HB 392: "An Act relating to education; relating to funding for Internet services for school districts; relating to charter schools; relating to transportation of public school students; relating to correspondence study funding; relating to the base student allocation; relating to funding for reading improvement plans; relating to teacher retention and recruitment incentives; and providing for an effective date."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 392 01 "An Act relating to education; relating to funding for Internet services for school 02 districts; relating to charter schools; relating to transportation of public school students; 03 relating to correspondence study funding; relating to the base student allocation; 04 relating to funding for reading improvement plans; relating to teacher retention and 05 recruitment incentives; and providing for an effective date." 06 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 * Section 1. AS 14.03.127(a) is amended to read: 08 (a) Each fiscal year, a district in which one or more schools qualify for a 09 discounted rate for Internet services under the federal universal services program is 10 eligible to receive an amount for each school that is equal to the amount needed to 11 bring the applicant's share to 100 [25] megabits of download a second of the Internet 12 services. 13 * Sec. 2. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read:
01 Sec. 14.03.256. Charter school termination appeal. If a local school board 02 terminates a contract with a charter school, the charter school may appeal the decision 03 to the commissioner under regulations established by the commissioner. The 04 commissioner may request written supplementation from the appellant or local school 05 board. The commissioner shall review the decision of the local school board to 06 determine whether the findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence and 07 whether the decision is contrary to law. The commissioner shall issue a written 08 decision within 90 days after the appeal is filed and may 09 (1) remand the appeal to the local school board for further review; 10 (2) reapprove the charter school with or without added conditions; or 11 (3) uphold the decision terminating the charter school contract. 12 * Sec. 3. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 13 Sec. 14.03.277. Charter school coordinator. A position dedicated to charter 14 school support is established in the department. This position is responsible for the 15 development of a repository of charter school resources in the department. The charter 16 school coordinator shall provide support to charter schools, including 17 (1) providing charter schools with policy and regulation expertise and 18 guidance; 19 (2) providing groups assistance preparing charter school applications; 20 (3) coordinating with school districts and the Association of Alaska 21 School Boards to support charter school academic policy committees and local school 22 boards; and 23 (4) coordinating with and providing expertise to legal services 24 provided by the state. 25 * Sec. 4. AS 14.09.010(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 26 (a) A school district that provides student transportation services for the 27 transportation of students who reside a distance from established schools is eligible to 28 receive funding for operating or subcontracting the operation of the transportation 29 system for students to and from the schools within the student's transportation service 30 area. Subject to appropriation, the amount of funding provided by the state for 31 operating the student transportation system is the amount of a school district's ADM,
01 less the ADM for the district's correspondence programs during the current fiscal year, 02 multiplied by the per student amount for the school district as follows, for the school 03 years beginning July 1, 2024: 04 DISTRICT PER STUDENT AMOUNT 05 Alaska Gateway $2,536 06 Aleutians East 378 07 Anchorage 531 08 Annette Island 222 09 Bering Strait 60 10 Bristol Bay 3,257 11 Chatham 342 12 Copper River 1,934 13 Cordova 409 14 Craig 515 15 Delta/Greely 2,019 16 Denali 2,203 17 Dillingham 1,484 18 Fairbanks 995 19 Galena 310 20 Haines 763 21 Hoonah 364 22 Iditarod 258 23 Juneau 735 24 Kake 331 25 Kashunamiut 6 26 Kenai Peninsula 1,115 27 Ketchikan 886 28 Klawock 712 29 Kodiak Island 974 30 Kuspuk 797 31 Lake and Peninsula 468
01 Lower Kuskokwim 338 02 Lower Yukon 1 03 Matanuska-Susitna 1,109 04 Nenana 716 05 Nome 757 06 North Slope 1,365 07 Northwest Arctic 30 08 Pelican 88 09 Petersburg 457 10 Saint Mary's 235 11 Sitka 522 12 Skagway 44 13 Southeast Island 1,408 14 Southwest Region 728 15 Tanana 581 16 Unalaska 790 17 Valdez 897 18 Wrangell 854 19 Yakutat 907 20 Yukon Flats 322 21 Yukon/Koyukuk 365 22 Yupiit 2. 23 * Sec. 5. AS 14.17.430 is amended to read: 24 Sec. 14.17.430. State funding for correspondence study. Except as provided 25 in AS 14.17.400(b), funding for the state centralized correspondence study program or 26 a district correspondence program, including a district that offers a statewide 27 correspondence study program, includes an allocation from the public education fund 28 in an amount calculated by using [MULTIPLYING] the ADM of the correspondence 29 program reported under AS 14.17.500(a) and 14.17.600(a) [BY 90 PERCENT]. 30 * Sec. 6. AS 14.17.470 is amended to read: 31 Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $6,640
01 [$5,960]. 02 * Sec. 7. AS 14.30 is amended by adding a new section to read: 03 Sec. 14.30.773. Support for reading improvement plans. The state shall 04 provide to a school district, for each student in grades kindergarten through three who 05 is determined to have a reading deficiency based on the statewide screening or 06 assessment tool, $500 to provide the support, intervention, and services the student 07 needs for the student's reading improvement plan, including teacher and 08 paraprofessional career development. 09 * Sec. 8. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 10 read: 11 LUMP SUM PAYMENT FOR CERTAIN TEACHERS. (a) Subject to appropriation 12 for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2025, June 30, 2026, and June 30, 2027, a certificated full- 13 time teacher is entitled to receive a lump sum payment as a retention and recruitment 14 incentive if the teacher was employed in a full-time classroom teaching position for the 15 entirety of the school term for the school year immediately preceding the date of payment and 16 the teacher has entered into a contract with a school district to teach for the entirety of the 17 following school term. The department shall pay the retention and recruitment incentive on or 18 within a reasonable period after July 1, 2024, July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026. The department 19 shall reduce the retention and recruitment incentive by the amount necessary to pay 20 mandatory employee and employer deductions, including a deduction required under 21 AS 14.25. Subject to the application and certification requirements in (e) of this section, the 22 department shall pay the retention and recruitment incentives through grants to school 23 districts as described in (b) - (e) of this section. 24 (b) The department shall pay $5,000 for each eligible certificated full-time teacher 25 teaching in the following districts: 26 (1) Anchorage School District; 27 (2) Fairbanks North Star Borough School District; 28 (3) Juneau Borough School District; 29 (4) Kenai Peninsula Borough School District; 30 (5) Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. 31 (c) The department shall pay $10,000 for each eligible certificated full-time teacher
01 teaching in the following districts: 02 (1) Alaska Gateway School District; 03 (2) Aleutian Region School District; 04 (3) Aleutians East Borough School District; 05 (4) Annette Island School District; 06 (5) Chugach School District; 07 (6) Copper River School District; 08 (7) Cordova City School District; 09 (8) Delta/Greely School District; 10 (9) Denali Borough School District; 11 (10) Galena City School District; 12 (11) Haines Borough School District; 13 (12) Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District; 14 (13) Kodiak Island Borough School District; 15 (14) Mt. Edgecumbe High School; 16 (15) Nenana City School District; 17 (16) Nome Public Schools; 18 (17) Petersburg Borough School District; 19 (18) Saint Mary's School District; 20 (19) Sitka School District; 21 (20) Skagway School District; 22 (21) Unalaska City School District; 23 (22) Valdez City School District; 24 (23) Wrangell Public School District; 25 (24) Yakutat School District. 26 (d) The department shall pay $15,000 for each eligible certificated full-time teacher 27 teaching in the following districts: 28 (1) Bering Strait School District; 29 (2) Bristol Bay Borough School District; 30 (3) Chatham School District; 31 (4) Craig City School District;
01 (5) Dillingham City School District; 02 (6) Hoonah City School District; 03 (7) Hydaburg City School District; 04 (8) Iditarod Area School District; 05 (9) Kake City School District; 06 (10) Kashunamiut School District; 07 (11) Klawock City School District; 08 (12) Kuspuk School District; 09 (13) Lake and Peninsula Borough School District; 10 (14) Lower Kuskokwim School District; 11 (15) Lower Yukon School District; 12 (16) North Slope Borough School District; 13 (17) Northwest Arctic Borough School District; 14 (18) Pelican City School District; 15 (19) Pribilof School District; 16 (20) Southeast Island School District; 17 (21) Southwest Region School District; 18 (22) Tanana City School District; 19 (23) Yukon Flats School District; 20 (24) Yukon-Koyukuk School District; 21 (25) Yupiit School District. 22 (e) To be eligible for the retention and recruitment incentive described in (a) of this 23 section, a certificated full-time teacher must apply during each eligible calendar year to the 24 department on a date not later than the final day in session for the school term established by 25 the governing body of the teacher's school district or regional educational attendance area. 26 Application for payment shall be made on a form designated by the commissioner of 27 education and early development. For each teacher who applies, the school district or regional 28 educational attendance area shall certify the teacher's eligibility for payment under (a) of this 29 section to the department. 30 (f) Payment made under this section is considered compensation for the purposes of 31 AS 14.25.
01 (g) The department may adopt regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this 02 section. 03 (h) In this section, 04 (1) "certificated full-time teacher" 05 (A) means an individual occupying a position that requires 06 (i) a teaching certificate as a condition of employment; and 07 (ii) teaching on a regular basis during the normal work period 08 for each day or week at a classroom teaching assignment in a public 09 elementary or secondary school; 10 (B) does not include an individual teaching as an assistant or graduate 11 assistant or teaching on a substitute, temporary, or per diem basis; 12 (2) "department" means the Department of Education and Early Development. 13 * Sec. 9. Section 1 of this Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c). 14 * Sec. 10. Except as provided in sec. 9 of this Act, this Act takes effect July 1, 2024.