Legislature(2021 - 2022)BUTROVICH 205
03/25/2022 09:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB236 | |
| SB196 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 236 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| * | SB 196 | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
SB 236-FACILITIES CONSTITUTING A SCHOOL
9:04:42 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 236
"An Act relating to facilities constituting a school."
CHAIR HOLLAND asked Mr. King to introduce SB 236, a committee
bill.
9:05:05 AM
ED KING, Staff, Senator Roger Holland, Alaska State Legislature,
Juneau, Alaska, introduced SB 236 by reading the sponsor
statement:
[Original punctuation provided.]
SB 236 seeks to remedy a technical problem in the
education funding formula. The problem occurs when a
district with a single school and more than 425
students opens a charter school. Under current law,
the existence of the charter school implies that there
is no longer "only one facility administered as a
school." Consequently, the district must calculate the
adjusted ADM in the public school with a lower school
size factor. As a result, opening a charter school in
such a district comes with a financial penalty of
about $1 million per year.
SB 236 adds three words to existing law: "excluding
charter schools." These three words allow the district
to maintain its full funding and remove the
disincentive a school board faces when considering a
charter school application. While it is tempting to
consider the fiscal note as a $1 million per year
funding increase, it's important to remember that
simply closing the charter school would yield the same
result.
The Senate Education Committee supports charter
schools and requests your support in removing this
barrier to ensure they are available to students
across the state.
9:06:18 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND noted there was a committee substitute (CS) for
the committee to consider.
9:06:26 AM
SENATOR HUGHES moved to adopt the proposed CS for SB 236, work
order 32-LS1642\B, as the working document.
9:06:41 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND objected for purposes of discussion and asked Mr.
King for an explanation of the changes between version A and
version B.
9:06:47 AM
MR. KING explained that the committee substitute adds Section 2
to SB 236, adding an effective date of July 1, 2022, ensuring no
partial-year funding obligations.
9:07:01 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND removed his objection; he found no further
objection, and CSSB 236, version B, was adopted.
9:07:24 AM
ANDREW LOVITT, Director of Budget & Finance, Lower Yukon School
District, Mountain Village, said he had held the position for
six years. He read his testimony:
[Original punctuation provided.]
LYSD is seeking your support of SB 236. SB 236 will
remedy a funding issue that unfairly penalizes the
Lower Yukon School District for opening a charter
school in Hooper Bay.
The penalty within the statute for adding a charter
school in Hooper Bay resulted in an annual reduction
in funding of $1,033,000 for FY 2021, and $1,021,000
for FY2022. Until this funding penalty is remedied,
LYSD will lose approximately $1 million each year.
The District operates two separate educational
programs in the Hooper Bay School; the conventional K-
12 school and a 4th -8th grade charter school that
features a culturally relevant, place based on
learning curriculum for its students. Additionally,
the school has a K-3 Yupik Immersion program but is
not part of the charter school and functions as part
of the conventional school as a special program.
Some would argue that SB 236 has a fiscal note to the
State of Alaska of $1 million annually.
LYSD sees the opposite; to date our loss of foundation
funding has resulted in fiscal surplus to the state of
$2 million dollars for the FY 21 and FY 22.
As a result of the Hooper Bay Charter School, our
district has same number of students- the exact same
students- inside of the same school building- and yet
we realize a funding penalty of over $1 million per
year. By adding the three words "excluding charter
schools" to AS 14.17.905, the annual funding penalty
is remedied and it becomes feasible to fund Hooper
Bay's Charter School. As it stands now, the statute is
punitive and this unintended $1 million annual funding
penalty impacts our entire school district and
effectively jeopardizes rural Alaskans' access to
school choice.
SB 236 would remedy this funding problem and support
charter school equity for the rural Alaska school
districts.
Thank you for sponsoring and scheduling this
legislation, thank you for your time and consideration
and I'm open for any questions.
9:09:39 AM
SENATOR BEGICH said if the district got rid of the charter
school, there would not be a penalty, and kids would still be in
the same school building. He asked if SB 236 would erase the
penalty. He opined that the statute unfairly penalizes small
districts and prevents them from having charter schools.
MR. LEAVITT responded yes.
9:10:13 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND asked whether SB 236 would affect other schools in
Alaska.
MR. LOVITT replied that it would not.
9:10:35 AM
MR. KING said that while Hooper Bay's charter school was the
only district affected, the statute could cause the same problem
for other communities; therefore, the legislation was necessary.
9:11:13 AM
ELWIN BLACKWELL, School Finance Manager, Department of Education
and Early Development (DEED), Juneau, Alaska, replied that no
other school or district would be affected by SB 236. Average
daily membership (ADM) numbers do not show any other school or
district falling under this statute section anytime soon.
SENATOR HUGHES asked Mr. Leavitt when the problem was
discovered.
9:12:16 AM
MR. LOVITT replied that the issue had occurred once before when
the school's enrollment exceeded 425 students. The problem was
resolved in 2018. The district knew funding would be an issue
when the community pushed for a charter school. However, he said
he was unsure whether the charter school understood the
districtwide impact.
SENATOR HUGHES asked whether the charter school was impacted by
the loss of funds since its funding was in place, and she
questioned why it took two years to request the change.
9:13:27 AM
MR. LOVITT replied that the charter school received total
funding, and the rest of the district incurred the penalty. He
said the request was delayed due to the charter school opening
late in the year and legislation failing to gain traction due to
Covid shutdowns.
CHAIR HOLLAND responded that he would accept some blame for the
delay. He said he had heard of the legislation as a freshman
senator and should have given it more attention.
SENATOR HUGHES said that it makes sense that Covid would cause a
delay.
9:14:36 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND held SB 236 in committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 236 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SEDC 3/25/2022 9:00:00 AM |
SB 236 |
| SB 236 Fiscal Note (FP).pdf |
SEDC 3/25/2022 9:00:00 AM |
SB 236 |
| SB 236 Fiscal Note (PEF).pdf |
SEDC 3/25/2022 9:00:00 AM |
SB 236 |
| SB 236 CS.pdf |
SEDC 3/25/2022 9:00:00 AM |
SB 236 |
| SB 236 LYSD Letter.pdf |
SEDC 3/25/2022 9:00:00 AM |
SB 236 |
| SB 196 Sponsor Statement 2.21.22.pdf |
SEDC 3/25/2022 9:00:00 AM SJUD 4/25/2022 1:30:00 PM |
SB 196 |
| SB 196 Sectional 2.25.22.pdf |
SEDC 3/25/2022 9:00:00 AM SJUD 4/25/2022 1:30:00 PM |
SB 196 |