get some see if there's any good ideas out there to help balance it. But that's the that's the presentation. If there's any other questions, happy to answer them. >> Vice Chair Broly. >> Uh, thank you. First, um I'll say on the topic of budget, thank you for creating that tool. Um I it is depressing for sure. That

073was the takeaway from everybody who's used it so far. Um but I think it's helpful because we need to talk about reality. Um and also just to say, uh member Baldwin Day and I have been engaging in our own kind of budget exploration on the on the MUN side. Um and helping to educate folks about how it works. And so, um we're going to continue that into the new year. Um and so we're not picking up that obviously that's that's your story to tell but um maybe there's ways we can collaborate going forward or just make sure that folks are looking at both of those. Um and then my question um more specific I know I know these are ongoing and I imagine the answer will be brief. I think um uh Mr. Hullman alluded

074alluded to it. We know that you all are going uh undergoing negotiations with um the teacher contracts. Um we've heard from a few folks or at least I have you know expressing frustration and feeling like there was an expectation um from the the state funding um that that would go into teacher salaries which I understand. Um so anyway all of that to say just wondering um what is a very brief update on that what is the timeline and I understand it is an ongoing negotiation so I also appreciate that you probably can't say that much but curious what you can say. >> Um I believe like to defer to Mr. Mr. Marty Lang, our chief human races resources officer for that. >> Thank you, Mr. Ratliff. Yeah, we are um I'll just kind of uh

075orient everyone to where we are in the process with the teachers union with the Anchorage Education Association, which commonly refer to as AEA. Um we uh went through a mediation process earlier this fall. We were unsuccessful in reaching a tenative agreement through that process. And so um we are now um headed towards arbitration um by state law that's advisory arbitration. So um it will be a decision by the arbitrator that that doesn't bind either side but um you know hopefully paints a picture of where we might find common ground and be able to settle that contract. We're continuing to um meet at the table with them and um try to find other solutions prior to arbitration. Arbitration is currently scheduled for January 27th through 29th and we would expect a decision back from the arbitrator

076within 30 days. >> Okay. Thank you. And just to note, um you're saying late January for that and then I see in here that you're approving a budget in February. So just wondering at this point, you know, what what would happen if if that process has not concluded by that point and then we still have to you vote on a budget and then it comes to us for March. So just curious again something to think about. >> Right. And that's something we've kind of kind of anticipating is whatever budget we produce in February, depending on the outcome of this may be incorrect or have to be adjusted, which we would come back and um for the assembly's piece, we're going to bring you an upper limit and a tax request that you know, if we're

077already up at the city city cap and our municipal not getting more revenue, I don't know that those would change, but we would may have to go prestructure our budget in the spring. >> Thank you. >> Right. Um, we have a few other agenda items to get to, so I think we need to move on. Um, but thank you for the discussion and briefing, Dr. Bryant and Mr. Ratliff. Um, our next item for discussion is F1 U 2026 bond. Dr. Brian, any opening remarks? >> Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. So, we'll go ahead and invite um our operations team to brief the assembly on our upcoming bomb proposition this April. I think that's u Mr. Morris and Mr. Tom Fenv. Good morning. My name is Tom Venice. I'm the senior director of capital planning construction

078for the Anchorage School District. And I'd like to give you a brief presentation of the 2026 school bond and and what that entails. I think uh the most important thing about this bond is how it's different and how it's different in terms of the impact on on voters. Um this is the first year the moratorum on school debt or school bond debt reimbursement has been lifted. So that means that 50% will be covered by the state. So even though this is close to an $80 million bond, the impact on voters is actually about $40 million, which is the lowest impact on voters in the last 10 years. Um, so if you remember, you know, anything else from this is that this is great news for the municipality of Anchorage and the school district in terms

079of um providing quality educational spaces for our students and staff. Next slide, please. So, um, a good another good news story is, uh, reimbursement from FEMA for our earthquake response. Yes, we're still, um, working through that with FEMA and receiving funds from them. And, uh, this is just a representation of where we're at. Um, so far it's going pretty well. Uh we will continue to work on this until we get all the funds um that FEMA's promised us and um return our schools to to working order. Most of the work is is already been done. It's just a matter of getting those funds from FEMA. So next um we'll go over the the bond in detail and I'm going to turn that over to my planning and design supervisor, Mr. Larry Morris, >> before we

080pivot, if I might, on the question of the FEMA reimbursement, um are you obviously the work is mostly done, the schools are operating, we have this outstanding balance. Um what is the nature of the reimbursement process? Is it going smoothly? Is it being painful? Um we have some expertise at the municipality in getting this stuff done and we wonder if you need technical assistance and or if it's just going all right. It it I would say it's going smoothly, but it's slowly. >> Yeah. >> And I think that's the the state and the municipalities um response to that. Also, >> do you have a sense of the rejected reimbursement claims like a percentage how that's working? Like kind of a tracking? >> I I don't have that number specifically. Uh but that's something we could

081find out. We ended up with less than 1% and so it's serious effort to get there and I just want to make sure you guys have the same success. >> And I'm going to throw his name out there. Sorry. Alden Thur is the means that we have that can help you get there. where >> welcome. Uh from the top uh I guess when we put these together we have four items that are paramount for educational facilities. Uh board members have heard me say this a few times but the uh first thing is to protect the people. Next is to protect the facility. Next is to enhance educational delivery. And next on this and the last is to try and develop operational cost savings. And many times these projects will actually hit uh all four of

082them but that's our priority. Romig Middle School is the big one. Uh, a lot of our secondary schools do not have secure vestibule uh in them, which if you've been around for a while, you've been noticing we've been doing a lot of the elementaryaries. We're down to about four or five elementaryaries left to get secure vestibules, which basically secures the perimeter of the building. But at Romig, we also have on top of that a lot of just plain old in the building. Needs a lot of love. Roof is completely towards let's just say the end of its life. Uh and it's also very poorly insulated. We are presently through the energy utilization index we are uh we need to be about half of it to be a decent building which would save about $110,000 a

083year just in energy costs. So that's part of this project. We have old windows. We have a lot of finishes. A lot of the actual rooms and layout is is not uh proper for today's educational delivery. So, there's a lot of things. I mean, it's an old building and hasn't had a lot done to it. It needs a lot. Lake Otis Elementary, again, it's an old building and been added on a few times over different uh uh bonds. I mean, through different uh code cycles. This one here needs a new roof, but it also has some structural issues. What that was uh code when it was built, but is not code now. So, we want to update the structural clad element structural part of the again many of these uh facilities and I am quite

084sure the MUN has the same thing. Some of the older buildings were built to a different code standard and a lot of that has to do with seismic and structural including gravity loading. So, this will be updating it. We did a study on the building that was paid for through a grant and found out that we have a lot of problems that need to be upgraded. They're not such that it's going to fall down. Obviously, it didn't fall down in the last quake, but there are things that need to be updated and so that's part of this. This is actually the design is done. This is for the construction part. Tutor Elementary is one that does not have a secure vestibule. It also has a very old roof, poorly insulated. But we also uh as

085throughout the MUN, we found out during the heavy snow period, we had a couple of these uh horizontal uh cord gang nail trusses that we had a few of them falling down and those were quite frankly they fell in. Well, we took to hiring a consultant, a structural engineer that reviewed all of our facilities, and we only have a couple of facilities that have got these same trusses that were put in the MUN's uh circular and a warning about. And one of it is here at Tutor where we have four classrooms that actually have these trusses in it. again during one of the renovations and additions during this time period when they were manufactured. Uh access control with our secure vestibules. We have been putting in what's called a fob electronic access system through exterior

086doors. Well, we did 15 of these secure vestibules that did not get this type of electronic access system. And so this is going to catch up on those 15 schools and that'll probably be over the next couple of years. Uh student nutrition uh might been a while since anybody's had a school lunch, but uh they have actually been doing incredible. They've gone to more traditional services and the number of meals that they're producing has gone up significantly and they've been wellreceived. But this is a building with uh cooking appliances in it that is very old, needs some work, and this is going to upgrade it to better handle uh local produ produce and also to better orient it towards uh traditional meal services. Uh uh Betty Davis High School, East High School, they have an

087electrical service that the school district owns. That's a loop system that's at 7200 volts underground and it's in the water table and uh needs to be upgraded. This is also besides upgrading it getting us into a service that will actually be owned by Chugatch electric to a demarcation with most people's houses. Chewatch Electric brings it to your meter and then it's yours from the meter in. Well, this is we actually own it from over across the street and into and loops the building. And then last, well, next to last, Ursa Major. We are replacing Ursa Major and most of it is actually being done through an 80% grant including demolition. However, when it was built in 1952, they coated the inside, the outside, under the roof, above the roof with PCB uh which is now

088a RCRA listed uh hazardous material which requires us to in a sense haul a good chunk of the building to Washington or Oregon when we demolish it. And so this is they're still paying for the demolition 80% but this is uh being able to pay for the additional cost of the demolition due to the hazardous materials. So, in a sense, yeah, we're going to get a new building and it's what was originally going to be 80% federally funded. This will drop it to where maybe we're about 75% federally funded. So, it's a pretty cheap new building. >> Uh, member Broly, >> thanks. I have um three different questions. One is you mentioned um bringing buildings up to code and that's certainly building code. I'm wondering do you all run into issues with zoning code or

089buildings being non-conforming. >> The biggest one that we run into is title 21. Uh and many of these buildings were built prior to title 21. And so a lot of these have to do with some landscaping issues for title 21. We have not had like a improperly zoned facility that I have run into in the last five years. So but most of it has to do with title 21 and some of the landscaping type requirements. >> Okay. Um, yeah, I'll follow up with you offline, but I'm curious what those are and and if if if those are driving any costs, I think we should address that. Um, my other and on the the building code point, I know our building department development services is going through another code update. Um, so I don't know exactly

090when that would come to the assembly and be uh put into place, but just to flag that um as it relates to this cycle. >> Yes. Uh, in fact, most of our consultants that are are more than aware of it and qu in fact many of them are on the the committee that's been reviewing these. though uh we're going by the fact that if it's easy and in fact the design is completed prior to your update, we're going to take the new update if it's something that and I we have not run into it yet or it's something that is going to be incredibly expensive or an issue. If it was, we would be bringing it up at these committee meetings to discuss. But uh yeah, we're our consultants are very well knowledgeable of it

091and for the most parts we are using the proposed new codes. >> Okay. Thank you. And then one last question. Um I see the school bond debt reimbursement and I understand that you know nominally it has not been the moratorium was not extended. We also know it needs to be funded in order for that to actually get any money. And so I'm just wondering um I think this 39 million is aspirational at best. Um and so ju so I know and that just obviously the costs are still the cost. So I'm just wondering how the district intends to kind of message that or if we are are truly saying this is only going to be 40 million versus 79 million. How the do bond debt reimbursement works is that actually these debt reimbursements are in

092statute but they are subject to appropriation by the legislature and possibly what has happened most often over the last 20 years we've had some uh vetos of portions of it it's been anywhere 10% to 50%. Uh however over time eventually as we did a couple of years ago they have actually caught those all back up and have reimbursed it completely. So while they may not catch it up each year eventually historically they have caught it up. >> I wish I could I wish I could share your optimism. Thank you. I I would also add that back to your question about code, even though we have a number of schools that are outside the building uh service safety area, all of our buildings are built to code within that BSSA. >> Uh member Silvers, then Baldwin.

093>> Yeah. When you're looking at these buildings, have you identified any buildings that when you kind of combine the expected uh maintenance costs along with the declining enrollment um of students that the building itself might be better to just remove from the ASD portfolio? >> I'm going to take that one on behalf of administration. Um yes and the board's failed to adopt any recommendations regarding um ceasing operation of any typically elementary schools. Um we just had a vote regarding two such buildings. One failed 3 to four, the other failed one to six. And so um administration has clearly indicated to the board that there is room to reduce our footprint. Um, however, that's a really hard process and not an easy decision and um, the board hasn't had consensus on how to best do that

094yet. With that said, we'll go to member Baldwin Day. And then I do want to note that we have roughly a half hour left in our meeting and then two other items to address. >> Thank you. Uh, I'm curious about the the Lake Otis design. Is is that actually complete the design for um the building improvements? >> Uh, we are reviewing 65% designs at the moment. Gotcha. Um do those designs happen to include um childcare retrofit for any portion of the building? >> Uh Lake Otis does not. >> Lake Otis does not. Okay. >> Uh Lake Otis has a large special uh education program that will be renovated to better suit that program. >> Excellent. Okay. um was curious about that because I'd heard that floated uh for a few different spaces as an option

095for additional revenue generation and also serving the community in a new way. So I was curious if that was included in that design. Um as a follow-up to number eight, um is the cost increase for this demolition actually recruited to the uh or is that related to the the need to haul off the hazardous material? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um is that something that can be containerized? I mean, I mean, they'll go in a container and be put on a barge and taken to Oregon or Washington. Um, >> and how is is Tacoma a reasonable destination for those things? >> It's a possibility. Uh, what we're seeing mostly is going to uh Ridge View, which is Arlington, Oregon. There's another one at Roosevelt in Washington just out of Moses Lake. And then there is also

096the possibility of even Bellingham. >> Okay. Um >> that will be a contractor's decision. >> Sure. Um yeah, just curious if we could perhaps encourage our friends at the port to help with some back hall. So anyway, thank you >> Mr. Morris. If we could move through the rest of the slide deck expeditiously, that would be helpful. >> Well, the only thing left on that is number nine is that we do pre-planning uh condition assessments, get a better idea of what our costs are going to be on future projects so that we can get a jump on some of the design work so that we're reduce the actual time it takes from the beginning of a project to the completion of a project. So except for the the timeline at the end, we've already covered

097most of the topics. >> Great. Are there other members who wish to address uh the bond topic before we move to our other two items on the agenda? Member Martinez, >> just a quick question. Thank you. Maybe this is philosophical but essentially looking at Ursa Major for example in this scenario there's a 80% US government is going to pay uh they're going to pay 80% for the cost of the building and then also include the demolition. This is what is being kind of expressed here. But we the municipality the school the school district has 100% of the liabilities for the future of the building is that or does the US government maintain a role in the life cost of the building after the fact that I can't answer right now this we are going to

098get the the department of or will pay for a 80% to build a new building. Demo the old building. The the building is owned by the municipality school district, but the land is leased by the military. >> So, let's let's let's not do the hypothetical. who has 100% of the liabilities of the building today. >> Technically, we do. The building was turned over to us in whatever. So I would suggest just for the record that the this city whether it's the school the school district or just the city in itself has significant amount of assets that were invested in with OPM other public money that we have the long-term liabilities for. That goes to the earlier question that I had around deferred maintenance for all the years of the assets that we have, right? And

099so at a certain point, being aware of the gifts that we have and the costs of receiving gifts, >> I think is an important aspect of the conversation. Thank you. Agree. >> Trevor, >> thanks. Um, yeah, I would echo what member Bartinez said. I think that's uh welcome to public facilities in Alaska. They all got built with uh no plan really. most of them for maintenance. Um uh my quick question was I see on the timeline that you are set to uh finalize these. I just want to double check again with timing. Um is this anticipated from the board to be close to final? Um and it looks like your decision is on the 16th. Um so just making sure. I mean is this a pretty stable number for the total bond? >> Yes, the

100AM has already been forwarded over to you. >> Okay. Thanks very much. I'm seeing nothing else from members regarding this topic, we will move on to our next item under other matters of mutual concerns. Uh, school resource officers. Uh, member Donley, I believe this was something you wish to add to our agenda. The floor is yours. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just checked with our security staff and we are still at 10 SRO's, not counting the uh administrative leadership there, the sergeant and lieutenant. That's significant bel below our traditional number of SRO's in our schools. Um even with the full complement traditional complement of 15 to 16, we only cover one middle school with SRO coverage and we do have days of the month where no SRO's are present in our high schools which

101leads which creates a significant security threat. Um, so I just wanted to continue to point out that I'm very concerned about this reduction in the number of SRs, SRO's we have at this time because that increases pretty significantly the number of days that there is no um um APD officer present in our high schools. >> Uh, member D, I believe we have representation from the Anchorage Police Department here who might be able to speak and address your question. Welcome, officer. If you would state your name for the record and thank you for joining us today. >> Hi, I'm Brian Wilson. I'm the deputy chief of operations for Anchorage Police Department. Uh on the SRO topic, uh we do have our intent would be to get back to the 15. We don't have the officers to

102allocate there at the moment. So, we do have the 10 that was mentioned. Uh we're also supplementing that with overtime to cover to have more coverage uh throughout the week and throughout the school year. Uh in order to have those I don't believe there's a a public safety need that has not been met uh by the Anchorage Police Department for the Anchorage School District. So when the when there is a event or comment or call for service or that we respond appropriately and with a lot of officers. So um any of those incidents that uh arise uh we respond uh quite rapidly. Uh we know the the importance of that. What we are seeing a large uh increase in is that uh students are waiting to get to school to report stuff uh that they

103could otherwise report at a different time. So, it seems a fair amount of our interactions with the students uh from the SRO program are taking uh what we'd calls for service um that happen outside of the district property. Uh and that's what they're spending a good portion of time on. >> Uh Vice Chair Brley. >> Yeah, thank you and thank you member Donley for bringing this up. I know um this was a topic of discussion back in September at the Spanard Community Council meeting and uh Chief Casease was also providing um updates. I was curious um um Mr. Wilson um if you could speak to kind of what a typical duty for a school resource officer is and then I would be curious from both of you um what which schools are perceived as the

104biggest security threat because I think what I'm hearing is is that there is maybe a sometimes undefined uh threat and uh we have a lot of schools and so just wondering if we did need to prioritize them which schools they would be going to. Thank you. >> Uh sure. I was going to say the for a school resource officer uh being on scene they'll take all the calls for service that are generated inside of the school. A lot of those are generated by uh students reaching out to the SRO's there in the school and then they do some instruction uh from time to time for general safety uh topics depending on what the school is requesting and asking. Uh they do they are assigned middle schools and elementary schools. So they'll respond to those calls

105for service that are generated from those schools uh as well as help each other out. So if they need to go contact a suspect off of campus or something like that, uh the SRO's will team up and go handle those calls. >> Thank you. And just a a followup to um member Donley as well, just if if you perceive if there's a specific uh set of priorities or or which schools they would be sent to. >> With 16, there are because of the schedule of the police officers, they work four days a week. Even with two assigned to each high school, there are days of the month where there's no officer present physically in those schools. So being at 10, there are quite a few more days of the month where there's no officer present

106in the high schools. The priority question has been addressed by there has been traditionally one officer assigned to Clark Middle School, but that was the only officer assigned specifically to a middle school that I'm aware of. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Compton. Yeah, I just want to be clear, member broadly. You just said we how do we prioritize that we we have to be careful. The we is the school district and the police department. We the assembly are not in the business of kind of telling the police department where they need to go. So, I know you didn't mean that, but I heard it that, you know, where do we prioritize that? And so, um, we can prioritize funding and adding or moving money, but I think we should be very careful to let and

107ensure it's clear that ASD and APD make those decisions. Uh, member Baldwin. >> Thank you. Uh, and thanks for being here, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Donley for raising this this question. Uh, so I want to be sure I'm understanding this correctly. So, we have 10 officers that are currently SRO. Is that correct? >> Yes. And formerly we had 16. Did I hear that number right? >> We have 15 funded PCNs. >> Uh 15 funded. Okay. Um and then those officers are on it sounds like a a rotation among middle schools and high schools and they travel to elementary schools as needed. Is that correct? >> They're based out of high schools and then they're assigned uh middle schools and elementary schools kind of under based on the geographic location. >> Gotcha. Okay. Um, and have

108there been any situations in which response time was compromised where um a need went unmet uh under this current model with with 10 officers rotating? >> Uh, I'm unaware of a a public safety need that's gone unmet. There are definitely more calls we could take if we had more officers presence because like I said, they're not calling from home. they're reaching out at the school and I imagine if there was more presence there might be more of that happening >> which I think speaks to the success of the program that you know kids are waiting to get to school to report to someone they trust. Um so I I appreciate that very much. Um thank you. That's all my questions. >> Mr. President >> member Don, >> just prior to your tenure, there was the

109Bartlett High School incident where the there was not an SRO in the school that day u because of the scheduling and u uh the staff there had to confront a student with a loaded firearm. >> Are there any other comments or questions regarding this item before we move on? Miss Pearson. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to add a couple additional comments to what the deputy chief noted about prioritization and about staffing. Um is it's well known that there have been staffing challenges at APD for the last several years. The good news is that we are on a positive trajectory. This is the first year in the last five, I believe, when we've had a full academy. It's also the first in the last five, I believe, when we have actually exceeded when our gains

110in officer hiring have exceeded our attrition through retirement and general departures from the police department. And so we hear the concern absolutely and our goal is absolutely to fill those positions. We're challenged by the fact that there is a heavy demand for every position that the police department has that is vacant. There's a heavy demand for police to make sure people feel safe on the street. There's a heavy demand for police to make sure that people that we're preventing retail theft and encouraging continuing to have businesses operate in our community. And there's a heavy demand to make sure that we have our student our students are safe. So we hear the concern. We're absolutely working to rectify it. It's part of a bigger challenge and a bigger puzzle of making sure that we can serve

111all of the needs that the police department serves well. So, thank you for raising it. >> Member Martinez. >> Thank you. Uh, just a follow-up question. Uh, at the high schools where SRO's are basically stationed from and kind of operating from, are there also security guards? >> That that's my understanding. Yes. >> For the record, the answer is yes to that question. Right. Thank you, >> member Hullman. >> I do want to say having worked as a educator in the building for a long time back a little about the time this program started, we never expected there will always be an officer in the school all the time, but you get to know the particular officers that are working with your school to where the interaction is very seamless. And and one of the great

112things about Anchorage, I think, is that the quote uh schoolto prison pipeline doesn't exist. Uh I don't think they've ever been involved in any kind of student discipline issue that didn't cross a serious line. ASD takes care of all that. Um but at the same time, they become very familiar with the staff. um when something's happening where time is really critical, there's not a lot of time trying to understand what each other's doing. Uh and also I I had not heard what you said about students waiting to get to school to report. There definitely has been a change from like 20 years ago to where students used to not want to tell adults things. the the fact that they are reporting at school goes to the idea that it is more of a trusted place

113and they they wouldn't report at all historically. But the fact that they they get to know officers, they feel comfortable with them, they feel safe talking to them, uh I think is good for everybody, not just the school environment, but for the city as well. It probably would be better if they'd call and report some of these things a little more timely, but the fact that they're doing it and and doing it in a place where they feel safe. I think we get an awful lot of benefit out of the program, uh, obviously if we can staff up more, it'll get better, but it does a whole lot of good. Seeing no one else in the queue in this item, we'll we'll move on to our last item of discussion. uh RE AR202546 annually annual

114youth voter registration drive. Chair constant. >> Thank you. I also have a couple other items of concern but we can do that during comments at the end and I'll try to be really brief. Um, back last year in your packet you'll see a copy of or this year actually early in this year in February last school year AR [clears throat] 2025-46 which was a resolution moved by myself on behalf of the youth members Mabel Bruno Bookman and Kennedy Grady and the mayor. Um, the students had made a proposal that they would like to see the school district figure out a way to systemat systematically create an annual reg voter registration process. And so, um, that is meaningful and pretty assertive to get to an opportunity that exists. So, now I'll just kind of run through,

115uh, some background information. Um, I know that some of this work does happen. I spoke with the League of Women Voters and they do engage with some, uh, voter registration, but it's limited. Uh voter registration drives in ASD would ideally take place between mid January and February, which would align with those students who are 18 by the time the municipal election rolls around the first week of April. In Alaska, voters can pre-register 90 days before their 18th birthday. The municipal regular election is the first opportunity for many of these students to vote. The last day to register to vote this year is March 8th, but some time to get the paperwork done in advance of that would be better. Hence the kind of January to February timeline. Automatic registration with the PFD isn't incorporated until

116earliest June, which means the students who are old enough to vote and didn't get an opportunity to register uh won't be eligible to vote even won't be able to vote even though they're eligible. Nationally, 4 million Americans turn 18 every year, but estimates are that fewer than 30% of the 18-year-olds are registered to vote. and high school provides a built-in structure to engage their students in their most efficient and equitable system we have for getting young people registered. Uh particularly the 40% who don't attend college. Once a student moves on from high school, it's it is can be more challenging to get them to register. So that brings me to the resolution 2025-46. last year, last school year, um students worked together, ask the Anchorage School District and the superintendent to help organize and hold

117a district-wide oneweek registration annually run by student government association or its equivalent across the very schools. And so the idea there is to work with the student advisory board to connect with the student leadership groups in the schools to actively engage in a time certain process to allow the opportunity for eligible students who have their uh 90 days before the election day birthday or 90 days before they turn 18 and before the election day to register. We have to amplify that this is nonpartisan. The information has to come across without any kind of partisan basis which is how we run our elections. We want to see them done that way. Just that um how to find ballot information, get registration tables set up, have registars available. Um this year's cohort of youth representatives, Jacob Levaris

118from West High School, Gwennneth Eglesson of East High School, and Kennedy Bowser, a junior at Chugiak have expressed interest in assisting the student advisory board and the student leadership groups as well. I spoke today with the League of Women Voters and they are willing interested in participating in this process to actively engage our high school students and get those who are interested and eligible to register. Um, student registration drives create and generate very important skills. Personal career development, unique experience for their resume in college, confidence building, new and transferable skills including event management, public speaking, writing, leadership, communication, teamwork, empowerment to young people in a fun way, supporting them to become active and responsible members of our society and our communities. So, every senior in high school should be eligible to register to vote before

119they graduate, even if they don't turn 18 by April 7th. So, following up registration pushes should be encouraged. So, that's the gist. Um, we're obviously not trying to come in and tell you how to do your business, but we are passing on the words from our student members, our youth members that they would welcome the opportunity to engage in a partnership with the school district to empower our youth to be better citizens. Thank you, Chair Constant. Member Holland. >> Um, I started a voter registration drive of sorts about 15 years ago. And what I found was in every high school there was a social studies teacher that was a registar. Um, and they would actually talk about the whole aspect as as part of civics. Um, but they were available there to register students. um

120and new to Anchorage educators as anybody in the building, but it generally wasn't advertised. And I don't know if that's something that that we might make sure there's a designated person in each high school and social studies teachers are sort of a natural choice and that it fits in with their curriculum and it's a mandated class at every grade level. So, so they somebody in social studies sees every student. Um, but yeah, and I think it was done like you were saying, it it wasn't partisan at all. They weren't pushing a viewpoint. They were just talking about voting and just uh letting it be known to students uh at the appropriate times that they were available to register them and do it. So, it might be that some of this is already in place. It's

121just not very visible. Um, but I think adding some visibility to it would make a lot of sense that uh that would just put it out there a little bit more. >> And and I would offer that I think what the students were asking for was a structured annual very intentional process. So I think that the visibility is one thing. getting it on the calendar, figuring out a way that it's baked into the system so that it begins to generate a permanency would be I think what they were aiming at. >> I'll note that uh we have absent a motion to extend we have eight minutes left in our meeting. Um Dr. Johnson Stumpler. >> Thank you, President uh uh Jacob. Sorry. Um so Deputy Chief of Schools Kirsten Johnson. Um I um work primarily

122um with schools on the daily operations and I also help um facilitate the student advisory board um for the Anchorage School District. So I think that would be a natural starting point for um our both of our youth organizations to to meet up and and do some planning around that. And I think that this is something that we can absolutely um help facilitate in terms of a process. I just want to say thank you on behalf of our youth members and I think that's the thing to do. >> Seeing no other discussion on this topic, we can move to member comments. We have eight minutes left. Uh we'll start to my left. Chair constant. >> Thank you. I have just a couple of notes to follow up on. I can find them here. Um two

123things. I wanted to let you know that we have a draft ordinance. I don't know if you've been briefed at all on public records, retention process and publication and so access to public records and it'll be coming to you as an administration pretty soon. And what we're hoping for is a quick turnaround review and if you see any flags in it to make sure we hear about it quickly because this process will be moving towards a passage within probably the next six weeks. We um have an item that's on the agenda that will probably be um postponed indefinitely, a new item introduced at the next meeting that will be real close to finished. And so it'll just be easier to read when you see the new version because it won't have all the markup language.

124So I want to let you know that that's coming. I I want to let you know that um we have had some spicy emails about snow and ice and the school district's response. And I'm not going to be piling on here, but I just want to say that we have heard that and I am telling you we have heard that. And so I don't intend to try to explore the wise and wherefors here. I'd rather have that be between the administration, the school district, and then we just hear about what good things are coming from whatever is happening. So for that, those are my two areas. And I just want to thank everybody and I will be putting on our agenda for our rules committee um the intent to impress upon our members that they

125come to these meetings and so I want to make sure folks know that that's coming. >> Thank you. Member Donley. >> Yeah, I think there's states all over the country are are beefing up the number of police officers in their schools. Uh some are mandating it in every school. Um, it's very concerning that we're down to 10 SRO's right now because our security staff were not armed. It's very challenging, of course, and dangerous for them to respond to an armed threat without being able to defend themselves. Um, so that continue I'm hoping that we can get that staffed up as soon as possible. Um there's I just want to discuss a little bit about something along Elmore Road. The speed limit there was reduced I believe was through the AATS process. That's that that proposal

126and through a section of Elmore where there's no driveways, no houses. There's a separated walkway. It's actually wooded forest. And over the past several months, um, I've been behind law enforcement vehicles and I've observed city, state, and even federal law enforcement basically ignoring the new speed limit, driving around the old speed limit with 45 mph through that section. And in fact, on the drive here this morning, I was behind an ASD cruiser that was driving approximately 45 miles an hour, and I drove 35. They pulled ahead to the intersection of Martin Luther King and Elmore and I measured it was about two ten of a mile. They went ahead of me over the speed limit. Um, and there was there was a red light at there. Um, so I'm really concerned because when this speed

127limit was first dropped, the volume of traffic on East 68 seemed to increase dramatically in front of Cassum School. And if we if we're not cautious about implementing lower speed limits, we're going to drive more traffic into our neighborhoods. And that's where the kids are playing and there's more people on the streets um bicycling and I'm very cont concerned about the impacts to our neighborhoods because maintaining good arterials keeps traffic out of our neighborhoods. >> Thank you. We have about three minutes left. Uh Vice Chair Brarley, >> thanks. Uh just briefly uh thank you member Donley for bringing up the uh conversation about local revenue needed across the state and um that we need uh more APD staff. I think that's something that we are uh considering on the MUN side as well and so

128I encourage uh members of the public who support that to uh speak up. Thank you. >> Thank you member Martinez. Uh thank you. No additional comments. Member Higgins. I I just want to comment real quickly on the right sizing as far as um uh child care issues because we've got you know did a TR tread did thing with 8,000 uh kids and they need for preschool for earlier bit and we've talked about trying to do things within our school. The mayor's office reached out to me when I was at the gathering with the former elected officials and in at the museum and talked about meeting with the board potentially. We'll probably follow up with that some point in the future. But there is a critical need out there and the space within these schools can

129go a long way for that. The other comment I'll just simply make is that the size of the school and the capacities were very misleading. The numbers from the state doesn't take into account special education other needs the type of staffing. So if you go to Lake Otis, you got five classrooms there that's dedicated for 32 kids with high intensity special needs and they're they're filled. Okay? And then you got others out there. So you can take a couple of classrooms, maybe four, put it down for special ed, and it's full. So I I just I just uh would of caution that when you hear that the schools are half full, that's not accurate. If you go through the schools, walk through it, you'll see an entirely different situation. The state's process doesn't account for

130any of that and it causes a lot of misleading information. >> Can I make a motion to extend so that we can finish member comments? >> Seconded. Motion >> done by 10 minutes. >> I need to speak to that. >> Motion made by member Silver, second by member Baldwin Day. Uh Chair Conson, >> we do have a meeting at 12:30 city hall. So um >> 10 minutes, 5 minutes. >> Five minutes is probably better than 10. >> Is there any objection to extending five minutes? Hearing and seeing none, we will adjourn at 12:05 p.m. Um member Johnson, >> no additional comments. Thank you. >> Member Baldwin Day. >> Thank you. So, uh, I really appreciate the amount of effort that goes into the preparation for these meetings and I' I'd like to ask that, um,

131for our next joint meeting, um, if we have, uh, some technical budget information, uh, to go over together, if that could be shared a few days in advance so that those of us who are numbers nerds could dig around um, and have some time to formulate questions before we arrive, that would be really, really helpful. I I recognize that's asking you to do additional labor. Um, but that would be wonderful for those of us who aren't quite as familiar with the inner workings of ASD funding and and such. So, yeah, just a request for the future. Thank you. >> Thank you, Member Silvers. >> Yeah. Um, I guess I just want to register that I'm really concerned. Uh, I'm concerned that we're going to the public and asking um it looks like $20 million for

132a school that was recommended to be closed. Um, and I I'm learning about this in the same meeting, um, that we talked about how much in a backlog of maintenance, one 1.5 billion. And, um, so that it just seems like not very good management. >> Member do just want to say that I really appreciate the disposition of the assembly. Um, obviously we have different roles and whatnot, but it it does always feel like a problem-solving um encounter when we when we come to you with our needs and of course if we can ever make things go more smoothly for the city, please ask. But thank you very much. Going to online, member Bellamy. >> No comments. Thank you. >> I understand member Wilson has no closing comments. member lessons. >> Very briefly, I just wanted

133to share that the student representative position for the state board of education has an open application right now through um December 26th. So perhaps board andor assembly members can help amplify uh that possibility to interested uh current freshman, sophomore, or juniors in high school. Thank you. >> Thank you. I believe that's everyone but myself. Um I'll just note for the record and for clarity, member Silvers, I appreciate your comments. Uh the proposed plan for Lake Otis, if the board had voted in the affirmative, would have relayed the building control to uh Rilka Charter School and so it would have continued to be in use. However, uh once Rul had taken um custody of that building, we would have been able to declare Abbott Loop Elementary excess and that is a building which has significant capital

134needs and it was the board's direction that that building uh be declared access in in the theory that would have been given back to the city uh for that building to be demolished or put to other use as the city saw fit. And so there was an opportunity to reduce our footprint and um reduce our overall deferred maintenance backlog. can say your comments are well taken. Um, I just want to circle back very briefly on the discussion regarding budget and state uh the state's obligation to uh fully fund services that Alaskans depend on. There's a really great article by Tim Rocky with ADN which I recommend everyone read. Um, our state's fiscal house is not in order and education has effectively acted as the canary in the coal mine, but um, state services across the

135gamut are falling apart. Um case loads for places like OCS and adult protective services are spiking. Um positions at departments across the state have gone unfilled. Um state workers like our educators don't have a defined benefit retirement plan and um we just aren't competitive and we aren't attracting um citizens and that's why we have a continued trend of net out migration. Please, as we begin the legislative session, join us in advocating for a sustainable long-term fiscal plan. The sooner the state gets its fiscal house in order, the soon many of our problems that we've discussed here today in the past meetings will be addressed. Um, with that said, uh, that concludes my comments. We have no other business today. I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Made by member

136chair constant, second by member Baldwin Day. Seeing no objection, we are adjourned at 12:02 p.m. Thank you everyone.