Legislature(2011 - 2012)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
04/08/2011 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB107 | |
| SB6 | |
| Presentation: Fisher Report - University of Alaska | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| = | SB 107 | ||
| = | SB 6 | ||
SB 6-PREKINDERGARTEN SCHOOL PROGRAMS/PLANS
8:07:28 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS announced the consideration of SB 6.
8:07:34 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER moved to adopt the committee substitute (CS) for
SB 6, labeled 27-LS0058\I as the working document. Hearing no
objection, version I was before the committee.
8:08:00 AM
THOMAS OBERMEYER, Staff to Senator Bettye Davis, co-sponsor of
SB 6, introduced himself.
LILA HOBBS, Staff to Senator Hollis French, co-sponsor of SB 6,
introduced herself.
MR. OBERMEYER said version I changes the age of the students
enrolled in a public prekindergarten program from "4 and 5 years
of age" to "4 years of age". He noted that this version also
provides for the inclusion of the prekindergarten students in
the student count and changes the inclusion of these students
from "part time" to "not more than a half-time". He asked if the
committee would like him to read the sponsor statement.
SENATOR DAVIS said the sponsor statement has already been read.
She asked Mr. Obermeyer to go through the changes that have been
made to version I in comparison to the original bill.
MR. OBERMEYER said Section 1, subsection (a), on page 1,
describes a prekindergarten program for students four years of
age. He explained that the bill previously had included both
four- and five-year-olds. However, five-year-olds can be
enrolled in a regular kindergarten program.
On page 2, Section 3, subsection (b), an exception was removed
regarding the estimated count [for the first year of the
program]. He explained that the Department of Education and
Early Development (DEED) cannot fund an estimated count. This
change now allows the department to make the regular count in
October and will set the dollar amount for those students
enrolled already for that school year.
Finally, and most importantly for the fiscal note, on page 2,
lines 13-16, a student who is enrolled in a prekindergarten
program provided by a district shall be counted as not more than
half-time. He explained that previously the bill included the
wording "part-time"; however, there are a number of different
types of "part-time" students.
8:12:29 AM
SENATOR FRENCH said the previous fiscal note was based on a
cohort of four- and five-year-olds attending prekindergarten
half-time, which is what currently occurs with a kindergarten
class. He asked if this is correct.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that, in his understanding, DEED took the
current number of five-year-olds currently in kindergarten and
assumed that all four-year-olds would be moving into that age
group in the next year and included them in the ADM [Average
Daily Membership] on a full-time basis. This greatly inflated
the previous fiscal note. He added that he has not heard from
the department yet since version I had to be adopted before DEED
would speak to the fiscal note. However, in his understanding,
this may cut the fiscal note in half.
SENATOR FRENCH said he will follow up with the department. He
asked for confirmation that the number of hours per day that a
child would spend in a prekindergarten program is about half a
day.
MR. OBERMEYER replied yes. He noted that this is a part-time and
an optional program.
8:14:53 AM
ELIZABETH NUDELMAN, Director, School Finance, Department of
Education and Early Development (DEED), spoke to the fiscal note
for CSSB 6, version I. She explained that the department used
the kindergarten cohort as the total number of students who
would be eligible for the new program and applied a one-half
full time equivalent. She said in doing so this makes the fiscal
note one-half of the previous fiscal note, which calculated each
prekindergarten student as full-time. The new fiscal note is
anticipated to be $41.826 million.
She noted that the fiscal note also acknowledged the changes in
version I regarding the reference of four-year-olds as opposed
to four- and five-year-olds. She explained that the change in
age does not change the amount in the fiscal note, since the
focus is on one cohort.
She continued that in changing and removing the funding from an
estimate to an actual October count, the department's feedback
is that this program funds on "actuals" and she does not know
how close an estimate would be. She recommended that this
program be funded through an actual count. She added that the
fiscal note does not address the facility issue and DEED would
not anticipate anything large in the initial year's fiscal note,
if at all.
8:17:39 AM
SENATOR FRENCH asked for confirmation that the foundation
formula pays the same for children whether they are in
kindergarten or 12th grade.
MS. NUDELMAN replied yes.
SENATOR FRENCH asked if DEED has done any research into whether
the costs are actually the same for each grade or if that is the
way the department divides out the amount of money to be spent.
MS. NUDELMAN replied that's the way the department divides out
the money it spends. She explained that the department has not
specifically studied the differences.
SENATOR FRENCH said the reason he raises this question is that
while he would like to leave the fiscal note small, he wants to
have a quality prekindergarten program, which might cost more.
He asked her to look into this over the interim.
SENATOR DAVIS said the kindergarten program can be looked at as
a good model where the funding formula is working. She
reiterated that the previous fiscal note was highly inflated
because four- and five-year-olds were both included. She asked
for confirmation that the department simply cut the fiscal note
in half.
MS. NUDELMAN replied yes.
SENATOR DAVIS asked for confirmation that the fiscal note is now
$41 million.
MS. NUDELMAN replied yes.
SENATOR DAVIS said she is disappointed that the committee has
received no input from DEED with regard to the bill, except
about the fiscal note. She said that with such an important
topic, it would be expected that there be some response from the
department. She stressed that the legislature is responsible for
providing education for Alaska's children and needs to come up
with a program that will work. She noted that this bill does not
force schools to have a prekindergarten program, but there are a
lot of schools that do want it. She said that she is going to do
everything that she can to get the message out to the public in
order to get input on it. She opined that the volunteer programs
and the pilot program don't meet the needs of all of the state's
students.
8:22:41 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS said he understands it is difficult for the
department to take a position when the governor has not made his
position clear.
SENATOR DAVIS took issue with that.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS said that with regard to moving forward, the
committee has had some discussions with the Alaska Early
Childhood Coordinating Council and will schedule some meetings
in the fall to help put together a more structured plan for next
session.
CO-CHAIR MEYER added that the committee did write a letter to
the council requesting that it give some formal presentations to
the committee during the interim on prekindergarten. He said
hopefully the council will also look at SB 6. There are a lot of
good things going on in the pre-K area, however there doesn't
appear to be a central coordinating effort to help the
legislature efficiently provide prekindergarten. He said SB 6
goes a long way in doing just this.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS concurred. He announced he would hold SB 6 in
committee.
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