The Exchange: School Enrollment Drop Prompts Cuts

Wednesday, February 04 2015


Superintendent John Conwell and school business manager Holly Holman at KUCB's studios. (Lauren Rosenthal/KUCB)

The past few years have seen shrinking student population in Unalaska's schools. And with a projected enrollment of 387 next year, the Unalaska City School District is facing a budget deficit of almost $300,000.

With a bare minimum of state funding on offer, local officials are looking for ways to cut. In these segments, superintendent John Conwell and business manager Holly Holman talk about how they hope to make up the gap.

  • Part 1: On student enrollment and what other factors make up the projected deficit. Click to listen.
  • Part 2: On how the budget gap could impact teacher positions. Click to listen.
  • Part 3: On why the student activities budget has doubled in the past decade, and what cuts it could face. Click to listen.
  • Part 4: On the multi-year outlook for the school budget and state funding, amid falling oil revenues. Click to listen.
The school budget committee is in the middle of drafting next year's financial breakdown right now, aiming to bring the school board a draft in March. The committee's meetings are open to the public. The next one is Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. in the high school library.



News Community About Site by Joseph Redmon