WASILLA -- Last month the Mat-Su School Board moved toward ending its outsourcing of custodians. But that changed last week after board members were confronted with district estimates showing it could cost an extra $1.7 million to do the work in house.
Nothing is set in stone, but the district now appears likely to continue to contract with a private company.
At a meeting last Wednesday, the board voted six to one with President Jim Colver opposed to approve a budget for the coming school year that includes only $5.4 million for custodial work. That's the exact amount a private company, NMS, is seeking to do the work.
The board could still move custodial work in-house -- the issue is on the agenda for tonight's meeting.
But the district's Operations and Maintenance Director Henry Cottle told members to do so for $5.4 million would result in substandard staffing levels that would "seriously affect the level of cleanliness."
Discussion about the custodial contract dominated much of the four-hour meeting on the school budget and sparked some testy exchanges between board members and Colver, who supported making custodians district employees.
Three years ago, the board voted to outsource custodial work, hiring NANA Management Services now NMS.
This year NMS sought to renew its contract for up to two years at $5.4 million a year. Instead the board voted 4 to 3 in May to offer NMS only a three-month contract, a move widely viewed as a vote to bring the work back in house.
In fact, after the vote, NMS laid off its staff and the district began interviewing potential employees, eventually over 100 people in all.
Board members, however, balked when the district came back with an estimate of $7.1 million to do the work in house.
At the meeting Wednesday, board member Colleen Hamblen said she couldn't stomach spending on custodians at the expense of teaching positions.
"$1.7 million will buy us a lot of teachers in this budget, in any budget," she said. "The bottom-line is the custodians are not the ones in the classroom using the textbooks, teaching the students." Colver, however, said he didn't like spending federal stimulus funds, which expire in two years, to hire teachers who may later have to be laid off.
Instead he suggested spending the money on things like custodial supplies.
That drew an incredulous response from board member Susan Pougher.
"You're actually suggesting getting rid of teachers to buy supplies for custodial....," she said. "It's not appropriate ... I don't want my child in a classroom with 35 students in fifth grade."
After the meeting, Classified Employees Association president Rick Byrnes said he questioned the district's $7.1 million estimate but hadn't been able to get enough details from school officials to scrutinize the numbers.
CEA represented custodians when they were district employees.
By S.J. KOMARNITSKY
skomarnitsky@adn.com