Legislature(1997 - 1998)
11/12/1997 05:00 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
TOWN MEETING ON SCHOOL FUNDING REFORM
SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE
Ted Ferry Civic Center - Neets Bay Room
Ketchikan AK
November 12, 1997
5:00 P.M.
SENATE HESS MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Wilken, Chairman
Senator Loren Leman, Vice-Chairman
Senator Jerry Ward, via teleconference
SENATE HESS MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Lyda Green
Senator Jerry Ward
Senator Johnny Ellis
SENATE FINANCE MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator John Torgerson
Senator Drue Pearce, Co-Chairman
SENATE FINANCE MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Bert Sharp, Co-Chairman
Senator Dave Donley
Senator Sean Parnell
Senator Randy Phillips
Senator Al Adams
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE
Senator Robin Taylor
Representative Bill Williams
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
TOWN MEETING ON PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING
WITNESS REGISTER
Mr. Greg Middag
POSITION STATEMENT: Said education needs more money.
Ms. Karen Frye
POSITION STATEMENT: Said education needs more money.
Mr. Mike Hapold
POSITION STATEMENT: [INDISC]
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 97-50, SIDE A
SB 36 Public School Funding
SB 146 Public School Funding/Child Care Grants
SB 193 Administrative Spending Limit For Schools
CHAIRMAN WILKEN called the Joint Senate Health, Education and
Social Services (HESS) and Finance Committee meeting to order at
5:00 p.m. and announced they would be discussing the education
foundation formula. He noted they would be discussing SB 36 and SB
146.
SENATOR TAYLOR welcomed everyone for coming and explained that in
the 1980's all towns in his area were stopped at the very same
formula funding level as Anchorage and Anchorage has economies of
scale that his areas don't have the benefit of. He said all four
of his communities of Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan, and Sitka
have been up against the cap for several years and they have seen
school functions get transferred over to cities and boroughs to
carry the load. Swimming pools are now operated by cities.
He said his communities had been advocating for the last eight
years that there is disproportionate treatment of Southeast Alaska
and other communities in the State, because of the cost
differential and the failure to recognize the 3% - 5% cost of
living differential that has always existed in Southeast Alaska,
separate from the railbelt. He noted that they had over the years
incrementally increased the instructional unit and the community of
Mat-Su did sue the State for inequitable treatment, but lost the
case. There was a temporary fix in that situation or Mat-Su would
have sued again and would have won.
Consequently, the bush communities are getting $61,500 per unit.
There has been no change in the unit value in his area. He has
suggested what appears in SB 36. The concept in the legislation
requires that every community in the State, rich or poor, would
contribute five mills or the equivalent in local effort to support
education. Right now each of the taxpaying districts he is talking
about are paying more than five mills. They are paying up to the
cap and then taking over all the other functions. So, every
community that is paying more than five mills would benefit from
this. Those communities that will be paying less than five mills
are being subsidized. The North Slope Borough is paying about two
mills.
SENATOR TAYLOR explained that by taxing ourselves, we are
subsidizing the North Slope Borough. Their Borough is so wealthy
that, were they to pay the same amount as they are required to pay
under the existing formula, they would pay for all of their cost of
education and they would derive about $30 million additional
funding into the formula. The same happens in Valdez and Unalaska,
but there are no additional monies that come into the formula.
He wants to level the playing field. He thought it was important
for everyone in the State, rich or poor, to pay five mills and this
would be the basic support required. The State would supplement
the rest of the cost of education. Many communities are setting 6%
- 9% mill equivalency and they are putting that amount into their
school district right now.
SENATOR TAYLOR said there are two things that have to be
accomplished by any funding formula. One is that area cost
differential has to be adjusted and it has to be adjusted based on
some objective number. Not one that is politically driven. It
would have to mean something to the people in that community.
There is a significant difference in the cost of education between
Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, and Anchorage. Yet
they are all at the same level. They are going to also have to
bring everyone to the table to share the pain or they are never
going to have a fair formula. It has to be fair or sooner or later
a school district is going to sue and the public will not be the
one's making the decision. It will be the courts.
TAPE 97-50, SIDE B
SENATOR TAYLOR said he believed the legislature would rewrite the
funding formula this year and their input would make a difference.
[DUE TO POOR TAPING QUALITY, TRANSCRIPTION WAS NOT POSSIBLE FOR
SOME OF THE SPEAKERS.]
SENATOR TORGERSON explained the legislation he had introduced a
couple of years ago attempting to eliminate school districts. If
a community voted not to form a borough, the State would come in
and assess and levy of 4 - 4 1/2 mills and there would be no option
of not paying. He reintroduced that bill this year and SB 142,
which does a lot of the same things, but doesn't have the borough
issue in it.
He said that SB 142 establishes a tax in the unorganized boroughs
in Alaska, parts of which aren't currently contributing to
education. Some of the facts that have been accumulated over time
are that 92% of Alaskans pay a local effort either in a single site
school or in a borough. That 92% receives 79% of the funding. The
8% that are not required to pay anything receives 21% of the pot.
This bill equalizes the formula across the State and adopts model
borough boundaries and says there can only be one school district
per boundary. There are 53 school districts that operate in the
State ranging in size from 31 students to 53,000 students in
Anchorage. This bill would eliminate school districts down to one
model borough per boundary.
He said that SB 193 sets administrative costs at $950 per student
per district and then multiplies that number by the ACED. Senator
Torgerson said that if it were fair to use the ACD for books and
things, then administrative costs would trail along. It's a $20
million savings.
If the administrative bill passes, the consolidation of school
districts is not an issue.
SENATOR WILKEN said SB 146 shows some of the problems in the
current formula and suggests at least one way to fix it. He said
it took three tries in Fairbanks to pass a $64 million bond issue.
The third time the people didn't like the fact that they were going
to spend money to build schools for their region and asked why they
should pay 30% when others paid nothing. There are places in the
State that are wealthy and don't pay anything for education close
to what Fairbanks does. He said fixing funding for schools was one
of the main things he wants to do for his kids and his grandkids.
The problem is that the formula is complicated and unfair, said
Senator Wilken.
He broke the formula down into four pieces: State support, required
local (you have to do something locally in order to get State
money), local contributions, and assessment normalization.
Forty-three school districts in 2002 benefit from SB 146. Some
people have characterized SB 146 efforts as stealing from the rural
areas and giving to the urban areas. In the last 10 years the
amount of general fund money has increased 51% and the amount the
State has have been asked to contribute has increased by 26%. If
you assume that 2.75 is the inflation rate per year for the last 10
years in Alaska, the purchasing power of the education dollar today
is the same as it was in 1986.
He said there was some question about the Teacher Retirement System
in 1986, but that was included in the formula. So, he stands by
his numbers of $409 million in 1986 and $628 million in 1997. The
question is where did the money go. The problem is with the
formula. Forty-three states have per student public school funding
and seven have instructional units.
He explained that the amount per student dollar, times the number
of students, times developmentally disabled students (a fixed
number), minus the required local equals the State's support for
education.
The number of students is adjusted for where they live, how many,
and special needs; that's all. You multiply that times the student
dollar and that's the public school foundation. He said this
equates education to the voter through the dollar and it's simple.
He said it is essential to adjust the foundation formula to
establish a per student dollar.
In 1995 Governor Knowles and the Department of Education conducted
a survey that asked if education monies were increased tomorrow
would it increase the quality of education in Alaska. Three percent
didn't know; 30% said yes; and 66% said no. Forty-seven percent of
the voters had children in schools and didn't think more money was
going to fix the problems. Eighty-one percent of the group thought
we should go on a student dollar. Seventy-four percent thought it
should be simplified. These are the numbers he thought were
driving the Governor. The survey results show the need to go to a
per student dollar and the legislature should be paying attention
to these results.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN said there were two sets of rules for the organized
and the unorganized areas of the State. The organized areas give
4 mills or 35% of the required State basic need. The change in SB
146 is significant. It asks for 3 mills. It doesn't decrease the
amount of education money; it changes the qualifying number for
receiving State money. There won't be a sudden decrease in the
funding for education at the local level because of the decrease to
3 mills.
He explained a graph that he presented to the committee of how much
each community was contributing. He noted that Ketchikan, Sitka,
Kenai, and others were at the cap. He said this slide shows the
disparity between communities and then he discussed what he thought
was a "fair share." He said it was based on assessed value of the
organized area. Fair share is determined by the free-market forces
at work within the organized community's boundaries. It is a clear
reflection of the ability or inability of an organized area to
create varying degrees of wealth. On a larger scale, it is a clear
indication of the health of the State.
SB 146 is based on the assessed value divided by the number of
students which Senator Wilken thought was fair. Each district is
required to contribute an equal amount based on its assessed value
in order to qualify for State basic support, but never more than
what is required to educate its respective children. This
redistributes State formula money from the more wealthy districts
to the less wealthy.
In the unorganized areas the State gave $135 million (22% of
education monies) to REAAs in 1996, but the REAAs did not
contribute to the education formula. Locally generated revenues is
each district's choice.
SENATOR WILKEN said under SB 146 the State spreads $90 million
around the State in order to equalize the funding. He explained
that districts put money in the pot based on assessed value by the
State; money is taken out based on the number of students that are
going to be educated. He reiterated that SB 146 was based on
simplicity and fairness.
TAPE 97-51, SIDE A
MR. GREG MIDDAG said that there had been no real increase in the
amount of funding for education since 1986. He said that figures
for the total cost of education did not reflect the amount of money
that goes to each child which amounts to $150 per child over the
last 12 years - not near enough to cover the cost of inflation or
increasing the quality of what might be possible in education. Per
diem and allowances in other areas that have been approved by
legislators have increased by $8,000. The people want to hear that
the children of Alaska are going to get the same type of advantages
that the legislature looks at giving to themselves in terms of
where they are and how they need increased monies for inflation and
cost-of-living. He said that education needs more money. In 1992
they had five teachers and one aide working with disabled students
at his school and today there are two teachers and an aide. They
can't function like that.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN said he couldn't agree with him more and that's why
they are doing all this work.
An unidentified teacher said that they would not even consider
having a meeting in her school because the lines and temperatures
are so bad. She said that her buying power continually goes down
and she is asked to do more. She said she will give more, but it
is time for everyone to give more.
An unidentified speaker said he favored slicing the pie differently
and he also thought the pie was too small to start with.
SENATOR TAYLOR answered that there are two different ways to
calculate the millage rate. They have been tempted to set the
formula is SB 36 in a fashion that would not cost the individual
tax payers in the tax paying districts more money. To answer when
they are going to put more money in the bucket, he said that SB 36
puts about $50 million more into that bucket. It, then, gets
divided out among the tax based communities. Under this scenario
almost every tax paying district in the State would have a
significant increase in the amount of money they would receive.
The same thing will happen with SB 146. There will be an increase
in the amount of money the State sends to districts to educate kids
with. He said school districts need more dollars flowing into the
communities that have been deprived. He did not want to increase
taxes; Senator Wilken's formula increases taxes with a 3%
employment tax for those people living in the REAAs. This he
thought would be tough to sell politically. The legislature wants
a level playing field for their tax-based districts and some more
money in the pot so that districts can take care of deferred
building maintenance. He noted that the North Slope Borough had a
$120 million swimming pool and the Arctic Slope had three airplanes
maintained for the children to learn to fly airplanes. Ketchikan
didn't even have a nurse in their whole school district. He didn't
think that was equitable funding.
There was general discussion, but the tape was indiscernible.
MR. MIKE MCCONNEL, Ketchikan parent, commented. [INDISTINCT TAPE]
SENATOR TAYLOR said he supported his recommendation of not leaving
it to the legislature to set the area cost differential, but to
find an objective way to do it.
An unidentified speaker asked about cutting funding for
transportation to schools.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN responded that they intended to cover
transportation, but it's not part of these bills.
An unidentified speaker reported that they do not have art
instruction at the elementary level, nor counselors. They have
only half time P/E and music teachers at the elementary school
levels.
SENATOR TAYLOR explained that Ketchikan's increase next year is
about 5% in SB 146. He also said that SB 146 didn't take money
from one district and give it to another.
MS. KAREN FRYE, teacher, said she had seen programs and support
staff go down in the 17-years she had been teaching and she thought
the formula needed to be redone. She thought something needed to
be done to increase the dollars in the pot.
An unidentified speaker questioned if they were looking at the cost
of living versus the cost of operating schools and if they were
looking at the cost the way the schools are currently or they way
they want them to be.
MR. MIKE HAPOLD testified. [INDIS]
TAPE 97-51, SIDE B
Several unidentified speakers testified briefly, but the recording
was indiscernible.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
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