Legislature(2005 - 2006)CAPITOL 106
02/08/2005 11:00 AM House EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB65 | |
| HB1 || HB18 || HB73 || HB30 || HB65 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 1 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 18 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 73 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 30 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 65 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 1 - INCREASE AMT OF BASE STUDENT ALLOCATION
HB 18 - INCREASE AMT OF BASE STUDENT ALLOCATION
HB 73 - INCREASE AMT OF BASE STUDENT ALLOCATION
HB 30 - APPROP: K-12 EDU OPERATING/DEBT EXPENSES
HB 65-APPROP: K-12 PUBLIC EDUCATION
CHAIR NEUMAN announced that the committee would be hearing HOUSE
BILL NO. 1, HOUSE BILL NO. 18, and HOUSE BILL NO. 73, which all
address the base student allocation used in the formula for
state funding of public education; as well as HOUSE BILL NO. 30
and HOUSE BILL NO. 65, which are both acts making appropriations
for K-12 education operating and school debt expenses.
CHAIR NEUMAN stated that there would be general testimony at
this meeting.
11:14:35 AM
MELODY DOUGLAS, Chief financial Officer, Kenai Peninsula Borough
School District, expressed appreciation for the governor's
proposal and for its shift in philosophy for K-12 education.
She explained that it sets the funding for two years, and it
would stabilize the process now experienced in school districts
of non-retaining and rehiring of staff based on availability of
funding. She said the [Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
(KPBSD)] is a proponent for funding inside the cap for PERS/TRS.
She described the KPBSD changes in staffing formulas in an
attempt to recover from cuts made in recent years. She said
that this district does, however, utilize regional
administrators, regional librarians, regional counselors, and
regional "quest delivery" due to ongoing reductions. She opined
that this is a major departure for school districts. She
reminded the committee that the KPBSD just reduced its staff
members and certified teaching staff in the classrooms by 10
percent. She explained that health care costs are increasing as
are insurances: property, liability, and workers compensation.
MS. DOUGLAS stated that the Kenai Peninsula Borough School Board
revised the number needed to deal with staffing challenges to
$5,086 with a request for additional funding, targeting cost
differential challenges for the KPBSD. She asked for
consideration of $5,086 for a base student allocation on behalf
of the students in Alaska. She also asked for consideration of
the governor's proposal for forward funding. She opined that
these changes would be momentous in this state and would
stabilize education.
11:17:52 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO inquired as to staff reductions and whether
they are a function of declining student enrollment or declining
revenues.
MS. DOUGLAS stated that it is a composite of both elements plus
increases in PERS/TRS costs.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA asked how many teachers could be added if
the $5,086 figure was used and where the governor's proposal
would leave the school districts in terms of staffing.
MS. DOUGLAS stated that the $5,086 figure would allow for an
addition of approximately 65 staff to the school district to
address classroom needs. The governor's proposal would allow
for the addition of approximately 10 certified staff. The
governor's proposal would leave the KPBSD short $1.7 million; in
order to break even on the preliminary budget, the base student
allocation would have to be $4,980.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA asked if the governor's proposal would allow
for the addition of 10 staff or if it would leave the KPBSD
short.
MS. DOUGLAS stated that the governor's proposal is $1.7 million
short of the preliminary budget, and that includes 10 additional
certified staff members targeted for K-3. The district would
need to either cut costs in other areas or allocate a $1.7
million fund balance allocation.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA asked if the governor's proposal, left as
is, would allow for an addition or a reduction of staff.
MS. DOUGLAS stated that if the governor's proposal were funded,
as it is, the KPBSD would be required to either allocate "fund
balance" or cut costs.
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asked whether, if the governor's proposal
passes, the next action taken would be to cut ten positions, or
keep the 10 positions and do something different
MS. DOUGLAS, in response to Representative Gatto's inquiry,
replied that the Kenai Peninsula Borough School Board directs
the budget and it would be to their discretion to make those
decisions. She opined that they would leave the staffing
formulas as presented, and make cuts in other areas of the
budget.
11:22:36 AM
SAMMY CRAWFORD, President, Kenai Peninsula Borough School Board,
stated that the two year funding is appreciated as it helps with
planning. She said that "this" proposal does not improve the
short term situation. She explained that the KPBSD would like
to cut the pupil-teacher ratio and rectify the area cost
differential as there are many schools off of the road system
and their costs are so much higher. She said that an additional
$114 dollars on the base student allocation has been requested.
CHAIR inquired as to Kenai's allowable expenditures.
MS. CRAWFORD stated, "they are at the max."
REPRESENTATIVE GARA asked what the class size estimates would be
with the governor's proposal compared to the school board
proposal.
MS. CRAWFORD stated that a ratio of 18:1 for K-3 and 24:1 in 4-
12 would be desirable. She pointed out that as of now, there
are higher student ratios in all grades.
11:25:46 AM
DAVE JONES, Director, Finance Department, Kodiak Island Borough
School District, stated that he would address all of the bills
together. He said that the Kodiak Island Borough School
District, (KIBSD), is requesting a base student allocation of
$4,995 setting the total cost estimated for the state at $85
million, as compared to the governor's $62 million. He
explained that that figure includes the money for retirement
within the foundation formula, and that by keeping that money
within the formula, it increases the anility for local burough
support by approximately $200,000. He emphasized that the KIBSD
is appreciative of the governor's proposal but it leaves the
school district short by about $90,000; the increase in the base
student allocation value increases the ability of the borough to
give approximately $492,000.
MR. JONES explained that the borough, for the past two years,
has funded the school district at the cap, and so even if the
borough can fund at the cap, there will be cuts with programs
and staff due to inflation costs. He explained that rising fuel
costs have increased $180,000 from last year and described it as
a 76 percent increase. He stated that with additional funding,
teachers could be hired at all levels to help with math, science
and reading as well as deal with issues regarding No Child Left
Behind (NCLB) standards. He said the high school population is
increasing and the principal has asked for three additional
teachers next year to address math, reading, and science problem
areas. He expressed his appreciation for the work that is being
done to address these issues.
11:31:40 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asked Mr. Jones if he was in favor of early
funding or forward funding.
MR. JONES stated that he is in favor of early funding. In
response to Representative Gatto's follow up question regarding
the effects of increasing fuel costs, he clarified that he is in
favor of an early resolution of funding, where he would hear by
early March what the funding or, at least, the base student
allocation for the next fiscal year was. He explained that this
allows for the hiring of teachers and eliminates the loss of
teachers looking for jobs in other districts. Currently, he
said, contracts are issued in April or May with an estimate of
what the student count will be in October. He explained that if
there is a large, unexpected decrease in student population, it
is paid back out of the "fund balance", or by eliminating
teachers in the middle of the school year. He said:
What I call forward funding is, ... we would have the
funding that you pass in March based on this year's
180 day student count. And if people have increases,
they could get ... an increase on the student count in
the fall.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA restated that using Mr. Jones's proposal
would enable the addition of three teachers and asked if class
sizes have increased over the past two years.
MR. JONES stated that it depends how those [added] teachers are
targeted. At the elementary level, he explained, reading
specialists are needed, not an extra classroom teacher. He
explained that at the high school level there would be an
effect, and if three teachers were added, it would reduce
student numbers from 30 to 27.
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO said that Mr. Jones's mentioned a number of
$4,995 and that Ms. Douglas gave a number of $4,980, plus the
KPBSD's revised number of $5,086. He stated that when people
from the same district come up with different numbers and
different needs, it becomes complicated for the committee to
know exactly what those needs are.
MR. JONES described the number he presented to the committee as
the number the KIBSD Board of Education decided on last night.
He explained that the PERS/TRS situation doesn't hit each
district the same and is a variable that depends on staff and on
debt that has built up; the differences in PERS/TRS make it
challenging for each district to agree on what is needed. He
described health insurance as the other variable within each
district, and noted that some districts are dependent upon the
previous year's claims, for example, "if you have a bad year in
claims then you have a spike in health insurance increases."
11:37:47 AM
JOE BANGHARDT, Superintendent, Iditarod Area School District,
submitted written testimony to the House Special Committee on
Education, which read [original punctuation provided]:
For the record, my name is Joe Banghardt, I'm
superintendent of the Iditarod Area School District.
I come to you today as a superintendent and as a
concerned Alaskan. My job, as you know, is to run the
school district, which involves tending to important
details like trying to balance the books, but also,
and more importantly, helping to ensure that Alaska's
children are well educated and prepared to graduate
and meet the challenges that meet them in the world
outside of our small school district. Allow me to
familiarize you with some of the challenges of
operating this school district: The Iditarod Area
School District is not located on the road system and
does not receive any local financial support for
operation of schools. We are currently projecting at
least a $500,000 deficit for the Fiscal Year 2006.
This deficit takes in to consideration current fund
balance, increases in TRS and PERS, cost of living
adjustments for Certified and Classified Staff and the
loss of several grants that impact the overall
district budget. This does not include a projected
25% increase in fuel cost nor the impact this will
have on cost of travel, freight, and electric cost at
all schools. Recently at two villages the water/sewer
companies where taken over by other organizations and
they raised our rates from $600.00 a month at both
sites to 1,200.00 a month. This is a 200 percent
increase in cost bore directly by the district. We
are currently talking with another village local
utility organization that has proposed a 118 percent
increase in electric cost.
Taking all of this into consideration then looking at
HB 1, 73, and 18 we are concerned. If the highest
proposed offer (HB 18) was approved and after our
district receives the adjustment for the floor the
total net gain to the Iditarod Area School District
would only be $62,000. The floor is determined by the
states formula that compares the old foundation
formula to the new and makes adjustments for many
districts in what is called the floor. This figure is
decreased yearly and with the current figure our
district will not receive the majority of funds. When
we look at what we actually need just to keep
operating for next year it is a conservative 10%
increase. If HB 18 was approved and that is all we
receive this amounts to a 1.3 percent increase.
What's more, we need to do more than just keep our
head above water if we're going to get Alaska's kids
educated.
In order for a school or district to meet Annual
Yearly Progress each year, a series of 31 possible
individual test must be satisfied. The Annual Yearly
Progress Report for all eight schools in the district
gives a clear picture of immediate need for severe
intervention. Of these eight schools two are at level
III, two at Level II, and two at Level I. The other
two are so small we cannot obtain an accurate figure
to determine AYP. When we examine state testing
results for all students in grades 3-12 one site has
92% students who are not proficient in reading,
another 90%, another 86%, with a district wide average
of students not proficient in reading being 65%. We
are required to designate more money to meet the
standards set by NCLB yet we are not receiving
adequate money from the state or federal government.
11:40:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA asked Mr. Banghardt if he had a proposed
base student allocation that would keep the district from making
any substancial cuts this year.
ISABELLE HARRINGTON, Manager, Business Department, Iditarod
School District, stated that they have not come up with a
proposed base student allocation that would help them. She
explained that in this situation, when the base goes up, the
funding floor goes down.
11:41:42 AM
CAROL DOYLE, Superintendent, Alaska Gateway School District,
submitted written testimony to the committee and read [original
punctuation provided]:
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you about
our district's needs today. Here at Alaska Gateway we
appreciate all you have done in the past for education
and that you have focused on education as a priority
in our state.
First of all, I would like to tell you a little bit
about our district. It is a district of about 450
students. These students are enrolled in 7 sites in
our district. These sites include Tanacross, Dot
Lake, Mentasta, Tetlin, Northway, Eagle, Tok, and a
district only Correspondence School. Except for
Tanacross which is 12 miles from Tok, most of the
other sites are a good hour's drive from the central
office with Eagle being 173 miles from the central
location. Eagle is only accessible by charter plane 7
months out of the year and a 4 hour drive on dirt
roads the other months when the road is maintained.
Our school enrollments range anywhere from 10 to 220
students, with half the students in the district
residing in Tok School.
All of our funding comes from the state. At the
present time, even if the Governor's plan makes it
through the legislature, we will be $559,000 short for
FY 06 to maintain the budget and expenses we currently
have this year. Increased costs in TRS, PERS, medical
insurance for employees, fuel, maintenance on 6 older
buildings, along with some declining enrollment in Tok
and Correspondence School attribute to this loss. If
the district has to cut $559,000 dollars from its
budget, there will be many program cuts and staff cuts
throughout the district. The district has already
been cutting over the last three to five years. We
have lost all the fine arts and vocational programs at
the smaller sites. The district has cut 11 certified
staff over the last several years along with several
classified staff. Custodian time has been cut in half
and all small schools less than 40 students have
minimal secretary time, about an hour a day, if that.
This year we had to use half our reserve to fund
education in this district after our count proved that
we were 48 students short of our prediction. We have
also had to cut the hazard busing route for cold
weather days even with temperatures in excess of 60
degrees below zero last year and this. As a matter of
information for you, the money given the districts
this year for increases in TRS and PERS was not
enough. Our costs for TRS and PERS amounted to
$131,507. We received from the state $77,802 so we
had to make up the difference of $53,705 with cuts.
At some points in time during the year, here at the
central office, we have talked about closing some of
our small schools and busing them to Tok School. This
is really not a viable solution to our problem since
our students' bus ride would be in excess of one hour
each way, in extreme temperatures in the winter, and
on icy and snowpacked roads.
What is keeping our district alive right now is $2.4
millions dollars worth of grants and $3.6 million
dollars worth of capital projects for our aging
buildings, but with only 2 maintenance men for the
whole district, improvements are slow. Winter months
have these two men attending to freeze-ups and other
problems related to extreme temperatures. Title
grants and competitive grants pay for many benefits to
our students, but they cannot pay for teachers to
teach the basic skills in the classroom required by
NCLB. We will not be able to come up with highly
qualified teachers in each of our schools by the
deadline. The small school teachers teach K-12, all
subjects. Even Tok School 7-12 teachers have many
different preps in order to give our students all of
what they need to meet the state and district
requirements. All our schools this year made adequate
yearly progress except one, but that will change
without the needed funds. We need $5,362 for a
student base allocation just to keep the status quo of
where we are right now. $559,000 worth of cuts in
this district will significantly impact every student
and they will not receive anything close to an
adequate education.
I have only hit the highlights here. Administrative
staff are few. My job description is Superintendent,
but I am also the Special Education Director and
District Testing Coordinator and evaluate all the
small schools' teachers, as well as principals, and
district support staff. This is a result of cuts in
the central office. Tok School and Northway School
principals are the only other administrators in the
district. The special programs and grant writer for
the district also teaches one class at Tok School and
does not have an administrative certificate.
We need your help to keep a viable education for our
students in the future. I'm sorry, but HB 1, HB 73,
and HB 18 will not be enough. The most net gain we
will receive from HB 18 is $163,389. We will be
$395,000 short of what we need to give our students
what they need. Thank you for your time and help. The
district hopes we will have your cooperation in
increasing our funding so our students can have an
adequate education.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked how many staff positions have been
cut in the last three to five years.
MS. DOYLE replied that 11 certified staff and 8-10 classified
staff. She explained that much of the classified staff are paid
by title grants and that special education intensive aids are
paid out of the general funds.
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO how many certified teachers are in this
district.
MS. DOYLE stated that there are approximately 48 certified
teachers. She further explained that the ratio of student to
teacher is dependent on the school and the area.
11:50:56 AM
ROBERT DOYLE, Superintendent, Matanuska-Susitna Borough School
District, stated that the proposed budget for this district is
balanced dependent on the governor's proposal of $4,880 without
any cuts. He said that the board passed a resolution to support
$4,995 allowing for enrichment and enhancement of opportunities
for staff. He explained that last year, with additional funding
from the legislature and approval by the governor, class sizes
were lowered and additional courses were added at high schools,
but that as of now, classroom space has run out.
MR. DOYLE said that as a growing school district, the only way
to utilize additional money would be to extend instructional
time, restore teaching supplies, improve staff development
efforts, continue with curriculum alignment, add vocational
programs and design interventions to address challenges from
growth and overcrowding. He emphasized that the issues of
additional funding and PERS/TRS are serious, and that the
Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, (MSBSD), would
support legislative efforts to revise PERS/TRS. He added that
the MSBSD is opposed to the area cost differential studies which
would take money from some school districts and distribute it to
others. He opined that it was a flawed study in the past and
continues to be. He noted the difficulty in addressing a high
enough base student allocation to offset all losses from
enrollment decreases and, said that this will be the real
struggle for the legislature this year. He said that the MSBSD
would support $4,995 if there was any way to address that.
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asked Mr. Doyle how many certified teachers
are within the MSBSD.
MR. DOYLE said that there are 1,000 certified teachers, but that
includes special education staff and they serve the needs of
approximately 15,500 students.
11:53:49 AM
NICK STAYROOK, Chief Information Services Officer, Fairbanks
Northstar Borough School District, pointed out that in the
governor's State of the State address, two things were
recognized regarding education funding: the need to help school
districts with the TRS/PERS retirement costs and the increased
cost of energy, especially fuel cost. He said there are several
bills that allocate additional funds to assist districts with
these increased costs. He opined that the governor has
addressed the minimum, bare level of funding for education.
Since the passage of the NCLB Act, he said, schools have been
under pressure to increase student achievement across all grade
levels but can no longer maintain adequate levels of student
achievement. He explained that consequences for schools who are
not making adequate yearly progress requirements can be very
severe. He requested education funding that goes beyond
maintainance level funding, addressing things like PERS/TRS,
energy costs, and health care. He opined that energy resources
are needed for educational programs that will assist increased
student acievement. Mr. Stayrook said that improved, additional
programs are needed to help reach that goal of all students
being proficient in reading, writing, and math. In summary, he
stated that the Fairbanks Northstar Borough School District,
(FNBSD), supports early funding, two-year funding, and increased
funding beyond what the governor has proposed.
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asked what the number of certified teachers
and student estimates were for the FNBSD.
MR. STAYROOK said they have about 1,000 certified teachers
across the district, and approximately 15,000 students.
11:57:17 AM
SANDY WASSILIE, Vice President, Kenai Peninsula Borough School
Board, stated that she traveled 95 miles from Soldotna to attend
the school board meeting last night, and that there are many
staff traveling similar distances, daily. She stated that the
KPBSD has gone through a number of reductions in services
provided, and now has regional administrators in certain sites.
She said, "On my side of the peninsula, we have a regional
principal serving three schools, we have a gifted and talented
teacher serving five schools." She added that this is partly
due to declining enrollments but it's also due to an area cost
differential created in '97 or '98 by Senate Bill 36 and that
means there isn't the same level of support in classrooms that
other districts have. In response to this, she related, the
KPBSD has increased pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) and balanced the
budget. She explained that the KPBSD is expecting to receive
the governor's increase, and will reduce the K-3 level of
staffing. She explained:
That doesn't address the secondary level, and we are
looking in Seward at a middle school of 99 students
with one principle and four teachers. This barely
covers our basic subjects; it doesn't cover any
exploratories. We are down to bare bones in this
district and part of it is our area cost differential
problem. We passed on our school board last night
what we would need to reinstate the PTR of three years
ago when we made the cuts: ... a base student
allocation of $5,086, and an additional grant of $114
dollars per student to address the area cost
differential decreases.
12:00:47 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asks how many students and certified
teachers there are in the KPBSD.
12:01:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON mentioned that the numbers of students and
certified teachers doesn't tell the whole story because it does
not address how many schools there are.
12:02:43 PM
CONNIE NEWMAN, Superintendent, Chatham School District, stated
that Chatham is a Rural Education Attendance Area (REAA) that
covers 32,000 square miles and includes four sites: Angoon,
Gustavus, Klukwan, Tenakee Springs; Pelican has recently been
included. She expressed her thanks to the committee and to the
governor for submitting a proposal to look at forward funding.
MS. NEWMAN explained that the Chatham School District, (CSD),
has experienced a 9 percent decline in enrollment and a
continued decline next year will decrease the budget by
$450,000. She requested a "hold harmless" [provision] to make
budget adjustments over a three-year period. She also requested
funding the "Alaska Administrative Code (ACC)" so that when
districts look at restructuring, there would be some
compensation to help offset the cost of sharing district
services. She said that she was aware of a potential for
funding that could be available if ACC funding was considered.
Finally, she asked if a message could be sent to the Senate
regarding the reconciliation of issues with "E-Rate" [common
name for Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries]
because it impacts the programs offered in these areas that are
beneficial for students. In Klukwan, she related, because of
the language in "E-Rate",[funding] has been denied, and the
state is attempting to correct the situation but until the
appeal is done, things like phone services being disabled are
occurring. Assistance in providing information on what Alaska
does to help fund the public schools would be greatly
appreciated, she related.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked for an explanantion regarding "E-
Rate".
MS. NEWMAN explained, "this past year, what has happened is ...
holding the funding of "E-Rate" at the federal level to the same
standard as other federal monies." As a consequence, she said,
the funding letters did not go out to all the applicants and it
was not determined if they were approved or not. She said that
Chatham and other school districts in the state of Alaska were
audited and explained that that process required budget
information showing that the CSD could support technology in
addition to whatever the federal government contributed for "E-
Rate." She added that state funding gives an allocation and the
foundation amount is what the CSD uses to build the budget for
student services. She pointed out that as an REAA, Chatham
relies solely on state appropriations. The budget that was
submitted in the audit review to the federal government, she
explained, contained the word "foundation" in it, and the
application has been denied because there is a question about
the foundation concept.
12:07:37 PM
TIM STEELE, President, Anchorage School Board, stated that the
[Anchorage School Board] has been working on the budget process
since October and is pleased to have the governor present an
increase in funding. He explained that the school board is
still $10 million short for a maintainance-level budget. The
balanced budget was passed a week ago, he related, and that
budget included the loss of teachers and assistant principals,
increased class sizes, and the elimination of at least one
administrative-director-level position. He stated that the
supply budget was cut, and that $6.5 million was taken out of
the "undesignated" fund.
MR. STEELE explained that it became clear at the board meeting
that all districts have different needs, including continuation
of debt reimbursements and increased funding formulas. The
board submitted a number of $5,027 per student which would allow
cuts that were made in preparing the Anchorage School District,
(ASD), budget to be reinstated. He emphasized the difficulty in
addressing this funding question, since federal funding is
likely to decrease this year. He said that after much debate at
the school board meeting:
we did pass a resolution, ... ASDR 2004-2005-10 and in
that we ... present a case for a funding level of
$5,120. This funding level represents an increase in
funding which would allow us to do more than a
maintainance level operation. We have some serious
needs; ... we would like to decrease class size, but
we also need to make some serious investments in our
... student information systems so that we can track
student performance and make fast, timely decisions on
how to improve student achievement.
12:12:30 PM
CAROL COMEAU, Superintendent, Anchorage School District, stated
that the ASD budget passed one week ago, projects an enrollment
of 49,289 students, which is a decline of 165 students from this
year. She said that the district has 3,211 certified staff who
are in the "teacher's bargaining unit". She explained that the
board and community have prioritized class size for years, but
budget cuts have resulted in a .25 increase in K-12 class size
which equates to about 20 teaching positions.
MS. COMEAU stated if there is additional funding built into the
governor's budget, then the ASD's first priority will be to look
at the class size issue. The 10 percent supply and equipment
cut, she related, has a direct impact on the instructional
program and will preclude purchase of new textbooks, curriculum
changes, and use of intervention materials. She said, "The
resolution that was approved last night, by the board, is higher
than had been previously discussed, but the contention with the
board was that we need to do more than just get back to the $10
million that we just cut. We need to do more with class size,
we need to intervene for our students, and we definitely need to
do something about increasing physical activity and health
education for our young people, among many other areas. We
really thank you for your atttention."
REPRESENTATIVE GARA asked what would happen to class size under
the governor's proposal.
MS. COMEAU stated that the ASD's budget that was passed by the
school board a week ago uses the governor's budget as the base
and results in the aforementioned increase of .25 percent.
CHAIR NEUMAN requested that Ms. Comeau provide the figures
mentioned in writing to his office.
12:16:28 PM
JOY BEAVER, student, Juneau Douglas High School, stated that she
spoke to Mary Hakala with Alaska Kids Count and is concerned
about what is happening at the high school. She related that
she understands the challenges that the legislators face in
terms of allocating money, and that the money given to schools
is distributed by other parties; that she and her friends are
planning on meeting with the school board and offering
suggestions on where money should be spent within the schools;
that she spoke with Senator Kim Elton yesterday, while on a tour
of the Capital Building; and that in researching the NCLB Act,
she found it difficult to extract information specific to
Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN congratulated the students for coming to the
committee meeting, and asked what is the best thing that is
happening at Juneau Douglas High School.
12:18:17 PM
MS. BEAVER said that after talking with all of the staff and
administrators, she realized that almost all of them want to
help students, but that it is frustrating because there are few
teachers and many students. She said she thought it was nice
that the teachers genuinely want to help students at Juneau
Douglas High School.
12:19:16 PM
AUDREY ACKERMAN, student, Juneau Douglas High School, opined
that the biggest problem in the high school is the drop-out
rate. She said that a major contributing factor is the
student:teacher ratio; for example, most of her classes are have
25-30 students and one teacher.
12:20:14 PM
CYNTHIA KATZEEK, student, Juneau-Douglas High School, stated her
concerns about the drop-out rate and that there are not enough
desks in the classrooms.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA asked about average class size.
MS. KATZEEK responded that there are 30-35 students in her
classes.
12:22:35 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN inquired as to what could change at Juneau
Douglas High School to improve it.
MS. BEAVER stated that she would like to change the class size
so that teachers can help more students.
12:23:22 PM
CHAIR NEUMAN inquired as to how many hours per week are allotted
for physical education and if this amount of time is adequate.
MS. BEAVER stated that physical education occurs five times a
week, and opined that this is adequate.
[HB 1, HB 18, HB 30, HB 65, HB 73 were held over.]
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