Legislature(2021 - 2022)ADAMS 519
04/01/2022 09:00 AM House FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB272 || HB273 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 272 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 273 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE
April 1, 2022
9:06 a.m.
9:06:31 AM
CALL TO ORDER
Co-Chair Merrick called the House Finance Committee meeting
to order at 9:06 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Neal Foster, Co-Chair (via teleconference)
Representative Kelly Merrick, Co-Chair
Representative Dan Ortiz, Vice-Chair (via teleconference)
Representative Ben Carpenter
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Representative DeLena Johnson
Representative Andy Josephson
Representative Bart LeBon
Representative Sara Rasmussen
Representative Steve Thompson
Representative Adam Wool
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
ALSO PRESENT
Representative Andi Story, Sponsor; Emily Ferry, Self,
Juneau.
PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE
Norm Wooten, Director of Advocacy, Association of Alaska
School Boards, Texas; Douglas Gray, Alaska Association for
Elementary School Principals, Anchorage; Katie Botz, Self,
Juneau; Tom Klaameyer, National Education Association
Alaska, Anchorage; Jennifer Sonne, Self, Anchorage; Josh
Branstetter, Self, Anchorage; Barb Jewell, Cordova School
District, Cordova; Bessie Weston, Lower Kuskokwim School
District, Board Member, Mekoryuk; Andy DeGraw, Chief
Operations Officer, Fairbanks North Star Borough School
District, Fairbanks; Marla Statscewich, Self, Fairbanks;
Kelly Lessens, Anchorage School Board, Anchorage; Bill
Hill, Superintendent, Bristol Bay School District, Naknek;
Rick Dormer, Principal, Petersburg High School, Petersburg;
Clayton Holland, Superintendent, Kenai School District and
Superintendent Association, Soldotna; Nathan Erfurth,
History Teacher, Kenai; Bridget Weiss, Superintendent,
Juneau School District, Juneau; Elisabeth Nadin, Self,
Fairbanks; Margo Bellamy, Anchorage School Board,
Anchorage; David Boyle, Self, Anchorage; Katie Parrott,
Business Manager, Ketchikan Gateway Borough School
District, Ketchikan; Rebecca Ingalls, Teacher's Union,
Bristol Bay School District, Naknek.
SUMMARY
HB 272 INCREASE BASE STUDENT ALLOCATION
HB 272 was HEARD and HELD in committee for
further consideration.
HB 273 INCREASE BASE STUDENT ALLOC. INFLATION
HB 273 was HEARD and HELD in committee for
further consideration.
Co-Chair Merrick reviewed the agenda for the meeting. She
indicated the committee would be hearing public testimony
on HB 272 and HB 273 together.
HOUSE BILL NO. 272
"An Act relating to education; increasing the base
student allocation; and providing for an effective
date."
HOUSE BILL NO. 273
"An Act relating to education; increasing the base
student allocation; and providing for an effective
date."
9:07:17 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ANDI STORY, SPONSOR, explained that HB 272
would increase the base student allocation (BSA). She
reminded members that the BSA increase was for only two
years and was a modest increase to help with fixed
expenses. It would allow school districts to plan for the
future and prevent laying off teachers. It would also allow
legislators to invest in certain initiatives for education.
She suggested that a modest BSA increase would help
districts focus on students' needs.
Representative Story explained that HB 273 allowed for an
inflation increase. It would set a three-year inflation
average with a one-year lag. There was a large spike in
inflation in 2021 and the bill would help smooth out large
spikes like this. The bill also recognized that costs would
increase over the years. She thought the bill would give
some stability to school districts and help legislators
meet the constitutional obligation to maintain the state's
schools. She thought the legislature had been falling
behind on this obligation. The BSA had remained a flat
funding since fiscal year (FY) 17 which had put downward
pressure on education as schools had been forced to cut
classroom services to cover fixed costs. She emphasized
that members had received over 60 letters of testimony
supporting the bill. The letters spoke about the impacts of
the loss of programs that were main motivators for kids,
such as music and art. She wanted Alaska to have a strong
workforce and attract and retain families to the state.
9:11:57 AM
Co-Chair Merrick OPENED public testimony.
EMILY FERRY, SELF, JUNEAU, noted that she worked with the
Association of Alaska School Boards (AASB). She had three
middle school aged children that were directly impacted by
school funding. She compared the reduction in school
funding to a person going into hypothermia because schools
were forced to conserve resources and cut "extremities" to
save funds for the most important things. The impacts of
low school funding were felt throughout the state. She
relayed that Alaska's post-secondary outcomes were the
lowest in the nation. Students from Alaska were enrolling
in and completing college at the lowest rate in the nation.
Other states were investing in things like school
counselors and advisors to increase students' workplace
readiness, while the schools in Alaska had been cutting
counselors. She spoke of the high rates of attempted
suicide in her son's class. She relayed that two students
in her son's class of 30 students had attempted suicide in
the current year, and that it was a long-term crisis.
Representative Wool asked what grade her son was in.
Ms. Ferry responded that her son was in eighth grade.
9:15:48 AM
NORM WOOTEN, DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY, ASSOCIATION OF ALASKA
SCHOOL BOARDS, TEXAS (via teleconference), spoke in support
of HB 272 and HB 273. He indicated that the BSA was placed
into Alaska's educational foundation funding formula to
meet the statutory requirement to maintain a system of
public education. It was designed to create a standard for
the legislature to ensure that education would be
adequately funded each year. However, the BSA had not been
adjusted since 2017 to account for cost-of-living increases
and other changes. It was unfair to expect an increase in
student achievement while continuing to cut programs. As
costs continued to rise, classrooms were impacted and
students suffered. He thought it seemed reasonable to
increase the BSA to reflect rising costs based on an
accepted standard. He indicated that AASB had several
resolutions with regard to HB 272 and HB 273 and he would
provide the information to the committee in writing.
9:18:15 AM
DOUGLAS GRAY, ALASKA ASSOCIATION FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
PRINCIPALS, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), spoke in favor
of HB 272 and HB 273 as a way to increase and inflation-
proof the BSA. He explained that there had been significant
learning loss in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. One
of the ways to address this loss was to implement a system
of multiple tiers of support, which was a research-based
approach to address students' needs by identifying and
imparting skills for success. In many cases, students were
able to gain the necessary skills in less than a year by
engaging in the tiered system. Unfortunately, schools were
being forced to prioritize funds that could erode the
effectiveness of the model as class sizes increased and
staff decreased due to budget cuts. These two factors alone
had significantly impacted schools' ability to establish
schedules to provide the targeted instruction that was so
important for student improvement. He urged members to
support both bills.
Co-Chair Merrick asked for clarification that he was with a
group that represented elementary school principals.
Mr. Grey responded in the affirmative.
Co-Chair Merrick asked if there were other groups that
represented middle and high school principals.
Mr. Grey responded that there was an association that
represented secondary school principals.
9:21:20 AM
KATIE BOTZ, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke in
support of HB 272 and HB 273. She was concerned with the
students' wellbeing coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was a school bus driver and had witnessed the effect of
the pandemic. She wanted to know that students were
receiving the support that they needed. She urged support
for both bills.
9:23:10 AM
TOM KLAAMEYER, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ALASKA,
ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), supported the passage of HB
272 and HB 273. He suggested that funding education was the
single most important constitutionally mandated
appropriation by the legislature. Increasing the BSA and
protecting it against inflation was long overdue. He
thought that the logic that the state could not increase
funding until it had better financial outcomes was
fundamentally flawed. He stated that it could not be
ignored that other states that were doing fundamentally
well were investing in education. He agreed that Alaska's
outcomes relative to other states had decreased in recent
years, but he thought that should not be surprising
considering that was the same timeframe during which the
state "gutted" teacher retirement and flat funded
education. When the state was investing in education, it
ranked competitively amongst other states. He noted that
other states had improved student outcomes by investing
further in education. He thought Alaska should attract and
retain high-quality educators and administrators necessary
to support the academic success of students. He suggested
that rather than just provide for basic needs, the state
should invest in education to inspire students to explore
their creativity and become successful members of society.
He thought expecting increased student performance was
futile unless the state increased investment in education.
He urged passage of both bills.
9:25:28 AM
JENNIFER SONNE, SELF, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference),
supported HB 272 and HB 273. She noted that with the cost-
of-living increases in the state, the cost of education had
risen as well. Without proper funding, impossible choices
would arise, such as deciding whether a school should
designate money towards rising costs of heating the
building, towards keeping class sizes down, or towards
retaining counselors. She thought schools should be able to
fund all of these items, but it was not currently possible.
She urged members to support both bills.
9:26:52 AM
JOSH BRANSTETTER, SELF, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), was
a parent of a child in the Anchorage School District (ASD).
He was also a member of the Coalition for Neurodivergent
Students. There were many neurodivergent students in the
district including his son who was autistic and had
dysgraphia. He explained that it was difficult to navigate
his son's needs when the schools did not have adequate
resources. He had talked to several parents that agreed
that when schools faced reductions, the cuts resulted in an
adverse educational experience for students like his son.
He thought accommodating for inflation was necessary, and
that having extra resources in the classroom was a step in
the right direction. He thought the moderate increases in
the bill would make a huge difference. He urged passage of
both bills.
9:29:22 AM
Co-Chair Merrick asked Mr. Branstetter to repeat the name
of the coalition he mentioned.
Mr. Branstetter responded the Coalition for Neurodivergent
Students.
9:29:40 AM
BARB JEWELL, CORDOVA SCHOOL DISTRICT, CORDOVA (via
teleconference), spoke in support of HB 272 and HB 273. She
thought the bills would begin to address gaps that had been
created due to long-term flat funding of education. There
had been significant negative impacts to the students of
the state. The state had experienced difficulty in
recruiting and retaining teachers and maintaining the
school buildings. In Cordova, the flat funding of the BSA
had resulted in a higher number of students in the
classrooms and fewer staff in the building. The school no
longer had a librarian or a pre-school. The cost of doing
business in Alaska was more expensive than in other states,
and the cost of education was also higher. She noted that
the BSA had not been increased since 2017, and that HB 272
and HB 273 would start to address the impacts of this
stagnation. She urged members to pass both bills.
9:32:45 AM
BESSIE WESTON, LOWER KUSKOKWIM SCHOOL DISTRICT, BOARD
MEMBER, MEKORYUK (via teleconference), indicated that the
school district needed every penny it could get. Her
community of Mekoryuk had a total of 41 students in
kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). She relayed that
HB 272 and HB 273 would provide an extra $2,255 to the
school, which was low but would still be helpful. The
increase in fuel prices would be about 60 percent according
to quotes she received from the local government in
Mekoryuk. She recalled that the average annual inflation
parentage was about two percent, but she was confident that
the percentage would spike and would have crippling effects
on the educational system. She reiterated her support for
both bills and thanked the legislators sponsoring the
bills.
9:35:29 AM
ANDY DEGRAW, CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER, FAIRBANKS NORTH STAR
BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT, FAIRBANKS (via teleconference),
spoke in support of both bills. He noted that there had
been much discussion within the districts about an
impending fiscal cliff and expressed that schools in
Fairbanks were already going "down the side of the
mountain." He noted that the district was going through a
two-year step-down approach due to the fiscal deficit. He
relayed that the district's FY 23 budget included the
closure of three schools within the district and would
require laying off 130 employees. Many schools in the
district were already experiencing fiscal challenges prior
to COVID-19 due to the lack of increase to the BSA. Many of
the fixed cost pressures the district was facing were in
the areas of transportation, technology, and utility
increases. Health insurance was also a constant stressor on
the budget and constituted about 20 percent of the
district's budget. He relayed that the district was not
looking for a handout and it had already made significant
reductions. He urged support of both bills.
Co-Chair Merrick asked if Mr. DeGraw had seen a significant
loss in students in Fairbanks.
Mr. DeGraw responded that there was an initial decrease due
to the pandemic, but the district had recouped about half
of the students lost. There had been significant student
decline prior to the pandemic, but he suggested that the
pandemic brought the issue to a head.
9:39:43 AM
MARLA STATSCEWICH, SELF, FAIRBANKS (via teleconference),
urged support of the passage of HB 272 and HB 273. She was
a parent of two elementary school children. She noted how
the BSA had not been increased for more than five years and
needed to increase to keep up with the cost of living. She
spoke of the importance of retaining quality teachers in
the state. She encouraged members to pass both pieces of
legislation.
9:40:51 AM
KELLY LESSENS, ANCHORAGE SCHOOL BOARD, ANCHORAGE (via
teleconference), was a parent of two children in ASD and
the chair of the Anchorage School Board's finance
committee. She supported HB 273 and HB 272 but emphasized
that the two bills would not address the full needs of the
district without the additional passage of HB 259. The low
teacher to student ratio could only be addressed through
adequate funding. Without federal funding as a "band-aid"
solution, ratios would have been much worse. The student to
teacher ratio would have been 40 to 1 in ASD without the
federal funding. The district was projected to lose 60
teachers according to the following year's budget. She
reviewed the schools that would be losing teachers. Since
the BSA had been adjusted, ASD had implemented efficiencies
including closing two schools. Flat funding in the face of
inflation and enrollment changes meant that students have
had to "do more with less." Increased class sizes would not
facilitate educational goals. She thought it was telling
that every one of the three finalists for superintendent
stressed grave concerns about the state of ASD's fiscal
cliff. She asked members to support student learning by
passing both bills.
9:44:10 AM
BILL HILL, SUPERINTENDENT, BRISTOL BAY SCHOOL DISTRICT,
NAKNEK (via teleconference), testified in support of HB 272
and HB 273. He assured members that the Bristol Bay School
District had taken great care in spending the monies that
the state provided to ensure that students would receive
the best education possible. He reviewed the multiple
tactics the district had used to make the best use of the
funding it received, such as reducing staffing by combining
elementary classes and reducing district office staffing by
50 percent. He stressed that the district was running out
of creative solutions and he advocated for stable funding.
The high teacher turnover was significantly affecting the
classrooms and had a direct negative impact on student
performance. New teachers often left the state by the fifth
year of their employment with the district and recruiting
new staff had become a crisis. Forward funding was
necessary in order to provide stable funding and allow for
schools to plan for upcoming school years. He hoped that
members would support both bills.
Co-Chair Merrick asked how many schools and how many
students were in the school district in Naknek.
Mr. Hill responded that there were two schools housed under
the same roof. There were just over 100 students attending
in person and another dozen students attending via
correspondence.
9:47:24 AM
RICK DORMER, PRINCIPAL, PETERSBURG HIGH SCHOOL, PETERSBURG
(via teleconference), testified in support of HB 272 and HB
273. He expressed that the schools in Petersburg were
battling increased costs and flat funding. The school
building also housed other community events, such as an
assembly in the prior week to support veterans. He thanked
members for looking at the legislation and appreciated both
pieces of legislation.
9:49:12 AM
CLAYTON HOLLAND, SUPERINTENDENT, KENAI SCHOOL DISTRICT AND
SUPERINTENDENT ASSOCIATION, SOLDOTNA (via teleconference),
supported both bills. The Kenai School District (KSD) had a
strong history of providing great outcomes to students
despite facing staffing difficulties, COVID-19, and an
ongoing opioid crisis. He expressed commitment to improving
literacy rates and increasing career and technical
education opportunities. However, there needed to be
consistent and predictable funding in order to make
improvements. The impacts of inflation had been felt
acutely due to the lack of a BSA increase. He noted that
KSD would have had to cut many more teachers if it did not
receive federal funding. He suggested that strong schools
correlated with a strong economy. Predictable and stable
funding was necessary to cultivate strong schools and he
urged support for both bills.
Co-Chair Merrick commented that it was disheartening to
hear that KSD was experiencing problems with opioid use
among students.
Mr. Holland clarified that students were growing up in
households that were impacted by opioids. There was a lot
of work to be done for students who had been in
dysfunctional situations.
Co-Chair Merrick thanked him for his clarification.
9:52:27 AM
NATHAN ERFURTH, HISTORY TEACHER, KENAI (via
teleconference), spoke in favor of HB 272 and HB 273. He
relayed that he has watched the opportunities available to
his students dwindle, such as music, sports, and classes
beyond the bare minimum required to graduate. He thought
that the state was now "cutting into the muscle" because
the teacher workforce was not being replaced as teachers
retired. He had heard legislators repeat the phrase, "we
deserve a better return on our investment." He stated that
this argument relied on testing scores, but a child's
learning was unquantifiable in many ways. However, there
was no other measure other than testing available at this
time. Standardized tests were not a test of competency and
were constantly changing. He argued that children thrived
in a stable educational environment with a richness of
opportunity and inquiry, not a scarcity. Students would not
thrive when they were shuffled in and out of schools to
learn the bare minimum of education and take tests.
Students and schools cut to bone would perform accordingly,
and students' mental health would suffer. When properly
funded, schools were full of qualified experts ready,
willing, and able to change lives. He urged members to
raise the BSA for the children.
9:55:06 AM
BRIDGET WEISS, SUPERINTENDENT, JUNEAU SCHOOL DISTRICT,
JUNEAU (via teleconference), supported HB 272 and HB 273 as
a means to achieve adequate funding and stability. She was
a product of the Juneau School District herself. She shared
that she had a strong emotional reaction to Ms. Botz's
earlier testimony when Ms. Botz relayed the impacts she had
seen as a school bus driver. The required expenses of
schools continued to increase which meant that valuable
support programs had to be cut. There had been many cuts to
schools in Juneau, such as middle school counselors. There
was currently one middle school counselor for 550 students
in Juneau. Class size had increased, and the district had
made cuts in every way possible to manage declining
funding. The need was significant, and the expectations put
upon teachers had increased. She noted that the state was
obligated by statute to provide the schools with regular
and adequate funding. She appreciated the sponsor of the
bills for bringing them forward. She appreciated members
support for both bills.
Co-Chair Merrick noted she was also a product of the Juneau
School District.
Ms. Weiss responded positively and expressed that she
wanted to facilitate successful careers for students.
9:58:38 AM
ELISABETH NADIN, SELF, FAIRBANKS (via teleconference),
called to support HB 272 and HB 273. She had two children
in school in Fairbanks. She emphasized that she would like
to see better financial support of local schools. She had
seen a focus on supporting alternative programs like
homeschool programs but would like to see more of a focus
on the public school system. Every year there seemed to be
an additional stressor on the schools with the constant
possibility of pink slips. She thought the constant stress
made education seem like an unsecure future for potential
teachers. She thought the conversation should be about how
the state and local community could do better to support
the schools, not the other way around. She reiterated her
support for both bills.
10:01:31 AM
MARGO BELLAMY, ANCHORAGE SCHOOL BOARD, ANCHORAGE (via
teleconference), testified in support of HB 272 and HB 273.
She wanted to emphasize that all children in the state
deserved a great education. She relayed that ASD had three
strategic goals: reading proficiency, math proficiency, and
college and career readiness. The bills would provide the
needed funds to begin implementing multiple-year
improvements. The pathway in meeting ASD's goals
necessitated a partnership with the legislature. She was
thankful to the bill sponsor for bringing both bills
forward. The legislature had provided one-time funding
twice in the past five years which had helped the district
avoid large-scale reductions. However, this was not
sustainable. The federal funds and one-time relief funds
had hidden a structural deficit of $10 to $12 million per
year. She provided examples of actions the school district
had taken to meet budget constraints, such as closing and
merging schools and discontinuing programs. She thought it
was time for Alaska to implement an inflation proofed BSA
in order to allow the district to implement multi-year
improvement strategies. Reliable funding was the key to
improving student outcomes by stabilizing schools and
reducing teacher turnover.
10:05:14 AM
DAVID BOYLE, SELF, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), did not
support HB 272 but supported HB 273. He recalled earlier
conversations on the use of standardized tests to quantify
the return on investment. He thought tests measured how
well students understood and comprehended material. He
argued that rewarding effective classroom teachers would
help to improve classroom outcomes. He argued there were no
cost controls within the school districts. He suggested
that school districts negotiated their own contracts and
would then ask the legislature to pay for the increased
costs in the contracts. All of the previous testifiers were
affiliated with the schools in one way or another. He
advocated for improving results in reading and math and
tying test results to the legislation.
10:07:43 AM
KATIE PARROTT, BUSINESS MANAGER, KETCHIKAN GATEWAY BOROUGH
SCHOOL DISTRICT, KETCHIKAN (via teleconference), supported
HB 272 and HB 272. She had met with superintendents around
the state and one of the superintendents expressed that she
wished she was able to spend more time in the classroom and
less time acting as a financial manager and budget advocate
for the school budget. She indicated that seven years of
flat funding meant that schools were now doing "less with
less." She noted that health insurance costs in Ketchikan
had doubled over the past several years, and that Alaska
had the highest healthcare costs in the nation. She
expressed that there was a recruitment and retention crisis
in the state, and the number of unfilled positions was
terrifying. She thanked the committee for considering the
bills and urged support.
10:11:43 AM
REBECCA INGALLS, TEACHER'S UNION, BRISTOL BAY SCHOOL
DISTRICT, NAKNEK (via teleconference), spoke in support of
HB 272 and HB 273. She indicated there had not been an
increase to the BSA in over five years, yet education costs
increased every year. Schools were battling retention and
recruitment issues in addition to ever-increasing utility
costs. She explained that the schools in Bristol Bay had to
consolidate classrooms in order to maintain educational
standards. There were so few substitute teachers that when
a teacher was out sick, other teachers were adding students
to their classrooms in order to cover. She reiterated her
support for both bills.
Co-Chair Merrick indicated there was no one else online.
10:13:48 AM
Co-Chair Merrick CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair Merrick indicated amendments were due to her
office by the following day, April 2, 2022, by 6:00 p.m.
10:14:17 AM
Representative Thompson asked about a bill on the schedule
for the following week. It appeared to be a new bill. He
wondered if it would replace the current capital budget.
10:15:04 AM
AT EASE
10:15:46 AM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Merrick responded that the bill was a governor's
bill that had not been introduced yet.
Co-Chair Merrick relayed the following meeting agenda and
noted the time change of 1:00 p.m.
HB 272 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
HB 273 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
ADJOURNMENT
10:16:43 AM
The meeting was adjourned at 10:16 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 272 & HB 273 Public Testimony Rec'd by 040122.pdf |
HFIN 4/1/2022 9:00:00 AM |
HB 272 HB 273 |
| HB 273 Public Testimony Rec'd by 040122.pdf |
HFIN 4/1/2022 9:00:00 AM |
HB 273 |