Legislature(1999 - 2000)
04/24/1999 10:09 AM House HES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 195 - SCHOOL GRANT/DEBT REIMBURSEMENT Number 0174 CO-CHAIRMAN COGHILL announced the next order of business as House Bill No. 195, "An Act relating to school construction grants and to municipal school construction debt reimbursement." Number 0218 BRUCE CAMPBELL, Legislative Assistant to Senator Randy Phillips, came forward to present the sponsor statement for HB 195. This is a companion bill to SB 95 which is supported by the Anchorage school board, the Anchorage caucus and the Fairbanks school board. Senate Bill 95 recognizes the grades 6 to 8 middle school concept. Currently, the statutes deal with junior high, grades 7, 8, and 9, but they don't have a middle school concept in the statute process; it makes it difficult to address middle schools in determining the school size and calculations for construction. Anchorage junior highs have been converted to the middle school concept. In downtown Fairbanks, there are still junior highs, grades 7 through 9, but North Pole has a middle school of grades 6, 7 and 8. This change seeks to expand the DOE regulations in a manner that conforms with the middle school concept, and it gives school boards flexibility in determining how they house their students. The core of the bill is on page 3 where they have added the middle school concept in lines 20 through 23. MR. CAMPBELL told the committee that currently sixth graders are calculated as if they were in elementary schools, even though they are in a middle school. Elementary schools have smaller size requirements than middle schools. Number 0417 REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked how this will affect existing schools that have the sixth graders in elementary schools. MR. CAMPBELL said there would be no change. CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON believes this is not going to have any detrimental affect of schools and students now, but it will allow districts to plan and build for the middle school concept and be able to treat the students according to the facility they are in, not the academic progression. He asked if this change will get more operational funding for the student for the district. MR. CAMPBELL answered no, it is strictly the capital side. Number 0752 LARRY WIGET, Executive Director, Public Affairs, Anchorage School District, came forward to testify. Their goal is allow them to be able to count students who are in a middle school program have the square footage counted as a secondary school student to meet the program needs of that student. Sixth graders that are housed in elementary school programs will be counted as elementary students. They believe this will allow them the flexibility in the design in putting up new middle school, if the school board decides they want a sixth grade combination in a middle school program. This will allow them to put the square footage in. They are looking for flexibility in the design of new facilities and being able to count the sixth graders in a middle school program as secondary students as they should be. Number 0914 DEE HUBBARD, Member, Bond Reimbursement and Grant Review Committee, testified via teleconference from Anchorage. She is also a volunteer. She sees two concerns. One deals with the wording in both Sections 1 and 2 which talks about a specific building. She pointed out that there are schools in this state that house grades K-8 and K-12. The way this language is written, because the K-8 is housed in an elementary school, these sixth grade students, if they were receiving a secondary program education, would not be counted to allow the increase in square footage from 106 to 150 square feet. She suggested that instead of talking about the physical structure of where they are housed, they should talk about the level of education that they are getting. That would remove the barriers for schools with other configurations that aren't covered in this legislation. MS. HUBBARD said the other concern involves a lot of paperwork. If the bill does not take care of the K-8 and K-12 schools, the school districts will be keeping two sets of books, and that causes a consternation problem. She admitted to being the culprit of this bill. In 1994, she noticed the anomaly in the statute and went to the school board and suggested they do something about the sixth graders in middle schools. Number 1166 MIKE MORGAN, Manager, Facilities Section, Education Support Services, DOE, came forward to testify. He explained that the bill started out in a directed fashion looking at middle schools. Last year the DOE provided a definition for middle schools that really gave districts the maximum flexibility to put any grade configuration they wanted to together, and they didn't expand it beyond the middle school concept, because that is where the sponsor started out. They can certainly look at language changes that will accommodate the other K-8 or K-12 facilities. REPRESENTATIVE GREEN asked if Mr. Morgan saw any problem with the change to include K-8 and K-12. MR. MORGAN didn't believe it will cause any problems, but it would cost more. Number 1279 REPRESENTATIVE GREEN asked if they don't make the change, would there be a chance they would be hammered for preferentially selecting these students over those students. MR. MORGAN agreed that this does provide disproportionate funding to a very small element because primarily middle schools right now occur in large urban areas. The smaller districts have gone to unified facilities rather than splitting the facilities up so they could qualify for additional funding. CO-CHAIRMAN COGHILL asked if the word "shall" on page 3, line 20, was a prohibition to those districts who choose not to put sixth graders in middle school. Number 1346 MR. MORGAN commented that what is often misunderstood about the DOE's current space guideline regulations is that they are not recommendations; they are a maximum that is going to be available for funding. There is a range of space allocation per facilities but the DOE doesn't tell the district how to use their total space allocation. The way the districts combine their students is up to the districts. The DOE is only saying there is a maximum they will fund up to. The districts don't have to choose to build to that maximum. That is what the space guidelines are doing. There could be a ripple effect if districts decided to move the sixth graders out of K-6 schools into secondary schools to qualify for more space; the K-6 schools could have excess space and then the high schools would be overcrowded, and that is the most expensive space to build. CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON asked Mr. Campbell if these questions have come up in the Senate. Number 1485 MR. CAMPBELL answered that some have come up, and the general discussion is that it is not the intent, other than to allow flexibility. He has not heard the intent of increasing the dollars available for construction. Once the DOE makes the allocation, the school district can pick and choose and try to get more flexibility in their options. Number 1512 CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON made a motion to move HB 195 from the committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. Number 1523 REPRESENTATIVE BRICE objected because of concerns in his school district. CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON asked if they waited to move it out on Tuesday would that give him enough time to work on it. Number 1546 REPRESENTATIVE BRICE said yes, and if not he will try to deal with it in the Finance Committee. Number 1570 CO-CHAIRMAN DYSON announced they would hold HB 195 until Tuesday. [HB 195 was heard and held.]
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|