FAIRBANKS — Galena’s boarding school enrollment has surged by nearly 50 percent this year, providing hope the district might be able to reach ambitious growth goals that will allow it to maintain buildings at the town’s closed Air Force station.

Galena City School District Superintendent Jim Smith said the enrollment increase is a reason for cautious optimism. The Air Force deeded seven of its buildings to the city when it departed in October 2008, and Smith said the district eventually needs at least 275 students to generate enough money to pay for utilities and maintenance.

The school district has added about 50 students at the Galena Interior Learning Academy this year, with roughly 165 living at the boarding school. Add in an additional 40 homegrown students from Galena, and the local high school has an enrollment of more than 200.

The district took a more aggressive approach to recruiting for the academy this year, including ads on television and radio. Smith said many potential students weren’t aware that Galena had a boarding school or what types of programs it offers.

The school has attracted new students from more than 50 Alaska communities with its focus on vocational education. Available programs include certificates for culinary arts, cosmetology and auto mechanics.

“If kids don’t know about it, they’re not going to know it’s an option,” Smith said.

Smith said it’s been a challenge boosting enrollment, because the school is wary of poaching students from other districts, particularly small villages. A school loses state funding when it dips below a 10-student threshold, and Smith emphasized the district doesn’t want to do anything to harm a community on the brink of losing its school.

“We traditionally have been very reserved in the process, because we have tremendous sensitivity to these home villages,” Smith said.

But the Galena school district has challenges of its own. When the Air Force left Galena, so did the village’s biggest employer. Increasing the role of the academy was viewed as a way to reuse shuttered buildings and broaden the community’s job base. Smith said the boarding school employs 18 people.

Tommie Baker, a spokesman for the 611th Civil Engineering Squadron, said the Air Force’s presence in Galena is essentially over. The squadron, based at Elmendorf Air Force Base, is only overseeing environmental cleanup at its former facilities in the village.

Galena’s Air Force station opened in 1943 and remained operational through the Cold War, serving as the closest U.S. fighter jet base to the Soviet Union. But with no obvious role in the 21st century, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended shutting down the Galena station in 2005.

But the Air Force did leave Galena a nice going-away present — $6.5 million to spend on heating fuel. Baker said the agreement to pay for the heating oil was designed to stabilize the school district as it makes the transition to a new era. He described the arrangement as a “win-win situation” for the two parties.

“Getting that much fuel, that can’t help but help them out a heck of a lot down the road,” he said.

The money for heating oil gives the school district time to boost its enrollment enough to cover the additional costs.

Smith said the district is using roughly 350,000 gallons per year to heat its facilities. He’s hoping the money lasts five years or longer, but the price of fuel oil will be the main factor that determines what happens.

The district is working to boost its savings while the donated fuel oil is still available.

If the school can’t reach the number of students needed to make the boarding school support itself, Smith said the state will need to decide whether it wants to offer more money for support. He compared Galena Interior Learning Academy to Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, where the state subsidizes the school at a higher rate.

Meanwhile, Smith said he isn’t feeling extraordinary pressure to fill the academy, which has the potential to house as many as 400 students. He simply wants to put the school in the best position to succeed.

“I don’t view it as ‘I’ve got to go out and get kids,’” Smith said. “I’m not trying to hire people — we’re providing services.”