CSSB 52(FIN): "An Act relating to education; requiring the Department of Education and Early Development to provide information relating to public schools on an Internet website; relating to information on the post-secondary education, career path, and residency of graduates from high schools in the state; relating to transportation of students; relating to state funding for districts operating residential schools; increasing the base student allocation; and providing for an effective date."
00 CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 52(FIN) 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; relating to transportation of students; relating 05 to state funding for districts operating residential schools; increasing the base student 06 allocation; and providing for an effective date." 07 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 08 * Section 1. AS 14.03.120 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 09 (k) The department shall establish and maintain a user-friendly Internet 10 website that allows a member of the public to view and download information 11 described in this subsection and to make recommendations relating to improving 12 public education in the state. The information on the Internet website must be 13 presented in a fashion that is easily understood. To the extent practicable, and without
01 disclosing information that is confidential under state or federal law, the department 02 shall make the following information available on the Internet website: 03 (1) reports required under this section and AS 14.03.078; 04 (2) copies of audits made under AS 14.14.050; and 05 (3) a description of how each district is addressing the needs of 06 students who receive special education services. 07 (l) A district may provide on the district's Internet website a link to the 08 Internet website described in (k) of this section. 09 (m) The department shall collaborate with the Department of Labor and 10 Workforce Development under AS 44.31.020 to gather data on the progress of each 11 high school graduating class in a district by collecting career, postsecondary 12 education, and residency data on each student in the graduating class. The departments 13 shall gather the data every five years for 20 years after the high school graduation date 14 of the class. 15 * Sec. 2. AS 14.07.020(a), as amended by sec. 15, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 16 (a) The department shall 17 (1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 18 except the University of Alaska; 19 (2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 20 adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 21 performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 22 of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 23 develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college 24 preparatory courses; 25 (3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 26 governing bodies and personnel; 27 (4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 28 schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 29 given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 30 (5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and 31 Community Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held
01 in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are 02 defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment; 03 (6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 04 prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 05 department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 06 session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 07 whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 08 the members of each house; 09 (7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 10 marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 11 conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 12 physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 13 private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 14 (8) exercise general supervision over early education programs that 15 receive direct state or federal funding, including early education programs provided by 16 a school district for students four and five years of age, approve an early education 17 program provided by a school district that complies with the standards adopted by the 18 board under AS 14.07.165(a)(5), and revoke approval of an early education program if 19 the program does not comply with the standards adopted by the board under 20 AS 14.07.165(a)(5); 21 (9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 22 correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 23 educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 24 Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 25 (10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 26 accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 27 paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 28 licensed; 29 (11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 30 secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 31 elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the
01 department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 02 construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 03 include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 04 and costs, and final contract documents; 05 (12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 06 education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 07 are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 08 unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 09 will lead to employment opportunities; 10 (13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 11 (14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 12 school bus driver training course; 13 (15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 14 and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 15 behavior; 16 (16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 17 under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 18 practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 19 (A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 20 and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 21 (B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 22 AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 23 consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 24 increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 25 arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 26 (C) a process for districts to petition the department for 27 continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 28 (17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 29 education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 30 redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 31 (18) establish a reading program to provide direct support for and
01 intervention in the reading intervention programs of participating schools as described 02 in AS 14.30.765 and 14.30.770; 03 (19) annually convene, either in person or electronically, a panel to 04 review and comment on the effectiveness of the programs created by the department 05 and the regulations adopted by the board to implement AS 14.03.410, 14.03.420, 06 AS 14.30.760 - 14.30.770, and 14.30.800; the panel 07 (A) shall provide recommendations and guidance to the board, 08 the department, and the legislature on how to integrate early education and 09 reading programs created under this title with tribal compacting or programs 10 focused on cultural education within the department; 11 (B) shall discuss support for reading in Alaska Native 12 languages and other non-English languages; 13 (C) must collectively represent the regions of the state and 14 include teachers of grades kindergarten through three, school administrators, 15 parents of students in grades kindergarten through three, stakeholders from 16 indigenous language immersion programs, representatives from early 17 education stakeholder groups, and researchers of best practices for improving 18 literacy performance, including best practices for instruction of indigenous 19 students and students whose first language is not English; 20 (20) collaborate with the Department of Labor and Workforce 21 Development to gather data on the progress of each high school graduating class 22 as required under AS 14.03.120(m). 23 * Sec. 3. AS 14.07.020(a), as amended by sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 24 (a) The department shall 25 (1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 26 except the University of Alaska; 27 (2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 28 adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 29 performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 30 of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 31 develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college
01 preparatory courses; 02 (3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 03 governing bodies and personnel; 04 (4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 05 schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 06 given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 07 (5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and 08 Community Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held 09 in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are 10 defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment; 11 (6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 12 prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 13 department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 14 session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 15 whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 16 the members of each house; 17 (7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 18 marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 19 conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 20 physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 21 private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 22 (8) exercise general supervision over early education programs that 23 receive direct state or federal funding, including early education programs provided by 24 a school district for students four and five years of age; 25 (9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 26 correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 27 educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 28 Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 29 (10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 30 accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 31 paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be
01 licensed; 02 (11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 03 secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 04 elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 05 department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 06 construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 07 include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 08 and costs, and final contract documents; 09 (12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 10 education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 11 are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 12 unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 13 will lead to employment opportunities; 14 (13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 15 (14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 16 school bus driver training course; 17 (15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 18 and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 19 behavior; 20 (16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 21 under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 22 practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 23 (A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 24 and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 25 (B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 26 AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 27 consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 28 increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 29 arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 30 (C) a process for districts to petition the department for 31 continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention;
01 (17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 02 education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 03 redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 04 (18) collaborate with the Department of Labor and Workforce 05 Development to gather data on the progress of each high school graduating class 06 as required under AS 14.03.120(m). 07 * Sec. 4. AS 14.09.010(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 08 (a) A school district that provides student transportation services for the 09 transportation of students who reside a distance from established schools is eligible to 10 receive funding for operating or subcontracting the operation of the transportation 11 system for students to and from the schools within the student's transportation service 12 area. Subject to appropriation, the amount of funding provided by the state for 13 operating the student transportation system is the amount of a school district's ADM, 14 less the ADM for the district's correspondence programs during the current fiscal year, 15 multiplied by the per student amount for the school district as follows, for the school 16 years beginning July 1, 2023: 17 DISTRICT PER STUDENT AMOUNT 18 Alaska Gateway $2,536 19 Aleutians East 378 20 Anchorage 531 21 Annette Island 222 22 Bering Strait 60 23 Bristol Bay 3,257 24 Chatham 342 25 Copper River 1,934 26 Cordova 409 27 Craig 515 28 Delta/Greely 2,019 29 Denali 2,203 30 Dillingham 1,484 31 Fairbanks 995
01 Galena 310 02 Haines 763 03 Hoonah 364 04 Iditarod 258 05 Juneau 735 06 Kake 331 07 Kashunamiut 6 08 Kenai Peninsula 1,115 09 Ketchikan 886 10 Klawock 712 11 Kodiak Island 974 12 Kuspuk 797 13 Lake and Peninsula 468 14 Lower Kuskokwim 338 15 Lower Yukon 1 16 Matanuska-Susitna 1,109 17 Nenana 716 18 Nome 757 19 North Slope 1,365 20 Northwest Arctic 30 21 Pelican 88 22 Petersburg 457 23 Saint Mary's 235 24 Sitka 522 25 Skagway 44 26 Southeast Island 1,408 27 Southwest Region 728 28 Tanana 581 29 Unalaska 790 30 Valdez 897 31 Wrangell 854
01 Yakutat 907 02 Yukon Flats 322 03 Yukon/Koyukuk 365 04 Yupiit 2. 05 * Sec. 5. AS 14.16.200(b) is amended to read: 06 (b) Costs that may be claimed by a district for reimbursement under (a) of this 07 section are 08 (1) one round trip on the least expensive means of transportation 09 between the student's community of residence and the school during the school year if 10 the district expends money for the trip; and 11 (2) a per-pupil monthly stipend to cover room and board expenses as 12 determined by the department on a regional basis and not to exceed the following 13 amounts: 14 (A) for the Southeast Region (Region I), $1,845 [$1,230]; 15 (B) for the Southcentral Region (Region II), $1,800 [$1,200]; 16 (C) for the Interior Region (Region III), $2,178 [$1,452]; 17 (D) for the Southwest Region (Region IV), $2,264 [$1,509]; 18 (E) for the Northern Remote Region (Region V), $2,664 19 [$1,776]. 20 * Sec. 6. AS 14.17.470, as amended by sec. 26, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 21 Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $6,640 22 [$5,960]. 23 * Sec. 7. AS 44.31.020 is amended to read: 24 Sec. 44.31.020. Duties of department. The Department of Labor and 25 Workforce Development shall 26 (1) enforce the laws and adopt regulations under them concerning 27 employer-employee relationships, including the safety, hours of work, wages, and 28 conditions of workers, including children; 29 (2) accumulate, analyze, and report labor statistics; 30 (3) operate systems of workers' compensation and unemployment 31 insurance;
01 (4) gather data reflecting the cost of living in various locations of the 02 state upon request of the director of personnel under AS 39.27.030; 03 (5) operate the federally funded employment and training programs 04 under 29 U.S.C. 2801 - 2945 (Workforce Investment Act of 1998); 05 (6) administer the state's program of adult basic education and adopt 06 regulations to administer the program; and 07 (7) administer the programs of the Alaska Vocational Technical Center 08 and adopt regulations to administer the programs, including regulations that set rates 09 for student tuition and room and board and fees for the programs and services 10 provided by the department regarding the Alaska Vocational Technical Center; 11 (8) gather data on the progress of each high school graduating 12 class in a district by collecting career, postsecondary education, and residency 13 data on each student in the graduating class; the department shall gather the 14 data required under this paragraph every five years for 20 years after the high 15 school graduation date of each high school graduating class; the department shall 16 publish a biennial report on the data gathered under this paragraph; in this 17 paragraph, "district" has the meaning given in AS 14.17.990. 18 * Sec. 8. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 19 read: 20 RETROACTIVITY. Section 4 of this Act is retroactive to July 1, 2023. 21 * Sec. 9. Section 3 of this Act takes effect on the effective date of sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 22 2022. 23 * Sec. 10. Sections 4 - 6 and 8 of this Act take effect on the effective date of sec. 26, ch. 40, 24 SLA 2022. 25 * Sec. 11. AS 14.03.120(k) and (l), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, take effect July 1, 2024. 26 * Sec. 12. AS 14.03.120(m), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, and secs. 2 and 7 of this Act take 27 effect July 1, 2025.