Legislature(2021 - 2022)SENATE FINANCE 532
04/11/2022 01:00 PM Senate FINANCE
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB111 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 111 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 236 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE
April 11, 2022
1:02 p.m.
1:02:30 PM
CALL TO ORDER
Co-Chair Bishop called the Senate Finance Committee meeting
to order at 1:02 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Click Bishop, Co-Chair
Senator Bert Stedman, Co-Chair
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Bill Wielechowski
Senator David Wilson
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Donny Olson
Senator Natasha von Imhof
ALSO PRESENT
Erin Shine, Staff, Senator Click Bishop; Heidi Teshner,
Director, Finance and Support Services, Department of
Education and Early Development.
SUMMARY
SB 111 EARLY EDUCATION; READING INTERVENTION
CSSB 111(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with
three "do pass" recommendations and with two "no
recommendation" recommendations, and with three
new fiscal impact notes from the Department of
Education and Early Development, one new fiscal
impact note from the Department of Education and
Early Development - Fund Capitalization, and one
new zero fiscal impact note from the Department
of Education and Early Development.
SENATE BILL NO. 111
"An Act relating to the duties of the Department of
Education and Early Development; relating to public
schools; relating to early education programs;
relating to funding for early education programs;
relating to school age eligibility; relating to
reports by the Department of Education and Early
Development; relating to reports by school districts;
relating to certification and competency of teachers;
relating to assessing reading deficiencies and
providing reading intervention services to public
school students enrolled in grades kindergarten
through three; relating to textbooks and materials for
reading intervention services; establishing a reading
program in the Department of Education and Early
Development; relating to school operating funds;
relating to a virtual education consortium; and
providing for an effective date."
1:03:03 PM
Co-Chair Bishop relayed that it was the sixth hearing for
SB 111. The committee intended to consider a Committee
Substitute (CS), review the fiscal notes, and look to the
will of the committee.
Senator Wielechowski to ADOPT proposed committee substitute
for SB 111, Work Draft 32-LS0485\R (Klein, 4/7/22).
Co-Chair Bishop OBJECTED for discussion.
1:03:44 PM
ERIN SHINE, STAFF, SENATOR CLICK BISHOP, explained that
there was one substantive change between Version E and
Version R of the bill, as well as a couple of conforming
and technical changes.
Ms. Shine addressed an Explanation of Changes document
(copy on file):
Section 14
AS 14.03.410(b)
Requires the conditions of subsection (g) to be met
prior to application for the 3- year early education
grant program.
AS 14.03.410 (d) & (e)
Corrects a drafting error from a prior version of SB
111 by removing reference to subsection (a) as it is
no longer necessary.
AS 14.03.410(g)
Adds a new subsection to require school districts to
consult with each local and tribal head start program
within the district's boundaries prior to making an
application to the 3-year early education grant
program, under AS 14.03.410(b), to ensure no district-
wide program will jeopardize federal funding or
programing.
1:05:45 PM
AT EASE
1:05:54 PM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Bishop WITHDREW his OBJECTION. There being NO
further OBJECTION, it was so ordered.
1:06:15 PM
HEIDI TESHNER, DIRECTOR, FINANCE AND SUPPORT SERVICES,
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT, addressed a
new fiscal note from the Department of Education and Early
Development, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Component number 2912. She detailed that the fiscal note
showed the costs associated with operating the Early
Education Grant Program, as well as providing training and
support to grantees. It was estimated that three additional
staff positions were needed to operate the grant program as
well as provide training and support to grantees. In
addition to salaries and benefits of the positions, there
was department charge-back costs of $10,600 per position,
and one-time costs of $5,000 per position for supplies and
equipment. She continued that there was an additional one-
time cost of $6,000 for the legal services associated with
regulation development. The total estimated FY 23 cost was
$833,300, of which $385,600 would be requested as a General
Fund (GF) appropriation, while $474,700 for the Parents as
Teachers program was already included in the FY 23
governors budget.
Ms. Teshner addressed a new fiscal impact note from DEED,
OMB Component number 3028. She detailed that the note
showed the costs associated with the Early Education
Program grants. She noted that page 3 of the fiscal note
provided a funding breakdown by fiscal year for the 3-year
grant program. The bill set a $3 million annual cap for the
program, and there was a maximum number of 638 students
eligible for the program based on the half of an average
cost per student of $4,702. She continued that Table 3
provided a look at which cohorts would be eligible for the
program over 11 years. Table 4 showed which cohorts would
transition to the foundation program after the completion
of the 3-year grant program. She added that FY 34 would be
the last year of the grant program and the total was
estimated to cost about $33 million.
Ms. Teshner spoke to a new zero fiscal note from DEED, OMB
Component 141. She explained that there were no costs shown
on the note as the funding mechanism for the program was a
GF transfer to the Public Education Fund. The fiscal note
was provided for explanation purposes only.
Ms. Teshner addressed a new fiscal impact note from Fund
Capitalization, OMB Component 2804. The fiscal note was for
the Public Education Fund, which was where the money got
deposited for the foundation program. The fiscal note took
the total amount of projected state aid and divided the
amount by the total average daily membership to get the
average cost. The bill funded the students at half of the
average per student, using FY 22 data. She noted that there
could be additional costs for districts. There would be
nine cohorts of students, with the first cohort
transitioning to the foundation formula in FY 27. She
detailed that the fiscal note assumed that all programs
developed in the first cohort would be approved, and
transition at the end of the third year.
1:10:58 PM
Ms. Teshner continued to address the fiscal note with OMB
Component 2804. She explained that the bill included
transition language for districts with existing early
education programs that got approved by the State Board of
Education and Early Development, but limited the amount to
$3 million in FY 23, with no more than a $3 million
increase in subsequent years. State aid was expected to
increase approximately $24 million once all students were
transitioned and included in the average daily membership
count.
Ms. Teshner addressed a new fiscal impact note from DEED,
OMB Component 2796. The note reflected costs associated
with the Comprehensive Reading Intervention Program, the
School Improvement Literacy Program, and the Virtual
Education Consortium. Through the reading intervention
program, The department would manage and operate the
program. The department would annually convene stakeholders
to receive feedback on the program, establish a recognition
program, and provide training and support for all K 3
teachers on the use of the statewide screening tool. It was
estimated that it would take three staff positions to
manage and operate the program, including an Education
Administrator III position, which would participate at
statewide conferences. The note only budgeted for one in-
person travel. Additionally, there were salary and benefits
department charge-back costs of $10,600 per position, and
one-time costs of $5,000 per position.
Ms. Teshner continued that there was also a cost for the
reading program that required adoption and administration
of a statewide screening tool to identify students with
reading deficiency. There were approximately 40,000
students in K-3 in Alaska schools with an annual cost of
about $600,000. The department planned to utilize federal
receipts to fund the screener in FY 23, and the cost would
be a state GF cost in FY 24. An additional $500,000 would
be needed to develop an alternate screening tool for
bilingual and immersion programs starting in FY 24. There
was a one-time cost of $18,000 included in the note for
legal services associated with regulation development. The
program would be repealed on June 30, 2034.
Ms. Teshner addressed the School Improvement Reading
Program, for which the department would provide direct
support in district and school reading programs. The
department would select the schools from the lowest 25
percent of schools in the program. The department
anticipated employing one to five reading specialists in
year one, and five in each of the subsequent years. The
fiscal notes assumed hiring five positions within the first
year. Out-year costs would be adjusted based on
implementation of the program. There was salary and
benefits, department chargebacks, costs for supplies and
equipment, and a one-time cost of $12,000 for legal
services related to regulations around the program.
Reflected in the fiscal note was costs associated with
purchasing supplemental reading textbooks and materials for
districts in connection with the reading intervention
services. The cost per student when adopting a new reading
curriculum was about $250, which led to about $170,500 for
the supplemental materials.
1:16:03 PM
Ms. Teshner continued addressing the fiscal note. The final
costs associated with the School Improvement Literacy
Program had an annual contract fee of $50,000 beginning in
FY 23 for data collection and analysis for the required
legislative report. The program was repealed on June 30,
2034.
Ms. Teshner revealed that the final program under the
fiscal note was the Virtual Education Consortium. The
department would need two positions to manage and operate
the statewide virtual education learning management system,
review courses, and provide training. There was one reading
specialist position to provide services to districts. The
department established a statewide virtual education
learning management system for districts, teachers and
students in FY 21 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and
planned to continue to license the program through FY 23
using federal Covid relief funding. There was an annual
cost of just over $1 million. The two positions needed to
manage the system and one full-time reading specialist
could also be funded through FY 23 with federal Covid
relief funding and starting in FY 24 a UGF request would be
needed. In addition, there was a one-time increment of
$12,000 for legal services for new regulations. The program
was also repealed on June 30, 2034.
Ms. Teshner explained that there were two additional costs
in the fiscal note that were not related to one of the
programs. There was a $200,000 cost in FY 32 for an
independent contractor to assist the department in
th
development of the legislative report due to the 30
legislature. There was a $115,000 cost starting in FY 24
for costs associated with the annual convening of a panel
to review and comment on the effectiveness of the four new
programs. The FY 23 GF cost to implement the programs was
$4,187,400. She referenced a one-page fiscal notes overview
document that outlined a summary of the fiscal notes and
the cumulative costs (copy on file).
Senator Wielechowski MOVED to report CSSB 111(FIN) out of
Committee with individual recommendations and the
accompanying fiscal notes. There being NO OBJECTION, it was
so ordered.
CSSB 111(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with three "do
pass" recommendations and with two "no recommendation"
recommendations, and with three new fiscal impact notes
from the Department of Education and Early Development, one
new fiscal impact note from the Department of Education and
Early Development - Fund Capitalization, and one new zero
fiscal impact note from the Department of Education and
Early Development.
Co-Chair Bishop discussed the agenda for the following day.
ADJOURNMENT
1:20:12 PM
The meeting was adjourned at 1:20 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 111 Explanation of Changes ver N to R 4.7.2022.pdf |
SFIN 4/11/2022 1:00:00 PM |
SB 111 |
| SB 111 Work Draft ver. R 4.7.22.pdf |
SFIN 4/11/2022 1:00:00 PM |
SB 111 |
| SB 111(FIN) Fiscal Notes Overview 3.16.2022.pdf |
SFIN 4/11/2022 1:00:00 PM |
SB 111 |
| SB 111 CEE letter of support for Alaska Reads Act_signed.pdf |
SFIN 4/11/2022 1:00:00 PM |
SB 111 |
| SB 111 Support Alaska Gateway School District.pdf |
SFIN 4/11/2022 1:00:00 PM |
SB 111 |
| SB111 Letter of Support.pdf |
SFIN 4/11/2022 1:00:00 PM |
SB 111 |