The action came Tuesday night after the Assembly trimmed $3.8 million from the spending plan for next school year, said Harriet Drummond, acting chairwoman of the Assembly.
The $3.8 million represented a 2 percent reduction in property taxes earmarked for the schools, she said. In all, property taxes and other local money now will fund $229 million of the overall budget, with the remainder of the school funding mostly coming from state and federal sources.
The motion to cut the budget was made by Assembly members Jennifer Johnston, who represents parts of South Anchorage, and Patrick Flynn, who represents downtown. It passed 6-4, with Johnston, Flynn, Debbie Ossiander, Bill Starr, Dan Coffey and Chris Birch voting for and Drummond, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Sheila Selkregg and Mike Gutierrez voting against.
The overall school budget then passed on a 9-1 vote, with Starr voting no.
The school superintendent, Carol Comeau, said the budget presented to the Assembly already was tight, reflecting cuts to some departments and other measures to partly offset rising utility, supply and labor costs.
"As a property owner myself, I fully understand the concerns of taxpayers but I truly feel this cut will have a direct impact to our students," Comeau said. "We worked hard to create a balanced budget that included both significant reductions and modest enhancements in an effort to provide the best possible education to all of our students. Now, we will go back into our proposed general fund budget and bring forward a revised balanced budget."
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