Legislature(2023 - 2024)DAVIS 106
02/20/2023 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB9 | |
| HB31 | |
| HB65 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 9 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 31 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 65 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
HB 31-AK PERFORMANCE SCHOLARSHIP; ELIGIBILITY
8:32:09 AM
CO-CHAIR RUFFRIDGE announced that the next order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 31, "An Act relating to the Alaska
performance scholarship program."
8:32:43 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ANDI STORY, Alaska State Legislature, provided a
brief introduction, and began a PowerPoint, titled "HB 31:
Improving the Alaska Performance Scholarship." She explained HB
31 proposes changes that were identified in the 10-year program
review of the Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) to improve
the program with the goal of increasing student participation to
help address Alaska's workforce shortage. She continued on
slide 2, titled "The Alaska Performance Scholarship," where she
reiterated past goals and that they still remain today.
8:34:49 AM
REPRESENTATIVE STORY continued on slide 3, titled "Strengthening
tomorrow's workforce," with a graphic showing 96.9 percent of
working graduates are from the University of Alaska and are
Alaska residents. She explained that in 2021, the McKinley
Research Group, LLC published a report on APS, and that the
changes proposed in HB 31 come directly from recommendations
from this report. On slide 5, titled "Making APS more
accessible," she summarized that the bill change requires that
students get earlier notifications in their junior year that
they qualify for APS. Another recommendation, she explained, is
to increase the number of years the scholarships can be used
after high school graduation from six to eight years. Another
recommendation is to include Career Technical Education (CTE)
courses, as shown on slide 6, titled "More flexibility in
curriculum for CTE," where she reiterated the inclusion of CTE
courses, and that in the past six years, CTE concentrators had a
19 percent higher graduation rate than their counterparts. She
stated the courses must meet rigorous standards. She reminded
the committee that the accompanying standards can be found in
the committee packets.
8:39:40 AM
REPRESENTATIVE STORY moved on to slide 7, titled "Increase award
amount to keep APS competitive." She pointed out the levels of
increases and that the amounts are "affordable for Alaska." She
proceeded to slide 8, titled "Reduce barriers for eligibility,"
and explained that HB 31 would remove testing requirements as
recommended by the report, highlighting that it is more fair to
remote areas. In conclusion, she described APS as a powerful
but underused tool at Alaska's disposal and urged the committee
to support these policy changes to help make postsecondary
education more affordable and accessible, and to revitalize
student use of APS.
8:42:53 AM
MIRANDA WORL, Staff, Representative Andi Story, Alaska State
Legislature, gave the sectional analysis for HB 31, [included in
the committee packet], on behalf of Representative Story, prime
sponsor. The sectional analysis reads as follows [original
punctuation provided]:
Section 1: Amends AS 14.43.820(a)(2), allowing that a
student may qualify for the Alaska Performance
Scholarship 12 months prior to graduation from an
Alaska state high school.
Amends AS 14.43.820(a), Alaska Performance Scholarship
eligibility requirement to allow career and technical
education coursework in three different pathways:
• AS 14.43.820 (a)(3)(A): Replace one year of social
studies with one year of CTE coursework (within Math &
Science Track)
• AS 14.43.820 (a)(3)(B)(ii): Replace two years of
world language with two years of CTE coursework, one
year of which is sequentially more rigorous, within a
career cluster.
• AS 14.43.820 (a)(3)(C): Replace one year of social
studies with one year of CTE coursework (within Social
Studies & Language Track)
Deletes AS 14.43.820 (a)(5), removing the college
entrance exam requirement from the Alaska Performance
Scholarship.
Section 2: Amends AS 14.43.820(g), defining "career
cluster" as a group of jobs and industries that are
related by skills or products and renumbering the
subsection accordingly.
Section 3: Adds new subsections (h)(i) to AS
14.43.820, requiring students to be notified of their
progress towards receiving the APS scholarship during
their junior year, and notifying them of an award in
the fall of their senior year. Adds new subsections
(j)(k) to AS 14.43.820, establishing that an applicant
must be signed up for any remaining course
requirements and must have a qualifying GPA. The award
would be revoked if an applicant fails to complete the
requirements. The applicant's GPA upon graduation will
be used to conclude the final award amount.
Section 4: Amends AS 14.43.25(a) by increasing the
awards and removing entrance exam requirements.
• Level one: $7,000 (was previously $4,755)
• Level two: $5,250 (was previously $3,566)
Level three: $3,500 (was previously $2,378)
Section 5: Amends AS 14.43.25(b) by increasing the
number of years a student can use the scholarship
after graduating high school from six to eight years.
8:46:08 AM
CO-CHAIR ALLARD questioned how many dollars are "left on the
table" not claimed by students.
REPRESENTATIVE STORY replied the student scholarships are paid
through investment earnings each year. She estimated
approximately $100 million had been spent within the program,
and noted the importance of keeping the fund high so the program
can live through investment earnings.
CO-CHAIR ALLARD commented on the $6 million that was left on the
table last year for post-secondary education, and she questioned
whether the problem was not unclaimed money, but the outreach
program.
REPRESENTATIVE STORY acknowledged the work that still needs to
be done with "getting the word out," and she said the
aforementioned report reflected that need.
8:48:53 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX brought up the amounts being amended in
Section 4 of HB 31 and questioned whether more help is being
given to "those who need it less" from the perspective of
getting through college.
REPRESENTATIVE STORY explained the students doing requirements
for APS are very dedicated top students, and the award amounts
are based on their grade point average (GPA) as well as their
testing results.
8:52:35 AM
REPRESENTATIVE MCKAY questioned step 4 of the foundation funding
formula that included a step up for CTE instruction, and asked
why a student needs a scholarship for something already in the
formula. He stated there is a lot of reform [proposed] for one
bill.
REPRESENTATIVE STORY responded that this is for after students
leave high school, so they are using the CTE classes that the
districts fund while in high school, and when they go on to
post-secondary their scholarship could be used for any
vocational university degree they desire.
8:56:57 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HIMSCHOOT asked about the $6 million that Alaska
students did not collect from the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA), and if more information can be given on
why this is a requirement.
REPRESENTATIVE STORY explained the FAFSA is offered to students
based on their financial circumstances, and pointed out Alaska
gets the lowest amount of free federal aid due to high school
students not filling out the FAFSA. She noted it is critical
that Alaska students know there are funds available to them.
9:00:04 AM
CO-CHAIR RUFFRIDGE asked if there was an increase in the dollar
amount for the scholarships, whether it would reduce the number
of scholarships available.
REPRESENTATIVE STORY replied that currently it would not because
of the low number of students.
9:01:44 AM
CO-CHAIR RUFFRIDGE thanked Representative Story and turned to
invited testimony.
9:02:25 AM
REBECCA BRAUN, Consultant, McKinley Research Group, LLC, joined
for invited testimony in support of HB 31, and explained she was
part of the 2021 APS program review team. She noted a result of
the research is that the concept behind APS has been validated,
but the program's reach is short of expectations.
9:06:49 AM
MS. BRAUN turned the focus onto the positive results from the
surveys and data. Participants say the scholarship motivated
them in high school, it influenced their decision to stay in
state, and it helped them access the postsecondary education
they wanted while reducing financial stress. She explained the
reports give examples of the reasons for falling short, and that
there are statutory fixes that can help. The recommendations
are in HB 31. The testing requirements and distinctions were
highlighted, as well as increasing award levels.
9:11:31 AM
MS. BRAUN recommended working with school districts to best
balance rigor with fairness and access. In conclusion, the
research indicated the program has real potential to increase
Alaska's low rates of postsecondary training to help address the
workforce shortage and slow "out migration."
9:13:01 AM
CO-CHAIR ALLARD pointed out there are $6 million left on the
table but additional funds are still being requested. She asked
how the problem will be solved in regard to parents and students
being notified to receive these funds.
MS. BRAUN replied the answer is outside her area of expertise,
but the question may be better directed to the Alaska Commission
on Postsecondary Education (ACPE). She stated making the
scholarship come out earlier would be helpful, and she
anticipates districts working to let parents know. She also
noted sometimes "things are missed."
CO-CHAIR ALLARD asked why the question of finding out how to
access the scholarship funds was not included on the survey.
MS. BRAUN responded that a version of the question was asked a
few years ago but she does not remember the exact verbiage; she
recalled there were a lot of "open ended" responses. She noted
she can follow up with the committee on the results of past
surveys.
9:16:11 AM
REPRESENTATIVE MCKAY asked how much is currently in the higher
education investment fund. He pointed out the fiscal note being
$11 million for fiscal year 2024 (FY 24) and questioned whether
this would be in addition to what is already there.
REPRESENTATIVE STORY replied that the fiscal note is within the
earnings of the higher education investment fund and there is a
zero change in revenue - so the money reoccurs from the interest
earnings of that total amount. She confirmed she will provide
the committee with the information on what is currently in the
investment fund at a later date.
9:18:40 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX referred to the CTE courses being provided
through the high schools and not available through the
university system. He asked Ms. Braun if there had been any
research into putting more focus on high school CTE rather than
university level CTE, resulting in a better return on
investment.
MS. BRAUN replied no, but stated she would support him on that.
9:22:22 AM
JENNIFER KNAGGS, School Counselor, Juneau-Douglas High School,
began by stating the APS has made a difference by being less
quantitative and more qualitative. She pointed out the first
proposed adjustment being the removing of testing requirements
and brought up examples of the hardships accessing the tests in
rural areas, and other states not utilizing the testing
requirements, thus making it more attractive for students to
seek education out of state. On the CTE inclusion, this is
where, she explained, real world learning comes together in a
practical way, and she provided examples of students who thrived
from CTE. She noted that GPA is a much better predictor of
success in the postsecondary world.
9:27:44 AM
PATRICIA ZUGG, CTE Program Administrator, Matsu Borough School
District, provided a brief introduction and pointed out her 30
years' experience serving in CTE. She noted CTE is not
vocational education; CTE has rigor and relevance which makes a
difference in today's education. She encouraged the committee
to be data driven, and to support Representative Story's bill
that modernizes APS.
9:32:54 AM
MS. ZUGG stated that scholarships should be modernized with the
goal of retaining all young Alaskans - not just the brightest
and best. She said it is imperative to embrace and deploy some
paradigm shifts, and she reiterated to the committee to be data
driven and responsive and support HB 31.
9:34:41 AM
CO-CHAIR RUFFRIDGE announced that HB 31 was held over.