CSHB 392(EDC): "An Act relating to education; 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; and providing for an effective date."
00 CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 392(EDC) 01 "An Act relating to education; relating to charter schools; relating to transportation of 02 public school students; relating to correspondence study funding; relating to the base 03 student allocation; relating to funding for reading improvement plans; and providing 04 for an effective date." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 07 Sec. 14.03.254. Board-authorized charter schools. (a) The board may 08 authorize a charter school in a school district under regulations adopted by the board. 09 The regulations must include an application procedure and provisions for 10 establishment of an academic policy committee consisting of parents of students 11 attending the school, teachers, and school employees. 12 (b) Before the board authorizes a charter school under this section, a local 13 school board shall review the application for the charter school. Within 60 days after 14 receiving the complete application for review, the local school board shall issue a
01 written decision to the board recommending either approval or denial of the 02 application. The written decision must include all relevant findings of fact and 03 conclusions of law. 04 (c) The board shall contract with a local school board to operate a charter 05 school authorized by the board under (a) of this section. A local school board that 06 contracts with the board to operate a charter school under this subsection shall operate 07 the charter school as provided in AS 14.03.255 - 14.03.290. 08 * Sec. 2. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 09 Sec. 14.03.256. Charter school termination appeal. If a local school board 10 terminates a contract with a charter school, the charter school may appeal the decision 11 to the board under regulations established by the board. The board may request written 12 supplementation from the appellant or local school board. The board shall review the 13 decision of the local school board to determine whether the findings of fact are 14 supported by substantial evidence and whether the decision is contrary to law. The 15 board shall issue a written decision within 90 days after the appeal is filed and may 16 (1) remand the appeal to the local school board for further review; 17 (2) reapprove the charter school with or without added conditions; or 18 (3) uphold the decision terminating the charter school contract. 19 * Sec. 3. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 20 Sec. 14.03.277. Charter school coordinator. A position dedicated to charter 21 school support is established in the department. This position is responsible for the 22 development of a repository of charter school resources in the department. The charter 23 school coordinator shall provide support to charter schools, including 24 (1) providing charter schools with policy and regulation expertise and 25 guidance; 26 (2) providing groups assistance preparing charter school applications; 27 (3) coordinating with school districts and the Association of Alaska 28 School Boards to support charter school academic policy committees and local school 29 boards; and 30 (4) coordinating with and providing expertise to legal services 31 provided by the state.
01 * Sec. 4. AS 14.07.165(a) is amended to read: 02 (a) The board shall adopt 03 (1) statewide goals and require each governing body to adopt written 04 goals that are consistent with local needs; 05 (2) regulations regarding the application for and award of grants under 06 AS 14.03.125; 07 (3) regulations implementing provisions of AS 14.11.014(b); 08 (4) regulations requiring approval by the board before a charter school, 09 state boarding school, or a public school may provide domiciliary services; 10 (5) regulations establishing standards for an early education program 11 provided by a school district for children who are four and five years of age; the 12 regulations must include 13 (A) standards for a locally designed, evidence-based program 14 that meets Head Start Program Performance Standards and other federal 15 standards required for early education programs to receive federal funding; 16 (B) a requirement that a teacher in charge of a program hold a 17 valid teacher certificate issued under AS 14.20 and 18 (i) have satisfactorily completed a minimum of six 19 credit hours in early childhood education or complete the minimum 20 credit hours within two years of the date the teacher's employment with 21 the early education program begins; or 22 (ii) have two or more years of experience teaching 23 kindergarten or another early education program and have completed 24 additional coursework related to reading instruction, as required by the 25 department; 26 (C) developmentally appropriate objectives for children four 27 and five years of age rather than academic standards appropriate for older 28 children; the objectives must allow school districts to adapt the content of an 29 early education program to be culturally responsive to local communities; 30 (D) accommodations for the needs of all early education 31 children and their families regardless of socioeconomic circumstances; and
01 (E) standards for day in session requirements appropriate for 02 children four and five years of age; 03 (6) regulations establishing standards for day in session requirements 04 appropriate for kindergarten students; 05 (7) regulations regarding the authorization of charter schools 06 under AS 14.03.254. 07 * Sec. 5. AS 14.09.010(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 08 (a) A school district that provides student transportation services for the 09 transportation of students who reside a distance from established schools is eligible to 10 receive funding for operating or subcontracting the operation of the transportation 11 system for students to and from the schools within the student's transportation service 12 area. Subject to appropriation, the amount of funding provided by the state for 13 operating the student transportation system is the amount of a school district's ADM, 14 less the ADM for the district's correspondence programs during the current fiscal year, 15 multiplied by the per student amount for the school district as follows, for the school 16 years beginning July 1, 2024: 17 DISTRICT PER STUDENT AMOUNT 18 Alaska Gateway $2,536 19 Aleutians East 378 20 Anchorage 531 21 Annette Island 222 22 Bering Strait 60 23 Bristol Bay 3,257 24 Chatham 342 25 Copper River 1,934 26 Cordova 409 27 Craig 515 28 Delta/Greely 2,019 29 Denali 2,203 30 Dillingham 1,484 31 Fairbanks 995
01 Galena 310 02 Haines 763 03 Hoonah 364 04 Iditarod 258 05 Juneau 735 06 Kake 331 07 Kashunamiut 6 08 Kenai Peninsula 1,115 09 Ketchikan 886 10 Klawock 712 11 Kodiak Island 974 12 Kuspuk 797 13 Lake and Peninsula 468 14 Lower Kuskokwim 338 15 Lower Yukon 1 16 Matanuska-Susitna 1,109 17 Nenana 716 18 Nome 757 19 North Slope 1,365 20 Northwest Arctic 30 21 Pelican 88 22 Petersburg 457 23 Saint Mary's 235 24 Sitka 522 25 Skagway 44 26 Southeast Island 1,408 27 Southwest Region 728 28 Tanana 581 29 Unalaska 790 30 Valdez 897 31 Wrangell 854
01 Yakutat 907 02 Yukon Flats 322 03 Yukon/Koyukuk 365 04 Yupiit 2. 05 * Sec. 6. AS 14.17.430 is amended to read: 06 Sec. 14.17.430. State funding for correspondence study. Except as provided 07 in AS 14.17.400(b), funding for the state centralized correspondence study program or 08 a district correspondence program, including a district that offers a statewide 09 correspondence study program, includes an allocation from the public education fund 10 in an amount calculated by multiplying the ADM of the correspondence program by 11 the special needs funding factor as provided in AS 14.17.420(a)(1) [90 PERCENT]. 12 * Sec. 7. AS 14.17.470 is amended to read: 13 Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $6,640 14 [$5,960]. 15 * Sec. 8. AS 14.30 is amended by adding a new section to read: 16 Sec. 14.30.773. Support for reading improvement plans. Subject to 17 appropriation and in addition to the state aid received under AS 14.17, the state shall 18 provide to a school district, for each student in grades kindergarten through three, 19 $180 to provide the support, intervention, and services the student needs to reach 20 reading proficiency by the end of grade three. The state shall provide to a school 21 district an additional $100 for each student in grades kindergarten through three at 22 each school in the school district that receives funds under 20 U.S.C. 6311 - 6339. 23 * Sec. 9. This Act takes effect July 1, 2024.