HCS CSSB 140(FIN): "An Act relating to education; relating to funding for Internet services for school districts; 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 HOUSE CS FOR CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 140(FIN) 01 "An Act relating to education; relating to funding for Internet services for school 02 districts; requiring the Department of Education and Early Development to provide 03 information relating to public schools on an Internet website; relating to information on 04 the post-secondary education, career path, and residency of graduates from high schools 05 in the state; relating to transportation of students; relating to state funding for districts 06 operating residential schools; increasing the base student allocation; and providing for 07 an effective date." 08 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 09 * Section 1. AS 14.03.120 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 10 (k) The department shall establish and maintain a user-friendly Internet 11 website that allows a member of the public to view and download information 12 described in this subsection and to make recommendations relating to improving 13 public education in the state. The information on the Internet website must be
01 presented in a fashion that is easily understood. To the extent practicable, and without 02 disclosing information that is confidential under state or federal law, the department 03 shall make the following information available on the Internet website: 04 (1) reports required under this section and AS 14.03.078; 05 (2) copies of audits made under AS 14.14.050; and 06 (3) a description of how each district is addressing the needs of 07 students who receive special education services. 08 (l) A district may provide on the district's Internet website a link to the 09 Internet website described in (k) of this section. 10 (m) The department shall collaborate with the Department of Labor and 11 Workforce Development under AS 44.31.020 to gather data on the progress of each 12 high school graduating class in a district by collecting career, postsecondary 13 education, and residency data on each student in the graduating class. The departments 14 shall gather the data every five years for 20 years after the high school graduation date 15 of the class. 16 * Sec. 2. AS 14.03.127(a) is amended to read: 17 (a) Each fiscal year, a district in which one or more schools qualify for a 18 discounted rate for Internet services under the federal universal services program is 19 eligible to receive an amount for each school that is equal to the amount needed to 20 bring the applicant's share to 100 [25] megabits of download a second of the Internet 21 services. 22 * Sec. 3. AS 14.07.020(a), as amended by sec. 15, 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, approve an early education 24 program provided by a school district that complies with the standards adopted by the 25 board under AS 14.07.165(a)(5), and revoke approval of an early education program if 26 the program does not comply with the standards adopted by the board under 27 AS 14.07.165(a)(5); 28 (9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 29 correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 30 educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 31 Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program;
01 (10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 02 accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 03 paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 04 licensed; 05 (11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 06 secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 07 elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 08 department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 09 construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 10 include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 11 and costs, and final contract documents; 12 (12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 13 education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 14 are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 15 unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 16 will lead to employment opportunities; 17 (13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 18 (14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 19 school bus driver training course; 20 (15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 21 and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 22 behavior; 23 (16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 24 under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 25 practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 26 (A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 27 and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 28 (B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 29 AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 30 consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 31 increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language
01 arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 02 (C) a process for districts to petition the department for 03 continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 04 (17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 05 education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 06 redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 07 (18) establish a reading program to provide direct support for and 08 intervention in the reading intervention programs of participating schools as described 09 in AS 14.30.765 and 14.30.770; 10 (19) annually convene, either in person or electronically, a panel to 11 review and comment on the effectiveness of the programs created by the department 12 and the regulations adopted by the board to implement AS 14.03.410, 14.03.420, 13 AS 14.30.760 - 14.30.770, and 14.30.800; the panel 14 (A) shall provide recommendations and guidance to the board, 15 the department, and the legislature on how to integrate early education and 16 reading programs created under this title with tribal compacting or programs 17 focused on cultural education within the department; 18 (B) shall discuss support for reading in Alaska Native 19 languages and other non-English languages; 20 (C) must collectively represent the regions of the state and 21 include teachers of grades kindergarten through three, school administrators, 22 parents of students in grades kindergarten through three, stakeholders from 23 indigenous language immersion programs, representatives from early 24 education stakeholder groups, and researchers of best practices for improving 25 literacy performance, including best practices for instruction of indigenous 26 students and students whose first language is not English; 27 (20) collaborate with the Department of Labor and Workforce 28 Development to gather data on the progress of each high school graduating class 29 as required under AS 14.03.120(m). 30 * Sec. 4. AS 14.07.020(a), as amended by sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 31 (a) The department shall
01 (1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 02 except the University of Alaska; 03 (2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 04 adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 05 performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 06 of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 07 develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college 08 preparatory courses; 09 (3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 10 governing bodies and personnel; 11 (4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 12 schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 13 given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 14 (5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and 15 Community Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held 16 in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are 17 defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment; 18 (6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 19 prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 20 department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 21 session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 22 whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 23 the members of each house; 24 (7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 25 marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 26 conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 27 physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 28 private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 29 (8) exercise general supervision over early education programs that 30 receive direct state or federal funding, including early education programs provided by 31 a school district for students four and five years of age;
01 (9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 02 correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 03 educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 04 Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 05 (10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 06 accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 07 paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 08 licensed; 09 (11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 10 secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 11 elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 12 department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 13 construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 14 include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 15 and costs, and final contract documents; 16 (12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 17 education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 18 are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 19 unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 20 will lead to employment opportunities; 21 (13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 22 (14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 23 school bus driver training course; 24 (15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 25 and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 26 behavior; 27 (16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 28 under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 29 practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 30 (A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 31 and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department;
01 (B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 02 AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 03 consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 04 increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 05 arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 06 (C) a process for districts to petition the department for 07 continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 08 (17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 09 education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 10 redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 11 (18) collaborate with the Department of Labor and Workforce 12 Development to gather data on the progress of each high school graduating class 13 as required under AS 14.03.120(m). 14 * Sec. 5. AS 14.09.010(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 15 (a) A school district that provides student transportation services for the 16 transportation of students who reside a distance from established schools is eligible to 17 receive funding for operating or subcontracting the operation of the transportation 18 system for students to and from the schools within the student's transportation service 19 area. Subject to appropriation, the amount of funding provided by the state for 20 operating the student transportation system is the amount of a school district's ADM, 21 less the ADM for the district's correspondence programs during the current fiscal year, 22 multiplied by the per student amount for the school district as follows, for the school 23 years beginning July 1, 2023: 24 DISTRICT PER STUDENT AMOUNT 25 Alaska Gateway $2,536 26 Aleutians East 378 27 Anchorage 531 28 Annette Island 222 29 Bering Strait 60 30 Bristol Bay 3,257 31 Chatham 342
01 Copper River 1,934 02 Cordova 409 03 Craig 515 04 Delta/Greely 2,019 05 Denali 2,203 06 Dillingham 1,484 07 Fairbanks 995 08 Galena 310 09 Haines 763 10 Hoonah 364 11 Iditarod 258 12 Juneau 735 13 Kake 331 14 Kashunamiut 6 15 Kenai Peninsula 1,115 16 Ketchikan 886 17 Klawock 712 18 Kodiak Island 974 19 Kuspuk 797 20 Lake and Peninsula 468 21 Lower Kuskokwim 338 22 Lower Yukon 1 23 Matanuska-Susitna 1,109 24 Nenana 716 25 Nome 757 26 North Slope 1,365 27 Northwest Arctic 30 28 Pelican 88 29 Petersburg 457 30 Saint Mary's 235 31 Sitka 522
01 Skagway 44 02 Southeast Island 1,408 03 Southwest Region 728 04 Tanana 581 05 Unalaska 790 06 Valdez 897 07 Wrangell 854 08 Yakutat 907 09 Yukon Flats 322 10 Yukon/Koyukuk 365 11 Yupiit 2. 12 * Sec. 6. AS 14.16.200(b) is amended to read: 13 (b) Costs that may be claimed by a district for reimbursement under (a) of this 14 section are 15 (1) one round trip on the least expensive means of transportation 16 between the student's community of residence and the school during the school year if 17 the district expends money for the trip; and 18 (2) a per-pupil monthly stipend to cover room and board expenses as 19 determined by the department on a regional basis and not to exceed the following 20 amounts: 21 (A) for the Southeast Region (Region I), $1,845 [$1,230]; 22 (B) for the Southcentral Region (Region II), $1,800 [$1,200]; 23 (C) for the Interior Region (Region III), $2,178 [$1,452]; 24 (D) for the Southwest Region (Region IV), $2,264 [$1,509]; 25 (E) for the Northern Remote Region (Region V), $2,664 26 [$1,776]. 27 * Sec. 7. AS 14.17.470, as amended by sec. 26, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 28 Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $6,640 29 [$5,960]. 30 * Sec. 8. AS 44.31.020 is amended to read: 31 Sec. 44.31.020. Duties of department. The Department of Labor and
01 Workforce Development shall 02 (1) enforce the laws and adopt regulations under them concerning 03 employer-employee relationships, including the safety, hours of work, wages, and 04 conditions of workers, including children; 05 (2) accumulate, analyze, and report labor statistics; 06 (3) operate systems of workers' compensation and unemployment 07 insurance; 08 (4) gather data reflecting the cost of living in various locations of the 09 state upon request of the director of personnel under AS 39.27.030; 10 (5) operate the federally funded employment and training programs 11 under 29 U.S.C. 2801 - 2945 (Workforce Investment Act of 1998); 12 (6) administer the state's program of adult basic education and adopt 13 regulations to administer the program; and 14 (7) administer the programs of the Alaska Vocational Technical Center 15 and adopt regulations to administer the programs, including regulations that set rates 16 for student tuition and room and board and fees for the programs and services 17 provided by the department regarding the Alaska Vocational Technical Center; 18 (8) gather data on the progress of each high school graduating 19 class in a district by collecting career, postsecondary education, and residency 20 data on each student in the graduating class; the department shall gather the 21 data required under this paragraph every five years for 20 years after the high 22 school graduation date of each high school graduating class; the department shall 23 publish a biennial report on the data gathered under this paragraph; in this 24 paragraph, "district" has the meaning given in AS 14.17.990. 25 * Sec. 9. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 26 read: 27 RETROACTIVITY. Section 5 of this Act is retroactive to July 1, 2023. 28 * Sec. 10. Section 2 of this Act takes effect January 1, 2024. 29 * Sec. 11. Section 4 of this Act takes effect on the effective date of sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 30 2022. 31 * Sec. 12. Section 5 of this Act takes effect July 1, 2023.
01 * Sec. 13. Sections 6, 7, and 9 of this Act take effect on the effective date of sec. 26, ch. 40, 02 SLA 2022. 03 * Sec. 14. AS 14.03.120(k) and (l), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, take effect July 1, 2024. 04 * Sec. 15. AS 14.03.120(m), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, and secs. 3 and 8 of this Act take 05 effect July 1, 2025.