HB 306: "An Act relating to providing a pre-elementary program within a school district; and providing for the certification of early childhood education plans."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 306 01 "An Act relating to providing a pre-elementary program within a school district; and 02 providing for the certification of early childhood education plans." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 14.03.060(a) is amended to read: 05 (a) An elementary school consists of grades kindergarten through grade eight 06 or any appropriate combination of grades within this range, and a pre-elementary 07 program provided by a school district for students three through five years of 08 age. 09 * Sec. 2. AS 14.03.080 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 10 (g) A child who is three years of age on or before September 1 following the 11 beginning of the school year and who is under school age may enter a public school 12 pre-elementary program. 13 * Sec. 3. AS 14.07.020(c) is amended to read: 14 (c) In this section, "pre-elementary school" means a school for children
01 [AGES] three through five years of age if the school's primary function is educational, 02 and a pre-elementary program that is provided by a school district. 03 * Sec. 4. AS 14.07.165 is amended to read: 04 Sec. 14.07.165. Duties. The board shall adopt 05 (1) statewide goals and require each governing body to adopt written 06 goals that are consistent with local needs; 07 (2) regulations regarding the application for and award of grants under 08 AS 14.03.125; 09 (3) regulations implementing provisions of AS 14.11.014(b); 10 (4) regulations requiring approval by the board before a charter school, 11 state boarding school, or a public school may provide domiciliary services; 12 (5) regulations implementing the secondary school student competency 13 examination provisions of AS 14.03.075, including the criteria and procedure under 14 which a governing body uses a waiver to grant a diploma to a student; criteria 15 regarding granting a waiver must include provisions that a waiver may only be granted 16 for students who enter the system late or have rare or unusual circumstances meriting 17 a waiver; 18 (6) regulations for the certification and implementation of a 19 statewide plan to establish an effective means for providing early childhood 20 education using the model curriculum developed by the department under 21 AS 14.07.030(13); the plan must provide for a cost-efficient alternative to a pre- 22 elementary program provided by a school district under AS 14.17.905(a)(2)(A). 23 * Sec. 5. AS 14.17.905(a) is amended to read: 24 (a) For purposes of this chapter, the determination of the number of schools in 25 a district is subject to the following: 26 (1) a community with an ADM of at least 10, but not more than 100, 27 shall be counted as one school; 28 (2) a community with an ADM of at least 101, but not more than 425, 29 shall be counted as 30 (A) one elementary school, which includes those students in 31 grades kindergarten through six, and, except as provided in (c) of this
01 section, a pre-elementary program provided by a school district for 02 students three through five years of age; and 03 (B) one secondary school, which includes students in grades 04 seven through 12; 05 (3) in a community with an ADM of greater than 425, each facility that 06 is administered as a separate school shall be counted as one school, except that each 07 alternative school with an ADM of less than 200 shall be counted as a part of the 08 school in the district with the highest ADM. 09 * Sec. 6. AS 14.17.905 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 10 (c) A school district may not include in the average daily membership of a 11 school students who are three through five years of age if the students are enrolled in a 12 program that 13 (1) complies with a statewide plan for implementing the model 14 curriculum for early childhood education under AS 14.07.165(6); and 15 (2) receives funding other than funding under this section.