00 CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 52(EDC) 01 "An Act relating to education; requiring the Department of Education and Early 02 Development to provide information relating to public schools on an Internet website; 03 relating to information on the post-secondary education, career path, and residency of 04 graduates from high schools in the state; increasing the base student allocation; and 05 providing for an effective date." 06 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07  * Section 1. AS 14.03.120 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 08 (k) The department shall establish and maintain a user-friendly Internet 09 website that allows a member of the public to view and download information 10 described in this subsection and to make recommendations relating to improving 11 public education in the state. The information on the Internet website must be 12 presented in a fashion that is easily understood. To the extent practicable, and without 13 disclosing information that is confidential under state or federal law, the department 01 shall make the following information available on the Internet website: 02 (1) reports required under this section and AS 14.03.078; 03 (2) copies of audits made under AS 14.14.050; and 04 (3) a description of how each district is addressing the needs of 05 students who receive special education services. 06 (l) A district may provide on the district's Internet website a link to the 07 Internet website described in (k) of this section. 08 (m) The department shall collaborate with the Department of Labor and 09 Workforce Development under AS 44.31.020 to gather data on the progress of each 10 high school graduating class in a district by collecting career, postsecondary 11 education, and residency data on each student in the graduating class. The departments 12 shall gather the data every five years for 20 years after the high school graduation date 13 of the class.  14  * Sec. 2. AS 14.07.020(a), as amended by sec. 15, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 15 (a) The department shall 16 (1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 17 except the University of Alaska; 18 (2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 19 adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 20 performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 21 of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 22 develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college 23 preparatory courses; 24 (3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 25 governing bodies and personnel; 26 (4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 27 schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 28 given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 29 (5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and 30 Community Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held 31 in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are 01 defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment; 02 (6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 03 prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 04 department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 05 session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 06 whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 07 the members of each house; 08 (7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 09 marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 10 conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 11 physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 12 private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 13 (8) exercise general supervision over early education programs that 14 receive direct state or federal funding, including early education programs provided by 15 a school district for students four and five years of age, approve an early education 16 program provided by a school district that complies with the standards adopted by the 17 board under AS 14.07.165(a)(5), and revoke approval of an early education program if 18 the program does not comply with the standards adopted by the board under 19 AS 14.07.165(a)(5); 20 (9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 21 correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 22 educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 23 Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 24 (10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 25 accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 26 paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 27 licensed; 28 (11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 29 secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 30 elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 31 department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 01 construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 02 include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 03 and costs, and final contract documents; 04 (12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 05 education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 06 are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 07 unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 08 will lead to employment opportunities; 09 (13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 10 (14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 11 school bus driver training course; 12 (15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 13 and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 14 behavior; 15 (16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 16 under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 17 practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 18 (A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 19 and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 20 (B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 21 AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 22 consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 23 increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 24 arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 25 (C) a process for districts to petition the department for 26 continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 27 (17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 28 education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 29 redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 30 (18) establish a reading program to provide direct support for and 31 intervention in the reading intervention programs of participating schools as described 01 in AS 14.30.765 and 14.30.770; 02 (19) annually convene, either in person or electronically, a panel to 03 review and comment on the effectiveness of the programs created by the department 04 and the regulations adopted by the board to implement AS 14.03.410, 14.03.420, 05 AS 14.30.760 - 14.30.770, and 14.30.800; the panel 06 (A) shall provide recommendations and guidance to the board, 07 the department, and the legislature on how to integrate early education and 08 reading programs created under this title with tribal compacting or programs 09 focused on cultural education within the department; 10 (B) shall discuss support for reading in Alaska Native 11 languages and other non-English languages; 12 (C) must collectively represent the regions of the state and 13 include teachers of grades kindergarten through three, school administrators, 14 parents of students in grades kindergarten through three, stakeholders from 15 indigenous language immersion programs, representatives from early 16 education stakeholder groups, and researchers of best practices for improving 17 literacy performance, including best practices for instruction of indigenous 18 students and students whose first language is not English;  19 (20) collaborate with the Department of Labor and Workforce  20 Development to gather data on the progress of each high school graduating class  21 as required under AS 14.03.120(m).  22  * Sec. 3. AS 14.07.020(a), as amended by sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 23 (a) The department shall 24 (1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 25 except the University of Alaska; 26 (2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 27 adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 28 performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 29 of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 30 develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college 31 preparatory courses; 01 (3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 02 governing bodies and personnel; 03 (4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 04 schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 05 given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 06 (5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and 07 Community Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held 08 in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are 09 defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment; 10 (6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 11 prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 12 department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 13 session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 14 whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 15 the members of each house; 16 (7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 17 marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 18 conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 19 physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 20 private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 21 (8) exercise general supervision over early education programs that 22 receive direct state or federal funding, including early education programs provided by 23 a school district for students four and five years of age; 24 (9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 25 correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 26 educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 27 Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 28 (10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 29 accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 30 paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 31 licensed; 01 (11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 02 secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 03 elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 04 department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 05 construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 06 include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 07 and costs, and final contract documents; 08 (12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 09 education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 10 are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 11 unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 12 will lead to employment opportunities; 13 (13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 14 (14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 15 school bus driver training course; 16 (15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 17 and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 18 behavior; 19 (16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 20 under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 21 practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 22 (A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 23 and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 24 (B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 25 AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 26 consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 27 increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 28 arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 29 (C) a process for districts to petition the department for 30 continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 31 (17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 01 education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 02 redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 03 (18) collaborate with the Department of Labor and Workforce  04 Development to gather data on the progress of each high school graduating class  05 as required under AS 14.03.120(m). 06  * Sec. 4. AS 14.17.470, as amended by sec. 26, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 07 Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $6,960 08 [$5,960]. 09  * Sec. 5. AS 14.17.470, as amended by sec. 4 of this Act, is amended to read: 10 Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $7,308 11 [$6,960]. 12  * Sec. 6. AS 14.17.470 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 13 (b) On July 1, 2025, the department shall increase the base student allocation 14 by a percentage equal to the average percentage of increase over the preceding four 15 calendar years in all items of the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for 16 urban Alaska prepared by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor 17 Statistics. 18  * Sec. 7. AS 44.31.020 is amended to read: 19 Sec. 44.31.020. Duties of department. The Department of Labor and 20 Workforce Development shall  21 (1) enforce the laws and adopt regulations under them concerning 22 employer-employee relationships, including the safety, hours of work, wages, and 23 conditions of workers, including children; 24 (2) accumulate, analyze, and report labor statistics; 25 (3) operate systems of workers' compensation and unemployment 26 insurance; 27 (4) gather data reflecting the cost of living in various locations of the 28 state upon request of the director of personnel under AS 39.27.030; 29 (5) operate the federally funded employment and training programs 30 under 29 U.S.C. 2801 - 2945 (Workforce Investment Act of 1998); 31 (6) administer the state's program of adult basic education and adopt 01 regulations to administer the program; and 02 (7) administer the programs of the Alaska Vocational Technical Center 03 and adopt regulations to administer the programs, including regulations that set rates 04 for student tuition and room and board and fees for the programs and services 05 provided by the department regarding the Alaska Vocational Technical Center; 06 (8) gather data on the progress of each high school graduating  07 class in a district by collecting career, postsecondary education, and residency  08 data on each student in the graduating class; the department shall gather the  09 data required under this paragraph every five years for 20 years after the high  10 school graduation date of each high school graduating class; the department shall  11 publish a biennial report on the data gathered under this paragraph; in this  12 paragraph, "district" has the meaning given in AS 14.17.990. 13  * Sec. 8. Section 3 of this Act takes effect on the effective date of sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 14 2022. 15  * Sec. 9. Sections 2 and 4 of this Act take effect on the effective date of secs. 15 and 26, ch. 16 40, SLA 2022. 17  * Sec. 10. AS 14.03.120(k) and (l), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, and sec. 5 of this Act take 18 effect July 1, 2024. 19  * Sec. 11. AS 14.03.120(m), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, and secs. 6 and 7 of this Act take 20 effect July 1, 2025.