Enrolled SB 140: Relating to funding for Internet services for school districts; relating to charter schools; relating to transportation of public school students; relating to correspondence study funding; relating to the base student allocation; relating to funding for reading improvement plans; and providing for an effective date.
00Enrolled SB 140 01 Relating to funding for Internet services for school districts; relating to charter schools; 02 relating to transportation of public school students; relating to correspondence study funding; 03 relating to the base student allocation; relating to funding for reading improvement plans; and 04 providing for an effective date. 05 _______________ 06 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 07 to read: 08 LEGISLATIVE INTENT. To the greatest extent possible, a portion of additional 09 funds authorized by this legislation shall be directed to the classroom in the form of educator 10 salary and retention bonuses. Each school district shall provide a report to the senate secretary 11 and the chief clerk of the house of representatives and notify the legislature that the report is 12 available not later than February 1 of each regular session of the Thirty-Fourth Alaska State 13 Legislature describing efforts made by the district to direct additional funds to the classroom 14 in the form of educator salary and retention bonuses.
01 * Sec. 2. AS 14.03.127(a) is amended to read: 02 (a) Each fiscal year, a district in which one or more schools qualify for a 03 discounted rate for Internet services under the federal universal services program is 04 eligible to receive an amount for each school that is equal to the amount needed to 05 bring the applicant's share to 100 [25] megabits of download a second of the Internet 06 services. 07 * Sec. 3. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 08 Sec. 14.03.256. Charter school termination appeal. If a local school board 09 terminates a contract with a charter school, the charter school may appeal the decision 10 to the commissioner under regulations established by the commissioner. The 11 commissioner may request written supplementation from the appellant or local school 12 board. The commissioner shall review the decision of the local school board to 13 determine whether the findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence and 14 whether the decision is contrary to law. The commissioner shall issue a written 15 decision within 90 days after the appeal is filed and may 16 (1) remand the appeal to the local school board for further review; 17 (2) reapprove the charter school with or without added conditions; or 18 (3) uphold the decision terminating the charter school contract. 19 * Sec. 4. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 20 Sec. 14.03.277. Charter school coordinator. A position dedicated to charter 21 school support is established in the department. This position is responsible for the 22 development of a repository of charter school resources in the department. The charter 23 school coordinator shall provide support to charter schools, including 24 (1) providing charter schools with policy and regulation expertise and 25 guidance; 26 (2) providing groups assistance preparing charter school applications; 27 (3) coordinating with school districts and the Association of Alaska 28 School Boards to support charter school academic policy committees and local school 29 boards; and 30 (4) coordinating with and providing expertise to legal services 31 provided by the state.
01 * Sec. 5. AS 14.09.010(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 02 (a) A school district that provides student transportation services for the 03 transportation of students who reside a distance from established schools is eligible to 04 receive funding for operating or subcontracting the operation of the transportation 05 system for students to and from the schools within the student's transportation service 06 area. Subject to appropriation, the amount of funding provided by the state for 07 operating the student transportation system is the amount of a school district's ADM, 08 less the ADM for the district's correspondence programs during the current fiscal year, 09 multiplied by the per student amount for the school district as follows, for the school 10 years beginning July 1, 2024: 11 DISTRICT PER STUDENT AMOUNT 12 Alaska Gateway $2,536 13 Aleutians East 378 14 Anchorage 531 15 Annette Island 222 16 Bering Strait 60 17 Bristol Bay 3,257 18 Chatham 342 19 Copper River 1,934 20 Cordova 409 21 Craig 515 22 Delta/Greely 2,019 23 Denali 2,203 24 Dillingham 1,484 25 Fairbanks 995 26 Galena 310 27 Haines 763 28 Hoonah 364 29 Iditarod 258 30 Juneau 735 31 Kake 331
01 Kashunamiut 6 02 Kenai Peninsula 1,115 03 Ketchikan 886 04 Klawock 712 05 Kodiak Island 974 06 Kuspuk 797 07 Lake and Peninsula 468 08 Lower Kuskokwim 338 09 Lower Yukon 1 10 Matanuska-Susitna 1,109 11 Nenana 716 12 Nome 757 13 North Slope 1,365 14 Northwest Arctic 30 15 Pelican 88 16 Petersburg 457 17 Saint Mary's 235 18 Sitka 522 19 Skagway 44 20 Southeast Island 1,408 21 Southwest Region 728 22 Tanana 581 23 Unalaska 790 24 Valdez 897 25 Wrangell 854 26 Yakutat 907 27 Yukon Flats 322 28 Yukon/Koyukuk 365 29 Yupiit 2. 30 * Sec. 6. AS 14.17.430 is amended to read: 31 Sec. 14.17.430. State funding for correspondence study. Except as provided
01 in AS 14.17.400(b), funding for the state centralized correspondence study program or 02 a district correspondence program, including a district that offers a statewide 03 correspondence study program, includes an allocation from the public education fund 04 in an amount calculated by using [MULTIPLYING] the ADM of the correspondence 05 program reported under AS 14.17.500(a) and 14.17.600(a) [BY 90 PERCENT]. 06 * Sec. 7. AS 14.17.470 is amended to read: 07 Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $6,640 08 [$5,960]. 09 * Sec. 8. AS 14.30 is amended by adding a new section to read: 10 Sec. 14.30.773. Support for reading improvement plans. The state shall 11 provide to a school district, for each student in grades kindergarten through three who 12 is determined to have a reading deficiency based on the statewide screening or 13 assessment tool, $500 to provide the support, intervention, and services the student 14 needs for the student's reading improvement plan, including teacher and 15 paraprofessional career development. 16 * Sec. 9. Section 2 of this Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c). 17 * Sec. 10. Except as provided in sec. 9 of this Act, this Act takes effect July 1, 2024.