School board ponders using $1.5M from closed RALLY program for DZ playground, other purposes

Finance Committee suggests returning about $1M of the funds to CBJ — then possibly asking for some back for other uses — and reallocating the rest for items to be determined by full board

A bus arrives at the Dzantik'i Heeni campus on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, the first day of the 2025-2026 school year. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

Closing the RALLY afterschool program means the Juneau School District has about $1.5 million in unspent funds, prompting school board members to suggest at least some be spent on a planned playground at the Dzantik'i Heeni campus and possibly other projects.

The district likely will have to return about $1 million of the funding to the City and Borough of Juneau, since it was specifically for afterschool child care, district administrators and board members agreed during a Juneau Board of Education Finance Committee meeting Thursday.

The full board is scheduled to discuss possible uses for the RALLY funds at its next meeting Tuesday at Thunder Mountain Middle School. The meeting will also be when two newly elected school board members are sworn in and a new board president is selected.

The district ended its RALLY program this summer, citing staffing shortages, leaving leftover funds for the fiscal year that ends next June 30.

Nicole Herbert, the district’s chief financial officer, said members of the board’s Facilities Committee suggested Tuesday returning the child care funds to CBJ and using the rest for the long-discussed Dzantik'I Heeni playground.

"Possibly the surface area for the swings, which is the big cost point in order to purchase those swings and install them, we would need that ground legwork work first," she said.

The Juneau Assembly last month approved $735,000 for site preparation work and the district recently launched a "Buy A Brick" campaign seeking to raise what is projected to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional costs. The project has been a high priority of many local officials since the campus is the only one with elementary students that lacks a proper playground and there are no nearby public parks.

But both Assembly and school board members have expressed concern about funding being tight due to federal cuts, state revenue shortfalls, and the just-concluded municipal election in which voters passed two tax-cut measures. Local leaders are also concerned about other urgent projects, including flood repairs and overdue maintenance.

Board Vice President Elizabeth Siddon said Thursday the full board should consider a broader range of possible uses for the estimated $462,645 in unused RALLY funds the district would have remaining after returning the child care money to CBJ.

"I'm not keen on having that proposed motion and first reading specific to this playground, because I don't think we as a board have had a full conversation about what our full — even if they have to be one-time-cost facilities — needs are," she said.

School board member Amber Frommherz suggested the return of $1.05 million in child care funding to CBJ include a request the money be redirected back to the district, which was generally supported by others participating in the meeting.

"I think we need to know that they don't have to listen to our recommendation," Britteny Cioni-Haywood, the Finance Committee chair, said. "But I do think it's fine and appropriate, and that we probably should ask for or provide some use — like ‘We're returning these funds, but we'd like to see them used for XYZ.’"

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.