1996-01-26                     Senate Journal                      Page 2224
SB 244                                                                       
SENATE BILL NO. 244 BY THE SENATE RULES COMMITTEE                              
BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR, entitled:                                          
                                                                               
An Act relating to state foundation aid and                                   
supplementary state aid for education; and providing                           
for an effective date.                                                         
                                                                               
was read the first time and referred to the Health, Education and              
Social Services and Finance Committees.                                        
                                                                               
Fiscal note published today from Department of Education.                      
                                                                               
Governor's transmittal letter dated January 26:                                
                                                                               
Dear President Pearce:                                                         
                                                                               
Under the authority of article III, sec. 18 of the Alaska Constitution,        
I am transmitting a bill relating to state aid for education.  This bill       
ensures the continued receipt of approximately $35 million in federal          
dollars for public schools and fixes the long-standing problem of              
funding for single site school districts.                                      
                                                                               
I promised Alaskans I would build a school funding program that is             
better than what we have today.  I envision a foundation program               
that is fair, equitable, and accountable.  At the same time it must            
have funding levels that are affordable, both now and in the future,           
and it must protect the partnership between state, federal and local           
dollars.  While we continue to make progress toward this goal, this            
bill takes a substantial first step in addressing the immediate funding        
issues.                                                                        
                                                                               
This fiscal year, the state has allocated approximately $640 million           
through the foundation program.  Almost all of this is from the state          
general fund, with $5 million from the Public School Trust Fund,               
and $35 million from the federal impact aid program (the so-called             
P.L. 81-874 funds).                                                            
                                                                               
In order to consider the impact aid when calculating the states                
portion of school funding, the federal government requires the state           
to pass a disparity test which  measures the variation in revenues             
between  our  richest  and  poorest  school  districts.    The  federal