Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
01/24/2018 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB131 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 131 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SB 131-EDUCATION FUNDING; BUDGET
7:59:47 AM
CHAIR STEVENS announced the consideration of SB 131 and his
intention to hear and hold the bill. [SB 131, version 30-
LS1106\A, was before the committee.]
8:01:08 AM
MICHAEL JOHNSON, Ph.D., Commissioner, Department of Education
and Early Development (DEED), presented information about SB 131
and the Alaska Education Challenge (AEC). He said hundreds of
Alaskans have participated in the Alaska Education Challenge. He
thanked the senators for their participation in the AEC
committees and said many Alaskans may not know the depth of
their experience and knowledge of education in Alaska. The AEC
began around "dissatisfaction with the tragic achievement gap
that currently exists in our state as well as an optimism that
together we can inspire all Alaskans to share a vision for both
raising expectations and closing the achievement gap." The
result of the AEC work was more unity than he had hoped for and
more impatience for things to happen quickly than he had
expected.
8:04:17 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said addressing the achievement gap
includes two parallel efforts, the AEC and the [federal law]
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) accountability plan, which
over 4,000 Alaska contributed to. Both projects are designed to
deliver an excellent education to every student in the state.
The three primary commitments of the AEC (1. Increase student
success 2. Cultivate safety and well-being 3. Support
responsible and reflective learners) contain the 13 AEC
recommendations and the new ESSA accountability system.
Commitments come with action. The next steps will be done with
unity from partners across the state who have agreed to share
these commitments.
8:06:53 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON reported that DEED has held meetings with
partners to align current efficient practices with promising
practices identified within the AEC and the ESSA plan. Based on
that alignment DEED will work with each district and community
to implement the 13 recommendations and ESSA accountability
system. "There's no quick fix for the challenges we face in
society that are reflected in our public schools," he said.
Tribes, the associations for school boards and administrators
and the Alaska National Education Association (NEA) are some of
the organizations eager to partner with DEED to transform
education. He said that he hopes that in five years there will
be students reading who wouldn't have been without this work.
8:09:26 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said that a lot of emotional energy is
expended on the uncertain budget process. He hoped SB 131 and
the AEC would redirect that energy to implementing tailored
solutions to raising expectations and closing the achievement
gap in the state.
8:10:02 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked him to reflect on problems districts have
with hiring teachers.
8:10:58 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said nationally there is difficulty with
recruitment and retention. Districts have varying levels with
hiring difficulty and the same with different subject areas,
such as special education, math and science.
8:12:19 AM
SENATOR BEGICH asked what impact an earlier education budget
process would have.
8:13:00 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said certainty about funding allows
districts to be more efficient and effective in their
recruiting. Waiting to recruit changes the candidate pool,
especially in rural Alaska, because people need to make
decisions about where to live for the coming year.
8:14:01 AM
SENATOR HUGHES asked what an educational partnership with tribes
would look like.
8:16:10 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said he is excited about what will be great
conversations with tribes. He didn't know what those
partnerships would look like yet and so didn't want to make any
predictions.
8:17:50 AM
SENATOR GIESSEL said early funding makes sense, but many
citizens wonder what the state is funding, what kind of results
is the state seeing. She is a big fan of math and science but
reading competency is more fundamental. Considering the state's
bad reading results, she asked what is being done about reading.
8:19:28 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said he hopes in five years there will be
students who are readers because of the work being done today.
There are places in the state where it is difficult to recruit
reading specialists. In other areas there are phenomenal reading
specialists. Reading is emphasized through the AEC and ESSA
accountability plan. Alaska's accountability plan has a unique
component to incentivize schools to get all student proficient
in reading by the end of third grade
8:21:19 AM
SENATOR HUGHES said early funding would eliminate havoc in
districts, but wondered that if the bill were to pass, could
there still be havoc if districts and education advocates who
were not satisfied with the funding level tried to get
supplemental funding in the final budget and would pink-slips
still be issued.
8:23:14 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said early funding would not eliminate the
process or probability of pink-slipping because other Base
Student Allocation factors, such as hold harmless, affect
funding, but the pink-slip process and planning becomes more
efficient.
8:24:52 AM
SENATOR HUGHES asked about implications for changing the fiscal
year to the calendar year for districts.
8:25:46 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said finance people could speak more
technically about that idea, but one issue would be three
different fiscal years: district, state, and federal.
8:26:38 AM
SENATOR HUGHES asked if the local and state year could be the
calendar year.
8:26:58 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said the fiscal year syncing with the
school year was important.
8:27:22 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked if there were other funding deadlines
besides April 1 that would work.
8:27:38 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said any time before April 1 would be
appealing, but April 1 is good.
8:28:04 AM
CHAIR STEVENS said there are other solutions. He appreciated the
opportunity to have the bill and discussions on the record.
8:28:53 AM
TIM PARKER, President, NEA Alaska, testified in support of SB
131. He said student learning is the center of what educators
are doing and requires strong relationships with students.
Teachers get better at that with experience. Last summer
district laid off more teachers than needed and then many
weren't there for rehire. SB 131 provides certainty. He noted
that NEA Alaska is committed to the success of AEC.
8:33:32 AM
MR. PARKER said NEA Alaska envisioned in the next three to six
months engaging all 15,000 educators in Alaska about the AEC
commitments. ESSA is part of those same discussions. The AEC is
good for Alaskans. He noted that it was unusual to have all the
educational groups give a big thumbs up to this plan. But last
summer late budgeting caused many of the state's best educators
to leave Alaska and districts were scrambling to hire in July
and August. The state had 250 open teaching positions at the
start of year. Passing SB 131 helps the state retain its best
and brightest and prevent other states from snatching up some of
the best educators. An earlier date than April 1 would be even
better. Some states will be hiring teachers next month.
8:37:44 AM
JACK WALSH, Superintendent, Craig City School District,
testified in support of SB 131. He said recruitment is more
difficult for rural school districts. April 1 is a good place
holder for a date. Half of teachers quit within their first five
years and budget uncertainty makes it even more difficult to
commit to a career in education.
8:41:39 AM
MR. WALSH said rural communities deserve the best educators, and
he reassured the committee that educators every day are thinking
about how to be better.
8:44:17 AM
MONICA GOYETTE, Ph.D., Superintendent, Matanuska-Susitna Borough
School District, testified in support of SB 131. She said
districts are waiting too long to know what funding will be
available for the next school year. Because the budgeting
process involves many variables such as enrollment projections,
local funding amounts, and health insurance renewals, they need
to resolve as many of these unknowns as soon as possible.
Funding assurances are needed to recruit the best teachers.
Without knowing funding levels, Mat-Su has difficulty adapting a
staffing plan that aligns with the anticipated resources, which
delays early hiring and retention of nontenured teachers.
Without knowing the state contribution, the borough's school
board must confront numerous budget scenarios. She said that she
would like the see the inclusion of a hold harmless provision
for funding if the April 1 deadline is not met. SB 131
represents smart, thoughtful policy that benefits students.
8:47:05 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked Dr. Goyette to speak about the increase in
enrollment in the Mat-Su school district.
8:47:19 AM
DR. GOYETTE said the district did not grow as much as projected
this year, but expects to grow by about .5 percent, about 100
additional students, next year. The growth is an additional
concern because the longer the borough waits to hire more
teachers, the more limited the pool becomes.
8:48:18 AM
SENATOR HUGHES asked what the growth was for the current school
year.
8:48:35 AM
DR. GOYETTE said the district had 150 more students, half of the
projection of 300 and growth has been slowing down the past
decade. The district is projecting a growth of 75-100 students
per year for the next few years.
8:49:12 AM
SENATOR HUGHES asked where the new students in Mat-Su are coming
from.
8:49:25 AM
DR. GOYETTE said the district is working on identifying where
students are coming from. She noted that many are transients,
that 650 students entered the district, but 500 left. Poverty
rates in Mat-Su are increasing. Higher income earners left and
incoming families are struggling more. Three schools are
qualifying for Title 1 because of poverty rates that never
before qualified.
8:50:42 AM
DAVID NEES, representing self, suggested a change to SB 131. He
said SB 131 has no guarantee that it funds teachers at the
levels of the previous year. Early funding of the system does
not guarantee that. It is a good bill, but it needs this
guarantee to solve the pink-slip issue.
8:53:11 AM
LISA SKILES PARADY, Ph.D., Executive Director, Alaska Council of
School Administrators, testified in support of SB 131. She said
that her members, which include superintendents, principals,
school business officials, and other administrators, support
this bill, which addresses their highest priority: timely,
reliable, and predictable revenue.
8:56:05 AM
SENATOR HUGHES asked if Dr. Parady could provide her
organization's thoughts on the suggestion to include a guarantee
of the same funding level for teachers in the bill.
DR. PARADY said she would.
8:56:41 AM
ACTING CHAIR COGHILL closed public testimony and held SB 131 in
committee for further consideration.
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