HB 400: "An Act relating to correspondence study programs; relating to allotments for correspondence study programs; and providing for an effective date."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 400 01 "An Act relating to correspondence study programs; relating to allotments for 02 correspondence study programs; and providing for an effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 14.03.300 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 05 (c) A district that provides a correspondence study plan that enrolls an out-of- 06 district student shall include an assessment plan for each student of the same quality as 07 an assessment plan that the district offers in the district's other programs. The 08 assessment plan must 09 (1) be developed with the assistance and approval of the certificated 10 teacher assigned to the student by the district under (a) of this section; 11 (2) provide for monitoring of the student by the assigned certificated 12 teacher that includes monthly teacher-student or teacher-parent contact and quarterly 13 reviews of the student's work or progress in the individual learning plan; the district 14 shall keep a record of contact made under this paragraph;
01 (3) include, after review and consideration of any recommendations of 02 the student and parents, the student's grades, or other determination that the course 03 standards are met as determined and assigned by the certificated teacher; and 04 (4) include a transcript that denotes the origin of the curriculum and 05 curriculum material for any course provided that was not selected by the school board 06 of the district. 07 (d) Certificated staff of a correspondence study program may not share, offer, 08 or distribute religious, partisan, sectarian, or denominational doctrine as part of the 09 staff member's instructional or other duties. 10 (e) The department shall monitor correspondence study programs to ensure 11 compliance with AS 14.03.300 and 14.03.310. 12 (f) The department or a district that provides a correspondence study program 13 shall submit an annual report to the department that includes 14 (1) the number of students enrolled in the program; 15 (2) the demographic information of the students enrolled in the 16 program; 17 (3) an accounting of student allotments disbursed under AS 14.03.310; 18 (4) assessment and proficiency scores of the students enrolled in the 19 program; and 20 (5) administrative costs of the program. 21 * Sec. 2. AS 14.03.310(a) is amended to read: 22 (a) Except as provided in (e) of this section, the department or a district that 23 provides a correspondence study program may provide an annual student allotment to 24 a parent or guardian of a student enrolled in the correspondence study program for the 25 purpose of meeting instructional expenses for the student enrolled in the program as 26 provided in this section. A parent or guardian may use a student allotment only 27 for the instructional needs of the student enrolled in the correspondence study 28 program as determined in the student's individual learning plan under 29 AS 14.03.300. 30 * Sec. 3. AS 14.03.310(e) is amended to read: 31 (e) A student allotment provided under (a) of this section may not be used to
01 pay for 02 (1) services provided to a student by a family member; in [. IN] this 03 paragraph [SUBSECTION], "family member" means the student's spouse, guardian, 04 parent, stepparent, sibling, stepsibling, grandparent, stepgrandparent, child, uncle, or 05 aunt; 06 (2) services or materials provided by a private or religious 07 educational institution; 08 (3) family travel, including transportation, food, lodging, or 09 expenses during the family travel, or any travel out of state, unless the school 10 board or superintendent of the district approves the expenses incurred in the out- 11 of-state travel associated with direct instructional activities; in this paragraph, 12 "family travel" does not include travel in which a student is accompanied by the 13 student's family for assessments or other required activities initiated by the 14 district; 15 (4) annual passes or family memberships to a sports or 16 recreational facility; however, an annual pass or membership for a student may 17 be purchased for entry into a sports or recreational facility in which the student 18 is provided lessons under the student's individual learning plan if the cost of the 19 pass or membership is prorated to include only the cost of the student's 20 instructional time; 21 (5) fees that allow entrance to a facility in which no instruction 22 directly connected to a student's individual learning plan is given; 23 (6) religious, partisan, sectarian, or denominational textbooks or 24 other curriculum materials; 25 (7) clothing, uniforms, physical education equipment, or personal 26 items; 27 (8) pets and other animals; 28 (9) furniture; 29 (10) taxes, testing other than educational assessments required by 30 the district, or parking fees; 31 (11) entertainment;
01 (12) permanent items that adhere to or enhance the value of a 02 nonschool facility; or 03 (13) items that exceed the needs of the student's individual 04 learning plan under AS 14.03.300 as determined by the chief school 05 administrator. 06 * Sec. 4. AS 14.03.310 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 07 (f) A statewide correspondence study program or a parent or guardian may use 08 a student allotment provided under (a) of this section to contract with a private 09 individual to provide tutoring if it is part of the student's individual learning plan under 10 AS 14.03.300. A certificated teacher who is employed by the correspondence study 11 program and who is highly qualified to teach the subject or grade level has the primary 12 responsibility to plan, instruct, and evaluate the student's learning of the subject. 13 Tutoring paid for under this section may not be provided by a private or religious 14 educational institution. 15 (g) Textbooks and other curriculum materials purchased with allotment funds 16 are property of the district. A parent or guardian of a student enrolled in the program 17 shall return materials that are not consumables to the district when the student exits the 18 program for any reason. 19 (h) The department or a district that provides a student allotment shall 20 (1) annually return the unexpended balance of a student allotment to 21 the budget of the department or district of the student; 22 (2) immediately return the unexpended balance of a student allotment 23 provided to a student to the budget of the department or district when the student is no 24 longer enrolled in the correspondence study program. 25 * Sec. 5. AS 14.07.168 is amended to read: 26 Sec. 14.07.168. Report to the legislature. Not later than the 30th legislative 27 day of each regular session of the legislature, the board shall prepare and present in 28 person to the legislative committees having jurisdiction over education an annual 29 report that describes the efforts of the board to develop, maintain, and continuously 30 improve a comprehensive quality public education system, as provided for under the 31 bylaws of the board. The report must include
01 (1) a summary of the resolves and rationales provided in support of 02 policy decisions made under AS 14.03.015; 03 (2) program and curriculum changes made, discussed, or 04 recommended in meetings held under AS 14.07.125; 05 (3) additional information relevant to efforts made to improve and 06 maintain the public education system; 07 (4) a summary of implementation and utilization of the consortium 08 established under AS 14.30.800, including a review of consortium effectiveness and 09 the participation rates of districts, teachers, and students; 10 (5) the information reported to the department under 11 AS 14.03.300(f). 12 * Sec. 6. AS 14.07.168, as amended by sec. 23, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 13 Sec. 14.07.168. Report to the legislature. Not later than the 30th legislative 14 day of each regular session of the legislature, the board shall prepare and present in 15 person to the legislative committees having jurisdiction over education an annual 16 report that describes the efforts of the board to develop, maintain, and continuously 17 improve a comprehensive quality public education system, as provided for under the 18 bylaws of the board. The report must include 19 (1) a summary of the resolves and rationales provided in support of 20 policy decisions made under AS 14.03.015; 21 (2) program and curriculum changes made, discussed, or 22 recommended in meetings held under AS 14.07.125; 23 (3) additional information relevant to efforts made to improve and 24 maintain the public education system; 25 (4) the information reported to the department under 26 AS 14.03.300(f). 27 * Sec. 7. AS 14.03.300(b) and 14.03.310(b) are repealed. 28 * Sec. 8. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 29 read: 30 APPLICABILITY: ALLOTMENT FUNDS. AS 14.03.310(h), enacted by sec. 4 of 31 this Act, applies to student allotments disbursed under AS 14.03.310(a) on or after the
01 effective date of sec. 4 of this Act. 02 * Sec. 9. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 03 read: 04 TRANSITION: ALLOTMENT FUNDS. Student allotments disbursed under 05 AS 14.03.310(a) before the effective date of sec. 4 of this Act must be spent not later than 06 June 30, 2030. On or immediately after July 1, 2030, the Department of Education and Early 07 Development or a district that provided a student allotment before the effective date of sec. 4 08 of this Act shall return an outstanding balance to the budget of the department or district of 09 the student. 10 * Sec. 10. Section 6 of this Act takes effect on the effective date of sec. 23, ch. 40, SLA 11 2022.