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Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Finance Director Liz Hayes, left, presents preliminary fiscal year 2025 budge information during a school board committee meeting on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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School district committee builds multiple budget scenarios amid uncertain state funding

‘We don’t get to play around on this one’

Nikiski Republican Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, right, speaks against the Alaska Legislature’s Monday failure to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a comprehensive education bill during a press conference on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

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‘The ball is now very clearly in their court’

Senate looks to House on next steps for education funding

Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, walks into the Alaska House of Representatives before consideration of a veto override regarding education funding on Monday, March 18, 2024 in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

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By 1 vote, lawmakers sustain Dunleavy veto of education bill

The bipartisan bill included $680 increase to per-student funding

Nikiski Middle/High School student Maggie Grenier testifies in favor of a base student allocation increase before the Alaska Senate Education Committee on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Screenshot)
Nikiski Middle/High School student Maggie Grenier testifies in favor of a base student allocation increase before the Alaska Senate Education Committee on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Screenshot)

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Students report mixed responses from lawmakers in education discussions

Delegates from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District lobbied the Alaska Legislature for more state funding and other…

The Kachemak Selo Middle-High School building sits against a backdrop of the ridge separating the village from the Kenai Peninsula Borough road system Thursday, Aug. 30 in Kachemak-Selo. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)

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Borough, state at odds over best path forward for Kachemak Selo school

Micciche said Wednesday that he and the Senate president are working together to determine a viable path forward

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Finance Director Liz Hayes, left, presents preliminary fiscal year 2025 budge information during a school board committee meeting on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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School board bets on state funding increase, issues teacher contracts

Thursday’s meeting came two days after board members convened to plan out the district’s immediate financial future

Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce board of directors president Dawson Slaughter (right) presents Chapman School principal Heidi Stokes with the Educator/Faculty of the Year Award during the Community Awards ceremony on Saturday, March 2, 2024 at the VFW in Anchor Point, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

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Chapman principal Heidi Stokes receives educator of the year award

The chamber of commerce awarded the honor at Anchor Point’s Snow Rondi event at the end of February

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks in support of a bill increasing state funds for public education in the Alaska House of Representatives on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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Bill seeking to bump use of Alaska Performance Scholarship clears the House with unanimous support

The money is awarded to high-performing high school graduates to help pay for postsecondary education at participating institutions…

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, presents information on a bill establishing a voluntary buyback program for Cook Inlet’s east side setnet fishery on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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Bjorkman bill would pay bonuses to nationally certified teachers

The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development estimates that the bonus program would apply to about 215…

Graduates wear decorated caps during Soldotna High School’s commencement ceremony on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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KPBSD revises proposed graduation adornment policy

The original version of the policy limited how students may decorate their caps, gowns and stoles

Alaska senators meet with members of the media to discuss education legislation after a press conference by Gov. Mike Dunleavy on the topic on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

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Dunleavy threatens veto of education bill if more of his priorities aren’t added

It is not certain there would be the 40 votes necessary to override a veto by the governor

Signs hang on the entryway wall at the Kenai Peninsula Education Association office in Soldotna, Alaska, in this Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, file photo. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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School board ratifies new contracts following union membership support

The a one-year contract extension is the first in the district’s history

KPBSD’s Balancing Act budget simulator homepage. (Screenshot)

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‘You are in deficit’: New school district software lets users fill budget gaps

The software allows users to toggle between eliminating or preserving various items in the budget