Legislature(2009 - 2010)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
04/09/2010 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
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| Start | |
| SB313 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 313 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
April 9, 2010
8:00 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Kevin Meyer, Co-Chair
Senator Joe Thomas, Co-Chair
Senator Bettye Davis, Vice Chair
Senator Charlie Huggins
Senator Donald Olson
Senator Gary Stevens
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 313
"An Act relating to the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy."
- MOVED SB 313 OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 313
SHORT TITLE: YOUTH ACADEMY FUNDING/REPORT
SPONSOR(s): EDUCATION
04/05/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
04/05/10 (S) EDC, FIN
04/09/10 (S) EDC AT 8:00 AM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
WITNESS REGISTER
JOMO STEWART, Staff
Senator Kevin Meyer
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced SB 313.
BRIGADIER GENERAL THOMAS KATKAS, Commissioner
Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs
Fort Richardson, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of SB 313; the current
level of state funding for the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy is
adequate.
MCHUGH PIERRE, Deputy Commissioner
Department of Military & Veterans Affairs (DMVA)
Fort Richardson, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of SB 313; the current
level of state funding for the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy is
adequate.
EDDIE JEANS, Director
School Finance
Department of Education and Early Development
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided supporting testimony for SB 313.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:00:56 AM
CO-CHAIR KEVIN MEYER called the Senate Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Olson, Huggins, Davis, Thomas, and Meyer.
Senator Stevens arrived during the course of the meeting.
SB 313-YOUTH ACADEMY FUNDING/REPORT
8:01:16 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER announced consideration of SB 313.
8:01:51 AM
JOMO STEWART, Staff to Senator Meyer, said that SB 313 changes
the way the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy ("Youth Academy") is
funded. He explained that this is a very successful residential
high school for students who have withdrawn from school prior to
graduating. Currently the Youth Academy receives funding that is
equal to the base student allocation (BSA) multiplied by 7 for
each residential student and the BSA multiplied by .6 for each
nonresidential student, minus the amount received by the program
in federal matching grant funds.
Under SB 313 the Youth Academy would receive a flat allocation
of $11,990 for each fulltime student, which effectively locks in
the state funding at the current level. Federal funds are held
harmless.
SENATOR HUGGINS referenced the sponsor statement that says,
"However, as the BSA has grown over the years - to cover
retirement costs and other increases in education - it has
resulted in a windfall that is no longer reflective of the true
cost of the program." and said at some point he'd like to know
if this changes that.
8:03:35 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked how they justify funding a residential
student at the same rate as a nonresidential student.
MR. STEWART deferred the question to the Department of Military
& Veterans Affairs (DMVA) because the legislation was introduced
at their request.
8:04:11 AM
BRIGADIER GENERAL THOMAS KATKAS, Commissioner, Department of
Military and Veterans' Affairs, explained that the current state
funding for the Youth Academy is adequate; this is simply an
attempt to stabilize the method for getting that funding. He
deferred to Mr. Pierre to explain the mechanics.
MCHUGH PIERRE, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Military &
Veterans Affairs (DMVA), explained that as the BSA increased
from about $3,000 to almost $6,000, the Youth Academy allocation
was a 7X multiplier. When the Legislature added $500 per student
to the BSA, the Youth Academy received $3,500 more per student.
While this growth was unintentional, it did allow DMVA to expand
the program. Mr. Pierre informed the committee that when DMVA
received an additional $1.5 million for the Youth Academy in
FY05, they moved $1 million to capital and used the remaining
$.5 million to pay the PERS costs for their employees.
MR. PIERRE said Eddie Jeans, the finance director for DEED,
worked on the original formula for the Youth Academy and DMVA
worked closely with him to develop this new formula to maintain
the current level of state funding. For simplicity they decided
to use just one formula to match the current budget. The intent
was not to decrease the state funding because that's what has
made this such a successful program. In fact, the State of
Alaska funds the Youth Academy at a higher rate than any similar
academy in the nation. He said the current rate is perfect, but
if they do need more money in future years they want to be
treated like other schools and be able to ask for it.
8:08:27 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked how they arrived at the flat $11,990 per
student allocation.
MR. PIERRE replied the idea was to maintain the current funding
level and this was a simple way to achieve that goal.
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked if he's comfortable that the current level
of funding will provide sufficient funding for the program.
MR. PIERRE answered it's perfect to maintain the current program
and allow comfortable growth.
8:09:29 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS mentioned the threshold number to be considered
a site and asked what the site number is for the Youth Academy.
MR. PIERRE said replied they have to maintain different levels
for the federal funding.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked what the number is to conform to the state
BSA.
MR. PIERRE deferred the question to Mr. Jeans and continued to
express confidence that enrollment won't fall below 265-270
cadets. Currently the Youth Academy has 186 beds and is getting
ready to expand to 225 beds. The goal is to be able to graduate
close to 500 cadets per year and this formula accommodates that
goal. We really don't anticipate a drop off in enrollment, he
said.
8:11:09 AM
SENATOR DAVIS asked what makes him think that moving away from
the BSA and instead asking for flat funding of $11,990 per
student is going to be stabilizing, particularly in light of the
push to increase enrollment from the pool of students who have
dropped out of school. If your numbers doubled you'd have to
return to the Legislature and ask for more money, she said.
MR. PIERRE replied they will still provide a student count each
October and they will be funded for that number of students. As
enrollment increases they'll receive more money, so the Youth
Academy will be adequately funded to meet student needs. He
reiterated that DMVA believes that $11,990 per student is
sufficient to deliver optimum services for residential and
nonresidential students.
8:14:04 AM
SENATOR DAVIS clarified that it's the funding she's concerned
about, not the program. She asked what the federal/state funding
ratio is right now.
MR. PIERRE replied it's about 75 percent state and 25 percent
federal.
SENATOR DAVIS asked if the federal money is based on a flat rate
or a per student basis.
MR. PIERRE replied it's based on a per student basis and as the
enrollment increases they anticipate that the ratio will
approach 50/50.
8:16:06 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER expressed concern about becoming more dependent
on federal money and asked if this is a risk to the state.
GENERAL KATKAS said there's a lot of interest nationwide in
keeping youth academies going so he doesn't see this as a risk.
Compared to the programs in the other states and territories,
the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy clearly enjoys the best state
participation.
8:17:22 AM
SENATOR STEVENS joined the meeting.
CO-CHAIR MEYER admitted that the committee is uncomfortable
agreeing to give less money to a program that is obviously a
great success. Typically, a program would ask for and receive
more, he said.
MR. PIERRE said he'd like to dispel the notion that capping
funding prevents a program from growing and flourishing. The
Youth Academy doesn't need to receive any more money per student
than it currently receives. He reiterated that they've reached
the optimum amount and as more students enroll they'll receive
more money to address the needs of those students. "When we need
more money we truly will need it and when we don't need more you
understand that we're doing great and we won't need more money
and we will be open and honest with you," he said.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS said you're smart enough to figure out what you
do and don't need, but we're being redundant is expressing
concern because this is a fairly unique request.
GENERAL KATKAS assured the committee that they have thought this
through and believe they've reached equilibrium. We're
reasonable people and it would be unreasonable to accept funding
above the current level, he said.
8:21:09 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked what the pupil/teacher ratio is at the
Youth Academy.
MR. PIERRE replied they have 10-12 teachers for each cadet and
each class has 15-18 cadets. In total about 90 staff work at the
academy.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if the teachers are state certified.
MR. PIERRE said no; some of the teachers are certified, but
that's not a requirement in private schools.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if they have a continuing education
program for teachers.
MR. PIERRE explained that they encourage their teachers to take
advantage of the opportunity to take college courses and get
reimbursed, but it is not the same as for state certified
teachers working in public schools.
8:23:47 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked if the cadets have to pass the high school
exit exam to graduate.
MR. PIERRE answered yes. They've partnered with local high
schools in the Anchorage and Mat-Su school districts to offer
the exit exam, but there's also a process for cadets to earn
credits at the academy and then return to public school and work
to receive their diploma.
8:25:13 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked Mr. Jeans what he thinks about the new
formula that is being suggested.
EDDIE JEANS, Director of School Finance, Department of Education
and Early Development (DEED), said it's a wonderful formula.
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked how they arrived at the number.
MR. JEANS said he would first provide some context. The current
funding formula, which was adopted in 2002, provides for the
Youth Academy to receive the BSA multiplied by 7 for resident
students and the BSA multiplied by .6 for nonresident students.
When this statutory formula was adopted, the BSA was $3,940 and
the Youth Academy received about $27,000 per student in the
residential program. Today the BSA is $5,680 per student and the
Youth Academy is receiving $39,700 per student.
Over the years when the Legislature increased the BSA it was
oftentimes to help school districts address their TRS
liabilities. But the Youth Academy employees are hired under
PERS so the increased funds were used to benefit the program
rather than paying down a teacher retirement system (TRS)
liability. What they're saying today is that they've reached a
comfortable funding level for ongoing operations and they don't
need more.
MR. JEANS explained that to arrive at $11,990 they divided the
total state aid that the Youth Academy receives today by the
total number of students at the Youth Academy. He noted that the
DEED budget this year reflected a $600,000 reduction for the
Youth Academy based on increased federal aid; as federal aid
increases state aid decreases. What DMVA is proposing is to drop
the BSA and freeze the per student state funding at the current
level. Then if they receive more federal aid those additional
resources can be used to expand their program.
MR. JEANS said he's talked about this with Deputy Commissioner
Pierre a number of times and he firmly believes this amount is
adequate to fund the program for possibly the next 5 years. If
they believe at some point that they need additional funds
they'll return to the Legislature to ask for more. For now
they're comfortable, DEED is comfortable, and it simplifies the
program.
8:29:59 AM
SENATOR OLSON suggested they re-appropriate the surplus to the
general fund because relying on increasing federal funds is a
volatile foundation.
MR. JEANS pointed out that they aren't asking to give anything
back and they aren't asking for more. They are asking the
Legislature to freeze their state funding at the current level
and DEED is perfectly comfortable with the request.
SENATOR OLSON asked when the Youth Academy decided it had a
stable foundation.
MR. JEANS replied he believes that this discussion has been
ongoing for a number of years in this body; it's mainly centered
on the fact that there isn't a direct relationship between
increases in the foundation program and the 7X increases that
the Youth Academy has received.
8:32:33 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked if he thinks the bill will make it through
when it's so late in the session.
MR. JEANS replied that is in legislators' hands. Continuing, he
offered the opinion that DMVA should be given credit for
developing such a stable program that can continue to thrive at
the current level of state funding. They're doing a great job
and I applaud them for stepping forward, he said.
8:34:15 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER noted that this bill moves to finance next and
there's also has a companion bill in the other body.
8:34:31 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS asked if the statutory change would be specific
to the Youth Academy or if it would impact other schools.
MR. PIERRE replied the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy has its
own statutory funding scheme so this bill only affects the
academy.
8:35:28 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER closed public testimony.
8:36:18 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked Mr. Jeans to explain the fiscal note.
8:36:58 AM
MR. JEANS said the fiscal note shows a $300 increase in the
current year over what's in the FY11 budget. In future years the
Youth Academy will submit their student count and DEED will
calculate the entitlement, which will be part of DEED future
budgets that the Legislature considers on an annual basis.
CO-CHAIR MEYER commented that the $300 fiscal note results in a
finance committee referral.
8:38:07 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS moved to report SB 313 from committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). There
being no objection, SB 313 moved from the Senate Education
Standing Committee.
8:38:22 AM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Co-Chair Meyer adjourned the Senate Education Standing Committee
hearing at 8:38 a.m.
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