Kalifornsky school board candidates discuss funding, curriculum and school closings at election forum

Published 9:30 pm Thursday, September 18, 2025

Patti Truesdell, incumbent for the Kalifornsky seat on the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education, as well as challengers Donna Anderson and Shelby Oden, discussed school funding, curriculum and communications at a forum moderated by the Clarion and KDLL 91.9 FM at the Soldotna Public Library on Monday.

Truesdell, who has held her seat since 2019, said during the forum that she’d decided to run for reelection after two other current members of the board, Zen Kelly and Virginia Morgan, decided not to run for another term. The school board, she said, has done good work and has good initiatives in development — Truesdell said she “wasn’t ready to walk away.”

Anderson introduced herself as a retired KPBSD teacher who’s seen her own children and grandchildren grow up and graduate from a variety of local schools — some homeschooled, some in neighborhood schools. She said she wanted to see schools be more accountable by providing more input on curriculum, return to “basics” by teaching “more cursive and less computers,” and provide more choice in homeschool, charter school and neighborhood school.

Oden said she’s a parent of two students who’s “seen a lot of concerning things.” She said she was running for a seat on the board to be a part of decisions that impact students. She said she would bring “a parent’s perspective and also a commitment to fiscal responsibility” as the district faces continuing challenges with funding and education policy.

In discussing the district’s budget, Anderson and Oden said they wanted to see less spending on school materials and district administration. Both targeted, specifically, a communications director position added to the KPBSD budget earlier this month.

Truesdell said KPBSD’s district office “is not overstaffed, it’s understaffed.” She said she supported the communications role because the district needs to speak to parents and students and those responsibilities have been falling to busy superintendents.

Anderson and Oden also differed from Truesdell in both saying that the state should not provide any further increases in funding for schools. Oden said “taxpayers are not currently getting a good product,” and Anderson similarly said “no blank checks.”

State funding hasn’t kept up with inflation, Truesdell said, and Alaska school districts already face unique challenges and costs in providing education across large geographic areas and in rural communities.

Oden and Truesdell said that the school district would need to close schools to better serve communities. Schools with more students receive more staff and more funding — they’re able to offer more programs. Oden pointed to declining student populations and increased costs of paying teachers to teach “half-empty classes because those schools are empty.”

It’s “not a bad thing,” Oden said, to close under-resourced and underpopulated schools and gather students in fuller buildings with access to art and music teachers that they might not currently have.

“We can’t run schools at 39 percent (population),” Truesdell said. “But I won’t close a school unless I know that’s the best thing for the community.”

Anderson differed, saying that when the school she once taught at, Sears Elementary School, was closed and its students sent to Mountain View Elementary, issues like the use of portable classrooms came with them to a newly full school. She said she was more interested in “a bigger picture” of consolidating school districts across the state.

Anderson said that capable teachers within the KPBSD are “stifled” by curriculum and should be offered more freedom. Oden said the state should raise its standards for proficiency — which were reduced in 2024 — and challenge capable and resilient students and parents to “meet or exceed” those standards. Truesdell said that while the district and school board can always do better for students, district test scores show that local students are improving in their proficiency scores — “the program is working.”

All three candidates said they wanted to see the district do more to learn about why students and staff leave the district.

“Our students and our schools are worth having these hard conversations about and are worth fighting for,” Oden said in closing. “Serving on the school board is more than policies and numbers. It’s about people, families, and the collective future of our community.”

Truesdell concluded the forum by saying that she’s proud of the work she’s done on the board and that she wants to continue serving. She said she wants to see students in classrooms, teachers well supported and parents involved and volunteering in schools.

Anderson wrapped up the forum by saying that she was committed to her “ABCs, accountability, back to basics and choice,” and that she didn’t support the national teacher’s union.

A full recording of the forum can be streamed on the Clarion’s Facebook page or at kdll.org. It’s also available on podcast services as an episode of “Kenai Conversation.”

Next week, forums will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 24, in Homer with candidates for Homer City Council, and on Thursday, Sept. 25, with candidates for the central and Nikiski seats on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly.

Election day is Oct. 7.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.