Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
03/22/2017 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB87 | |
| SB96 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 87 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 96 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SB 96-EDUCATION: SCHOOLS/TEACHERS/FUNDING
8:44:50 AM
CHAIR HUGHES announced that the final order of business would be
SB 96. She related that the committee has held several
exploratory meetings intending to offer the best education
possible to students in Alaska. Due to budget constraints, it is
time for some "out of the box" thinking. The committee explored
how to offer districts tools to do more with less and improve
student offerings.
She related that a teacher shared with her that "we don't need
to reform education, we need to transform it." She said the
achievement gap is startling and troubling. There are excellent
schools and struggling schools.
She said SB 96 attempts to improve education. She opined that
every student matters and deserves the opportunity to access an
excellent education. The bill provides new opportunities for
instruction, but also ways to save money and be more efficient
on the administrative end. She concluded that overall spending
on education does not correlate with academic achievement,
however, spending on classroom instructions does correlate with
academic achievement.
8:45:32 AM
JOSHUA BANKS, Staff, Senator Shelley Hughes, Alaska State
Legislature, presented SB 96 on behalf of the Senate Education
Committee, sponsor of the bill. He noted that they were working
on some changes in the bill that were requested by Legislative
Legal. He presented the sectional analysis:
Section 1 (Pages 1-2): Creates uncodified law for
legislative findings of the Alaska Education
Transformation Act in regards to virtual education,
education spending, and quality teachers and classroom
instruction.
Sections 2-3 (Page 2): Makes technical amendments to
AS 14.03.073 to add references to specific subsections
within this section due to a new subsection added in
Section 4 of this bill.
Section 4 (Pages 2-3): Adds a new subsection to AS
14.03.073 requiring school districts to allow credit
for gym, music, or art classes for a student that
participates in an activity that meets the educational
or physical requirements of the course. Cultural
activities may be used to obtain class credit.
Section 5 (Page 3): Amends AS 14.03.120(a) to add a
requirement to the annual report school districts must
submit to the Department of Education and Early
Development (DEED). Districts will need to include
categories of administrative employees and the ratio
of the employees in each category compared to the
number of students in the district.
MR. BANKS said a couple of changes proposed in Section 5 will
require the district to post this report on their website or use
alternative means in order to allow for the public to hold
districts more accountable for administrative costs.
8:50:57 AM
MR. BANKS continued:
Section 6 (Page 3): Amends AS 14.09.030(b) to require
DEED to conduct one inspection for each school bus
rather than two each year.
Section 7 (Page 3-4): Amends AS 14.14.110(a) to allow
school districts to partner with businesses, nonprofit
organizations, and state or local government agencies.
This section also adds to the definition of
"administrative services" to include student
nutrition, student transportation, and health
insurance pooling with the State plan. This section
also adds to the definition of "educational services"
to include teacher training and the use of technology
to teach students such as the use of virtual
education.
He said the purpose of insurance pooling in Section 7 is a
conversation starter and may be a vehicle to help districts with
high health insurance costs.
8:52:32 AM
Section 8 (Page 4): Amends AS 14.14.115(a) to allow
school districts to partner with businesses, nonprofit
organizations, and state or local government agencies
to qualify for the one-time grant under this section.
This section also increase the maximum grant amount
and requires that the school district demonstrate how
the grant will reduce costs for the district.
8:52:59 AM
CHAIR HUGHES noted the presence of Representative Parish.
8:53:17 AM
Section 9 (Page 4-5): Adds new subsections to AS
14.14.115 to give further directions for the
cooperative grants under this section.
• Subsection (d) requires that if two school districts
enter into a cooperative grant, one must be a rural
district.
• Subsection (e) establishes that if a cooperative
grant is used for health insurance pooling with the
State, the grant can only be used to pay for the costs
of transferring district employees to the State
insurance plan.
• Subsection (f) allows a school district to carry
forward the savings realized during the first three
years after a grant is awarded. The savings will not
be counted towards the fund balance limit established
in AS 14.17.505(a).
• Subsection (g) defines "rural school district" as a
regional educational attendance area or a small
municipal school district defined in AS 14.11.025(c)
as a district with less than 300 Average Daily
Membership (ADM) and a district full value per ADM
less than $500,000.
8:54:53 AM
Section 10 (Page 5): Amends AS 14.17.450(a) to provide
an exception to the School Size Adjustment (SSA) for
schools that meet the qualifications in (g) of this
section (Section 11).
Section 11 (Pages 5-6): Amends AS 14.17.450 by adding
a new subsection establishing that a school may not
use the SSA under (a) of this section if it is below
80% capacity and if it is within 25 miles by road of
another school in the same district that is also below
80% capacity.
MR. BANKS added that they are working on adjusting this section
due to unintended consequences. The intent is for schools to use
their full capacity. For example, instead of having 10 schools
at 60 percent capacity, the district would have 5 schools at
full capacity in order to bring down fixed costs.
8:56:29 AM
CHAIR HUGHES requested that Mr. Banks explain the 3-year funding
changes when a school merges with another school.
MR. BANKS explained that they are working on an additional
change in the bill to phase in a reduction of the Average Daily
Membership (ADM) over three years when schools merge.
8:57:32 AM
MR. BANKS continued:
Section 12 (Page 6): Amends AS 14.17.505(a) to
increase the limit that a school district is allowed
to retain in its unreserved fund balance from 10% to
25% of district expenditures. This section also allows
for savings realized from a cooperative grant under AS
14.14.115 to not count towards the 25% limit.
Section 13 (Page 6): Amends AS 14.20.020(i) to require
the State School Board to periodically adjust the
minimum score needed to pass the Praxis exam so that
Alaska has the highest testing standards for teacher
certification.
He pointed out that the state looks at the Praxis scores
annually now. Section 13 ensures that the state look at other
states to see whether Alaska is falling behind.
8:58:47 AM
CHAIR HUGHES said in most areas of competency Praxis scores are
comparable to other states except in a few courses, such as
chemistry.
8:59:25 AM
MR. BANKS further explained a proposed change in the bill - if
the State School Board changes regulations to increase Praxis
scores, the changes will not go into effect for a year.
8:59:59 AM
He continued:
Section 14 (Page 6): Adds a new subsection to AS
14.20.380 to require DEED to provide administrative
services to the Professional Teaching Practices
Commission (PTPC).
He noted that this is already being done.
9:00:26 AM
MR. BANKS continued:
Section 15 (Page 6-7): Amends AS 14.20.460 to require
the PTPC to use administrative support services
provided by DEED.
Section 16 (Pages 7-9): Creates a new section under AS
14.30 titled Virtual education consortium which also
creates a new article titled Article 15. Virtual
Education. The subsections that AS 14.30.760 consists
of are:
• Subsection (a) establishes the virtual education
consortium under DEED. The consortium will have a
database of virtual education courses available to all
districts for students in grades 6-12. The consortium
will also provide training for teachers instructing in
virtual settings and professional development for all
teachers in the state. A school district or third-
party vendor may offer courses on the database if it
is approved by DEED.
• Subsection (b) will require DEED to review each
course to ensure it meets state standards and is
appropriate for students in grades 6-12. This
subsection also requires that each course has the
following information: the title, subject, and
description of the course, the district providing the
course, method of virtual education delivery, and
samples of the course curriculum and teacher
instruction provided in the course.
9:02:58 AM
Subsection (c) requires the consortium to provide
training for teachers before they are allowed to teach
a course that is included in the database. A waiver
may be granted if the consortium finds that the
teacher has the experience and skills necessary to
teach in a virtual setting.
• Subsection (d) requires that the consortium provide
professional development courses for all teachers in
the state. Any district that has adequate broadband
access to participate in the trainings shall require
its teachers to participate in any necessary
trainings. The consortium may also require
participating districts to adopt the same in-service
days for training.
• Subsection (e) sets a fee structure for students
that take a course offered virtually by a school
district that is not the student's home district. The
student's district shall calculate the fee by
multiplying the base student allocation by the
proportion of classes that the student is taking in
the district offering the virtual course. The
student's district shall pay this fee to the district
offering the course.
• In subsection (f), the consortium is allowed to
charge a fee to any school district that offers a
course in the database under (b) of this section. DEED
will be able to set the fee in regulation and can
adjust it as necessary annually. The fees must be set
in such a manner that by June 30, 2020, the fees paid
by districts will approximately equal any
administrative costs of the consortium.
9:05:12 AM
CHAIR HUGHES requested that Mr. Banks discuss the proposed
change to (f).
MR. BANKS said it is proposed that all participating districts
pay a fee.
9:05:44 AM
He continued:
Subsection (g) allows the consortium to require
districts that provide courses or have students taking
courses through the consortium to adopt a shared
calendar and a shared bell schedule for at least a
portion of the school day.
He noted that it is optional. Copper River School District has
adopted a common calendar and common bell which have resulted in
efficiencies.
9:06:42 AM
He continued:
Subsection (h) creates definitions for the terms:
"asynchronous", "base student allocation", "blended",
"host district", "synchronous", and "virtual
education" or "virtual instruction".
9:06:57 AM
MR. BANKS continued:
Section 17 (Pages 9-12): Deletes a reference to AS
23.10.065(b) in AS 23.10.055(a) (Alaska Wage and Hour
Act) which is repealed in Section 23 of this bill.
Section 18 (Page 12): Deletes the reference to AS
37.14.110(c) which is repealed in Section 24 of this
bill, and rearranges the reference to AS 37.14.160.
Section 19 (Page 12): Deletes language in AS 37.14.130
that requires the Public School Fund Advisory Board to
prepare accounting specifically for the principal and
income of the Public School Trust Fund.
Section 20 (Pages 12-13): Deletes language in AS
37.14.160 relating to separate accounting of the
principal and income of the Public School Trust Fund.
This section also requires the Department of Revenue
(DOR) to determine each year the monthly average
market value of fund for the last three fiscal years.
9:08:23 AM
MR. BANKS continued:
Section 21 (Page 13): Creates a new section in AS
37.14 to allow the Legislature to appropriate 4.75% of
the market value established with the changes made in
Section 20 of the bill. The funds may be used to
support public education in Alaska and to cover the
administrative costs of the fund.
He described a proposed change to Section 21. No more than
4.75 percent can be appropriated, and the legislature may
not appropriate more than the income earned by the fund.
The intent of the changes is to avoid any possibility of
the legislature appropriating from the principal of the
fund - a violation of Trust law.
Section 22 (Pages 13-14): Amends AS 37.14.170 to allow
the commissioner of DOR to invest the Public School
Trust Fund in order to provide increasing returns from
capital appreciation.
Section 23 (Page 14): Repeals AS 14.20.470(a)(7) so
that the PTPC is no longer able to appoint an
executive secretary. This section also repeals AS
23.10.065(b) and (c) which requires an employer to pay
a public school bus driver at a rate two times the
Alaska minimum wage, and which allows for wage
adjustments to only occur when a contract begins or is
renewed.
9:10:08 AM
Section 24 (Page 14): Repeals AS 37.14.110(c) which
sets how the commissioner of DOR will calculate the
net income of the Public School Trust Fund and AS
37.14.140 which requires that net income from the fund
only go towards funding public education.
MR. BANKS said they are looking at removing the repeal of AS
37.14.140(c) because the changes made in Section 21 regarding
limiting how much the legislature can appropriate from the Trust
Fund, will deal with any legal problems.
Section 25 (Page 14): Creates applicability language
for the repeal of AS 23.10.065(b) and (c) so that this
bill will only effect contracts made on or after the
effective date of this bill.
9:11:20 AM
MR. BANKS stated that they will be deleting Sections 26 and 27
because there is no longer litigation.
Section 26 (Page 14): Creates a conditional effect
establishing that changes made to the Public School
Trust Fund will only go into effect if a final
judgment is made regarding combining the income and
principal of the Public School Trust Fund and that
such action will not violate trust law. The
commissioner of DEED shall notify the Lieutenant
Governor and the revisor of statutes when the final
judgement has been entered.
Section 27 (Page 14): Creates an effective date for
Sections 18-22 and 24 to be the day after the
commissioner of DEED notifies the revisor of statutes
that a final judgment has been made regarding the
Public School Trust Fund.
Section 28 (Page 14): Creates an effective date for
Sections 1-17, 23, and 25 to be June 30, 2017.
9:12:42 AM
MR. BANKS offered to answer questions. He noted several people
were available for questions.
CHAIR HUGHES thanked him for his work.
9:13:06 AM
SENATOR BEGICH brought up a technical point on Section 28. He
said the effective date and other references would have to be
changed due to the proposed changes.
He thanked Mr. Banks for his hard work.
SENATOR BEGICH drew attention to Section 11 on page 6 and
cautioned against three things: combining two schools that are
under capacity resulting in one school over capacity; building
one school for communities that have a right to their own
schools, and lacking a clear definition of "road".
9:15:39 AM
SENATOR BEGICH asked whether there is a grandfather clause
included with the Praxis exam change for teachers who are
currently certified.
MR. BANKS said there would be a grandfather clause.
9:16:19 AM
SENATOR BEGICH asked for clarification on the fee on page 8 (e)
and (f).
MR. BANKS said the intent is that a school district can choose
not to take the full fee and there would be a ceiling for the
fee.
CHAIR HUGHES added that the fee could be zero to the full
amount.
SENATOR BEGICH suggested changing "shall" to "may" in line 22.
9:17:28 AM
SENATOR BEGICH suggested clarifying the issue of the double
minimum wage bus driver repeal in AS 37.14.140. He thought there
was ambiguity about that issue and how it relates to the use of
the Trust Fund.
MR. BANKS replied that they have requested Legislative Legal to
delete that portion.
SENATOR GIESSEL appreciated the sponsor's hard work.
9:19:15 AM
CHAIR HUGHES clarified that the repeal of AS 37.14.140 would not
prohibit a district from continuing to pay twice the minimum
wage.
SENATOR BEGICH asked about changing bus inspections from two
times a year to one time a year. He wanted assurance that public
safety was not at risk due to the change.
MR. BANKS explained that one inspection is required; two or more
are optional.
9:20:57 AM
SENATOR BEGICH commented on the constitutional issue related to
the Public Schools Trust and noted the Kasayulie litigation has
been suspended and that issue is off the table.
9:21:34 AM
CHAIR HUGHES said they are open to further discussion on the
bill. She asked when the new CS is expected.
MR. BANKS said he believes it will be ready tomorrow.
CHAIR HUGHES noted that DEED would have a chance to address the
bill.
CHAIR HUGHES held SB 96 in committee.