Legislature(2019 - 2020)SENATE FINANCE 532
04/24/2019 09:00 AM Senate FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB95 | |
| SB10 | |
| SB74 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 10 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 74 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 95 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 66 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SENATE BILL NO. 74
"An Act relating to funding for Internet services for
school districts."
9:38:09 AM
MARIDON BOARIO, STAFF, SENATOR LYMAN HOFFMAN, read from the
sponsor statement for SB 74 (version S) (copy on file):
SB 74 increases the broadband requirement for schools
from 10 megabits per second (Mbps) to 25 Mbps of
download speed and provides funding to help schools
reach the 25 Mbps through the School Broadband
Assistance Grant (BAG).
Districts that qualify for discounted rate for
internet services under the Federal Universal Services
Program are eligible.
The Universal Service Administrative Company, Schools
and Libraries Program, commonly known as "E-rate,"
provides discounts of up to 90 percent to help
eligible schools and libraries in the United States
obtain affordable telecommunications and internet
access.
The School BAG was established in 2014 and created to
assist schools to reach internet download speeds of 10
Mbps. Currently the grant funds may be used to cover
eligible costs incurred by the school districts for
schools that have less than 10 Mbps each fiscal year.
Since 2014 new and improved technologies and increases
to internet services have allowed for more and faster
delivery of internet services. Because the cost of
internet in some rural districts has decreased, the
annual internet costs have fallen below the 2014
benchmark established by state law. To allow school
districts to utilize these advances, SB 74 will
increase the minimum requirement of Mbps from 10 to 25
which will increase the amount of Broadband Assistance
Grants (BAG) that the state can pay to school
districts.
In 2019, 80 schools in 20 school districts will
benefit from the school BAG awards.
The funding leverages federal E-rate funds at
approximately 8:1. The program allows for leverage for
up to 9:1 based on a formula for free and reduced
lunch calculation by district.
Thank you for your consideration of SB 74 to help
bring improved broadband services to rural Alaska and
improve service for schools across the state.
I urge your support of this legislation to provide
Alaskan students, classrooms and teachers and all
educators better access to the digital world.
9:40:45 AM
Co-Chair Stedman wondered why the internet in Angoons
school was slow when there was fiberoptic cable connecting
the community.
Ms. Boario thought the question should be asked to the
telecommunication company in charge of the fiber optic
cable.
Co-Chair von Imhof thought Co-Chair Stedman had proposed a
good question. She thought that telecommunication companies
should be questioned.
9:42:01 AM
Co-Chair Stedman thought that more fiber optic hook ups
would help to serve more communities internet needs.
Co-Chair von Imhof agreed that internet connection was good
for telehealth and tele education.
9:42:33 AM
Senator Wilson noted that in FY 19 there had been upgrades
to 80 schools in the state. He wondered whether they had
been considered in the legislation.
Ms. Boario said that it was expected that in FY 2019, 80
schools, in 20 districts, would reach the 10 megabits per
second with the School Broadband Assistance grant.
Senator Wilson asked whether rural schools were prioritized
over schools in the Railbelt.
Ms. Boario understood that the program was created to
primarily assist rural school districts, however all school
districts in the state could apply.
9:43:56 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof noted that there were people online to
answer technical questions.
9:44:24 AM
LISA PARADY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALASKA COUNCIL OF SCHOOL
ADMINISTRATORS, testified in support of SB 74. She was also
representing Norm Wooten, the Executive Director of the
Association of Alaska School Boards. She reiterated that
the bill increased the broadband requirement from 10
megabits per second to 25megabits per second. The bill
provided funding for schools to reach the 25megabits
through the School Broadband Assistance Grant
Ms. Parady discussed her involvement in bringing forward
the first broadband assistance grant in 2015, when she
worked on the North Slope. She noted that it was unlikely,
given the states current financial situation, that the
state would be entirely connected all at once, but that
taking small connectivity steps was the way forward.
Ms. Parady recounted that the original grant had been
focused on all schools, setting the floor for all schools
at 10megabits per second. She said that the position of
educators across was state was that increased broadband
should be of the highest priority.
9:48:41 AM
Ms. Parady relayed the detailed position of Alaskan school
leaders from across the state. She noted that the funding
would leverage federal dollars for broadband expansion. She
stressed that technology was a core services that should be
provided to Alaskan students. She believed the bill was
timely and would provide equity with connectivity. She
reiterated the 9 to 1 E-Rate federal match. She hoped that
the bill would be passed in the current legislative session
so that grant recipient applicants could apply for the next
school year. She stressed that all schools, no matter of
their geography, should have equitable access to
educational opportunities. She urged strong support for the
legislation.
9:52:34 AM
Senator Micciche was interested in the potential to reduce
education costs across the state. He asked Ms. Parady
whether she considered that there would be an offset that
equaled the investment in the long term.
Ms. Parady thought an investment in education reaped great
rewards. She thought students were being denied the full
range of available professional learning opportunities. She
used the example of an Advanced Placement chemistry teacher
that would not otherwise be available in rural Alaska.
Ms. Parady continued to address Senator Micciche's
question. She thought there was an opportunity to enhance
learning throughout the state by extending the reach of
educators through technology. She could not speak to
savings justifying the expense but stressed that greater
access would be granted to student across the state through
district collaboration.
9:55:05 AM
Senator Wielechowski asked whether there was research on
how increased screen time affected educational outcomes for
K-12 students.
Ms. Parady thought there was a body of research. She agreed
to provide the information later.
9:55:34 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof noted there were other individuals
available to provide invited testimony. She asked to hear
from the Department of Education and Early Development
(DEED). She asked the department to address why the schools
on its list had been selected.
9:56:18 AM
PATIENCE FREDERICKSEN, DIRECTOR OF LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES AND
MUSEUMS, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT,
noted that the state library administered the BAG grants.
The program started as a $5 million program and had
decreased to a $1.5 million program. The highest number of
schools that needed assistance was at 135, during the
second year of the program, that number had decreased to
80. She thought that the decrease was because of more
robust internet in certain schools that could afford the
expansion without state assistance.
Ms. Fredericksen addressed a new fiscal note from DEED. She
explained that the note reflected $7.1 million for FY 20.
She highlighted that the number came in lower when
subtracting the $1.5 million in the current program.
9:59:51 AM
Senator Bishop noted that the fiscal note went down in the
out years.
10:00:14 AM
Senator Wilson wondered how many schools per year were
served by the program.
Ms. Fredericksen anticipated that 172 schools would be
eligible as of March 2019. She said that the second year of
the program would see the most schools, and as the cost of
internet decreased in the villages, a reduction in schools
would be seen. She said that in 2015, the average award was
$29,000, per school, for internet support. She said that
that number fell to $17,000 by the end of the program, the
decrease in the cost of the internet was expected to fall
in the same pattern in the future.
10:01:31 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof thought there was 174 schools across the
state that had 25megabits or less. She asked how many years
it would take to get the 172 schools brought up to speed.
Ms. Fredericksen stated that if the infrastructure was in
place at the location of the school, the school could reach
25megabits within the first year, if additional
infrastructure had to be added the process could take up to
two years.
Co-Chair von Imhof asked how the routers and infrastructure
would be funded.
Ms. Fredericksen stated that school districts paid for
those things in the previous version of the program.
10:03:01 AM
Senator Micciche understood that the $7,169.4 reflected on
the fiscal note was to replace the 10megabit program, which
was a difference of $5,681.9 after the $1,487.5 already
included in the governors FY 19 budget.
Ms. Fredericksen answered in the affirmative.
10:03:54 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof OPENED public testimony.
DAN WALKER, SUPERINTENDENT, LOWER KUSKOKWIM SCHOOL DISTRICT
(via teleconference), testified in support of the bill. He
thanked the committee for its consideration. He noted that
LKSD was the largest Regional Educational Attendance Area
(REAA) in the state with 27 schools, 22 of the schools were
in remote villages, and approximately 4,100. The poverty
rate was a little over 90 percent. He had been involved in
education in LKSD for over 27 years. He strongly believed
access to broadband internet levelled the playing field for
rural students. He said that LKSD viewed broadband as a
critical teaching tool for engaging students in the digital
age. He said that in rural schools it was impossible to
provide a highly qualified teacher in every subject area.
He said that the district currently operated 5 teaching
studios, offering 15 classes ranging from social studies to
dual credit college courses. He lamented that the district
was woefully short of the FCC target range of 1megabit per
student and was currently at less than 10 percent at that
recommended bandwidth. He stressed the critical need for
increased broadband in his district.
10:08:04 AM
BRETT AGENBROAD, SUPERINTENDENT, PRIBILOF SCHOOL DISTRICT
(via teleconference), testified in support of the bill. He
noted that the Pribilof Islands were not only rural, but
remote. He stated that for the past six years there had
been a different math and science teacher each year. The
turnover had been detrimental to students. He detailed the
struggles that accompanied the 10megabits. He noted that
information went out at 10megabits per second but was
received at only 2.5megabits per second. The largest class
in the district was 20 students. He noted that the weather
was another contributing factor in internet efficiency.
When the weather was harsh it could drop the internet
connection by 50 percent.
10:11:55 AM
Mr. Agenbroad stressed that reliable broadband was critical
to the education of students in his district.
10:12:43 AM
Senator Micciche asked whether equitable access to
educational materials increased student interest and
graduation rates. He queried whether it was worth the cost.
Mr. Agenbroad thought that the access better prepared the
students for the future. Having a coherent tracking to
students from year to year was beneficial. He listed the
myriad of ways people in the community were utilizing
internet learning.
10:14:20 AM
SAM JORDAN, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke in
support of the bill. He thought schools in Alaska had
embraced the internet as a great tool for delivering
education to students and professional development for
staff, as well as communication and coordination between
school districts. Additionally, he thought many schools in
the state had been able to keep pace with educational
opportunities. He thought much of the software developed in
recent years was cloud-based and the bill would help
schools to keep pace with increasing technological demands.
He thought it was important to support the infrastructure
in order to offer equitable educational opportunities to
all students in the state.
10:16:56 AM
JOHN CONWELL, SUPERINTENDENT UNALASKA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
(via teleconference), testified in support of the bill.
His district had participated in the broadband assistance
program since its inception. He said that with the
program's assistance the school had been able to grow from
a 3megabit connection to a 20megabit connection. The
20megabit connection was shared, through a consortium
agreement, between two schools (425 students), and the
local public library. With the current internet speed, the
school district was still unable to offer students basic
access to the digital educational content commonplace in
other parts of the state and the Lower 48. The school did
not have the capacity to offer online assessments; Unalaska
was one of eight Alaska school district that administered
the Performance Evaluation of Alaskas (PEAKS) test via
paper and pencil, due to bandwidth limitations. He stressed
that the increased broadband support provided under the
bill would give hundreds of students and teacher access to
the educational content and services offered through the
internet. He thanked the sponsor and co-sponsors of the
bill for closing the digital gap for students in the state.
10:18:58 AM
PATRICK MAYER, SUPERINTENDENT, YAKUTAT SCHOOL DISTRICT (via
teleconference), spoke in strong support of the bill. He
believed that all students in Alaska deserved the full
transformative power of technology and access to online
resources. He relayed that digital content made up a large
portion of the districts basic curriculum. He noted that
technology was not presented as a measure to replace
teachers, rather extending the reach of goo teachers to all
students. He said that the lack of fiber optic access in
Yakutat limited the ability to stream content and utilize
digital content. He said that the district was regularly
forced to pick and choose what could be simultaneously
participate in, without saturating bandwidth. He added that
the limitations also hampered students ability to enroll
and participate in dual credit opportunities. He lamented
that this was the case for many schools in Alaska. He
stated that while student skill deficiencies could be
identified, quality online intervention opportunities could
not be accessed. He reiterated that the ACSA stood in
support of continuing the grant and increasing the level of
state funded bandwidth to 25megabits per second.
10:21:39 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof CLOSED public testimony.
10:21:53 AM
Senator Wilson referenced the FY2019 Alaska Schools Under
25 MBPS (copy on file) and asked whether the schools that
were not listed were already above 25megabits per second.
Ms. Fredericksen answered in the affirmative.
Senator Wilson asked whether the agency followed up with
school districts that did not complete an application.
Ms. Fredericksen stated that there was one school in a
district that did not accept an award. She said she could
not speak to why individual schools would not apply to
receive funding.
10:24:23 AM
Senator Olson reminded the committee that schools in his
district were spread far and wide. He found it highly
unlikely that that there were schools in his district that
did not need additional funding for broadband.
10:24:45 AM
Co-Chair Stedman wondered about Port Alexander, which
showed 3 megabits per minute.
Ms. Fredericksen agreed to provide more information. She
explained that sometime schools self-selected a smaller
amount of speed at a lower cost.
10:26:16 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof thought it was important to understand
the program was an annual program to address operating
costs rather than infrastructure. She thought it might be
nice to see a list of schools with a map overlaid on where
broadband fiber optic cable had been laid in the state. She
wondered about a long-term plan.
Ms. Fredericksen stated that the FCC list that she had used
to develop the list of 172 schools, listed how each school
received their internet. She agreed to relay the
information to the committee.
Co-Chair von Imhof assumed that those on fiber optic cable
would exceed 25megabits.
10:28:28 AM
Senator Olson asked why a school would not request the
maximum amount of internet connectivity available.
Ms. Fredericksen thought that local funding could be a
challenge for some schools.
10:28:57 AM
Senator Wilson understood that superintendents changed. He
asked whether the program could be applied for yearly;
would there be another opportunity for schools to apply.
Ms. Fredericksen stated that as an annual program, the
notice was sent to all superintendents, if they missed out
on the first year of the program, they could apply for the
second year of the program.
Co-Chair von Imhof understood that the application process
occurred annually.
Ms. Frederickson answered in the affirmative. She noted
that the process was not onerous and included: an Excel
Spreadsheet that listed costs, certification from the
superintendent, and cost documentation from the internet
provider.
Co-Chair von Imhof thought that if the goal was for every
district to maintain 25megabits, but must reapply annually,
it might be better to bring schools up to speed and keep
them there for the long term. She realized that this was a
lofty goal.
Ms. Fredericksen asked to clarify the fiscal note. She
spoke to the narrative on page 2 of the fiscal note:
The estimated total cost to bring the 172 schools up
from 10 mbps to 25 mbps will be $7,135.4. Currently,
under AS 14.03.127, $1,487.5 is included in the
Governor's FY2020 Amended Budget request to fund the
current requirement of up to 10bmps. This $1,487.5
will need to be funded in all of the out years, in
order to pay for 0-10mbps internet coverage in tandum
with current fiscal note that covers 10-25mbps. The
entire program will continue as one application for up
to 25mbps. This fiscal note assumes that internet
costs will rise proportionately from 10 mbps to 25
mbps. It also accepts that the FY2019 School BAG
program numbers are an accurate predictor of what the
FY2020 School BAG program will need at 25 mbps.
10:32:08 AM
SB 74 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
Co-Chair von Imhof reviewed the schedule for the following
meeting.