HB 215: "An Act relating to student counts for school funding purposes; and repealing school experience for salary scales provisions."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 215 01 "An Act relating to student counts for school funding purposes; and repealing school 02 experience for salary scales provisions." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 14.17.500(a) is amended to read: 05 (a) A district shall prepare and submit to the department by March 15 06 [NOVEMBER 5] of each fiscal year, in the manner and on forms prescribed by the 07 department, an estimate of its ADM and other student count data, including per school 08 student count data, for the current and succeeding fiscal year upon which 09 computations can be made to estimate the amount of state aid for which the district 10 may be eligible under AS 14.17.400 in the succeeding fiscal year. In making its report, 11 the district shall consider its ADM, other student count data, the pattern of growth or 12 decline of the student population in preceding years, and other pertinent information 13 available to the district. 14 * Sec. 2. AS 14.17.600(a) is amended to read:
01 (a) Within two weeks after the end of each of the 20-school-day periods 02 [PERIOD] ending the fourth Friday in October and the last Friday in February, 03 each district shall transmit a report to the department that, under regulations adopted 04 by the department, reports its ADM for that counting period, the average ADM over 05 the two consecutive counting periods for the previous fiscal year, and, for the 06 February report and October report, the current year, and other student count 07 information that will aid the department in making a determination of its state aid 08 under the public school funding program. [FOR CENTRALIZED 09 CORRESPONDENCE STUDY, THE OCTOBER REPORT SHALL BE BASED ON 10 THE PERIOD FROM JULY 1 THROUGH THE FOURTH FRIDAY IN OCTOBER.] 11 The department may make necessary corrections in the report submitted and shall 12 notify the district of changes made. The commissioner shall notify the governor of 13 additional appropriations the commissioner estimates to be necessary to fully finance 14 the public school funding program for the current fiscal year. 15 * Sec. 3. AS 14.17.610(a) is amended to read: 16 (a) Except as provided in (d) of this section, the [THE] department shall 17 determine the state aid for each school district in a fiscal year on the basis of the 18 district's averaged student count for the October and February counting periods 19 [DATA] reported under AS 14.17.600 for the preceding and current fiscal years. 20 On or before the 15th day of each of the first nine months of each fiscal year, one- 21 twelfth of each district's state aid shall be distributed on the basis of the [DATA 22 REPORTED FOR THE] preceding fiscal year entitlement. On or before the 15th day 23 of each of the last three months of each fiscal year, one-third of the balance of each 24 district's state aid shall be distributed, after the balance has been recomputed under 25 (d) of this section [ON THE BASIS OF STUDENT COUNT AND OTHER DATA 26 REPORTED FOR THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR]. 27 * Sec. 4. AS 14.17.610 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 28 (d) If the averaged student count made and reported by a district under 29 AS 14.17.600 for the current year is higher than the averaged count made under that 30 section for the preceding fiscal year, the department shall recompute the state aid, 31 including per school student count data, to adjust for the higher average student count,
01 and the higher average count shall be used for the student count for the current year 02 and for the estimates made for the succeeding fiscal year under AS 14.17.500. The 03 February student count must be submitted to the department by March 15 of the 04 current year for a recomputation to be made under this subsection. 05 * Sec. 5. AS 14.16.050(a)(3)(C) and AS 14.20.220 are repealed. 06 * Sec. 6. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 07 read: 08 TRANSITION. In the first school year following the effective date of this Act, the 09 student count completed in the immediately preceding school year shall be used as the 10 average student count under AS 14.17.610(a) and (d), as amended and added by secs. 3 and 4 11 of this Act, as though two student count periods had occurred for that year and added.