Legislature(1993 - 1994)
03/30/1993 03:00 PM House HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 174: CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS Number 346 MR. ANDERSON testified in Juneau representing Rep. Martin, the prime sponsor of the bill. He said the intent of the bill was to further the discussion of school district consolidation. He said Rep. Martin asked the HESS Committee not to pass the bill from committee, so as to allow time during the interim and in the second session of the 18th Legislature to consider the bill further. He referred to an amendment he had passed out to the committee which would require REAAs (Rural Education Attendance Areas) to have at least 1,000 students or be consolidated with another area. He said Rep. Martin believed that combining some single-site school districts, such as the Iditarod, Kuspuk, Yupiit and Lower Kuskokwim, would not only save the state money, but would also bring together students that should probably be in the same school district. He said Rep. Martin's intent was not to ignore or disrupt ethnic or cultural differences, but to save money. He referred to information from the Division of Legislative Audit in the bill packet relating to the potential for saving money by consolidating school districts. Number 388 CHAIR BUNDE said he believed that Rep. Martin had said that he was not attempting through the bill to promote racial segregation. MR. ANDERSON said that was correct. Number 393 REP. VEZEY commented that the amendment did not make sense. CHAIR BUNDE said the committee had not adopted the amendment. REP. VEZEY moved the amendment for purposes of discussion. REP. BRICE objected. Number 401 REP. VEZEY repeated that the amendment did not make sense. He said that Section 6 of the bill amended AS 29.35.260(B), while the amendment presented by Rep. Martin's aide listed a change to AS 14.12.025. He stated that Section 7 of the original bill would repeal AS 14.12.025. MR. ANDERSON said the repeal of AS 14.12.020 merely put back what was already there. He said Rep. Martin believed that the bill should not attempt to consolidate single-site, city or borough school districts. The bill was an attempt to deal just with REAAs, he said. He said Section 6 would allow city or borough school districts as long as they had at least 250 students, he said. Number 429 REP. VEZEY repeated that he believed that the amendment was seriously flawed. MR. ANDERSON said he would have to consult with Legal Services concerning Section 7 and Section 8. REP. VEZEY stated that just deleting part of Section 7 would handle part of the problem. He asked whether the amendment would delete all of Section 6. Number 444 CHAIR BUNDE noted that, since the sponsor did not want to move the bill swiftly, it might be appropriate to take testimony on the bill and then hold it over to the interim for more work on detailed issues. He suggested that the bill might be modified to encourage better attendance at some schools by relating state funding levels to attendance levels. Number 460 CARL ROSE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASSOCIATION OF ALASKA SCHOOL BOARDS, testified in Juneau in opposition to HB 174. He said there was a gap between state policy and the bill's proposal and he would be glad to work with Rep. Martin during the interim. He said he had recently returned from a meeting of the National School Board Association held in California, a state with many school districts large and small. He said that many first-class cities in Alaska receive the same proportion of education funding as Anchorage does, excluding area cost differentials in the foundation formula. He stated many such first-class communities supported their school districts at a high rate. He noted that Skagway, where he lives and serves on the school board, provides $400,000 of its $1.4 million budget through local taxes. He said consolidation solely based on numbers was offensive to smaller communities. He stated there was a misunderstanding about how smaller districts operate. He remarked that he wanted to teach members of the House and Senate HESS Committees how the state educational system worked so they could understand that consolidation might not save money. He said consolidation would run counter to efforts to provide more local control of schools. Number 502 REP. TOOHEY said that the state respected the need for local autonomy. However, she said, consolidating five schools in one small area under a single superintendent did not eliminate local community control of the schools. She said the bill was addressing the fact that each of five small school districts was a separate entity. MR. ROSE said some school districts were close together. He stated, however, that superintendents at smaller school districts had different jobs than those at urban districts. He said some superintendents also teach, and eliminating a superintendent would therefore not save a school district much money. Number 515 CHAIR BUNDE said the committee realized that eliminating a superintendent would not mean all of his salary would go into the classroom. However, he said, a teacher who was also a superintendent could not put all of his time into a classroom. Number 522 DUANE GUILEY, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF EDUCATION FINANCE AND SUPPORT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, testified in Juneau on HB 174. He addressed the fiscal note prepared for HB 174 by the Department of Education. He said HB 174 would cause a loss of about $6.8 million in revenue to the state in the first year after it was passed, as communities required to make local contributions for their schools were folded into REAAs, which had no such requirements. He said the bill addressed only REAAs and city school districts serving fewer than 1,000 students, which included 41 of 54 state school districts. He said it ignored the six borough school districts with fewer than 1,000 students. He said consolidating some school districts might create new districts, which would cover excessively large geographical areas. He stated the department's support for local control of and input into educational programs. Number 542 JOHN HOLST, SUPERINTENDENT OF CRAIG CITY SCHOOLS, testified via teleconference from Ketchikan in opposition to HB 174. He said he was glad to hear the bill was limited to REAAs. CHAIR BUNDE noted that the proposed amendment on the floor would limit the bill's provisions to REAAs. MR. HOLST said consolidation of the three REAAs in Southeastern Alaska into one district would create large problems. He said that money would not be saved by consolidating city school districts, which he said were among the most efficient in the state considering the work actually performed by superintendents and principals. He said the bill was bad legislation that did not address educational issues in any systematic way. Number 571 REP. VEZEY asked why, in light of the extra $1 million state appropriation for single-site schools, consolidation would not save money. MR. HOLST said the foundation formula established in 1987 did not treat single-site districts fairly, and recognition of that fact resulted in immediate promises to fix the situation. He said Craig had since gotten supplemental funds ranging from $108,000 to $160,00 each year. He stated that the Alaska 2000 committee's recommendations on school funding resolved the single-site funding inequity and other equity issues around the state. CHAIR BUNDE asked if that satisfied Rep. Vezey's question. REP. VEZEY answered that it did. CHAIR BUNDE noted that a chart available to the committee members showed that administration costs for the Lower Yukon and Lower Kuskokwim school districts were quite substantial. TAPE 93-52, SIDE B Number 000 BOB WEINSTEIN, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE SOUTHEAST ISLAND ALASKA SCHOOL DISTRICT, testified via teleconference from Ketchikan on HB 174. He said the district had no official position on the bill. He said it appeared appropriate for state policy makers to ensure that state education funds were spent as efficiently as possible. He urged that decisions on consolidation be made only after considering all pertinent information. He said it might be inappropriate to set the district minimum at 1,000 students, because that might limit options, especially considering cultural or other factors. Number 053 BOBETTE BUSH, INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT OF THE KUSPUK SCHOOL DISTRICT, testified via teleconference from Aniak on HB 174. She said she did not understand why REAAs were being singled out when they often have more students than some city school districts. CHAIR BUNDE said that in some cases administration costs are extremely high for REAAs. He referred to the Lower Kuskokwim school district, with an ADM (average daily membership) of 3,000 students and $2.5 million in administrative costs, compared to the Mat-Su school district, which had 10,000 students and $3 million in administrative costs. Number 073 MS. BUSH asked whether the same logic could not also apply to very small city school districts. CHAIR BUNDE said he was not the sponsor of HB 174, but his personal preference would be to have the bill apply as equally across the state as possible. He said Ms. Bush might not have heard the earlier announcement that the bill would be held and worked on over the interim. Number 084 MS. BUSH disputed assertions made in a previous committee meeting that REAAs provided no local contribution for their state educational funding. She said that her REAA contributed 15 percent of its basic needs to the state in PL-874 funds. Number 098 CHAIR BUNDE said that was a good point and it would be considered. He noted, however, that the discussion in the previous day's meeting was on matching grants for capital projects. REP. TOOHEY asked what PL-874 funds were. CHAIR BUNDE reminded her that the funds were federal funds paid to a state on behalf of military or Indian lands that would not otherwise provide tax revenue for schools. REP. NICHOLIA pointed out that the Mat-Su school district was on the road system and had milder weather, which made many costs lower than those of the Kuspuk school district. MS. BUSH agreed and added that providing an equal level of services to remote schools cost a lot of money. REP. NICHOLIA asked whether such costs were budgeted as part of the administrative costs. MS. BUSH answered yes, the school board and school superintendent's travel budgets paid for much travel to the remote schools. Number 148 RON DELAY, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE TANANA SCHOOL DISTRICT, testified via teleconference from Tanana on HB 174. He said he had studied the conclusions of the legislative audit report on consolidation and cited its recommendation that a more compelling case needed to be made for consolidation, given the minor savings and loss of important local control that consolidation would cause. Number 174 PAUL THIBODEAU testified via teleconference from Craig in opposition to HB 174. He said he would echo the comments of Mr. Rose. He said the Craig local school district's administration costs were the lowest in the state. He noted that consolidation would not solve the many problems of small school districts. He said local control worked well in Craig, and the community had directed a one percent fish sales tax toward education, demonstrating that the community was taking responsibility for its children. CHAIR BUNDE noted there were two observers on-line from Tok. Number 218 REP. BRICE asked Mr. Delay to describe all the duties he performed as superintendent. MR. DELAY answered that his duties as superintendent covered a wide range, including managing the instructional program, voc-ed, special-ed, teaching, bi-lingual education, district administration, management, planning, facilities and federal programs. Number 265 BILL MILLER, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE GALENA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, testified via teleconference from Galena in opposition to HB 174. He asked if first-class cities' school districts were not covered by the bill. CHAIR BUNDE said that was the intent of an as-yet unadopted amendment. Number 270 MR. MILLER stated that Galena had voted in a school tax 15 years ago because the community wanted local control, control they still want to retain. He cited a study in the state of Washington which showed that larger school districts paid more per student on central office expenditures than smaller districts. MR. MILLER explained that central offices had many functions, such as curriculum, activities, and personnel, which were performed by superintendents in smaller school districts. He noted that superintendents and principals perform different jobs. He said on-site superintendents for a single school district are more likely to work harder to seek grant money than superintendents of consolidated school districts. MR. MILLER mentioned the Interior School Boards Association, an association of school boards of school districts on the state road system, including Galena, Tanana, Nenana, Delta- Greely and others, which has been meeting for three years to find ways to cut costs. He said the association was finding ways to share services while still maintaining local control. He stated that as the superintendent's job in Galena was open, the school board had seriously considered contracting out the services of a superintendent and had asked for proposals, but then decided against the plan. He said the district would apply for a $100,000 cooperative agreement grant to seek ways to save money. MR. MILLER noted that the achievement scores for the district were above the 50 percentile, and no students dropped out in 1992 despite the fact that many students might be considered high risk students. He cited another study that said school consolidation in the 20th century might have hurt the cause of learning. Number 367 CHAIR BUNDE referred to a chart which said that Galena, with an ADM of 156 students, employed 1.5 administrative staffers. He compared that to the Hydaburg school district, which had almost three administrative staffers for an ADM of 117 students; and St. Marys, which had six administrative staffers for an ADM of 127 students. Number 377 LEO MORGAN, PRESIDENT OF KUSPUK SCHOOLS, testified via teleconference from Aniak in opposition to HB 174. He said he would echo the testimony of Ms. Bush. He said there were too many unanswered issues concerning consolidation. He noted the Iditarod and Kuspuk school districts both had contracts with their teachers and asked how such issues would be settled if the bill was passed and the districts were consolidated. He said that it seemed like the remote school districts received a lot of money, but prices in some remote areas were two or three times higher than in Anchorage. Number 400 REP. NICHOLIA asked Mr. Anderson how many people were employed in the central office of the Anchorage School District (ASD) and how much it cost. She also asked why there were more people employed in the ASD central office than in the Department of Education. MR. ANDERSON answered that, according to information he had received from Mr. Rose, there were approximately 26 administrative staffers at the ASD central office, not including principals. He said the pay for ASD administrators, including principals, was slightly less than $10 million. He stated that Rep. Martin had another bill concerning the elimination of unnecessary chief school administrators that might be of interest to Rep. Nicholia. Seeing no further business before the committee, CHAIR BUNDE ADJOURNED the meeting at 4:45 p.m.
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