Legislature(2021 - 2022)SENATE FINANCE 532
04/06/2022 09:00 AM Senate FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB239 | |
| SB240 | |
| Governor's Confirmation: Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (amhta): Agnes Moran | |
| SB236 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 236 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 239 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 240 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SENATE BILL NO. 236
"An Act relating to facilities constituting a school."
9:17:50 AM
ED KING, COMMITTEE AIDE, SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE,
introduced the legislation. He read from the Sponsor
Statement:
SB 236 seeks to remedy a technical problem in the
education funding formula. The problem occurs when a
district with a single school and more than 425
students opens a charter school. Under current law,
the existence of the charter school implies that there
is no longer "only one facility administered as a
school." Consequently, the district must calculate the
adjusted ADM in the public school with a lower school
size factor. As a result, opening a charter school in
such a district comes with a financial penalty of
about $1 million per year.
SB 236 adds three words to existing law: "excluding
charter schools." These three words allow the district
to maintain its full funding and remove the
disincentive a school board faces when considering a
charter school application. While it is tempting to
consider the fiscal note as a $1 million per year
funding increase, it's important to remember that
simply closing the charter school would yield the same
result.
The Senate Education Committee supports charter
schools and requests your support in removing this
barrier to ensure they are available to students
across the state.
9:19:25 AM
Senator von Imhof queried how charter schools procured
revenue.
9:19:42 AM
Mr. King deferred to Mr. Blackwell.
9:20:03 AM
ELWIN BLACKWELL, SCHOOL FINANCE MANAGER, DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION, JUNEAU (via teleconference), replied that once a
charter school was approved, all funding generated would
transfer to the charter school for the administration of
the program. He said in the situation of a K-12 school
falling between 101 and 425 students, the K-12 school would
receive two adjustments. He said that the Yukon and Hooper
Bay schools exceeded 425 students, which meant that the two
adjustments would not be made, except for single-site
schools. He said that with the opening of the charter
school, the statute saw the community as having two school
facilitates, which made them lose the secondary adjustment.
9:22:17 AM
Senator von Imhof understood that 425 was the demarcation
of a secondary adjustment. She hypothesized that under the
legislation a community with 500 students, one-third of
which attended charter school, two-thirds attended K-12
public school. She continued that the community still had
500 students, only in two separate buildings. She
understood that the community would still be considered as
having 500 students and the community would receive the
same amount of money as in the past.
9:23:39 AM
Mr. Blackwell replied that in a community with 500
students, where 100 went to a charter school, the K-12
school would only receive one adjustment. The community
would receive funding for 100 kids in charter school and
one adjustment for the 400 kids in the K-12 school. He
noted that the funding the went to charter schools was not
as much as for K-12 schools.
9:25:27 AM
Senator Wilson assumed that the charter school in question
was not a private school.
9:25:41 AM
Mr. Blackwell replied that individuals in the community
approached the school board asking to open a charter
school. The school was community driven as opposed to
having been initiated by the school district.
9:26:19 AM
Senator Wilson wondered whether there were schools in
communities within the state that would be affected by the
legislation.
9:26:36 AM
Mr. Blackwell responded that the legislation would only
affect the Lower Yukon School District.
9:27:11 AM
Senator Hoffman asked whether the intent was that there be
only a charter school in Hooper Bay.
9:27:27 AM
Mr. Blackwell asked Senator Hoffman to repeat the question.
9:27:35 AM
Senator Hoffman restated his question.
9:27:56 AM
Co-Chair Bishop asked whether the sponsors staff wanted to
speak to the question.
9:28:00 AM
Mr. King deferred to Mr. Stone.
9:28:13 AM
GENE STONE, SUPERINTENDENT, LOWER YUKON SCHOOL DISTRICT,
MOUNTAIN VILLAGE (via teleconference), said that the bill
was about school choice at the local level. He said that
the intent was not for the charter school to be the
exclusive school at Hooper Bay.
9:29:34 AM
Senator Hoffman noted that it had been implied that the K-
12 and charter schools would have separate facilities. He
wondered where the charter school in Hooper Bay would be
physically located.
9:29:48 AM
Mr. Stone replied that the two schools shared space. The
charter school was provided two classrooms and the Yupik
Cultural Room. He thought that the charter school would
like to find and finance a separate facility in the future.
9:30:45 AM
Senator Wielechowski asked whether the two schools had
enough funds to operate.
9:31:32 AM
Mr. Stone deferred to Mr. Leavitt.
9:32:10 AM
ANDREW LEAVITT, LOWER YUKON SCHOOL DISTRICT, ANCHORAGE (via
teleconference), provided some historical context
concerning how the charter school was funded. He explained
that, historically, the moment the 425 threshold was
crossed there would be a $1 million decrease in funding. He
said that the law was changed to reflect that if there was
only one facility in a community, and the numbers exceeded
425, the school still received the two adjustments. If the
community had a K-12 school and a charter school, with
numbers exceeding 425 combined, funding would decrease by
$1 million.
9:33:36 AM
Senator Wielechowski asked whether the community could
support two schools under the current foundation formula.
9:34:19 AM
Mr. Stone replied that the intent of the bill was receive
both adjustments while maintaining both a charter school
and a K-12 school. He lamented that the $1 million loss to
the funding formula had significant impact on Hooper Bay.
The problem could easily be remedied by adding the language
to exclude charter schools.
9:35:57 AM
Co-Chair Bishop understood that the $1 million was spread
across the entire school district.
9:36:22 AM
Mr. Stone replied that it was district funding, and the
statute was designed to include the total number of
students. He said that with charter schools the funding
followed the students. The total revenue to the district
was affected by the statute.
9:37:24 AM
Senator Wilson asked for more information about the charter
school. He wondered whether the school district had
considered the statute and the possible loss of funding
when planning to open the charter school.
9:37:52 AM
Mr. Stone replied that the issue had been considered. He
said that the bottom line was that the charter was approved
through a local decision. He said that the charter was
important well fitted to the community of Hooper Bay. He
said that in the past the state had provided waivers, which
was no longer the practice. He said that a special mission
school was not an option for skirting the funding penalty
while urban schools are allowed school choice.
9:42:12 AM
Senator Hoffman thought that if the statue been changed
previously, the state waivers would not have been
necessary. He wondered whether there would be two school
boards in Hooper Bay one for the charter school and
another for the K-12 school.
9:42:55 AM
Mr. Stone replied that there would be only one school board
as charter schools had to operate under a district school
board and its policies. He said that the charter would not
have to follow a district defined curriculum but would have
to operated under board policies specific to Alaska law.
9:44:23 AM
Co-Chair Bishop OPENED and CLOSED public testimony.
9:44:23 AM
AT EASE
9:45:11 AM
RECONVENED
9:45:11 AM
Co-Chair Bishop
SB 236 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 236 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2022 9:00:00 AM |
SB 236 |
| SB 236 LYSD Letter.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2022 9:00:00 AM |
SB 236 |
| Confirmations 2022 AMHTA - Agnes Moran Application_Redacted.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2022 9:00:00 AM |