Nome Public Schools mull teacher cuts in first draft of 2026 budget
Nome Public Schools presented the first budget draft for the fiscal year 2026 to the Nome Board of Education, with a total operating cost of $16.8 million, which accounts for the “worst case scenario,” according to Superintendent Jamie Burgess.
With a projected $1.2 million less than the previous year, the district is looking at making extreme cuts including six teaching positions at the high school, four at the elementary school and the assistant principal at the elementary school, to balance the budget.
This is the first of three draft budgets the school board will see, with the final adoption scheduled to take place at a special April 22 meeting. Between now and then the Alaska State Legislature will convene and determine the base student allocation, BSA, or amount the district receives for each student enrolled.
The board will also meet to discuss the budget during this time and prioritize certain operations they want to maintain.
On January 28 the board is gathering for a work session to dig into the budget. Burgess said she will present what things could be restored depending on the dollar amount the BSA potentially increases.
“And at what point we get to the point where it's not just a case of restoring all of the cuts to the budget, but we can actually start talking about growing and adding some of the things that have been set as priorities,” Burgess said.
In this budget iteration the district is accounting for a BSA of $5,960 per student. Over the past decade the BSA has not been increased to match the rate of inflation, leaving school districts across Alaska to struggle with budgeting for the next year. Burgess said $1,800 is the current estimation of a BSA increase to match inflation.
Last year the district received a one-time funding amount of $1.1 million, but now they’re hoping the legislature will permanently increase the BSA, granting them more stability when allocating funds each year.
Even with the proposed cuts, which also include taking $35,000 out of the originally $60,000 student travel budget for Nome-Beltz, the district needs to take $250,000 out of their apartment budget and $576,000 from their unreserved fund.
In 2024 the Association of Alaska School Boards advocated for a $860 increase to the BSA, at minimum. The legislature almost passed an omnibus education bill which would have increased it by $860, but it was vetoed by Governor Mike Dunleavy and failed the legislative override by one vote.
Burgess stressed to the board, staff and community in the audience that this version of the budget was not the final outcome and placed weight in the decisions of legislators who can increase the public school funding in the state.
“We have representatives from our community who are in positions of power to impact legislation and the budget,” Burgess said. “Our Senate Education Committee chair this year is Senator Löki Tobin, who's our home-grown legislator. Even though she technically represents Anchorage, we know she has a special spot in her heart for her home.”
Enrollment
NPS’s enrollment for this year is the lowest it’s been in 14 years. Last year there were 695 students in the district, this year there are 665. Next year they’re projecting a loss of almost 10 more students.
Because of this the district is receiving a safety net from the state through the hold harmless provision which continues funding the district in partial amounts that step down over time, preventing large changes in funding and allowing the district to plan.
From the beginning of the school year to January, 62 students have withdrawn from Nome Public Schools. Of these, 39 were reported to have moved within the state and 17 students were dropouts. “Some of these students announced an intent to seek a GED, but we don't have a separate code or a way to track if they actually do complete other than watching for the names appear in other reports,” Burgess wrote in an email to the Nugget.
Though the reasons for the significant enrollment drop aren’t clear, Burgess said the recent outmigration of the state may have something to do with it.
During the session, some board members and Burgess plan to travel to Juneau to advocate for the increase in public school funding.
Two community members spoke during the public comment period regarding the budget, stating they’d like to see teacher salaries and Special Education prioritized.
Other news
Principal of Nome Elementary School Nick Settle announced his resignation, which will go into effect at the end of the school year. The first-year principal expressed regret over his departure, citing family reasons and fears of the incoming Trump administration’s immigration policy as his reason for moving back to Miami to be with loved ones. “I am looking at the reality of —as a Hispanic man with Hispanic children — the possibly having my children be deported,” Settle said. He added he needs to be nearby in case this happens.
“It is with a heavy heart I say this. It is not a choice I make lightly. I have been spending the past time full of years, making Nome my home and getting to know the community,” Settle said.
His leave also means the exit of his partner Eric Settle, who works in the district office in AP/Purchasing.
Settle also said the second-grade teacher left the district following the break and had to be quickly replaced by a Filipino teacher who was previously a title one reading interventionist.
There was a data breach with the PowerSchool System, the server Nome Public Schools uses to house all of its data.
“We have been told by PowerSchool that that information has been deleted by the person that that gained access to it, but you never know for sure, and so because of that PowerSchool is going to be stepping up with some credit monitoring services and identity protection services and stuff like that,” Technology Director Jim Shreve told the board.
As the information becomes available, NPS will share the credit monitoring services with past and present students and staff whose information may have been compromised.
The meeting concluded with the discussion and approval of the contract for the construction contract for the Nome-Beltz roof replacement project, which is set to begin this summer.