My name is Michael G. McBride.  I’m 10 years old and go to Mt. View Elementary School in Kenai.  I am concerned about whether the schools will stay open long enough for me to graduate high school.  The way government is funding our schools, they may be closed down in a couple of years.

For the last 15 years the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District has made budget cuts each year.  We have lost teachers, custodians, nurses, librarians and libraries, also programs such as driver’s education, plus some vocational education. This year our school district is looking at cutting an additional 55 teachers, closing some schools, raising the student teacher ratio, and closing libraries.  I have been told that our school district is fully funded by the borough government now, and they can not contribute any additional money to the schools without loosing state funding.