Legislature(2021 - 2022)ADAMS 519
04/19/2021 01:30 PM House FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB169 | |
| SB19 | |
| HB169 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 169 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 19 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HOUSE BILL NO. 169
"An Act making appropriations for public education and
transportation of students; and providing for an
effective date."
1:36:55 PM
Co-Chair Foster OPENED public testimony.
COREY AIST, TEACHER, ANCHORAGE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION,
ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), testified in support of the
legislation. He shared information about his teaching
career in Alaska. He reported that the school year had been
unlike any other and educators had continued to adapt as
they supported students and families in online and face-to-
face learning environments. He stressed the importance of
the stability provided by the legislation. He shared that
he had watched over the years as early career educators
were sometimes laid off in May. During those times he had
personally reassured younger colleagues that the state was
likely to restore funding and that they would have a job in
the fall. He reported that unfortunately many of those
teachers had found jobs out of state. He stressed that
recruitment was always a big issue. He remarked it was hard
to lose committed, enthusiastic educators when there was an
easy remedy. He noted the current remedy was HB 169.
Mr. Aist spoke about the importance of stability. He stated
that legislators' efforts could either support or hinder
students' success. He thanked Representative Rasmussen for
her suggestion of forward funding. He relayed educators
were exhausted and it had been a tough year. He stated that
the early forward funding would be a signal of support that
the legislature played an important role in the effort. He
thanked the committee and encouraged the advancement of the
bill.
1:41:18 PM
JANE GRAY, SELF, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), shared
that she had been a teacher in the Anchorage School
District for 31 years. She echoed testimony from the
previous speaker. She highlighted the disruptiveness caused
by uncertainty of job security. She shared students and
teachers got shuffled when principals were uncertain about
what their staffing would be in the fall. For at risk
students the situation was an additional trauma that could
be avoided. She supported separating education funding from
the operating budget and passing the bill early in order
for teachers, students, and parents to know what to expect
in terms of funding. She thanked Vice-Chair Ortiz for
bringing the bill forward.
1:43:31 PM
DON GRAY, FORMER MEMBER OF ALASKA BOARD OF EDUCATION,
FAIRBANKS (via teleconference), testified in support of the
legislation. He shared that he was a former member of the
Alaska State Board of Education. He thanked Vice-Chair
Ortiz for bringing the proposal forward. He thanked
Representative Rasmussen for recommending the forward
funding aspect of the legislation that would create
additional stability. He thanked Representative LeBon for
his support for early funding and for his service on the
Fairbanks School Board in the past. He thought education
funding should be kept separate from the more complicated
operating budget. He stressed that the current times were
challenging and without precedent. He remarked that the
operating budget may be slowed down due to uncertainties
about the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. He
believed waiting for clarification would be detrimental to
education. He emphasized that the state's responsibility
for education was one of the few things in the state
constitution. He reiterated his support for the bill and
keeping education funding separate from the operating
budget.
1:47:42 PM
TIM DORAN, PRESIDENT, FAIRBANKS SCHOOL BOARD, FAIRBANKS
(via teleconference), thanked committee members for the
bill and their support of the bill. He was in favor of
separating the education budget from the rest of the
operating budget in order to provide funding certainty. He
shared that Fairbanks had completed its draft budget and it
was currently under consideration by the borough assembly
for the local contribution. He reported that the school
board had taken a conservative, cautious approach. He
understood that the governor had indicated support for
fully funding a flat Base Student Allocation (BSA). He
stated that until the state budget was approved, there was
a certain amount of uncertainty. He shared that early
notification on the funding amount made a difference in
terms of district planning.
Mr. Doran reported that COVID-19 had been a major hit in
the past year. The district was looking at COVID recovery
in the next year and the more funding certainty it had for
planning purposes, the better. He explained that the
district had to let tenured staff know whether they would
have jobs the following fall by May 15; non-tenured
teachers had to be notified by May 20. He shared that the
district had to start the process in the coming weeks. He
elaborated on the process. He stated that Fairbanks ended
up subsidizing transportation when it was not fully funded.
The district did not have the option going into the next
fiscal year. He heartily supported forward funding of
education. He explained that it had been very beneficial to
the district a couple of years back. He encouraged the
passage of the bill.
Co-Chair Foster recognized that Representative LeBon and
Representative Thompson had joined the meeting.
Co-Chair Foster CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair Foster noted that the committee may return to the
bill to address an amendment [note: the committee returned
to HB 169 at 2:20 p.m.].
Co-Chair Foster handed the gavel to Co-Chair Merrick.
1:54:30 PM
AT EASE
1:55:12 PM
RECONVENED
HOUSE BILL NO. 169
"An Act making appropriations for public education and
transportation of students; and providing for an
effective date."
2:20:03 PM
Co-Chair Foster communicated there were no amendments to be
considered.
Co-Chair Merrick MOVED to REPORT HB 169 out of committee
with individual recommendations.
Representative Carpenter OBJECTED for discussion. He
acknowledged the importance of the conversation on early
funding of education. He stated that without a [budget]
committee substitute (CS), the committee was further
justifying the need to early fund education due to the lack
of a budget. He thought the committee was holding the rest
of the state budget hostage while it acted on one component
of the budget. He believed it was highly inappropriate to
send the bill out of committee without any context of how
it would be received within the rest of the budget. He
thought a conversation about early funding should be a part
of the conversation within the context of the budget as a
whole.
Representative Carpenter stated it was a bad precedent to
pick one component of the budget and send it forward for
discussion. He highlighted that the previous year, most of
the budget had been finished within 90 days. He stressed it
was in the committee's power to finish the budget, which
would avoid a discussion of early funding for education. He
did not know what the delay was in terms of receiving a CS
that would put education in context with all of the other
important funding items for the coming year. He opined that
piecemealing the budget was inappropriate, unprofessional,
poor management, and set a bad precedent. He did not
believe HB 169 should be sent from committee without seeing
the rest of the budget.
2:23:09 PM
Representative Josephson believed HB 169 was a good bill.
He remarked that he had been in Juneau for special session
in the past in most months of the year. He underscored the
possibility the legislature could be in Juneau in June
without a budget. He had experienced the situation several
times. He stated the statutory non-retention letters
required the education funding carveout [from the rest of
the budget] in order to preserve continuity for educators,
administrators, and staff. He referenced the [budget] CS
and believed it was understood that the legislature wanted
a say on how $1.1 billion [in federal funds] was
appropriated. He believed it was part and parcel the reason
for some delay. He noted that the governor had just
released his own version of the bill. He asked why the
legislature should be ahead of the governor. He stated that
the money would have to be spent in one fashion or another
and he believed it made perfect sense to do so via HB 169.
2:24:59 PM
Representative Rasmussen thought the bill was appropriate.
She recognized the timing was slightly wonky due to the 30-
day delay with organization [in the House]. She stated that
with Alaska ranking close to the bottom in many student
outcomes, she did not believe the state could afford to
risk losing any more good teachers due to fiscal
uncertainty and pink slips going out unnecessarily. She
highlighted the constitutional and statutory obligation and
formula for funding K-12 education. She remarked that the
issue was not up for a lot of debate until the statutory
BSA law was changed. She had not seen any bills introduced
in the current session that would change the formula. She
opined that until the legislature did something else, HB
169 was incredibly appropriate and the right thing to do
for teachers and students. She spoke about the need for
stability and retention of talented teachers. She pointed
out that teachers could go other places with more
certainty. She believed it was not professional for the
state to put districts in the position of sending pink
slips to staff every year. She supported the bill.
Co-Chair Foster recognized Representative Edgmon had joined
the meeting.
Representative Wool supported the bill. He shared that
before he had run for the legislature, the issue of pink
slips and delays had come up for his district. He remarked
that because the district did not receive funding at the
right time it had been forced to send out pink slips. He
noted it was done frequently. He believed it was
unprofessional. He stressed the importance of holding onto
valued teachers. He had heard many stories of teachers
leaving. He referenced public testimony earlier in the day
about teachers receiving pink slips. He remarked that some
teachers endured the situation several times but after
awhile they decided it was enough. He believed the bill
communicated that the legislature valued teachers and
valued them enough to put them out front of the budget
process. He agreed education should be and was in the
budget and was mandated by the constitution. He remarked
that for various reasons the budget was not passed in a
timely manner, which was not in any one individual's
control. He supported getting the education funding out
ahead. He stated the funding was fairly formulaic with a
BSA and predicted number of students. He noted it could be
adjusted later. He believed the legislature should get the
majority of the funding out immediately to avoid the
sending of pink slips. He stated that teachers had enough
trouble and stress in the past couple of years. He
underscored that adding more stress was preventable. He
supported moving forward with the legislation.
2:28:55 PM
Representative Edgmon apologized that he had been in
another meeting. He believed it should be mandatory for the
legislature to pass the education budget early every year.
He believed eight out of ten teachers in Alaska came from
out-of-state. He detailed that the absence of a budget put
teachers in a position where they did not know if they had
a job and they had to decide whether to relocate back to
their home state or elsewhere. He strongly supported the
bill.
2:29:50 PM
Co-Chair Foster voiced his support for the legislation. He
stated that early funding of education had been done in the
past. He highlighted that the bill followed the formula and
did not make any increases. He understood the argument that
education funding should be put in context of the larger
budget. He believed the argument for including education
funding with the rest of the budget would be stronger if
the legislature was making increases. He reasoned that
because no changes were being made, the benefit of early
funding outweighed the cost. He referred to the statutory
deadline for layoff notices. Additionally, there was the
extraordinary circumstance of the forthcoming federal ARPA
funding the legislature had to determine how to incorporate
in the operating budget. He stated that the situation had
slowed the process down. He did not believe schools should
have to feel the brunt of the situation.
Representative Carpenter remarked that the hearing on the
previous bill [SB 19] indicated an increase in funding for
SESA [Special Education Service Agency]. He reasoned it
meant the legislature was increasing funding for education.
He did not know whether other areas in education would be
increased because he did not have a budget to reference. He
understood that forward funding or early funding of
education improved the ability of subordinate or follow-on
agencies to do their budgets; however, the committee did
not have a budget to reference for context. He asked when
the committee would see a [budget] CS. He underscored that
someone was making a decision to put federal funding on top
of state funding in a budget. He assumed it was the reason
for the delay. He remarked that an alternative was to have
two separate bills. He thought one bill with state and
federal funding combined would be hard to understand.
Co-Chair Foster replied that he had hoped to have a CS
before the committee the previous Monday. He shared that
the Legislative Finance Division had relayed it could
provide some suggestions on what the legislature could do
in using some of the ARPA funds. He elaborated that the
governor had ended up rolling out his bill that had come
out earlier in the day. He stated there were many
complexities in the process and he had told people it would
not be easy. He was trying to make the best out of a
difficult situation in terms of getting a CS out as soon as
possible, while trying to determine how to manage the ARPA
funds.
2:33:21 PM
Representative Rasmussen believed the SESA funds fell
outside the BSA and pupil transportation funds. She stated
her understanding that HB 169 was the statutory required
formula for the BSA and pupil transportation only.
Vice-Chair Ortiz believed the SESA funding was not related
to the funding formula bill before the committee.
Co-Chair Foster agreed. He spoke to Representative
Carpenter's point. He stated that the SESA funding did not
increase the BSA formula. He explained that the release of
a CS had been slowed down by the effort to include some of
the ARPA funding.
2:35:18 PM
Representative Carpenter WITHDREW his OBJECTION.
There being NO further OBJECTION, it was so ordered.
HB 169 was REPORTED out of committee with ten "do pass"
recommendations and one "no recommendation" recommendation.
2:35:59 PM
AT EASE
2:36:07 PM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Foster reviewed the schedule for the following
morning.