Legislature(2013 - 2014)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/14/2014 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| SB100 | |
| Start | |
| SB139 | |
| SB100 | |
| SB139 | |
| SB208 | |
| SB113 | |
| SB147 | |
| SB100 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 139 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 113 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 100 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| = | SB 147 | ||
| = | SB 208 | ||
SB 139-EDUCATION: FUNDING/TAX CREDITS/PROGRAMS
8:00:55 AM
Chair Stevens announced the consideration of SB 139. He noted a
new committee substitute (CS), Version N.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY moved to adopt the CS for SB 139, labeled 28-
GS2716\N, as the working document.
CHAIR STEVENS objected for discussion.
8:01:23 AM
TIM LAMKIN, Staff, Senator Gary Stevens, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, presented information on SB 139,
Version N, on behalf of the sponsor. He pointed out the changes
from the prior version of the bill. The first change is in
Section 5, page 5, lines 4 - 22, where the language from SB 82,
sponsored by Senator Olson and passed by committee on April 5,
is incorporated into the bill. The language would assist
districts with discounted rates for internet services under the
federal Universal Services Program.
MR. LAMKIN explained that the next change is on page 6, in the
context of charter school appeals. The words "to determine" were
changed to "to consider" on line 9. In Section 13, on page 9,
the provisions of SB 208 regarding the school construction debt
reimbursement were added. He said SB 208 will be heard later in
the meeting. He highlighted page 14, lines 19 and 20, where the
words "are less than" should be replaced by "are less than or
equal to". He recommended an amendment to that effect.
He said another change is in Section 20, page 16, lines 7 - 12.
This section is in regard to the Technical Vocational Education
Program (TVEP) and the methodology by which employers and
employees contribute to the unemployment insurance fund. It is
important to consider the "size of the pie" in the process of
changing the TVEP allocation structure. In this section the
contribution rate is changed from .15 percent to .16 percent.
Currently, the fund is increasing on its own due to the growth
in the employment sector. The change would allow the addition of
the two entities, Ketchikan and Sitka, listed on page 17, in
order to provide better representation from the Southeast
region.
8:05:24 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked what difference that change makes to the
employee contribution rate.
MR. LAMKIN related that it should increase the entire fund by
approximately $700,000.
CHAIR STEVENS pointed out that the increase to individual
employees would be under $10.
MR. LAMKIN said it would be $9.60 annually.
He continued with a change in Section 21, page 16, line 15,
where the sunset is changed to 2017 in order to give the
department time to address performance measures and an audit.
8:06:56 AM
MR. LAMKIN described changes in Sections 25 - 36, the tax credit
sections, related to corporate donations. He referred to page
18, line 27, where the reference to intercollegiate sports
tournament is struck from the bill because it is not considered
an academic exercise. That change is consistent throughout the
tax credit sections.
He highlighted a change on page 19, lines 6 - 15, - an addition
to tax credits where a nonprofit is giving scholarships for
students to attend dual credit summer camp events, such as Rural
Alaska Honors Institute (RAHI). He said an amendment to that
effect was considered and adopted by the other body.
He reviewed a change on page 19, lines 25 - 28, - an addition to
tax credits for Alaska Federation of Native elders who might
wish to start a nonprofit that would promote public service and
leadership, an amendment proposed by the administration.
8:09:36 AM
MR. LAMKIN turned to Section 37, page 30, line 8, the repeal of
the exit exam. On page 30, line 29, there is reference to a
legislative audit of TVEP. On page 31, lines 4 - 13, uncodified
law related to school construction debt reimbursement, contains
the aforementioned proposed wording change, "is less than or
equal to." In Section 44, on line 16, the effective date is
changed to 2014, instead of 2015, in order to facilitate
developing TVEP performance measures more quickly.
CHAIR STEVENS thanked Mr. Lamkin for his work on the bill.
CHAIR STEVENS requested Mr. Scott address the change beginning
in Section 5, page 5, line 5.
8:11:54 AM
DAVID SCOTT, Staff, Senator Donny Olson, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, presented information on Section 5
of SB 139 on behalf of the sponsor. He explained that Section 5
sets a minimum floor for all schools of 10 megabytes of internet
service. In doing so, the state would be leveraging four federal
dollars for each state dollar spent. The intent is to allow
rural school districts to make use of distance learning. Rural
students could then take advantage of the Alaska Performance
Scholarship due to more course offerings.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if this provision is in another bill.
MR. SCOTT said it is in SB 82.
CHAIR STEVENS asked for the status of SB 82.
MR. SCOTT said it is in the Senate Finance Committee.
8:14:03 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked about the fiscal note.
MR. SCOTT said the 10 percent escalator has been removed and
would reduce the fiscal note.
CHAIR STEVENS noted the bill is in Senate Finance.
SENATOR HUGGINS voiced concern about the fiscal note.
MR. SCOTT related that to bring all schools to the level of 10
megabytes would cost between $7 million and $8 million.
CHAIR STEVENS presented Mr. Scott with the fiscal note.
MR. SCOTT explained that the base rate the state would pay this
year would be almost $14 million, with an additional cost of $7
million to bring all schools up to the 10 megabyte level, minus
10 percent. This year it would cost roughly $22 million.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked if the increase is $22 million.
MR. SCOTT said he would need to discuss it with the department.
CHAIR STEVENS said the options are to leave it in the bill or
remove it.
8:17:43 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS said he is inclined to not support something
that will not work financially.
CHAIR STEVENS asked for a motion.
SENATOR HUGGINS moved to strike Section 5 from SB 139.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY said he agreed with Senator Huggins.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if there were any objections. Seeing none,
[Conceptual Amendment 1 was adopted.]
SENATOR HUGGINS said he is not trying to carve up the bill.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY noted that debt reimbursement for school
construction was the other proposal by Senator Olson.
CHAIR STEVENS asked Mr. Scott to comment. He inquired about the
status of SB 208.
8:20:06 AM
MR. SCOTT said SB 208 will be heard later in the Senate
Education Committee.
CHAIR STEVENS questioned how to deal with SB 208.
MR. SCOTT addressed funding school construction. He said there
are two ways to fund construction, with a grant from the state
or through debt reimbursement. Those schools eligible for 20
percent or lower participation share in the grant program would
be eligible for 80/20 debt reimbursement, rather than 70/30. A
precedent has been set with the 90/10 reimbursement. There is a
five-year side bar.
CHAIR STEVENS asked about the fiscal note.
MR. SCOTT said in the first year the fiscal note is for $128,910
from a retroactivity clause only one school district is eligible
for. The following years have indeterminate costs.
SENATOR HUGGINS recommended that the bill stand alone.
SENATOR HUGGINS offered Conceptual Amendment [2] to remove
Section 13 from SB 139. There being no objection, [Conceptual
Amendment 2 was adopted.]
8:23:41 AM
At ease
8:24:39 AM
CHAIR STEVENS brought the meeting back to order. He turned to
Section 7 on page 6 and asked Commissioner Hanley to comment.
MICHAEL HANLEY, Commissioner, Department of Education and Early
Development (DEED), Juneau, Alaska, presented information
related to SB 139. He concurred with Mr. Lamkin's statement that
simply changes the wording of the appeal that comes to the
commissioner, on line 9, to "consider." He discussed Section 7
as it applies to the charter school application appeal. He said
the purpose and the Governor's intent of this section is to
recognize some of the challenges charter schools have of just
"getting the ball rolling." It provides additional scrutiny and
opportunities for a charter school to plead their case.
SENATOR GARDNER asked, with the new language, if the
commissioner or the board can overturn a school board's decision
or concur with the findings of fact and law.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY clarified that the commissioner would
"review and then forward," and the State Board would have
opportunity to do those three things.
SENATOR GARDNER requested clarification if the district would
have to administer a proposed charter school that they had
denied.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY said it appears that the seven individuals
of the state board, not the commissioner, have the ability to
approve a charter school that has been denied by the district.
8:29:02 AM
CHAIR STEVENS noted that has never happened.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY agreed.
SENATOR HUGGINS called it an appeal process if there was a
denial. He gave an example of parents getting together to form a
school and now having an appeal process. He spoke in support of
this provision. He assumed the appeal process is more of a
facilitation procedure.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked what the original intent of the Governor
was.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY said it was to allow another set of eyes and
add integrity to the local process.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked if this language changes that intent.
COMMISISONER HANLEY said it is an added opportunity for parents
to be heard. He did not anticipate a lot of appeals. He
concluded that the process brings integrity.
CHAIR STEVENS noted it brings a conclusion to the process.
CHAIR STEVENS addressed Section 20, the TVEP provision beginning
on page 16.
8:33:55 AM
GRAY MITCHELL, Assistant Commissioner, Department of Labor and
Workforce Development (DOLWD), Anchorage, Alaska, presented
information on Section 20 of SB 139. He said the changes add
participants to the TVEP program and provide a way to fund them
without significantly changing the allocations that exist for
current TVEP recipients. He noted there would be a fiscal impact
to DOLWD from Section 20 associated with the .01 percent
increase to the TVEP set-aside, from .15 percent to .16 percent.
He pointed out that a $9.60 per employee contribution increase
is not accurate. The impact on the employee tax rate is zero;
the impact on the employer tax rate would be approximately $2.40
per employee. An annual tax increase for an employer with four
employees would be approximately $9.66 per year. As the number
of employees is increased, the amount per employee is decreased.
CHAIR STEVENS summarized the previous information. He noted that
workforce development is an important issue and it has a cost.
8:37:46 AM
CHAIR STEVENS pointed out that an audit would be required.
He turned to page 18, line 27, - tax credits. He asked if there
was any discussion of the removal of the sporting events tax
credit. Hearing none, he addressed the dual credit issue on page
19. He requested comments from the commissioner.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY addressed line 6, page 19, and said that,
previously, one of the tax credits was to defray the costs of
dual credit. The Governor's intent in SB 139 is to broaden that
provision to allow on-campus room and board for post-secondary
institutions and transportation costs to and from residential
schools. Another component would allow students to access
programs such as Rural Alaska Honors Institute (RAHI) out of
Fairbanks and Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program
(ANSEP) operated out of the university, for summer institutes.
This section allows for corporations to receive tax credits when
paying for the abovementioned costs.
CHAIR STEVENS requested information about page 19, line 25, the
AFN elders program.
COMMSSIONER HANELY explained that it is another opportunity for
a corporation to receive a tax credit for promoting educational
opportunities for leadership. He noted an institution called the
Ted Stevens Organization which allows legacy materials to be
used for educational and leadership purposes - it is itemized
separately.
8:41:23 AM
CHAIR STEVENS turned to the exit exam on page 30.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY related that the ultimate goal is to remove
the exit exam, something that is no longer relevant. He said he
would rather see transition language in the bill, but he called
it the lesser of the evils as to how it gets to having the exit
exam removed. The Governor's bill required WorkKeys or the
ACT/SAT and that component has been removed in Version N. He
noted that WorkKeys will still be required in 11th grade.
8:43:26 AM
SENATOR GARDNER pointed out that for all tax credits, public
schools have public disclosure requirements. She asked if
private entities have to do the same and whether the state knows
those costs. She wondered if the state knows total costs for a
student to attend a program if it is paying only a part of the
costs.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY said the state does know the operating costs
of public schools, including private donations, but not
necessarily who the private donors are.
CHAIR STEVENS suggested hearing from Ms. Bales.
SENATOR GARDNER noted one of the values of Alaskans is
accountability and public disclosure of money spent in public
schools. She inquired if tax credits from corporations or other
donors are public information.
JOHANNA BALES, Deputy Director, Tax Division, Department of
Revenue, Anchorage, Alaska, answered questions related to SB
139. She explained that the department provides aggregate
information of all tax credits, but does not identify the name
of the tax payer or the recipient. The report shows the total
aggregate received by the university, colleges, vocational
technical programs, and other small programs. There is a
provision under the education tax credit law in current statute
that states that each public college and university has to
report in their annual operating budget the contributions they
received through the education tax credit and how they were
used. She offered to provide that information.
8:47:41 AM
SENATOR GARDNER inquired about data showing that residential
schools are performing better than other public schools that
serve students through boarding home arrangements or the use of
existing facilities. She asked if there a cost/benefit analysis
that shows it is a better, less costly option. She requested
that information. She spoke in favor of residential schools, but
wished to see their costs.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY offered to provide that information. He
suggested comparing boarding schools to schools where students
have come from. He agreed that there is an added cost for
boarding students, but also that there is added value for
students.
8:49:45 AM
CHAIR STEVENS closed public testimony.
He removed his objection to adopting Version N.
SENATOR GARDNER said she has a conceptual amendment about a
situation where a local school board has denied a charter school
application. She said she likes that the board must put their
response in writing and that the commissioner could agree that
the findings of fact are a valid reflection of the application,
and she has no objection to the referral to the state board of
education. However, she maintained it is wrong to leave open the
possibility that the board could override a school district's
decision to reject an application, forcing the school district
to run the charter school. She said it creates conflict. She
noted it has never happened.
She offered Conceptual Amendment [3] that when the process goes
through and reaches the state board of education, the board can
disagree with the findings of fact and law and send the
application back to the district, but they cannot require the
district to accept the charter school.
SENATOR GARDNER reiterated Conceptual Amendment [3] saying the
most that the state board of education can do is dispute the
findings of fact and law and tell the school board to go back to
the drawing board.
8:52:34 AM
CHAIR STEVENS agreed there is a strong belief in local control
and the local school board should have a say as to what happens
in their district. He suggested that the denied charter school
could come under the jurisdiction of the state board of
education.
SENATOR HUGGINS pointed out that the state board has the
authority to disapprove of a district's decision to accept a
charter school application. He maintained that it is not an even
playing field.
CHAIR STEVENS agreed it is a problem. He asked the commissioner
for his opinion.
8:54:58 AM
COMMISSIONER HANLEY addressed the issue. He agreed it would be
an untenable situation. He summarized that the state board can
deny or approve of a local approval. The public process of
putting all cards on the table would require the state board to
consider the findings of fact and law. He could not imagine a
denial under that scenario.
SENATOR HUGGINS said some school districts put a conceptual cap
on charter schools. He maintained that the intent of charter
school laws is for parents to be empowered to start a school. He
recalled that in the Mat-Su there was a conceptual cap on
charter schools. The bill says it is not in school districts'
authority to say that.
8:57:30 AM
SENATOR GARDNER agreed that there was suspicion originally
surrounding charter schools and now they have proved themselves
and are beloved by families that support them. However, there
are some financial risks, and she said she has several
proposals, as does SB 139, to ameliorate some of them. She
emphasized that if a district, on findings of fact and law, has
turned down a charter school application, there is no dispute of
the findings, and the state school board wants it to go forward,
the school board should run it.
SENATOR STEDMAN thought the next committee of referral could
deal with this issue.
CHAIR STEVENS pointed out that the community elects the school
board and can vote it out if they don't agree with its
decisions. He requested that Senator Gardner clarify the
conceptual amendment.
SENATOR GARDNER reiterated the conceptual amendment's intent; if
the state board of education approves a charter school
application over the objections of the school board, which has
presented undisputed findings of fact and law, the state board
of education should run the charter school the same way it runs
Mt. Edgecumbe.
CHAIR STEVENS repeated the amendment.
SENATOR GARDNER added "assuming there was no dispute about the
findings of fact and law."
9:00:38 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS objected. He said it is a radical thing and
creates a new structure. He did not think Mt. Edgecumbe could be
replicated around the state. He agreed the issue could be
tightened up.
CHAIR STEVENS said he was concerned, as a former school board
member, about having another school district within a school
district.
A roll call vote was taken. Senator Gardner voted in favor of
Conceptual Amendment 1 and Senators Stedman, Huggins, Dunleavy,
and Chair Stevens voted against it. Therefore, Conceptual
Amendment [3] failed by a 1:4 vote.
9:02:21 AM
SENATOR GARDNER moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment [4]: "The
board of education cannot approve a charter school that has been
denied by a local district, unless they find a flaw in the
findings of fact and law."
SENATOR HUGGINS encouraged a positive statement.
SENATOR GARDNER appreciated the suggestion.
SENATOR HUGGINS encouraged waiting for the Senate Finance
Committee hearing to propose the amendment.
SENATOR GARDNER pointed out that the Education Committee is the
education policy committee and the topic is an education policy;
this is the appropriate place to deal with the issue.
She withdrew Conceptual Amendment [4] and offered Conceptual
Amendment [5]: "If the board of education finds flaws with the
finding of fact or law, they can approve the charter school."
SENATOR HUGGINS objected.
9:05:25 AM
A roll call vote was taken. Senator Gardner voted in favor of
Conceptual Amendment [5] and Senators Stedman, Huggins,
Dunleavy, and Chair Stevens voted against it. Therefore,
Conceptual Amendment [5] failed by a 1:4 vote.
SENATOR GARDNER moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment [6], drafted
to Version U, regarding the BSA. She said the amendment
increases the BSA by $404. This number was generated by
legislative research as a response as to what it would take to
bring school districts "whole" from the years they have been
flat funded.
SENATOR STEDMAN suggested that the Finance Committee deal with
this issue.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked about the fiscal note.
SENATOR GARDNER said she would look it up.
SENATOR HUGGINS objected.
9:07:32 AM
A roll call vote was taken. Senator Gardner voted in favor of
Conceptual Amendment [6] and Senators Stedman, Huggins,
Dunleavy, and Chair Stevens voted against it. Therefore,
Conceptual Amendment [6] failed by a 1:4 vote.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY moved to report the CS for SB 139, as amended,
from committee with individual recommendations and attached
fiscal notes.
SENATOR GARDNER objected for discussion purposes. She said the
bill is missing quality, optional preschool programs and efforts
to support highly effective teachers. She opined that there are
three stools that provide great outcomes for kids; involved
parents, high quality teachers, and a high quality preschool
program. She withdrew her objection and stated support for the
bill.
9:09:54 AM
There being no further objection, CSSB 139(EDC) was reported
from the Senate Education Standing Committee.