Legislature(2025 - 2026)DAVIS 106
04/11/2025 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB76 | |
| Presentation: School Attendance and Chronic Absenteeism | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 76 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 76-EDUCATION:SCHOOLS; GRANTS; FUNDING; DEBT
8:06:23 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY announced that the first order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 76, "An Act relating to education; relating to
public school attendance; relating to mobile communication
devices in schools; relating to reading proficiency incentive
grants; relating to authorization of charter schools; relating
to transportation of students; relating to school bond debt
reimbursement; relating to funding and reporting by Alaska
technical and vocational education programs; authorizing lump
sum payments for certain teachers as retention and recruitment
incentives; and providing for an effective date."
8:08:11 AM
KAREN MORRISON, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Education &
Early Development, on behalf of House Rules by request of the
governor, presented HB 76 to the committee. She picked up the
presentation where it was previously left off on slide 12, which
described how HB 76 would increase state funding to school
transportation programs and extend the school bond debt
reimbursement moratorium to 2030.
8:08:45 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked Commissioner Bishop to explain the
rationale of continuing the school bond debt reimbursement
moratorium.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP, Commissioner, Department of Education &
Early Development, on behalf of House Rules by request of the
governor, presented HB 76 to the committee. She explained that
there used to be a 60/40 split or 70/30 split between a school
district's contribution and the Department of Education and
early Development (DEED)'s contribution to a bond debt prior to
the current moratorium. She explained where a 70/30 or 60/40
split would be implemented and said that the decision to
continue the moratorium on bond debt reimbursement was largely
based off of testimony by Alexi Painter of the Legislative
Finance Division and the Bond Reimbursement and Grant Review
Committee (BRGR) meetings that pointed towards a moratorium on
bond debt reimbursement as a fiscally responsible decision.
8:15:40 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE commented that local municipalities and
boroughs can still put funds into Capitol Improvement Project
(CIP)s on their own, regardless of state funding levels.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP affirmed that a local municipality or
borough may contribute its own money to a CIP project outside of
a bond.
8:16:31 AM
REPRESENTATIVE EISCHEID shared his concern that the bond debt
reimbursement moratorium might create stress for school
districts' fiscal planning.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP said that the intent of the moratorium
extension was to buy the state time to create a more permanent
solution. She explained that rural Alaskan cities are at
significant debt compared to urban cities and stated that
funding schools is an "expensive investment" in the face of a
declining student populous as a whole.
8:20:45 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked who serves on the BRGR committee and
asked how its committee members are selected.
8:22:00 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY clarified the acronyms for Maintenance and
Operations (M&O) and BRGR.
8:23:21 AM
HEATHER HEINEKEN, Director, Division of Finance & Support
Services, Department of Education & Early Development, on behalf
of House Rules by request of the governor, presented HB 76 to
the committee. She explained that the BRGR committee was
comprised of various legislators, staffers, and appointed
professionals in the education field.
8:25:32 AM
COMMISSIONER BISHOP resumed the presentation on slide 13, which
detailed how HB 76 would increase state funding for districts
that operate residential schools by 50 percent.
8:26:07 AM
MS. MORRISON picked up the presentation on slide 14, which
explained how the proposed legislation would change the funding
formula for special needs and vocational classes, as well as
change correspondence students to count as 1.0 full-time
equivalent (FTE).
8:26:30 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked how the 50 percent increase in residential
school funds from the state was determined.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP said that residential schools are in need of
increased funding and explained that a 50 percent increase was
not near as much as residential schools had initially requested.
8:27:23 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE commented that HB 76 would create
opportunities for students in Alaska to participate in career &
technical education (CTE).
8:29:28 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked if the transportation of kids to and
from school outside of a winter break was in Alaska Statute.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP explained that the proposed increase of
transportation funding was not already in Alaska Statute.
8:32:41 AM
COMMISSIONER BISHOP further detailed the changes to funding
formula for correspondence students on slide 14. She moved to
slide 15, which described the proposed increase in CTE funding
from HB 76.
8:35:39 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked about the reasoning for increasing
funding for correspondence students.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP explained that correspondence students
currently do not apply to any funding multiplier and are
currently only funded at 0.9 FTE. She opined that school
districts are running correspondence schools to fill the
increased need of remote teaching.
8:40:09 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT shared her understanding that the funding for
part-time students is already in place.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP responded that it would be a local school
district's decision for charging correspondence students for in
person classes.
8:42:10 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT objected to the idea that 0.9 FTE reflects
the DEED's belief that a correspondence student is less than a
whole child.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP explained that FTE and Average Daily
membership (ADM) are technical terms used for funding
calculations and algorithms.
8:44:18 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE shared her experience in her local
school district covering the cost of administration, tutoring,
and testing for homeschool students. She explained that the
cost of educating a student has increased significantly with the
increased requirements of frequent testing.
8:48:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE EISCHEID asked if increasing the BSA would
increase funding for correspondence students and if increasing
the ADM would constitute a greater contribution from the state.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP confirmed both that increasing the BSA would
increase funding for correspondence students and a higher ADM
would constitute a greater contribution from the state.
8:50:05 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DIBERT commented on her opportunity to attend
brick and mortar schools.
8:51:19 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY commented on the unreliable nature of one-time
increases to the BSA and emphasized the importance of increasing
the BSA as it is.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP explained that the lack of an increase to
the BSA is due to year to year funding that has been in place
for a long time. She emphasized that the governor has
introduced language to encourage non-standard public schools and
purported that the governor has always supported increasing
funding for schools.
8:57:15 AM
REPRESENTATIVE UNDERWOOD explained that any funding increase to
correspondence students must go through the local school
district first.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP affirmed Representative Underwood's
understanding of how a local school district manages
correspondence student funding.
8:59:37 AM
REPRESENTATIVE EISCHEID asked about the accountability of
statewide assessment testing.
CO-CHAIR STORY noted that there are ongoing discussions on
improving testing rates as a tool for homeschool students.
9:01:25 AM
COMMISSIONER BISHOP added that the DEED is working to address
the challenges of homeschooling, specifically statewide
proctored online tests that are currently less accessible to
homeschooled students.
9:04:28 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT thanked the DEED for addressing barriers to
education & assessments that homeschool students face and noted
that an increase to the BSA would benefit all students in
Alaska, not only correspondence or k-3 students.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP shared her understanding that increasing the
BSA should not be the only method of improving education in
Alaska.
9:07:40 AM
COMMISSIONER BISHOP resumed the presentation on slide 16, which
detailed a three-year lump-sum teacher retention payment program
proposed by HB 76.
9:09:49 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT noted that House Bill 230 as passed by the
33rd Alaska State Legislature sought to pay an incentive to both
teachers who were nationally certified and those who were
seeking to be certified. She pointed to Washington state as an
example of a state that pays incentives to teachers seeking to
work in hard-to-staff schools.
9:11:13 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY remarked that hiring incentives are helpful in
teacher recruitment & retention and emphasized that better
paying salaries are more effective in that regard.
9:12:21 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DIBERT commented on the importance of the need
for the state of Alaska to plan for its future education system.
9:13:50 AM
COMMISSIONER BISHOP resumed the presentation on slide 17, which
outlined how the proposed legislation would create a report to
the Alaska State Legislature before the first day of the first
regular session of the 35th Legislature.
9:14:29 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked Ms. Heineken to review the fiscal notes
associated with HB 76.
9:14:41 AM
MS. HEINEKEN reviewed fiscal note 1 associated with HB 76.
9:16:20 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked for clarification on which funds fiscal
note 1 concerned.
MS. HEINEKEN explained that the funds listed on fiscal note 1
would fall into the Alaska Public Education trust.
9:19:09 AM
MS. HEINEKEN detailed fiscal notes 2, 3, 4, and 5, of which
concerned the funding of public school transportation,
correspondence education, remote assessments, and teacher
recruitment incentives. She continued to detail fiscal notes 6,
7, 8, and 9, of which concerned the student and school
achievement fund, charter school authorization costs, and
equipment & supply costs.
[HB 76 was held over.}
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| DEED Attendance Report Presentation H Ed Committee 4.11.25F.pdf |
HEDC 4/11/2025 8:00:00 AM |