Legislature(2025 - 2026)DAVIS 106
03/19/2025 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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 | |
| Presentation(s): School Maintenance and Construction | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
March 19, 2025
8:04 a.m.
DRAFT
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Rebecca Himschoot, Co-Chair
Representative Andi Story, Co-Chair
Representative Maxine Dibert
Representative Ted Eischeid
Representative Jubilee Underwood
Representative Rebecca Schwanke
Representative Bill Elam
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): SCHOOL MAINTENANCE AND CONSTRUCTION
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
LORI WEED, School Finance Manager
Division of School Finance & Facilities
Department of Education & Early Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a presentation titled "Capitol Needs
for School Facilities".
MICHAEL BUTIKOFER
Technical Engineer 1, Division of School Finance & Facilities,
Department of Education & Early Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered committee questions on the
presentation titled "Capitol Needs for School Facilities".
DR. LISA PARADY, Executive Director
Alaska Council of School Administrators & Superintendents
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a presentation titled "School District
Major Maintenance"
AUDRA FINKENBINDER, Superintendent
Southwest School District
Dillingham, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a presentation titled "School District
Major Maintenance"
MADELINE AGUILLARD,
Superintendent, Kuspuk School District
Aniak, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a presentation titled "School District
Major Maintenance"
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:04:35 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT called the House Education Standing Committee
meeting to order at 8:04 a.m. Representatives Himschoot,
Schwanke, Dibert, Elam, Underwood, Eischeid and Story were
present at the call to order.
^PRESENTATION(S): School Maintenance and Construction
PRESENTATION(S): School Maintenance and Construction
8:05:34 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT announced that the only order of business
would be a presentation titled "School Maintenance and
Construction".
8:06:39 AM
LORI WEED, School Finance Manager, Division of School Finance &
Facilities, Department of Education & Early Development, gave a
presentation titled "Capitol Needs for School Facilities". She
began on slide 3, which highlighted the Alaska Department of
Education and Early Development (DEED)'s strategic priorities
as an executive agency. She moved to slide 4, which outlined
the current funding mechanisms being utilized by the DEED for
school maintenance.
8:10:04 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked how the Regional Education Attendance
Area (REAA) fund is indexed and asked if there are "funds in the
funds".
MS. WEED answered that the REAA fund would be diminished by a
governor's veto of education funding and explained that there
are small allocations within the REAA to direct funds in
specific directions.
8:11:45 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ELAM asked Ms. Weed to further detail the
Municipal School District School Fund.
MS. WEED answered that both the REAA funds and the Municipal
School District School Funds are put together in a fund to be
implemented in school maintenance.
8:14:33 AM
MS. WEED resumed the presentation on slide 5, which described
the different types of school maintenance "project categories"
as they are classified within the DEED. She moved to slide 6,
which detailed how a school construction/maintenance project
could become eligible for the Capital Improvement Project (CIP)
program.
8:16:17 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked how often school districts in
Alaska are participating in the CIP program.
MS. WEED explained that certain school districts are more
involved in the CIP program than others and said that there is
roughly a 60 percent participation rate within the CIP.
8:20:01 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked how expensive it might be for a school
district to put forward a 6-year CIP and asked how long a CIP
project cost estimate is valid for.
MS. WEED answered that the DEED provides a "range of tools" to
school districts so that they may successfully obtain funding
from the CIP program. She explained that there are many
different projects at many different stages of development with
differing ages of cost estimates.
8:23:40 AM
MS. WEED resumed the presentation on slide 7, which further
detailed how a school district might become eligible to
participate in the CIP program. She moved to slide 8, which
emphasized the four qualities that a project must meet in order
to be eligible for the CIP program and continued to slide 9,
which displayed a graph that highlighted the overall CIP program
participation and eligibility statistics since Fiscal Year 2016
(FY16). She moved to slide 10, which outlined the total number
of CIP-eligible projects and the actual amount of dollars
associated with each project. She continued to slide 11, which
detailed the total amount of CIP dollars requested for FY26.
She moved to slide 12, which displayed a table that outlined the
total amount of dollars requested within school districts' six-
year plans.
8:29:41 AM
REPRESENTATIVE UNDERWOOD asked Ms. Weed to for the names of the
school districts that received CIP funding.
MS. WEED answered that she could follow-up with the requested
information later.
8:30:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked if a school district's likelihood
of receiving CIP funding is based off of how well their
application is completed.
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked about the current state of staffing
within the DEED.
MS. WEED answered that the success of a school districts CIP
application is based off of a number of differing factors and
said that there are about five staff members working in the
facilities section of DEED.
8:33:00 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked how the CIP applications are evaluated and
awarded and asked if DEED ever makes visits to project sites.
8:33:14 AM
MICHAEL BUTIKOFER, Technical Engineer 1, Division of School
Finance & Facilities, Department of Education & Early
Development, answered committee questions on the presentation
titled "Capitol Needs for School Facilities". He answered that
DEED made 5 site visits in fiscal year (FY) 2024 and said that 2
more are planned. He explained that the DEED does not make
district visits based on outstanding CIP applications, rather
they visit school districts every 5 years to ensure that they
meet the criteria of the DEED's preventative maintenance
programs. He said that the DEED takes effort in informing and
training school districts on how to qualify for CIP projects.
MS. WEED added that there are approximately 436 main school
facilities under the DEED's facility database.
8:40:35 AM
MS. WEED resumed the presentation on slide 10, which outlined
the total number of CIP-eligible projects and the actual amount
of dollars associated with each project. She continued to slide
11, which detailed the total amount of CIP dollars requested for
FY26.
8:43:32 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked how the DEED makes its
determinations regarding the necessity of a CIP grant and asked
what the minimum value for a CIP grant.
MS. WEED explained a series of different qualifications that a
successful CIP application might have and confirmed that $50,000
was the minimum value for a CIP grant. She said that the
threshold was set in consideration of what might be considered
"routine" in a school district's maintenance plan.
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT emphasized that schools often budget their
maintenance funding directly from the Base Student Allocation
(BSA) and must make do with only that.
8:48:04 AM
MS. WEED resumed the presentation on slide 12, which displayed a
table that outlined the total amount of dollars requested within
school districts' six-year plans and continued to slide 13,
which detailed three key points of an annual report mandated sb
the 26th Alaska Legislature's Senate Bill 237. She moved to
slide 14, which displayed a table that highlighted the different
types of CIP funding that the DEED awarded by specific Fiscal
Year.
8:50:45 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked Ms. Weed to further detail the
recommended 3 percent renewal rate.
MS. WEED explained that the 3 percent amount was recommended by
the National Council of School Facilities.
REPRESENTATIVE EISCHEID added that the National Council of
School facilities has recommended a rate of 4 percent.
8:52:53 AM
MR. BUTIKOFER added his understanding that school maintenance
funding is an "issue nationwide" based off of his interactions
with the National Council of School Facilities.
REPRESENTATIVE ELAM commented that Boroughs in Alaska fund
schools within themselves similarly to counties in the Lower 48.
8:54:14 AM
MS. WEED resumed the presentation on slide 15, which focused on
the deferred maintenance funds that Mt. Edgecumbe High School
requested from DEED. She concluded the presentation on slides
16-18.
8:55:33 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DIBERT asked if school districts are able to
compile project needs for different buildings under one
structure.
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked if a project would be awarded to a
district how needs it vs one that is being more proactive in its
maintenance process. She asked how a maintenance project that
was completed using local funds would be categorized by the
DEED.
MS. WEED in response to committee member's questions, answered
that the projects that Representative Dibert was asking about
were called "district wide projects" and are addressed
holistically. She explained that the response to a disaster is
dependent on the nuance of the emergency and said that a school
district would have to cover the immediate cost of any emergency
maintenance, not a CIP grant. She elaborated that certain
maintenance projects would be able to be reimbursed after the
immediate repair and said that the DEED does not distinguish
between completed or ongoing projects when it is determining who
shall receive a CIP grant.
9:04:15 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT thanked the invited testifiers and invited
Dr. Lisa Parody to begin the next presentation.
9:04:54 AM
DR. LISA PARADY, Executive Director, Alaska Council of School
Administrators & Superintendents, gave a presentation titled
"School District Major Maintenance" She began on slide 2, which
detailed the Alaska Council of School Administrators (ACSA) and
moved to slide 3, which highlighted the ACSA's "joint position
statement" regarding major school maintenance in Alaska. She
continued to slide 4, which displayed three statistics related
to Alaska schools and moved to slide 5, which emphasized the
"ongoing challenge" of deferred maintenance in Alaska's schools.
She moved to slide 6, which highlighted the major maintenance
issues that Alaska's schools are facing and continued to slide
7, which displayed a table that detailed the recommended and
funded capitol renewal since FY11. She moved to slide 8, which
listed specific projects that are on the DEED major maintenance
list since FY18 and continued to slide 9, which emphasized the
poor physical condition of Alaska's schools. She moved through
slides 10-11, which displayed a series of photos that emphasized
the poor condition of Alaska's schools. She continued to slide
12, which detailed a series of proposed solutions to combat
Alaska's deteriorating schools and concluded the presentation on
slide 13.
9:19:51 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked about the separation between rural
and urban school districts in Alaska.
DR. PARODY emphasized that rural school districts often have
less resources to put towards preventative or routine
maintenance, which leads dollars away from the classroom.
9:23:11 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ELAM commented his understanding that there might
be a large tax burden placed on municipalities if they were to
be made responsible for REAA maintenance projects.
DR. PARODY highlighted the importance of municipalities in
handling local school maintenance issues in lieu of the state
"not handling" school maintenance issues.
9:26:32 AM
AUDRA FINKENBINDER, Superintendent, Southwest School District,
gave a presentation titled "School District Major Maintenance".
She began on slide 2, which highlighted the top priorities of
the Southwest Region School District (SRSD)'s six year CIP plan.
She moved to slide 3, which detailed the Twin Hills School
renovation/replacement project and continued to slide 4, which
detailed the Ekwok School renovation project. She moved to
slide 5, which detailed the Aleknagik School renovation project
and continued to slide 6, which described 4 main concerns
regarding the previously mentioned improvement projects. She
moved to slide 7, which emphasized the importance of schools in
the role they sometimes serve as emergency shelters and
concluded the presentation on slide 8.
9:33:45 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked if the Southwest School District has a
maintenance employee at each school site, given the extreme
remote nature of the district.
MS. FINKENBINDER answered that the Southwest School District
does have limited maintenance personnel out at certain school
sites, but has more at its central office in Dillingham, Alaska.
9:36:45 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked how much time and resources are spent on
preparing the annual six-year CIP grant plan.
MS. FINKENBINDER replied that the Southwest School District has
had to begin doing its CIP grant plans "in house" due to budget
constraints and explained that its lead administrators have been
spending significant time on preparing the annual six-year plan
before it is due.
9:39:10 AM
MADELINE AGUILLARD, Superintendent, Kuspuk School District, gave
a presentation titled "School District Major Maintenance". She
began on slides 2-3, which detailed the history and current
status of the Sleetmute school improvement project. She moved
through slides 4-5, which emphasized the positive impact of good
school facility conditions on student achievement and teacher
retention. She continued through slides 6-10, all of which
compared the current derelict condition of schools in the Kuspuk
School District to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. She concluded
the presentation on slide 11, which highlighted the needs of
school districts in Alaska and some solutions for those needs.
9:58:24 AM
DR. AGUILLARD commented "the kids aren't going to let us down"
9:58:51 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT thanked the invited testifiers and delivered
committee announcements.
9:59:54 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Education Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 10:00 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| School Facilities Major Maintenance Prestn. DEED to HEDC 3.19.25.pdf |
HEDC 3/19/2025 8:00:00 AM |
|
| School Constn. Major Maintenance Final FY 26 DEED Lists.pdf |
HEDC 3/19/2025 8:00:00 AM |
|
| School Capital Proj. Funding DEED Rpt to Leg per SB237 2.28.25.pdf |
HEDC 3/19/2025 8:00:00 AM |
SB 237 |
| MEHS Prior Yr Deferred Maintenance Projects OMB Status 8.24.pdf |
HEDC 3/19/2025 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Kuspuk - House Ed Committee-School Facilities.pdf |
HEDC 3/19/2025 8:00:00 AM |
|
| SWRSD House Education Presentation 3.19.25.pdf |
HEDC 3/19/2025 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Major Maintenance Thorne Bay SEISD 3.19.25.pdf |
HEDC 3/19/2025 8:00:00 AM |