02/13/2007 03:00 PM House HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB120 | |
| Overview: Community Health Centers | |
| HB97 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | HB 120 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 97 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
February 13, 2007
3:02 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Peggy Wilson, Chair
Representative Bob Roses, Vice Chair
Representative Anna Fairclough
Representative Mark Neuman
Representative Paul Seaton
Representative Sharon Cissna
Representative Berta Gardner
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 120
"An Act extending the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual
Assault; and providing for an effective date."
- MOVED HB 120 OUT OF COMMITTEE
PRESENTATION: COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS
- HEARD AND HELD
HOUSE BILL NO. 97
"An Act making appropriations for state aid to public schools,
centralized correspondence study, and transportation of pupils;
and providing for an effective date."
- HEARD AND HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 120
SHORT TITLE: EXTENDING COUNCIL ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) FAIRCLOUGH
02/07/07 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/07/07 (H) HES, FIN
02/13/07 (H) HES AT 3:00 PM CAPITOL 106
BILL: HB 97
SHORT TITLE: APPROP: K-12 EDU; PERS/TRS LIABILITY
SPONSOR(s): RULES BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR
01/22/07 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/22/07 (H) HES, FIN
02/13/07 (H) HES AT 3:00 PM CAPITOL 106
WITNESS REGISTER
RANDY MAGEN, Member
National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
Alaska Chapter
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 120.
SHELLEY HUGHES, Government Affairs Director
Alaska Primary Care Association, Inc. (APCA)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented an overview of Alaska's community
health centers.
MARILYN WALSH KASMAR, RNC, MBA, Executive Director
Alaska Primary Care Association, Inc. (APCA)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented an overview of Alaska's community
health centers.
STAN STEADMAN, Board Vice-President
Alaska Primary Care Association, Inc. (APCA);
Executive Director
Central Peninsula Health Center
Kenai, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented information about the community
health center in Soldotna.
THOMAS HUNT, M.D.
Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented information on delivery of health
care services and answered questions.
SONIA HANDFORTH
Unalaska, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented information on delivery of health
care services in remote locations.
CHRIS HALL, Community Development and Special Projects
Coordinator
Alaska Primary Care Association, Inc. (APCA)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions about health care
services.
EDDY JEANS, Director
School Finance and Facilities Section
Department of Education and Early Development (EED)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented HB 97 on behalf of the
administration and answered questions.
JOHN ALCANTRA, Government Relations Director
NEA-Alaska [National Education Association - Alaska]
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented NEA-Alaska's position on HB 97
and answered questions.
JIM SCHWARTZ, Member
Petersburg School Board
City of Petersburg
Petersburg, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified regarding the effect of HB 97 on
the Petersburg school district and answered questions.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR PEGGY WILSON called the House Health, Education and Social
Services Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:02:51 PM.
Representatives Wilson, Seaton, Roses, Fairclough, and Cissna
were present at the call to order. Representatives Gardner and
Neuman arrived as the meeting was in progress.
HB 120-EXTENDING COUNCIL ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
3:03:21 PM
CHAIR WILSON announced that the first order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 120,"An Act extending the Council on Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault; and providing for an effective
date."
3:03:59 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH, Alaska State Legislature, speaking as
the prime sponsor of HB 120, explained that Alaska has
historically had a very high incidence of rape and sexual
assault. She stated that reauthorization of the Council on
Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (CDVSA) ensures a focal
point for the state and its communities to address interpersonal
violence in the state. Failure to re-authorize the CDVSA will
cause efforts to reduce interpersonal violence to flounder, she
opined. She stated her willingness to take questions regarding
the CDVSA, noting there had been concerns with the 2006 findings
by the Division of Legislative Audit. It is urgent to move this
bill quickly because the current authorizing legislature
requires the CDVSA to begin "ramp-down" proceedings on March 1,
2006 geared to its dissolution, she explained. The bill extends
the council's existence until 2011.
3:06:30 PM
RANDY MAGEN, Member, National Association of Social Workers
(NASW), Alaska Chapter, testified in support of HB 120. He
described the CDVSA as a conduit for funding shelters and
intervention programs, and stated that there is still a great
deal of work to be done to reduce the incidence of domestic
violence and sexual assault. The NASW extends its appreciation
for the legislature's quick action to extend the life of the
CDVSA, he said.
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES moved to report HB 120 out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal
notes. There being no objection, HB 120 was reported from the
House Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee.
3:08:14 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH pointed out that there is a technical
fiscal note of $10 million associated with the bill. She
explained the fiscal note is because of the ramp-down stage, and
that it represents a reduction in funding from last year.
Furthermore, it is the amount included in the governor's budget
proposal for this year.
^OVERVIEW: COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS
CHAIR WILSON announced that the next order of business would be
a presentation by the community health centers.
3:09:59 PM
SHELLEY HUGHES, Government Affairs Director, Alaska Primary Care
Association (APCA), updated the committee on the community
health center (CHC) model. Community health centers are non-
profit organizations that follow an efficient business model,
she said. They are managed by local citizens to allow the
centers to customize their activities to local needs. The
centers are open to all, but focus on serving low income and
medically underserved populations. Services are provided on a
sliding scale fee basis, but inability to pay does not preclude
a person from using a center's services.
3:12:02 PM
MARILYN WALSH KASMAR, RNC, MBA, Executive Director, Alaska
Primary Care Association (APCA), explained that CHCs have been
in existence for over 40 years. There are currently over 5,000
delivery sites which serve over 50 million Americans nation
wide. The first CHC in Alaska was established in 1974. Today,
Alaska has 24 CHC organizations with over 150 delivery sites
which serve approximately 80,000 Alaskans by providing 355,000
medical and dental patient visits each year.
3:13:19 PM
MS. HUGHES said that CHCs provide a medical home for Alaskans
throughout the state. Due to the large geographic size of the
state, delivery of local services is very important, she opined.
Almost 80 percent of the persons served by CHCs are below the
federal poverty line; furthermore 40 percent of the patients are
uninsured. She stated the number of uninsured persons is
growing and that CHCs tend to serve more of the uninsured than
private health care providers or hospitals. She told the
committee that the CHCs do not turn away Medicare patients, who
sometimes have trouble finding health care.
MS. KASMAR said that Alaska received enough federal funding
between 2002 and 2005 to allow communities to obtain new sites
and expand their programs and services.
3:16:11 PM
STAN STEADMAN, Board Vice-President, Alaska Primary Care
Association (APCA); Executive Director, Central Peninsula Health
Center, explained that in 2001 the most critical health issue in
his area was the lack of dental care for youths. Although there
were over 3,500 youths enrolled in Denali KidCare, there were
not enough dentists to serve them; therefore his area's CHC
focused on dental care. In 2006, it had over 7,500 patient
visits and served both youth and adult populations. His
organization hopes to expand its services to serve more adults
who qualify for Medicaid. He told the committee that this has
been a wonderful program for Soldotna and the surrounding area.
They have a strong prevention component and go to schools to
educate youth on how to prevent dental and health problems, he
said.
3:18:02 PM
MS. HUGHES explained that CHCs serve all segments of the
population, and that the costs for charity care are significant.
She reminded the committee that federal funds help support
charity care in addition to funding received from patient care
revenue, Medicaid, Medicare, and local private sources. She
said that 36 states, not including Alaska, currently provide
funding to their CHCs. She opined that states which do provide
funding have found CHCs to be a wise investment; as an example
she stated that studies have shown that communities with a CHC
in the vicinity have a lower number of sick days when compared
with communities that do not have one. She opined that CHCs
reduce the cost of health care and the number of emergency room
visits.
THOMAS HUNT, M.D., Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center,
explained that the CHC model focuses on prevention by trying to
predict and prevent medical problems. The center also provides
services at lower cost; for example, beginning March 2007, his
clinic plans to offer colon cancer screening using a method that
is much cheaper than a $5000-$6000 colonoscopy.
3:23:54 PM
MS. HUGHES explained that health center funding has not kept up
with the costs of care. First, she stated that although her
organization has seen a 10 percent growth in operational costs,
it is requesting a funding increase of 1 percent. Secondly, she
stated her organization is asking for funding to replace federal
funds lost due to changes in federal law. Third, she explained
that they plan a campaign to attract more Medicaid and private
insurance patients, which she stated would be financially
beneficial. She told the committee that statistics show that
Medicaid patients who receive services from a CHC are less
likely to be hospitalized. In Alaska, only 15-25 percent of
Medicaid patients are seen in CHCs; which indicates there are
many Medicaid patients not currently using the CHCs, although
they could receive treatment at one. Treatment at CHCs tends to
be less expensive than other alternatives, she explained. In
this state, she has heard anecdotal evidence that a certain
diabetes test done at a hospital costs $450; the same test done
at the local CHC costs $42. This type of economy could offer
incredible savings to the state, she opined.
MS. HUGHES requested that $250,000 of federal emergency room
pass through funds be diverted and applied to CHCs, because CHCs
work to prevent emergency room visits. She stated that Alaska
currently spends $32 million on emergency room visits and she
said she believes that increased CHC funding would allow greater
preventive care and save the state around $12 million.
3:28:37 PM
SONIA HANDFORTH explained that the Unalaska clinic tries to
treat patients in the community; noting it costs approximately
$28,000 to transport a patient by air ambulance to Anchorage.
She stated that because the health care model focuses on local
care, doctors and nurses must be "fearless," and possess
multiple talents, which can make recruiting for positions
challenging. The Unalaska clinic serves as the emergency and
primary care provider for the area; which has many people
employed in dangerous professions. When the center identifies a
chronic health problem during treatment of an emergency
situation, it provides follow-up health care for that patient.
3:31:25 PM
MS. HUGHES stated that the APCA is requesting $600,000 to fund
primary care safety net clinics. Approximately eight small
Alaska communities have applied for federal funding to establish
clinics, but she said she has been told that it is unlikely they
will receive these funds. These communities all need primary
care, she opined. She said that states that partner with their
CHC programs are assured of receiving federal funding; therefore
it is advantageous for a state to contribute to its CHC program.
She explained that the APCA's budget request is for $2.3 million
which includes funds for: a 1 percent budget increase,
replacement of lost federal funding, the Medicaid cost reduction
campaign, emergency room diversion funds, and new clinics. She
emphasized that the CHCs are a proven, solid addition to the
health care system and were given the highest rating possible
for efficiency and goal setting by the federal Office of
Management & Budget.
3:33:30 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER queried about the challenges of
recruiting health care providers.
MS. HUGHES responded that it is a challenge to fill positions,
especially in rural areas. She reminded the committee that of
the more than 800 employees in the CHC system, only 36 are
physicians because most care is provided by mid-level
practitioners, which is one reason it is a cost effective
system. In regard to states partnering to receive federal
funding, she stated that "that is what is being implied" by the
federal government. She reminded the committee that only 14
states do not partner with their CHCs.
CHAIR WILSON asked whether the APCA currently receives any state
funds.
3:38:15 PM
MS. HUGHES replied that the behavioral health component receives
grants, but the APCA does not receive specific state funding.
It is now asking for a direct appropriation, which it believes
is justified due to the cost benefits associated with CHCs, she
explained. She agreed that health clinics are considered to be
a useful component to lower health care costs. She explained
that information on rising costs has been provided to each
committee member to demonstrate the need for primary care to
help garner savings across the board.
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked whether some health centers are at
capacity.
MS. HUGHES replied that the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center
is at capacity and is currently working to expand its facility.
MS. KASMAR stated she believes that the vast majority of sites
have the capacity for additional patients.
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked whether patients are being turned
away from the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center.
3:40:24 PM
DR. HUNT said that on average the Anchorage clinic must turn
away 14 patients per day. That does not mean that patients will
not be seen, but they may have to call a few times to get an
appointment. He told the committee there is an urgent care
track for those patients who require immediate attention, and
those patients will usually get in. He said that a more
difficult situation is presented by an older Medicare patient
whose primary physician "has dumped him and needs a new medical
home." That kind of patient requires dedicated resources that
are not provided by an urgent care track, he explained.
3:41:06 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES described his visit to the Anchorage
facility, where he was told that on a usual day, all
appointments are filled by 9:15 am and the waiting room is full
of patients hoping to get in. He asked about the progress of
the plans for expansion.
3:43:11 PM
DR. HUNT said the clinic is currently working to secure land.
The building plans are in the conceptual design phase, and he is
hoping that they will soon be able to apply to the Denali
Commission for funding to design the building. They are also
planning a capital campaign to raise the $20 million needed for
construction. He told the committee there is room in the office
for one more clinician, but it has been a challenge to hire a
young physician since federal funding to repay medical school
costs has been cut. Therefore, he is not able to offer the same
level of compensation as offered by private facilities.
3:44:56 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked for clarification of whether an
elderly person in need of a new care center can eventually be
seen by the Anchorage clinic, and if once seen, whether he or
she would be able to routinely receive care at the clinic.
DR. HUNT explained that the clinic has a serious problem with
people not keeping appointments. The clinic offers 22
appointments a day, but sees approximately 15-16 patients. He
said it can be difficult to schedule a person with a complex
medical situation, adding that he tries to keep the number of
appointments reasonable. He indicated that he could likely get
a patient in; however, over-scheduling is avoided. Therefore,
it may be necessary to delay the appointment until there is time
available.
CHAIR WILSON asked if a person who needed a physical may need to
wait a month for an appointment.
DR. HUNT said that is possible.
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA described her personal experience with a
neighborhood health center as positive and economical. She
indicated that she has had to wait longer for appointments with
nurse practitioner or specialists. She suggested that people do
not always consider, or feel comfortable going to a neighborhood
health center.
DR. HUNT responded that statistics indicate that most
appointments scheduled within one day are kept. It is more
likely for patients to miss appointments that are scheduled in
advance.
3:49:38 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked how many cases are related to
substance abuse.
3:49:58 PM
CHRIS HALL, Community Development and Special Projects
Coordinator, Alaska Primary Care Association (APCA), said that
for the year 2005, the total number of patients seen for alcohol
dependency was over 900, and for drug dependence issues was 192,
out of a total patient base of about 80,000. He explained that
sometimes patients may come in with a sprained ankle that was
caused by actions taken while under the influence of drugs or
alcohol, but it may not be recorded as a substance abuse issue.
HB 97-APPROP: K-12 EDU; PERS/TRS LIABILITY
CHAIR WILSON announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 97, "An Act making appropriations for state aid
to public schools, centralized correspondence study, and
transportation of pupils; and providing for an effective date."
3:52:18 PM
EDDY JEANS, Director, School Finance and Facilities Section,
Department of Education and Early Development (EED), presented
HB 97, the governor's education funding bill, on behalf of the
administration. This bill would fully fund the foundation
program and the pupil transportation program at $918 million and
$53 million, respectively. Full funding refers to the statutory
requirement to fund the base student allocation (BSA), which is
$5,380 per student for fiscal year 2007 (FY 07), he explained.
Section 1 of the bill calls for an appropriation of $395 million
from state general funds (GF) to the public education fund.
Section 1 also appropriates $32 million to the EED for
distribution to school districts, state boarding schools, and
centralized correspondence programs. This amount includes $20
million in federal impact aid funds and $12 million in public
school trust funds. Section 2 proposes distribution of $24
million to the EED, to then be distributed to school districts
in the same amount they received in FY 07 for cost factor
adjustments. The EED will calculate how much each district
generated this year, and that will be the grant amount under
this bill for FY 08.
3:56:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON queried whether the aforementioned grant
amounts are related to the number of students.
MR. JEANS explained that the grant amount is not based on
student numbers; it is based on what amount the school district
received in cost factor adjustments in FY 07. For example, if a
school district received $150 thousand in FY 07 due to cost
factor adjustments, it will receive that same grant amount for
FY 08.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON noted that with this approach schools will
receive the same amount for district cost factors regardless of
whether they have gained or lost students.
MR. JEANS confirmed that the grant amounts under Section 2 do
not take student numbers into account. Section 3 provides $11
million from the GF to the EED. This is then distributed as
grants to each school district in the same amount as received in
FY 07 for school improvement grants. He explained the sum of
$11 million will be distributed to school districts on a per-
capita basis. The number of students is multiplied by the sum
of $81 to arrive at the amount to be distributed for school
improvement grants.
3:58:11 PM
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN asked whether the Anchorage school
district will receive a grant for school improvement costs in
Section 3, as it will not receive any of the $24 million cost
factor adjustment funds in Section 2.
MR. JEANS agreed that the Anchorage school district would not
receive funds under Section 2, but would receive funds on a per
capita basis under Section 3. He reminded the committee that
when funds are distributed on a per capita basis, the larger
districts receive more funds as they have more students. He
then explained that Section 4 appropriates funds to the school
districts' retirement funds for the employees covered under the
Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS). These amounts,
which are detailed in Section 4(b), will show up as a credit in
each district's name, and the districts can apply their payments
against their credit. Once the credit amount is used up, the
districts will be required to start making payments to their
PERS liabilities, he explained. He clarified that these amounts
will be distributed directly into the retirement system, will be
"outside the funding formula," and will appear as a credit for
each district. The dollar amounts listed in Section 4(b) are
based on retirement and benefit estimates for the increased
contributions required by the PERS system, he explained. He
reminded the committee there is a difference between the
Teachers' Retirements System (TRS) and the PERS. Under PERS,
the contribution rate varies from district to district, which is
why HB 97 is structured as it is.
4:00:40 PM
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN asked whether it was correct to
characterize the $170.450 million of Section 4(c) and the $36.9
million of Section 4(b) as intended to fully fund additional
increases to the PERS\TRS that are expected to be imposed on the
school districts.
MR. JEANS confirmed that the aforementioned representation is
accurate. He went on to explain that Section 4(c) applies to
the TRS system and proposes to appropriate $170 million into
that system. Because the funding rates for the TRS are uniform
for all school districts, it is possible to make one lump-sum
deposit. Currently the Alaska Retirement Management Board
(ARMB) has indicated that employer contribution rates for the
TRS will rise from 26 percent in FY 07 to 54 percent in FY 08.
Mr. Jeans said that the EED is working with the Department of
Administration (DOA) to return the TRS contribution rate for FY
08 to 26 percent if the legislature makes the appropriations set
forth in HB 97. He indicated that the governor's bill will keep
the TRS' funding rates at 26 percent, adding that a 12 percent
contribution rate would require an additional $78 million
payment into the pension fund liabilities.
4:04:40 PM
MR. JEANS explained that Section 5 of the bill makes a statement
that the appropriations to the public education fund in Section
1(a) are intended to capitalize the fund; therefore those funds
will remain in the public education fund for future use,
assuming it is not depleted.
4:05:53 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES relayed his understanding that the public
education fund was created to build up reserves in sufficient
amounts to allow forward funding of education needs for up to
two years, thereby easing school districts' budget decisions.
He asked whether the appropriations in HB 97 are to come out of
that fund.
MR. JEANS explained that the payments for the foundation program
and pupil transportation do come out of the public education
fund and do not require future legislative appropriation. He
noted that the public education fund was structured to provide
the forward funding described by Representative Roses, but that
HB 97 only appropriates enough money to meet the needs of school
districts for FY 08. He estimated that there is currently $500
million in the public education fund. When asked how long it
will take to build the public education fund up to sufficient
levels to forward fund education for two years, he opined that
is a policy choice of the legislature. For example, he said
that if the legislature had $1 billion, it could appropriate it
to this fund to achieve a fund balance sufficient to forward
fund education for two years.
4:08:41 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES set forth his understanding that funding
for education is not a bondable expense. However, it may be
possible for the state to issue bonds to cover its unfunded
pension obligations. This is currently being considered by the
legislature. He said that the ability to issue bonds to help
defray pension obligation expenses may free up additional money,
perhaps as much as $370 million, for education funding.
4:10:14 PM
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN reviewed the various funding categories of
HB 97 and noted it does not include local contribution or school
construction and maintenance amounts.
MR. JEANS said the bill appropriates approximately $608 million.
Combined with the $500 million already in the public education
fund, the total appropriations to support education foundation
funding, pupil transportation, and the PERS/TRS obligations
total approximately $1.1 billion.
CHAIR WILSON opined that this is a lot of money, but the future
of the state is based on how the children of the state are
educated.
4:13:41 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH asked about the anomaly of funding the
PERS/TRS through the general fund instead of using outside
funding. She opined that this method may give the impression
that funding to schools is not being increased because the funds
are going directly into retirement funds.
MR. JEANS stated that his understanding of the aforementioned
point is that the funds appropriated directly to the DOA will
not be reflected in the budget as education dollars. He assured
the committee that the EED will include those amounts when
reporting its educational expenses to the federal government.
He did address the problem that the public will not see this as
an appropriation to education because it is not being
appropriated directly into education foundation formula funds.
However, the method proposed in HB 97 appropriates funds
directly into the retirement accounts, which allows the state to
start investing the money immediately and get a better return,
he said
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES referenced his past experience writing
education grants at the university level and warned that this
funding approach may result in unintended consequences. He
explained that one litmus test for grant qualification is what
percentage of funds spent on education are for salary and
benefits. If benefits are over-inflated due to payments into
the PERS/TRS, school districts may not be able to qualify for
some grants; which is a serious and unintended consequence of
running it through the formula "as a pass-through."
4:16:23 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH followed up by stating that it may be
this legislature's policy that the state addresses the issue of
unfunded pension liabilities. She further indicated it may be
better to have a 12 percent average employer contribution rate
for the reasons Representative Roses mentioned, as well as to
make it clear that the state is "stepping up to the plate" to
make sure promised retirement benefits are funded.
MR. JEANS estimated that in FY 06, the total K-12 and post-
secondary education budget, appropriated from general funds, was
$1.023 billion; the governor's budget request for FY 07 is about
$1.236 billion. He reminded the committee that comparisons are
not very accurate because changes in the foundation program
require local areas to increase their school funding, while the
state will decrease its share of funding. He explained that for
the past fiscal year, the state contributed $90 million to
school construction, and that this year's budget relies on that
amount, in addition to the $1.2 billion referred to above.
4:21:05 PM
CHAIR WILSON said she believes many schools have maintenance and
construction needs they cannot fund.
MR. JEANS agreed that there are schools throughout Alaska with
construction and maintenance needs. In response to a prior
observation, he explained that school districts do not need to
hire an engineer to make an application for construction funding
to the state, although he noted that detailed applications may
result in a higher ranking on the state's construction priority
list.
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES asked whether the governor's education bill
proposes any additional increases in education funding from last
year, aside from the PERS/TRS contributions that will be paid
directly to the DOA.
MR. JEANS answered no.
CHAIR WILSON confirmed that the funding amounts in HB 97 would
give the school districts the "very same ...as they got last
year". She followed up by asking whether the schools could be
characterized as "going backwards," if they receive the same
amount of funds as the previous year, especially in light of
higher fuel and insurance costs, and possibly higher
enrollments.
MR. JEANS agreed that this is a fair generalization.
4:24:14 PM
JOHN ALCANTRA, Government Relations Director, NEA-Alaska
[National Education Association - Alaska], opined that the $24
million in Section 2 and the $11 million in Section 3 of the
bill are positive steps and he recognized that the TRS system
needs $170 to keep the school district contribution amount at 26
percent. He said that the bill actually cuts funding for school
transportation, and reminded the committee that transportation
costs are paid on a per student basis even though it costs as
much to transport one child in a bus as to transport ten. There
is no additional funding in this bill to cover increased costs
of inflation. When education is funded at the same amount as
the prior year, it actually cuts funding due to inflation
factors, he said. He noted that the 13,000 members of NEA-
Alaska are willing to work with the governor and legislature on
school funding issues.
4:28:50 PM
MR. ALCANTRA responded to a query about changes in student
population by stating he believes that there has been a loss of
2,300 students in the K-12 population; this may result in a loss
of about $20 million in education formula funding for K-12. If
an individual district has a student population increase, it
will receive additional money per student for transportation.
He noted that districts receive the same amount of money per
student regardless of actual transportation costs in their area.
4:30:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN asked whether the NEA has any position on
how to increase the amounts allocated to education.
MR. ALCANTRA replied that NEA-Alaska takes numerous positions at
its yearly convention, but opined that it is not NEA-Alaska's
position to tell the legislature how to fund education needs.
He went on to say that it is important to keep working to
address the needs caused by many years of inadequate education
funding. He suggested, in response to a question, that the BSA
should be driven upward beyond inflation.
4:34:33 PM
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN reminded the committee that the
legislature has worked very hard the last few years to increase
the educationa funding.
4:34:58 PM
JIM SCHWARTZ, Member, Petersburg School Board, City of
Petersburg, told the committee that his district greatly
appreciated the funding it received last year. However, he
reminded the committee that his district does not receive a
multiplier under the education funding formula. He stated that
the Petersburg school district is very much on the edge of being
able to adequately fund its schools and explained that the loss
of timber receipt funds has negatively impacted his district.
CHAIR WILSON asked how Petersburg has accommodated for the lack
of a multiplier in the past.
4:39:14 PM
MR. SCHWARTZ replied that since 1998, when Senate bill 98 was
passed, Petersburg has received timber receipts to supplement
its school funding. Despite these additional funds, the school
district has had to make significant cuts to its budget over the
last few years. Over six teacher positions have been lost, and
teachers are working "on a shoestring," often with no aides or
breaks.
4:41:23 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES asked Mr. Schwartz' opinion of what the
likely teacher loss will be for his district if education
funding went through as proposed in HB 97.
MR. SCHWARTZ replied that would be difficult to answer, but it
would mean a cut of $850,000 on top of increased salary and
energy costs.
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES expressed his belief that Petersburg's
situation is similar to that of Wrangell's. He said that under
his calculations, the significance of flat funding on small
districts is huge, noting that the effects are similar to
Anchorage having to lay off as many as 500 teachers.
4:43:48 PM
CHAIR WILSON relayed that she has heard concerns from some
school systems that may not be able to operate without
additional funds. She stated her belief that districts are
facing serious budget issues related to the past 20 years of
flat funding.
4:46:13 PM
MR. SCHWARTZ referred to recent news reports regarding the
Anchorage school district cutting library aide positions. He
explained that this is not an option for Petersburg, as there
are no library aides. The Petersburg school district has
reached crisis mode. He commented that it "almost makes sense"
to have a semester long school year, rather than having a
"terrible program" for a full year; however, he opined that the
state is not ready to allow this. Despite these difficulties,
the Petersburg elementary school was honored for academic
achievement under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
CHAIR WILSON announced that HB 97 would be held in committee.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee meeting
was adjourned at. 4:49:22 PM.
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