Legislature(2025 - 2026)DAVIS 106
05/02/2025 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB183 | |
| Presentation: Bond Reimbursement and Grant Review Update | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 183 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
May 2, 2025
8:10 a.m.
DRAFT
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Rebecca Himschoot, Co-Chair
Representative Andi Story, Co-Chair
Representative Maxine Dibert
Representative Ted Eischeid
Representative Rebecca Schwanke
Representative Bill Elam
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Jubilee Underwood
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 183
"An Act relating to district-wide early education programs; and
providing for an effective date."
- MOVED HB 183 OUT OF COMMITTEE
PRESENTATION: BOND REIMBURSEMENT AND GRANT REVIEW UPDATE
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 183
SHORT TITLE: EARLY EDUCATION PROGRAMS
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) STORY
04/11/25 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
04/11/25 (H) EDC, FIN
04/23/25 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM DAVIS 106
04/23/25 (H) Heard & Held
04/23/25 (H) MINUTE(EDC)
04/28/25 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM DAVIS 106
04/28/25 (H) Heard & Held
04/28/25 (H) MINUTE(EDC)
05/02/25 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM DAVIS 106
WITNESS REGISTER
REPRESENTATIVE ANDI STORY
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: As prime sponsor, presented HB 183 to the
committee.
HEATHER HEINEKEN, Director
Division of Finance & Support Services
Department of Education & Early Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered committee questions on HB 136.
MICHAEL MASON, Staff
Senator Loki Tobin
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered committee questions on HB 136.
HEATHER HEINEKEN, Director
Division of Finance & Support Services
Department of Education & Early Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a presentation titled "Bond
Reimbursement and Grant Review Update".
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:10:14 AM
CO-CHAIR REBECCA HIMSCHOOT called the House Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:10 a.m. Representatives Elam,
Eischeid, Dibert, Schwanke, Story, and Himschoot were present at
the call to order.
HB 183-EARLY EDUCATION PROGRAMS
8:11:05 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT announced that the first order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 183, "An Act relating to district-wide
early education programs; and providing for an effective date."
8:11:44 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ANDI STORY, Alaska State Legislature, as prime
sponsor, presented HB 183 to the committee. She explained that
the proposed legislation would change current funding for pre-
kindergarten students from half full-time equivalent (FTE) to a
whole and further explained how the Alaska Reads Act is causing
for the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) to
adapt to regulations through feedback its pre-kindergarten
programs that it established.
8:15:30 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked how a series of recommendations to
the Alaska State Board of Education made by an unspecified group
were being implemented.
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT replied that the recommendations
Representative Schwanke was referring had been submitted to the
DEED without any response.
8:16:28 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE shared her belief that the early
learning program application process was too great for small
school districts and shared a series of recommendations to ease
the administrative burden that the applications pose to certain
school districts in Alaska.
8:23:07 AM
HEATHER HEINEKEN, Director, Division of Finance & Support
Services, Department of Education & Early Development, answered
committee questions on HB 136. She explained that the original
fiscal noted associated with HB 183 was based off of the current
Base Student Allocation (BSA) of $5,960 and detailed how the
proposed $700 increase to the BSA would be reflected in the
newer fiscal note for HB 183.
8:26:36 AM
MICHAEL MASON, Staff, Senator Loki Tobin, Alaska State
Legislature, answered committee questions on HB 136. He
contextualized Representative Schwanke's comments by detailing a
change made to House Bill 148 of the 33rd Alaska State
Legislature.
8:28:52 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked why there was such a big
difference between fiscal year 2026 and the following years.
8:29:55 AM
The committee took an at-ease from 8:29 a.m. to 8:31 a.m.
8:31:28 AM
MR. MASON clarified that the proposed legislation would remove
the limit on the number of pre-kindergarten students in programs
that can be funded as outlined by the Alaska Reads Act.
8:33:02 AM
MS. HEINEKEN clarified that the expensive fiscal note for fiscal
year 2026 was based off of a multi-million dollar appropriation
made to the DEED.
8:34:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DIBERT moved to report HB 183 out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal
notes. There being no objection, HB 183 was reported from the
House Education Standing Committee.
8:35:41 AM
The committee took an at-ease from 8:35 a.m. to 8:40 a.m.
^PRESENTATION: Bond Reimbursement and Grant Review Update
PRESENTATION: Bond Reimbursement and Grant Review Update
8:40:24 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT announced that the final order of business
would be the Bond Reimbursement and Grant Review Update
presentation.
8:43:03 AM
HEATHER HEINEKEN, Director, Division of Finance & Support
Services, Department of Education & Early Development, gave a
presentation titled "Bond Reimbursement and Grant Review
Update". She began by providing a history of the Bond
Reimbursement and Grant Review (BRGR) committee from its
incipience in 1993 and described the committee's role within the
Alaska education system. She detailed the committee's recent
meetings on April 9th, 2025 and April 10th, 2025 that both
concerned the Capitol Improvement Project (CIP) grant report,
school capital project funding, Regional Education Attendance
Area (REAA) and small municipal fund reports, and CIP grant
applications. She explained how the BRGR committee had created
a subcommittee to review a supplemental CIP grant application
that it did not have enough time to properly review and
emphasized that the Average Daily Membership (ADM) figure used
to evaluate CIP grant applications was not the same ADM figure
that was being used in HB 183.
8:58:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ELAM asked if the DEED has made any effort to
assist school districts in beginning CIP grant applications and
asked if the BRGR committee has taken up review of the lack of
funding for many CIP grant projects in Alaska.
MS. HEINEKEN clarified that the BRGR committee has worked to
simplify the CIP grant application to reduce its administrative
burden on school districts and agreed that the CIP grant
application is costly and often not funded by the state. She
opined that the CIP grant dashboard was not likely to encourage
many more school districts to apply to the CIP grant but was a
helpful tool in comparing costs and scope of projects across the
state.
9:08:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE shared her concern related to an
experience of a rural school within her House District that had
experienced major mechanical failures as a result of delays
caused by an already lengthy CIP grant process.
9:13:11 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT shared her agreement about CIP grant
applications causing harm in rural school districts and asked
about the membership of the BRGR subcommittees.
MS. HEINEKEN replied that the subcommittees are made from
committee members and added that the DEED does not have a
funding mechanism to respond to school district emergencies.
9:15:45 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked how the DEED makes effort to change a
school district's standing within the CIP grant waiting list in
the case of a funding emergency.
MS. HEINEKEN explained that only some of the schools in the news
with terrible learning conditions have applied for CIP grant
funding.
9:21:25 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY shared her opinion that the BRGR subcommittee
provide recommendations for statutory changes to the CIP grant
application process.
9:23:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE expressed her concern that the current
CIP grant application process might incentivize a school
district to wait until catastrophic failure to apply for CIP
funding.
9:25:03 AM
REPRESENTATIVE EISCHEID asked if the BRGR provides a CIP grant
application rubric for school districts to be successful.
MS. HEINEKEN affirmed that the DEED does provide school
districts with a rubric to be successful in their CIP grant
application.
9:26:54 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked if the BRGR committee discussed the
upcoming moratorium on bond debt reimbursement funding and asked
what the percentage split of a bond debt would be reimbursed by
the DEED.
MS. HEINEKEN answered that the DEED would currently reimburse
school districts 60-40 on necessary projects and 50-50 on non-
necessary projects.
9:29:53 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked how the bond debt reimbursement moratorium
being lifted would affect REAA schools.
MS. HEINEKEN explained that the moratorium on bond debt
reimbursement has negatively affected REAA schools and detailed
how the lifting of the moratorium could increase new and
maintenance construction in REAA schools.
9:38:19 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked if the Alaska State Legislature has
been periodically funding the REAA fund since the bond debt
moratorium went into effect.
MS. HEINEKEN affirmed that the Alaska State Legislature has
added funding to the REAA every year since the bond debt
moratorium went into effect and said that the funding
appropriated by the Alaska State Legislature would be given to a
school district at the top of the CIP grant applicant list.
9:43:03 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked if there are any bond debts that
the DEED is currently expecting to immediately reimburse upon
the bond debt moratorium's lifting.
MS. HEINEKEN answered that school districts with bond debts from
2015-2025 would not qualify to be reimbursed for their bond
debts upon the lifting of the bond debt moratorium.
9:44:36 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT thanked the invited testifiers and delivered
committee announcements.
9:45:20 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Education Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 9:45 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| BRGR packet Index 5.2.25.pdf |
HEDC 5/2/2025 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Bond Reimbursement and Grant Review Committee.pdf |
HEDC 5/2/2025 8:00:00 AM |
|
| HB 183 DEED Answers to HEDC Q's re FN.pdf |
HEDC 5/2/2025 8:00:00 AM |
HB 183 |