00 SENATE BILL NO. 80 01 "An Act relating to the duties of the Department of Education and Early Development; 02 relating to educational standards and assessments; relating to an educational standards 03 and assessments review committee; and providing for an effective date." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05  * Section 1. AS 14.07.020 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 06 (d) The department may not accept funds not specifically appropriated by the 07 full legislature if accepting the funds will affect state educational policy or require the 08 state to appropriate funding in future years unless the department first obtains the 09 approval of the senate and house education committees in a joint meeting. If the 10 legislature is not in session, the department shall obtain approval from the Legislative 11 Budget and Audit Committee. The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee shall 12 consult with the chairs of the senate and house education committees before granting 13 approval. 14  * Sec. 2. AS 14.07.030 is amended to read: 01 Sec. 14.07.030. Powers of the department. The department may 02 (1) establish, maintain, govern, operate, discontinue, and combine area, 03 regional, and special schools; 04 (2) enter into contractual agreements with the Bureau of Indian Affairs 05 or with a school district to share boarding costs of secondary school students; 06 (3) provide for citizenship night schools when and where expedient; 07 (4) provide for the sale or other disposition of abandoned or obsolete 08 buildings and other state-owned school property; 09 (5) prescribe a classification for items of expense of school districts; 10 (6) acquire and transfer personal property, acquire real property, and 11 transfer real property to federal agencies, state agencies, or to political subdivisions; 12 (7) enter into contractual agreements with school districts to provide 13 more efficient or economical education services; reasonable fees may be charged by 14 the department to cover the costs of providing services under an agreement, including 15 costs for professional services, reproduction or printing, and mailing and distribution 16 of educational materials; 17 (8) provide for the issuance of elementary and secondary diplomas to 18 persons not in school who have completed the equivalent of an 8th or 12th grade 19 education, respectively, in accordance with standards established by the department; 20 (9) apply for, accept, and spend endowments, grants, and other private 21 money available to the state for educational purposes in accordance with AS 37.07 22 (Executive Budget Act) and AS 14.07.020(d); 23 (10) set student tuition and fees for educational and extracurricular 24 programs and services provided and schools operated by the department under the 25 provisions of (1) of this section and AS 14.07.020(a)(9), (11), and (12); 26 (11) charge fees to cover the costs of care and handling with respect to 27 the acquisition, warehousing, distribution, or transfer of donated foods; 28 (12) establish and collect fees for the rental of school facilities and for 29 other programs and services provided by the schools; 30 (13) develop a model curriculum and provide technical assistance for 31 early childhood education programs; 01 (14) notwithstanding any other provision of this title, intervene in a 02 school district to improve instructional practices under standards established by the 03 department in regulation, including directing the 04 (A) employees identified by the department to exercise 05 supervisory authority for instructional practices in the district or in a specified 06 school; 07 (B) use of appropriations under this title for distribution to a 08 district; 09 (15) notwithstanding any other provision of this title, redirect public 10 school funding under AS 14.17 appropriated for distribution to a school district, after 11 providing notice to the district and an opportunity for the district to respond, when 12 (A) necessary to contract for services to improve instructional 13 practices in the district; or 14 (B) the district has failed to take an action required by the 15 department to improve instructional practices in the district; if funding is 16 redirected under this subparagraph, the department shall provide the redirected 17 funding to the district when the department has determined that the required 18 action is satisfactorily completed. 19  * Sec. 3. AS 14.07 is amended by adding a new section to read: 20 Sec. 14.07.034. Performance standards and student assessments review  21 committee. (a) At least once every five years, the department shall convene an 22 educational standards and assessments review committee to review the statewide 23 performance standards and student assessments developed by the department under 24 AS 14.07.020. The department shall appoint the members of the committee. At least 25 50 percent of the members of the committee must be parents of school age children. 26 (b) The committee shall review the performance standards and assessments 27 developed by the department under AS 14.07.020 and submit a report to the 28 department addressing whether the legislature should approve the performance 29 standards and student assessments. 30 (c) The department shall submit the committee's report to the senate secretary 31 and chief clerk of the house of representatives within 10 days after the opening of the 01 session and notify the legislature that the report is available. 02 (d) The department may not implement performance standards and student 03 assessments until they are approved by the legislature by law. 04 (e) Members of the commission receive no compensation, but are entitled to 05 per diem and travel expenses authorized for boards and commissions under 06 AS 39.20.180. 07  * Sec. 4. AS 14.07.150 is amended to read: 08 Sec. 14.07.150. Budget and fiscal authority. The commissioner has 09 responsibility and authority for the preparation and execution of a budget and for the 10 other fiscal affairs of the department, subject to the approval of the board and subject  11 to AS 14.07.020(d). 12  * Sec. 5. AS 24.20.206 is amended to read: 13 Sec. 24.20.206. Duties. The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee shall 14 (1) annually review the long-range operating plans of all agencies of 15 the state that perform lending or investment functions; 16 (2) review periodic reports from all agencies of the state that perform 17 lending or investment functions; 18 (3) prepare a complete report of investment programs, plans, 19 performance, and policies of all agencies of the state that perform lending or 20 investment functions and notify the legislature on or before the first day of each 21 regular session that the report is available; 22 (4) in conjunction with the finance committee of each house, 23 recommend annually to the legislature the investment policy for the general fund 24 surplus and for the income from the permanent fund; 25 (5) provide for an annual post audit and annual operational and 26 performance evaluation of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation investments and 27 investment programs; 28 (6) provide for an annual operational and performance evaluation of 29 the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and the Alaska Industrial Development and 30 Export Authority; the performance evaluation must include, but is not limited to, a 31 comparison of the effect on various sectors of the economy by public and private 01 lending, the effect on resident and nonresident employment, the effect on real wages, 02 and the effect on state and local operating and capital budgets of the programs of the 03 Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and the Alaska Industrial Development and 04 Export Authority; 05 (7) provide assistance to the trustees of the trust established in 06 AS 37.14.400 - 37.14.450 in carrying out their duties under AS 37.14.415;  07 (8) grant or deny, in consultation with the chairs of the senate and  08 house education committees, a request by the Department of Education and  09 Early Development for authority to accept funds under AS 14.07.020(d). 10  * Sec. 6. AS 37.07.080 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 11 (i) Notwithstanding (h) of this section, the Department of Education and Early 12 Development may not accept federal or other program receipts not specifically 13 appropriated by the full legislature unless the Department of Education and Early 14 Development complies with AS 14.07.020(d) before accepting the federal or other 15 program receipts. 16  * Sec. 7. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 17 read: 18 TRANSITION. The Department of Education and Early Development shall convene 19 the first educational standards and assessments review committee, described in AS 14.07.034, 20 added by sec. 3 of this Act, in 2015 and shall submit the committee's report to the legislature 21 within 10 days after the opening of the Second Regular Session of the Twenty-Ninth Alaska 22 State Legislature. Notwithstanding AS 14.07.034, added by sec. 3 of this Act, the Department 23 of Education and Early Development may continue to implement the current performance 24 standards and student assessments for the remainder of the 2014 - 2015 school year and the 25 2015 - 2016 school year. 26  * Sec. 8. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).