Board of Education Finance Committee Meeting

February 19, 2026

Finance Committee Meeting Minutes-DRAFT

Meeting Location:

144 N. Binkley Street

Soldotna Alaska, 99669

Zoom ID: 708 024 188 https://zoom.us/j/708024188

1. Board Finance Committee

A. Call to Order

Chair Douthit called the meeting to order at 11:02 a.m.

B. Roll Call

Committee Members Present:
Sarah Douthit, Board Member, Chair
Kelley Cizek, Board Member
Mica Vanbuskirk, Board Member
Czarina Voivedich, Finance Director
A quorum was established.
Other Board Members Present were:
President Tauriainen
Vice President Daugharty
Board Member MacRae
Board Member Vadla
Board Member Waddell (attended virtually)
Others present were:
Superintendent Holland
Assistant Superintendent Dendurent
Human Resources Director Crabtree
Information Services Director Soderquist
Student Support Services Director Kelly
Elementary & Secondary Education Director Graham

C. Approval of Agenda

The March 2, 2026 finance committee meeting agenda was approved as presented by the committee.

D. Approval of Minutes 02-19-2026

The February 19, 2026 finance committee meeting notes were approved as presented by the committee.

2. Ongoing Business

A. FY27 Preliminary Budget REVISED

Chair Douthit opened the discussion to committee members and continued reviewing the FY27 Preliminary Budget and the committee’s most recent discussions regarding FY27 budget scenarios. The committee also reviewed the Balancing Act analytics.

Chair Douthit requested Superintendent Holland to speak to the laydown preliminary budget scenarios he prepared for Administration’s recommendation to the committee at this time. Superintendent Holland reviewed each line item in Scenario One, including each newly added recommendation from Administration. He described the consolidation line items and discussed potential timelines for some of those actions.

Chair Douthit asked Administration if there was a realistic solution to balancing the budget without school consolidations. Superintendent Holland stated he was doubtful there was another option at this time without consolidating schools. Chair Douthit agreed with Superintendent Holland and noted that without school consolidations there would most likely be further increases to PTR.

Chair Douthit then opened discussion to the committee.

Member VanBuskirk raised a question regarding Interest Rate Revenue. Director Voivedich spoke to the numbers listed on the laydown document. Member Cizek asked when the Borough Assembly typically sets a funding floor. President Tauriainen and Superintendent Holland spoke to the timeline.

Member Cizek questioned the nearly two million dollars in excess revenue and suggested there may be too many schools proposed for consolidation or closure at this time. She also asked about the possibility of adding library aides back into the current scenario. Superintendent Holland spoke to that recommendation. Chair Douthit noted that there never seems to be a perfect or predetermined time to consolidate schools.

Member Cizek stated she opposed closing Tustumena and Sterling at this time without first knowing what the Borough’s final budget would be. She suggested using the two million dollars in excess revenue while remaining in discussions with the Borough about potentially closing those buildings in the future for the 2026–2027 school year. Chair Douthit agreed with Member Cizek. President Tauriainen reiterated that the Assembly typically sets the floor after the Board passes a balanced budget and transmits it to the Borough Assembly President.

Member VanBuskirk also agreed with Member Cizek on developing a plan before proceeding with school consolidations or closures. She suggested Scenario Two should be the option the Board moves forward with, retaining staff and limiting PTR increases as much as possible.

Chair Douthit asked Administration to speak to any potential “buffering” accounts. Director Voivedich spoke about the Unassigned Fund Balance and noted that there will also be truing up of the FY26 budget from that account.

Chair Douthit asked what the process would look like if the Board moved forward with Scenario Two and the Borough did not fund to the predicted amount. She asked how the Board would adjust the budget to a lower funding level if necessary. Superintendent Holland asked Director Crabtree to speak to what that would look like from an HR perspective. Director Crabtree explained the process, including the approval of contracts and personnel action forms. He recommended planning for what the district can pay and holding back on issuing contracts if necessary.

Member Cizek asked how many staff members would be affected by closing Sterling and Tustumena.

Chair Douthit expressed concern about moving forward with Scenario Two. Member VanBuskirk noted that last year the decision was made to move forward with the expectation that the BSA would increase. She stated she would like to move forward with the expectation that the Borough will fund to the cap and plan accordingly under Scenario Two.

Director Crabtree spoke further about the Unassigned and Committed fund balances and the importance of planning ahead. He also addressed the staffing reductions associated with the Sterling and Tustumena consolidations in response to Member Cizek’s earlier question.

Chair Douthit asked how many times the Borough has funded to the cap. Member Cizek clarified her reasoning for requesting the staffing numbers for Tustumena and Sterling. She reiterated that there should not be a funding buffer or excess and that those funds could instead be used to avoid closing or consolidating some schools.

Chair Douthit reminded the committee that there would be a school consolidation update later that afternoon during the work session. She then opened discussion to line items on the budget scenarios worksheet aside from the school consolidations.

Member Cizek noted that the PTR increase was something she would like to take a closer look at and that it reflected a plus-two increase. Chair Douthit explained that this was included to create some excess in case funds were needed for negotiations or other unforeseen circumstances.

Director Voivedich noted that the Borough has funded to the cap in FY20 and FY26. Member VanBuskirk suggested inviting the Borough Mayor to attend the finance work session the following day. President Tauriainen responded that the next day’s work session would be an internal Board conversation and that he and Superintendent Holland would be reaching out to the Assembly in the near future to plan a joint finance work session.

Member VanBuskirk requested clarification regarding the guardrails and process for passing and revising the budget throughout the year. Director Voivedich spoke to that process.

Chair Douthit stated she would like to move forward a document for the following day’s work session for the full Board and make any adjustments to the laydown document. Member Cizek stated she would like to move the document forward to the Board as it currently stands for discussion. Member VanBuskirk stated she would like to remove the PTR reductions and the excess revenue amount.

President Tauriainen provided additional clarification regarding the potential for a joint finance work session with the Assembly.

Chair Douthit clarified with Member VanBuskirk that she was proposing removing the PTR increases and moving the Tustumena and Sterling consolidations into Scenario Two. Member VanBuskirk confirmed and added that she would also like to remove library aides from the reduction list. Member Cizek requested clarification regarding the PTR adjustments.

Chair Douthit concluded by noting that committee suggestions would be documented separately from Administration’s recommendations for the Finance Work Session the following day.

3. Information Requests to Administration

A. Information Requests to Administration

Chair Douthit opened up requests from committee to Administration at this time.

Items that were requested:

Staffing numbers affected by consolidation.
Preliminary Budget documents be available sooner if possible.
No other requests were made at this time.

4. Adjourn

A. Adjourn

Chair Douthit adjourned the committee meeting at 12:07 p.m.