[15:07] And I'm calling to order the Ketchakan Gateway Burrow's school district Board of Education regular meeting for August 26, 2026. The Board of Education

[15:17] respectfully acknowledges the traditional first people of this land in Ketchakan, the Tongueh's Clinket People.

[15:23] Vice President Reed, would you leave us in the function?

[15:37] And I'll go

[15:45] ahead and read the vision statement for the school district and that is educating and empowering students to be leaders, critical thinkers, and problem solvers.

[15:54] And before we do the role, I would like to welcome and introduce our board clerk in training.

[16:01] She's going to be our backup board clerk, Ms. Jen Smith.

[16:05] Thank you for being here and Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll.

[16:11] For the regular meeting of August 26th, 2026 tab.

[16:16] here. Read here. Johnson. Here.

[16:22] Guthrie. Excuse. Gintar. Here. Montgomery. Here. Tatsuda. Here.

[16:29] We have a quorum. Wonderful. And do I have a recommendation from the board?

[16:33] Madam President. Yes. I moved to a Mindy Agenda to bring items 10 A, B, and C up into item four reports.

[16:42] So that we can hear those early and they can inform public comment and later discussion.

[16:45] All right.

[16:48] Okay.

[16:49] We vote on the amendment.

[16:56] And that amendment is to move those item discussion items.

[17:00] The insurance presentation budget revision and budget status update.

[17:03] Up from item 10 under discussion and move those items to number four under reports and that would go under after the health insurance task force update if this passes.

[17:13] He's already had it down. I got Tab as the first and who is the second.

[17:17] Thank you.

[17:20] Motion on the table is to revise the agenda as stated Montgomery.

[17:26] Yeah.

[17:28] Ginter.

[17:29] Yes.

[17:31] Johnson.

[17:31] Yes.

[17:33] Read. Yes.

[17:34] Tab.

[17:34] Yes.

[17:35] Tab.

[17:37] Motion passes.

[17:38] 6 to 0.

[17:39] Wonderful.

[17:40] Do we need to approve the.

[17:42] Yes.

[17:42] Madam President.

[17:43] move that we approve of the agenda for the regular meeting of August 26th, 2026.

[17:47] Second. All right. We have first-by-member Tab, a second-by-member read, which you call the

[17:51] role, please. Motion on the table is to approve the agenda as amended, Johnson. Yes. Tab. Yes.

[17:58] Montgomery. Yes. Read. Yes. Gimter. Yes. Tatsuda. Yes. Motion passes. Six to zero. The agenda is approved

[18:08] as modified. Wonderful. And we are moving right past public recognition. We don't have any

[18:13] of those this evening. And we're going to go into reports. And our first item is the health

[18:18] insurance task force of date. And I believe, is it Ms. Lendomowe who's going to talk about

[18:24] that? She's running away. Okay.

[18:29] But that's okay.

[18:35] Meredith Lundemo, HR Director.

[18:38] First of all, the update is that we have gotten three different quotes, I'll say, from

[18:47] three different brokers or health insurance people, they're not all brokers, and in the

[19:01] There are three different.

[19:02] There's one from the USI that is our current broker that works with our insurance right now.

[19:08] There's one from Hub International and there's one from the public education health

[19:15] trust.

[19:16] I don't know if you've had a chance to look at them but I'll give you a minute to just make

[19:19] sure you know where I'm coming from.

[19:24] So the task force's job is to look into different health insurance forums and present to you possibilities for you as a board to make decisions on.

[19:39] That won't be tonight tonight. It's just informational.

[19:43] To give you some time to process, take it in, and then make it informed vote at the next meeting.

[19:52] So you can see at the top, the U.S.I. is actually the number that Sarah and I came up.

[20:00] With earlier today, it's a little different. It's closer to the to 7,300 versus the 6,957.

[20:13] So that's what our current costs are for U.S.I.

[20:19] Then we have the hub international. They've given us two different options.

[20:24] As the cell funded which is similar to what we currently have for our health insurance and you can see that cost is 7.2 million.

[20:34] And then they gave us a couple of different fully funded options.

[20:38] If you look, I know it's really tiny and I'm sorry.

[20:41] If you look at the chart that's in there, you'll see that the maritime is what we have now.

[20:52] So, hub actually gave us a quote that they could give us for maritime, which is what we have through USA.

[20:59] And then there's Moda, Permira, and Etna, and you can see at the very bottom in the blue.

[21:08] So, if you look where it says monthly total, annual total, those are the totals at the bottom for each of the different plans.

[21:19] I'm pausing so you can look.

[21:25] So, as you can see, the fully funded with Primera and Etna are quite a bit more than what we are paying currently.

[21:33] However, something to remember is these are fixed, which means we can easily, more easily budget for the cost.

[21:40] Versus the self-funded, which is what we have now, and the first one that they gave us.

[21:49] And then we have the public education health trust.

[21:53] This one is a fully funded, which means, so I assume you guys know fully funded versus self-funded.

[22:02] Okay, this one comes in a lot lower than the other ones at 5.8 million.

[22:09] Now, that's based on this year, 2027.

[22:15] If we decided to change our insurance, we have to give the borough six months notice.

[22:22] So, as soon as we would actually be able to have a new insurance would be July 1, 2028.

[22:31] Yes, no, 2027. Sorry, I'm weird.

[22:37] So, what we would do is we budget for it in the next round of budgets for next year.

[22:44] Now, if you have questions feel free to ask, Sarah is my person and we, and she knows a lot more about the numbers than I do, but she will be here any minute, but if you have questions feel free to ask.

[22:56] Thank you for that presentation.

[22:58] Looking at the last page here at the public and play health trust, there's a lot of numbers for employee employee plus spouse and play plus child.

[23:06] And my correctness to mean those are the direct costs to the employee or is that the cost that's

[23:12] inclusive of a wee pay in.

[23:14] That's inclusive of what we pay and the number of the 5.8 million is actually based on

[23:19] plan C medical and plan A dental.

[23:24] So I spoke with Craig Peter'sberg and Juno which I'll use the public education health trust

[23:31] because I was curious, because they are in Alaska and they are in our areas, and I wanted

[23:37] to know what, what the thought of the plan. They had nothing but positive things to say.

[23:45] Craig gave me a rundown of the incentive plan, which was good to know. So, maritime actually

[23:50] has an incentive plan and what it is if you have so many members join the incentive plan,

[23:56] the members get a percentage of their premium, nope, that's not right, they're deductible.

[24:05] For the public health trust, if you have 50% or more members, then you get the whole group gets

[24:13] 2% of the premiums, which is a great incentive to get people out there active working on exercise,

[24:22] guys, doing all of their maintenance. Come on up, Sarah.

[24:29] I'm sensing your eyes. You're

[24:32] welcome to come up and join the presentation. We got started faster.

[24:39] And then Juno

[24:40] has been with the public health stress for a really long time. Their setup is a little

[24:45] bit different, just the teachers are in the public health trust. Their central office or

[24:51] district office is with the city or burrow and they are classified or actually with a different.

[25:00] Plan, not through public trust. And then Peter'sburg had some wonderful things to say also. They talked a lot about, because I had a lot of questions about, in network, doctors, and what that looks like.

[25:15] And the person I talked to from Petersburg actually works from away, and she's in Michigan, and she said,

[25:24] I'm in Michigan and it works wonderfully.

[25:26] Once I worked out all the bugs of how that will work when in Michigan, she said, it's amazing.

[25:34] The other thing is they just, so they used to have Etna as their broker, Sarah, tell me if I'm wrong.

[25:43] Thank you.

[25:46] And they decided this year to try something different.

[25:50] So they are working on what they call open access, open access,

[25:59] which just means that you have more options in terms of healthcare.

[26:03] It means you can go to Seattle and get your healthcare.

[26:05] You can go to Anchorage and get your healthcare.

[26:08] You can do it right here at peace health.

[26:11] And the options are broader.

[26:13] And what they're doing is they're working in in contracts with these different hospitals and clinics to make it easier for you to have that access, which I thought was awesome.

[26:26] Sarah, would you like to add anything?

[26:28] Can I add something in?

[26:30] Please do.

[26:31] So, just that we ask about the numbers and looking at the different tiers, tiered rates.

[26:36] Those figures were based upon what we currently have as far as the employees versus the employees,

[26:41] about some things like that, is which is how we figure those things.

[26:46] And so, how have actually based it on our current numbers, which they

[26:49] based it on 188, which is what Melissa was saying, and we haven't had the opportunity

[26:55] to have the public health trust figure that out yet because what they will do is once we

[27:00] make some decisions we want them to move forward, then they will actually figure out new numbers

[27:05] for us as we move forward.

[27:08] So, clear, fine questions, are these the numbers then that you received back in the spring, Sarah, from them? Is that right? Yeah, okay.

[27:16] Yes, and if we were to, if we were to have shifted July 1st to the public health trust, the rates on this rate sheet are the rates that they would quote us.

[27:29] So their process, if we were to switch at a January 1 start date, they would pull our claims data starting in October.

[27:42] They would give us a new quote by November on board in December and then go live January 1.

[27:49] If we do start or would like the board would like to start on July 1,

[27:55] that process will happen in March where they'll pull the claims data and then what they'll do

[28:01] is give us a quote in April. In April then we would have to sign a contract agreed to use them

[28:08] and then we would start effective July 1. So it kind of seems like it's a long process but I think once

[28:17] we're in that process is like, whoa, this is going to go pretty quickly as well.

[28:24] Thank you.

[28:26] If they wouldn't give us a quote until April, that's pretty late in the budget season.

[28:35] Would they be able to give a rough estimate sooner so we can get something on possibly on paper?

[28:46] It's based on our claims history, and in talking with the health trust again, I mean just looking at these numbers, if we had 188 employees, it's about 5.8 million dollars, which is a fixed cost, and it doesn't change throughout the duration of that contract year that we would have.

[29:07] Um, they explain sometimes, you know, if districts are coming into the health trust and they have had

[29:13] excessively high claims, right, you know, they have a, um, maybe not that that good of a track record or history.

[29:22] What the trust will do is they'll quote them a rate, um, which is slightly higher than the other 26 districts that they provide coverage for would receive.

[29:33] And it's called the load, like almost a load rate.

[29:37] And that's in there for three years,

[29:39] just kind of as a buffer so that PhD can kind of get an assessment

[29:44] of the claims history, that kind of thing.

[29:46] And after three years it's automatically taken away.

[29:49] And then the district would receive the exact same rates

[29:52] that the other districts in the health trust receive.

[29:56] Kind of like a probation period.

[29:58] Yeah, it is.

[30:00] It is absolutely, and because the trust is a fiduciary, and because they are self-funded, right?

[30:07] But the rate they offer out to the districts is a fixed cost or a fixed rate. The trust is taking

[30:16] all of the risk in that regard, so it just kind of helps ensure, but they're coming in two million

[30:23] under any self-insured plan, and I apologize what I should have said under the self-insured

[30:31] rates.

[30:31] Those are the expected rates for the year, but we know with self-funded insurance the

[30:39] expected rate that you pay as a district is not the actual rate that you pay.

[30:47] And right now for this past fiscal year, we're still waiting and we probably won't have

[30:52] actual number that the district paid for health insurance and tell about October.

[30:59] So, it's a fixed steady eddy rate. I would say this is your ballpark for budgeting season,

[31:06] is something like this or slightly, you know, a little bit more. And you explained with the health

[31:12] trust, there's no admin fees, like everything is wrapped into this rate. So, you know what,

[31:19] that they give us on the rate sheet in April

[31:21] will be exactly what we're charged,

[31:27] which I know in your seats would actually be wonderful

[31:31] a budget season to have that exact number,

[31:34] Mr. Blake, I'm sure, would like that as well.

[31:37] And that's the thing with the other numbers

[31:41] that I told you about the hub international

[31:43] and the U.S. I, those numbers don't actually include

[31:46] what it costs for the administrative fees.

[31:51] So just keep that in mind as well.

[31:55] Just one more follow-up.

[31:57] So the 5.8 for the Public Health Trust is that calculated at that

[32:03] three-year kind of inflated load rate probationary.

[32:06] They had pulled our claim history for the past 24 months,

[32:11] and they'd based it off of that.

[32:13] Okay, wasn't any excessive, they actually said our claims history was not excessively high.

[32:20] If you look at the USI report that was included in your board packet, whenever your last meeting was,

[32:29] and you kind of scroll to the very back, you'll see the bar graphs and what's really interesting,

[32:37] It tells you the number of employees that we've had enrolled in health insurance in the past five years,

[32:42] and it will tell you what the budgeted amount for health insurance was, and then it will tell you the actual amount of claims.

[32:51] And you're kind of like, wow, okay, in the past five years, the budgeted amount is pretty much within 2 to 10% of the actual amount of claims.

[33:01] But if you go to that far right corner, what you're seeing over the past five years of what is driving the health insurance cost is the stop loss premium rates.

[33:13] So the fixed is so as a board, you really need to pay more attention to the administrative costs, the fees, not just the claims.

[33:25] because our administrative or fixed costs, essentially, have increased in the past five years by 43.5%.

[33:35] That's a lot of money.

[33:37] Does that include stop-lossing?

[33:39] That is the stop-loss insurance.

[33:40] So the main cost driver for self-funded plans is the insurance rate for the stop-loss.

[33:47] And that's where brokers come in and sometimes they can help get a new rate.

[33:51] and we had that Lewis present to the board.

[33:55] Sometime the spring and said he was able from the time

[33:58] we met for pre-renewal till the time they signed on the dotted line,

[34:01] he was actually able to negotiate a slightly less expensive

[34:05] or cheaper rate for the stop loss insurance,

[34:08] which kind of adjusted the numbers just slightly.

[34:12] But, yeah, thank you.

[34:14] It's complex, there's a lot.

[34:17] Yeah, I have a couple of questions.

[34:19] Anybody else have any questions before?

[34:21] Okay. I can you speak really quickly between, you know, we heard, I was, I attended, it was on the meeting that we had with, with Hub, and can you just talk a little bit about what they said about concerns regarding if we were to move to like a self-funded insurance or PhD?

[34:41] So I think that's just really important for the board and as we kind of think about future.

[34:47] How, what that might look like and what they were concerned for for us?

[34:51] Yes, so a concern that does come up with moving to the trust is as a district you would no longer have

[35:00] Access to your data, your claims data. So right now, when our broker gives us a report, they do so every month, and definitely at the end of the year, we can see how many claims the district has had. And we see how many claims the boroughs since we're on the same policy, essentially. We don't get to see names. We don't get to see medical diagnosis. Those are are kind of blocked out.

[35:28] But you can see, oh, claimant number one with high claims,

[35:33] I've heard this much in September, this much in October, this much in, you know,

[35:38] and you can kind of figure it out.

[35:40] Well, the health trust doesn't release that, because they cannot insure privacy is maintained

[35:49] in the sense that Alaska, and we know ketchup can, is a very, very small community.

[35:55] And we do know when we have our colleagues, our loved ones, with the health concern, you can kind of figure out, right?

[36:05] So they don't release that data.

[36:09] They had shared with us that there was a school district years ago that said, we're the healthiest district in the state.

[36:15] There's no way we should be paying this much with the health trust, which I look at their rates and they think kind of low.

[36:22] But, anyway, they wanted their claims history, and the health trust said we cannot release those.

[36:29] Well, the concern to that district was they wanted to go into, I think it was primarily, you know,

[36:35] find a new third party administrator and a new broker. And if you do that, then you don't have your claims data to bring

[36:44] to the new broker to then help you shop new plans. So you're kind of going in dark. So that's the concern

[36:52] that they often times bring up with not having access to your data.

[36:58] And then the other thing, you know, if we had a staff who could crunch the numbers, look

[37:02] at the data, think about ways to, you know, how do we, you know, provide more preventative

[37:08] care or different services or do this or that or whatever, we could then as a district,

[37:12] theoretically try to bring our costs down by analyzing the data.

[37:19] But our staff is

[37:24] not capable of that, not that they're not capable.

[37:27] There's just not enough hours in the data to do that.

[37:30] There's not enough of them.

[37:34] So that's a major concern that they brought up,

[37:37] but I think for a lot of us on the panel,

[37:40] we didn't see that as maybe a big issue.

[37:44] Yes.

[37:45] Yeah.

[37:47] Forgive me for being so inquisitive.

[37:51] Is that a concern for the duration of being on the P.E.E.H.T or is that just a concern if you go to switch?

[38:01] If you go to switch, and another question we asked the health trust, as we said, okay, well, what are your rate increases over the past three years?

[38:11] Over the past five years, over the past 10 years, and over the past 10 years, the rate increases have only been about 5%.

[38:20] So, you know, what we're finding is is that they're able to offer a fixed rate.

[38:27] They don't have huge fluctuations.

[38:32] You know, and if you look at fiscal year 25, the health insurance,

[38:37] we actually ended up with a $980,000 surplus in the district.

[38:42] But if you look at what's going to happen this year,

[38:46] it's not going to be that number.

[38:47] It's going to be in the opposite direction of Mrs. Carlick's number line.

[38:53] So it's not going to be what we need.

[38:56] So with the health stress, it kind of puts you in the middle.

[38:59] And then we also found out that another, the second largest district

[39:03] in the state fair banks is looking at security in a quote.

[39:08] So if that's the case, then it's more districts

[39:10] or moving to this, which makes sense

[39:14] because they provide insurance for school districts.

[39:18] And we're really trying not to favor one over the other, that is your job to decide we're trying to give you as much information as possible.

[39:26] It's just we had a conversation with PHT this week, so we have some answers from them where we don't necessarily have answers from the other two.

[39:36] The other thing is to remember is the public education health trust has been around for 30 years.

[39:42] It's not new. It's not going anywhere anytime soon.

[39:45] So that's also something to remember.

[39:48] And it's based here in Alaska.

[39:51] I think that's important.

[39:55] So what can we expect to see you said this hot was for us to vote on.

[40:00] Something next week, did you have an idea about what it was that you wanted us to vote on? Well, so we have three options.

[40:10] Our job is to present those options. Now, what we can do is we have more comprehensive parts to each plan that we can provide for you to look over in your spare time in having some delightful evening reading perhaps.

[40:26] And then, really, it's up to you guys.

[40:30] You have to, you have to be the one to make the decision.

[40:33] Our task force is job is just to present that information.

[40:36] If there's some information that you're curious about and you need us to look for it,

[40:40] or if there are other questions that you have, you can certainly email those questions to Kara

[40:45] and she can pass them on to the task force.

[40:48] And then we can give you more information.

[40:54] But as a task force, you know, we've been looking at this, it's interesting through a variety of different lenses.

[41:00] So let's look at this as just strictly through the district financial lens of, you know, what the two brokers and then the trust could offer and provide.

[41:10] You know, and then we look at from an administrative implementation.

[41:14] What does that look like? What's the burden? What's the extra workload for our staff if we were to move to the health trust?

[41:21] They even mentioned we do all the onboarding for everybody and that's what we did. We've been doing that for years

[41:27] We were shocked. We're like, wow, that's one last thing for district office to have to do so

[41:31] Another lens that we definitely look at this through is we looked at it through the user, right?

[41:37] So I have the health insurance. How is this going to impact me and my all of a sudden gonna you know have the districts which this insurance?

[41:43] And I realized I don't like it. I want my other, you know, and so we're looking at it and vetting it through that perspective

[41:50] And then the other avenue that we also have looked at, I've examined, is how would pharmacies

[41:58] in town be able to provide or not provide if we were to shift to these?

[42:04] What would it look like at the doctor's office from their perspective of building out new insurance?

[42:11] So, we've looked at it through those kind of four different angles for sure.

[42:16] And, you know, we have the broker we currently have, we have a new possible broker, and then we have, you know, a different one, which is the health trust.

[42:29] But I think moving forward it would just be great for the board to have a firm direction that you would like staff to start moving in, because definitely this is going to take some time.

[42:45] And we do need to solicit those new quotes.

[42:48] It's going to be based off of claims history.

[42:53] And you have, you know, three rates that pulled claims data

[42:58] about the same time to give you to give us a quote.

[43:02] So you can see kind of where they all fall.

[43:07] Yeah.

[43:08] I have a question for the board.

[43:11] Would it be valuable to you, to hear from the different brokers and PhDs to come and speak to us,

[43:21] would you feel comfortable? Do you need that? Do you want that? I see some head shaking. Okay,

[43:27] you don't want, we don't want them to talk to us. No light reading. Okay. So we don't want to hear,

[43:33] we just want to take with the task force presents to us in the information that shared.

[43:40] Okay,

[43:41] for its perspective. I think what we're looking for is a yes we're ready to move forward and

[43:47] look at new options because we know that that also means that we have to let the borough know

[43:52] that that's what we're doing because we know that there's a six-month time frame there so I think

[43:55] that's the progression of steps that we talked about in the writing. I have one more question. Do you

[44:02] know what the expected cost would be to like exit the self-funded plan completely there is that

[44:08] out claims and I think that's something very important for us to keep in mind.

[44:13] Yeah. So I want to clarify that in a matter of, we pay run out claims period. Right. No matter what.

[44:22] So it shouldn't be a big red flag that is stopping us from doing it because it doesn't matter

[44:27] what's going on. We still have to pay those run out claims at the end of the year. No matter what.

[44:32] So it's not something that should be held as a stopping point.

[44:37] get them no matter what. Yeah, I mean it's kind of scary though, I know we're sitting here

[44:44] right now, wondering, everybody's wondering, you know, what are those runout claims going

[44:49] to be, you know, for last year and we won't know until October. So about October. So what I would

[44:57] is really a look at October.

[45:00] And what that number is, and definitely be quite mindful of it, because then the following October, likely you'll be in that similar situation.

[45:12] One thing we did talk about though is securing the actual contract that was signed with USI for this year.

[45:23] And it would be I would think in the district's best interest to have legal look over that contract just to make sure and a double check so we're not forgetting the certain lens to look through in this process.

[45:41] We don't have access to that contract, I believe it exists on the borough side, and while I'm the chairperson and this Meredith is the HR specialist, probably that would need to be requested by our superintendent, I would think.

[46:01] receive that.

[46:06] Board members, what would you like to see from the task force at the next meeting, what would be helpful for you as you make decisions? Yes.

[46:16] I think we talked about this and we've heard a lot and it's been helpful to hear, you know, the options have been thoroughly explored.

[46:22] I think we'll be helpful as to see basically a plan of action for, you know, the recommend and transfer to a potential new provider.

[46:29] brought likes to prevent staff to the board so that we can, you know, one have that open discussion and then give clear direction through the board action.

[46:38] And, you know, a lot of the, I think the nitty gritties won't be things of board needs to be directly involved in, but ultimately it'll be a process and a contract that will come back and we just would be a prize to have that go.

[46:48] That's what I'm hopeful for.

[46:50] Perfect. Anybody else?

[46:53] All right. Thank you so much.

[46:56] Thank you.

[46:56] Yeah. Thank you.

[46:59] All right, and we are going to go ahead and move on.

[47:02] This is going to be our discussion item A, which is our insurance presentation.

[47:07] Is this the same thing?

[47:11] Did you start?

[47:12] You're going to do it again.

[47:16] All right, I would like to invite Mr. Blake up.

[47:21] And he will do presentation about the budget revision,

[47:25] and then we can have a discussion about that.

[47:27] Good. Good evening, everybody. This is Eric Blake, director of Business and Operations.

[47:34] This budget revision is being brought to you all in response to Deeds review of our

[47:40] fiscal year 27 budget submission and then the results of that review and their requests for changes

[47:48] in our budget. There's three documents associated with it in your packet this evening.

[47:55] One is titled FY27 Budget Revision Overview.

[48:01] This contains all the details of the feedback that we were given about our budget and the requested changes that they sent us.

[48:11] I'm not going to go through it in detail.

[48:14] If you've read it, you'll see in summary most of the changes were relatively minor.

[48:19] It moved some expenses and revenue into different categories.

[48:24] Disallowed a couple of minor revenue streams.

[48:28] The biggest change was asking for us to add the energy relief credit in as both an expense and a revenue item.

[48:40] So it increases the overall budget and expense, but they net out to it to a zero.

[48:46] but it does change the numbers and so you have all that detail and if you have any questions

[48:54] we can cover that. The second document is page two of Deeds Budget template. That's the summary page.

[49:04] And on this one I added a C note line corresponding with every line in the budget that was changed

[49:11] as a result of responding to these to the feedback.

[49:17] And then the final one is labeled FY27, 824, 26 budget revision change notes, and it's

[49:25] version two.

[49:26] So we sent a late revision for the packet this evening that provided I think a little

[49:31] better clarity on a couple of items.

[49:34] So I will go through with you all and we can pause for any questions you have, of course.

[49:39] So, the first recalculation was on revenue line 010, which is the borough appropriations.

[49:51] It, we removed about 22,400 in kind that was disallowed.

[49:58] But the bigger change is that as,

[50:00] As I dug through all of the budget ordinances, it appears that the revenue was miscalculated on the original budget we submitted, and that was a difference,

[50:16] an increase in $141,000, so that's the second largest change in the budget.

[50:24] State sources, that energy relief grant was added to 050, and then category 150.

[50:33] We removed $10,000 in impact aid.

[50:36] That's a program we haven't actually applied for in a couple of years, but it looks like

[50:40] it got pulled forward into the budget over time.

[50:44] And then 85,000 was moved from category 190 into this category, so just a shift.

[50:51] That nets out to an increase of 448,544 in the revenue side of the budget.

[51:01] Under expenditures, under function 100, we reallocated 148,500 disalluaries from the unallocated category,

[51:13] and that was to cover that kindergarten position that was recently approved.

[51:18] We also increased the technology and supplies and equipment budget by 69,000 to offset

[51:26] recent expenses that came in.

[51:29] There were unbudgeted leases of prior year's purchases of equipment, so took the opportunity

[51:36] to offset some of that uninticipated expense that came in.

[51:43] Function 350. We moved 18,900 from unallocated to cover a supply shortfall. Function 600.

[51:54] That's where we put that matching expense for the energy relief credit under operations and maintenance of plant.

[52:02] So that's the one that nets out. Function 700.

[52:06] We did add just a little bit of that miscalculation on the revenue to increase the student travel budget since it was cut so heavily and

[52:18] Then finally and function 900

[52:21] the unallocated expense of 166.5

[52:26] Has been moved to those other categories that we just discussed so

[52:30] All of those changes were made to result in the expenses and the revenue matching in the updated budget.

[52:40] Of course, because the numbers have changed, if you all approve it, it'll still have to go to the burrow for an approval of the increase in spending authority associated with that.

[52:51] I did hear back from deed today that their initial review of this budget looked good.

[52:58] It has one more level of approval to go through.

[53:01] But assuming it makes it through all of our processes,

[53:05] they're expecting a conditional approval

[53:07] awaiting getting through school board and burrow.

[53:14] Any questions?

[53:19] And this is an item under new business for us to vote on this.

[53:22] It is.

[53:23] Correct. Okay. Wonderful.

[53:25] Thank you for that presentation.

[53:26] And then we'll go ahead and move on to the next one,

[53:29] and that is the budget status update.

[53:33] OK.

[53:35] There's one document in your packet for this topic,

[53:39] and it's titled FY27 Budget Status Update.

[53:43] This was generated based on general ledger data

[53:46] from the 19th of August.

[53:50] And spent my first few weeks digging into the budget

[53:53] and the general ledger to try to determine

[53:55] And how we're actually performing against the budget and where we might land at years in.

[54:02] Skipping ahead to the end of page two, my initial projection is we're going to be about $4.5

[54:08] million over budget by the end of fiscal year 27.

[54:13] And I'll walk you through how I got to that projection starting on the top of page one.

[54:19] So as you know our operating budget is 36,944,000, the current expenses recorded in the GL are 32.8 million,

[54:31] 800 and 8,000 of that is actual expenses that we've incurred to date.

[54:36] And then we have another 32 million income burden expenses.

[54:40] So known planned expenses for the rest of the year.

[54:43] So, at face value, that looked pretty good with 4.1 million left over.

[54:49] However, there are about almost 4.3 million dollars of unbudgeted in comfort expenses.

[54:58] I pulled the top.

[55:00] And I've put them in here for you to take a look at the top 10, make up 3.4 million of that number. And some of them are pretty significant expenses. The largest of that is our labor and benefits for sped resources at the charter schools.

[55:22] And then they go down from there.

[55:25] Also, in the existing expenses, our budget items that are overbudget or encumbered over budget already to the tune of another $2.5 million.

[55:39] I also gave you the top examples in that category for reference.

[55:45] So what the balance does not yet reflect is $8.6 million in budgeted expenses that have not yet been spent or encumbered.

[55:55] But that are highly likely to be spent, most of these are fixed costs or partially fixed costs that are already planned.

[56:05] So you can see the categories there as well.

[56:08] So the unbudgeted and overbudget items have eaten up enough of the budget that as we spend on previously budgeted items,

[56:18] It's going to wind up with that projected total.

[56:22] That total could change based on a lot of factors, of course, our health care costs being

[56:27] one of those since that's been so variable every year.

[56:32] Couple other notes, there's a $250,000 placeholder for transfer to the transportation fund

[56:38] because that typically runs over.

[56:41] But no budget was developed for transportation this year, so I can't give you a projection

[56:45] of how far over we might be, so I don't know if that 250 will be able to cover it.

[56:52] Similarly, there was no budget developed for food and nutrition, so I also don't

[56:57] know whether any general fund monies will need to be used to cover food and nutrition

[57:04] by the end of the year.

[57:06] And then that recent example of the lease fees for previously purchased computer equipment.

[57:12] So an example of surprise expenses that have started rolling in and I don't not having any history on it

[57:19] I don't know what else to expect over the course of the fiscal year.

[57:23] So it's a rough projection that could change, but that's where I would predict will be at this time.

[57:35] Any questions from the board at this time?

[57:46] Thank you for that.

[57:52] Yeah.

[57:53] Superintendent for mayor.

[57:58] Good evening Madam Chair and Board members.

[58:02] So first I'd like to take a moment to thank Mr. Blake for his presentation and his

[58:06] team's work thus far and his work in his new role as our director of finance and operations.

[58:12] And next I'd like to offer some context for our community regarding where we are headed

[58:16] physically.

[58:18] Our budgetary work this year involves two very distinct processes and it's important they

[58:23] not be confused with one another.

[58:25] The first is meeting the requirements

[58:27] of the Alaska Department of Education

[58:29] and Early Development,

[58:31] which is commonly referred to as DEED.

[58:33] DEED referred a reviewed our fiscal year,

[58:36] 27 budget submission,

[58:38] and identified revisions that must be made

[58:40] before the budget can be completed,

[58:42] and it's a approval process.

[58:44] Our team has been working diligently

[58:45] to address each of those items

[58:48] and the revisions before the board tonight reflect that work.

[58:51] So thank you for that.

[58:52] The second process begins once those requirements are met.

[58:57] A line-by-line review of the fiscal year 27 budget.

[59:01] This deeper analysis will give us a clear and accurate picture of our financial position,

[59:06] and will inform the recommendations our team brings forward to the Board of Education,

[59:11] pardoning Board of Education, for any corrections needed this year,

[59:16] and for stronger budgeting practices in the years ahead.

[59:18] Much of our administrative team members came on board during the months of July and August for

[59:25] clarification purposes. Our work is not primarily focused on the practices of yesterday. This

[59:31] is our budget today and that's how we approach it. It is our responsibility and we will work

[59:37] to correct it for this year and to build a stronger financial foundation for the future for the benefit

[59:42] of our learners and our community. I'd like to thank our public for their patience as we complete

[59:47] this work. Please know that we operate only with transparency under the governance of the Board

[59:53] of Education and in cooperation with the Burrow. As information is verified through these processes,

[1:00:00] You shared with our board, our rural partners and our community, know that we are committed to doing this right so that we can serve every child, every family and our community and every way that we're here for. Thank you.

[1:00:13] Thank you. It's a team approach folks.

[1:00:17] Thank you.

[1:00:18] All right, so we're going to go ahead and move on. Is there any information and reports from board members that they'd like to share?

[1:00:27] Seeing none, communication to and from the boards, okay?

[1:00:31] Seeing none, reports from information.

[1:00:34] So we were presented with the claims report for 812 through 814 of 2026.

[1:00:42] Did anybody have any questions?

[1:00:44] I just, I thought to you, Charges, for the Lenovo, I know that we have a rental agreement

[1:00:50] for it, but then there was also a $1,700 charge, just wondering what it is.

[1:00:54] I

[1:00:58] don't know that I reviewed that specific charge, but it looked like it was for an individual laptop, may have been a replacement.

[1:01:05] Thank you.

[1:01:08] Any other questions?

[1:01:10] No?

[1:01:11] Okay.

[1:01:13] And we'll go ahead and move on to public comments.

[1:01:15] I have one person signed up.

[1:01:17] So Diane Cope Powell, you're welcome to come up to the podium.

[1:01:21] And just state your full name.

[1:01:25] Oh, that's much as you want, big thing.

[1:01:28] My name is D.N. Copel, and I'm going to put on my teaching hat.

[1:01:35] We, as Shombar, desperately need science teachers.

[1:01:38] Our science department is gone.

[1:01:40] So if any money comes open and available

[1:01:42] that we can get science teachers, it would be more than welcome.

[1:01:48] So there's my teacher hat.

[1:01:51] I'm going to put on my K.E.A. hat.

[1:01:52] I am currently serving as the CAEA President for this current year, so I will be present at board meetings, or my vice president will be

[1:02:01] Selena Jackson in case you have questions. So thank you all, and thank you for doing what you do.

[1:02:07] Thank you. Thank you

[1:02:09] All right, is there anyone else who'd like to get up and speak for public comment?

[1:02:14] Seeing nobody we're going to go ahead and close public comment and we will move on to the consent calendar

[1:02:20] We have meeting minutes and two teacher contracts on the consent calendar. Is there any board member who'd like to remove any item from the consent agenda?

[1:02:31] Seeing none, do I have a recommendation?

[1:02:33] Madam President. Yeah.

[1:02:34] I moved the Board of Education approved the consent calendar for the regular meeting log of 26.

[1:02:39] Second.

[1:02:48] All right.

[1:02:49] 2,026,Ginter.

[1:02:52] Got three.

[1:02:53] Oh, sorry.

[1:02:55] Read.

[1:02:55] Yes.

[1:02:56] Tab.

[1:02:57] Yes.

[1:02:58] Donson.

[1:02:59] Yes.

[1:03:00] Tatsuda.

[1:03:01] Yes.

[1:03:02] Motion passes.

[1:03:03] 6 to 0.

[1:03:05] Wonderful.

[1:03:06] And we are moving on to new business.

[1:03:09] Item A.

[1:03:10] Do I have a recommendation?

[1:03:18] Madam President.

[1:03:19] Yes.

[1:03:20] I moved the Board of Education approve the FY27 KGPSD budget revisions as presented.

[1:03:25] All right, we have a first-by-member tab in a second-by-member

[1:03:29] ginter, any discussion?

[1:03:33] Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

[1:03:36] Motion on the table is to approve the fiscal year 27 and budget revisions.

[1:03:41] Guests, Montgomery.

[1:03:42] Yes.

[1:03:43] Johnson.

[1:03:44] Yes.

[1:03:44] Pat Suda.

[1:03:47] Sorry.

[1:03:48] Tab.

[1:03:49] Yes.

[1:03:49] Ginter.

[1:03:50] Yes.

[1:03:51] Motion passes 60.

[1:03:53] Okay, and then a new business item V. Do I have a recommendation?

[1:04:01] Madam Chair. Yeah.

[1:04:05] This is the CIP one. Correct. Okay.

[1:04:09] Madam Chair, I move to amend the approved Catch Can Gateway

[1:04:14] Bros. School District FY28 through FY336. Your capital improvement plan

[1:04:19] to revise project number two, Valley Part Code and Life Safety Upgrades

[1:04:22] grades fees one as presented with a revised estimated cost of 1.5 million and 2 authorized

[1:04:28] submittal of the emitted plan to the state of Alaska Department of Education in early

[1:04:32] development.

[1:04:33] Second.

[1:04:34] All right.

[1:04:34] We have first my member Montgomery and the second by member Tab.

[1:04:39] I would like to welcome Mr. Jacobsen to come up really quickly and just give us a quick overview

[1:04:45] of the revision.

[1:04:50] In the evening, Al Jacobson director maintenance, it was just the one item.

[1:04:56] It was a revision we took it from 7.5, which was sort of the estimated.

[1:05:00] Total cost, and our grant writer up at Sir, got back with procurement over at the burrow, and with us all around the school district side.

[1:05:12] And thought that if we asked for a phase approach, there might be a better scoring chance.

[1:05:21] So, that's kind of why we decided to do the quick.

[1:05:27] Can we have this back to you real quick?

[1:05:30] So, we got to get it to them, except ever for it.

[1:05:33] So, that's all it was.

[1:05:34] Everything else was the same that you guys read last time.

[1:05:39] Wonderful.

[1:05:40] Any questions or comments discussion from the board?

[1:05:43] No, all right.

[1:05:44] Thank you, Mr. Shankipsen.

[1:05:45] Madam, please call the roll.

[1:05:46] Motion on the table is to prove that

[1:05:48] at a fiscal year, 2028 through 2033 six year CIP plan.

[1:05:54] Yes.

[1:05:55] Gintar.

[1:05:55] Yes.

[1:05:56] Montgomery.

[1:05:57] Yes.

[1:05:57] Johnson.

[1:05:58] Yes.

[1:05:58] Read.

[1:05:59] Yes.

[1:05:59] Tatsuda.

[1:06:00] Yes.

[1:06:00] Motion passes.

[1:06:01] Six to zero.

[1:06:02] Great.

[1:06:03] And we don't have any unfinished business this evening, and we're moving right into board

[1:06:07] comments.

[1:06:08] Does anybody have?

[1:06:09] Oh, yes.

[1:06:10] I'm not a board member, but I was hoping I could say something.

[1:06:13] Absolutely.

[1:06:14] Please.

[1:06:15] I just wanted to take a minute to shout out Vice President

[1:06:18] read and thank her for everything that she's doing behind the scenes. You show up all the time

[1:06:26] and I really appreciate it at the schools, at district events, like you show up and help

[1:06:33] pack a saw that, move us, you were there at like 630 in the morning for this all-staff breakfast

[1:06:40] and a lot of people see it, notice it and recognize it and I get a lot of calls and emails

[1:06:48] of people who noticed that. And so do I. So thank you.

[1:06:52] Yay. Thank you.

[1:06:55] All right. Any comments from the board that they'd like to share this evening?

[1:07:01] Yes. My comment was going to be that it was an amazing morning for breakfast.

[1:07:07] And I think that the staff, they started off with a great day and it was amazing to see the continuity

[1:07:14] and the teamwork and the positive approach that our super-intinent brought.

[1:07:21] Wonderful. Thank you. Absolutely.

[1:07:24] Any other comments?

[1:07:27] No?

[1:07:27] All right.

[1:07:28] I would like to thank the work that the task force did.

[1:07:33] I was not expecting that what you guys presented to be presented.

[1:07:37] So very nice job.

[1:07:38] Yeah, thank you for the work that you guys are doing.

[1:07:41] Thank you to Mr. Blake for the, yeah, the fire hose that you've been drinking from and I know that that information that was shared with us was a lot for us to absorb and I'm sure we'll have more questions as we move forward with things.

[1:07:58] And then I want to say welcome to Mrs. Cope Powell in your new role and I look forward to

[1:08:06] working with you over the next couple months and then just the work that you will do with the board and the administration moving forward.

[1:08:14] And welcome everybody to this new school year. It's going to be great. Awesome.

[1:08:20] All right. And we are going to move into executive session.

[1:08:28] And yes, we will invite, can I have a recommendation from the board?

[1:08:35] I moved the Board of Education to enter into Executive Session and Discussion

[1:08:40] Negotiations with KIA, IBW and KLO.

[1:08:43] Per board by law 931 matters, you need knowledge of which would clearly have an adverse

[1:08:47] effect upon the finances of the school district.

[1:08:54] question. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. The motion on the table is for the board of

[1:09:00] education to enter into executive session. Montgomery. Yes. Read. Yes. Ginter. Yes. Tab. Yes.

[1:09:09] Johnson. Yes. Totsuta. Yes. Motion is approved. Six to zero. Present and executive session. We'll be the board of

[1:09:16] education and the superintendent,

[1:09:21] Clint Campion, the district attorney and then

[1:09:25] our Eric Blake and Meredith fundamental. Perfect. Yep.

[1:09:29] The board is entering executive session at

[1:09:32] 654 p.m. Thank you all for being here. Thank you.

[1:35:00] We are out of executive session at 7, 20 p.m., the board took no action while in executive session, and we're moving on to advance planning.

[1:35:12] So our next board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 9, at 6 p.m., right here in through assembly chambers.

[1:35:18] And then our second meeting in September is going to be September 23rd, 2026.

[1:35:25] There is a tribal consultation with KIC happening tomorrow at 6 p.m.

[1:35:32] It is not an open meeting.

[1:35:34] There will not be a quorum of Board Member's present and KIC Tribal Council does not follow

[1:35:41] open meetings act.

[1:35:42] They don't have to.

[1:35:44] Are there any committee meetings that are coming up?

[1:35:46] than anybody wants to share?

[1:35:48] Policy committee tomorrow at one.

[1:35:52] Is that online?

[1:35:53] I think it's super into that.

[1:35:54] Super into the office.

[1:35:55] Okay. Perfect.

[1:35:57] Anything else? Yeah.

[1:35:59] No.

[1:35:59] I just need to schedule like committees.

[1:36:01] Okay. Perfect.

[1:36:03] And I know that our superintendent forbear has been working

[1:36:07] on getting committee meetings scheduled

[1:36:10] and kind of helping to take the lead

[1:36:12] on just ensuring they're happening regularly.

[1:36:14] Um, so please definitely work with her on that.

[1:36:18] She's knowners because I sent an invite for every committee.

[1:36:23] Yeah, she's there working on some streamlining with that.

[1:36:26] So, um, yeah, so thank you.

[1:36:29] Yeah, thank you.

[1:36:30] All right. Anything else for the good of the order?

[1:36:33] Is there any objection to adjournment?

[1:36:35] No. All right.

[1:36:36] Thank you all. Have a wonderful night. We're adjourned.

[1:36:43] All right.

[1:36:43] Thank you.

School Board - Aug 26th, 2026

Agenda

Transcript