Legislature(2019 - 2020)KODIAK LIO
11/18/2020 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Student Enrollments in Alaska's School System | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
JOINT MEETING
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
KODIAK LIO
November 18, 2020
8:01 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Representative Harriet Drummond, Co-Chair (via teleconference)
Representative Andi Story, Co-Chair (via teleconference)
Representative Grier Hopkins (via teleconference)
Representative DeLena Johnson (via teleconference)
Representative Mike Prax (via teleconference)
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Senator Gary Stevens, Chair
Senator Shelley Hughes, Vice Chair (via teleconference)
Senator John Coghill (via teleconference)
Senator Mia Costello (via teleconference)
Senator Tom Begich (via teleconference)
MEMBERS ABSENT
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Representative Chris Tuck
Representative Tiffany Zulkosky
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
All members present.
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Representative Dan Ortiz
Senator Cathy Giessel
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): STUDENT ENROLLMENTS IN ALASKA'S SCHOOL SYSTEM
-HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record.
WITNESS REGISTER
PAT PITNEY, Interim System President
University of Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-delivered a presentation from the
university.
DAN WHITE, PhD, Chancellor
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-delivered a presentation from the
university.
CATHY SANDEEN, PhD, Chancellor
University of Alaska Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-delivered a presentation from the
university.
KAREN CAREY, PhD, Chancellor
University of Alaska Southeast
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-delivered a presentation from the
university.
PAUL LAYER, PhD, Vice President
Academics, Students and Research
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-delivered a presentation from the
university.
NORM WOOTEN, Executive Director
Association of Alaska School Boards
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided an overview of the association.
LISA SKILES PARADY, PhD, Executive Director
Alaska Council of School Administrators
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Delivered a presentation on public school
enrollment during the pandemic.
KERRY BOYD, PresidentAlaska Superintendents Association,
SuperintendentYukon-Koyukuk School District
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a statewide and local school
district overview on public school enrollment during the
pandemic.
JOHN O'BRIEN, Superintendent of Schools
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Soldotna, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided an overview of the district during
the pandemic.
DAVE JONES, Assistant Superintendent
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Soldotna, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided an overview of the district during
the pandemic.
MICHAEL JOHNSON, PhD, Commissioner
Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a departmental overview related to
the impact from COVID-19.
HEIDI TESHNER, Director of Finance and Support Services
Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a departmental overview related to
the impact from COVID-19.
TIM LAMKIN, Aide
Senator Gary Stevens
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a video.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:01:11 AM
CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the joint meeting of the House and
Senate Education Standing Committees to order at 8:01 a.m.
Present at the call to order were Representatives Hopkins (via
teleconference), Johnson (via teleconference), Prax (via
teleconference), Story (via teleconference), and Drummond (via
teleconference); and Senators Coghill (via teleconference) and
Stevens. Senators Costello (via teleconference), Begich (via
teleconference), and Hughes (via teleconference) joined as the
meeting as in progress. Also present were Representative Ortiz
(via teleconference), Representative Edgmon (via
teleconference), and Senator Giessel (via teleconference).
^PRESENTATION(S): Student Enrollments in Alaska's School System
PRESENTATION(S): Student Enrollments in Alaska's School System
8:02:51 AM
CHAIR STEVENS announced that the education committees meeting
jointly had a quorum to conduct business.
He announced the agenda as follows:
• University of Alaska
o Pat Pitney, UA Interim President
o Dr. Paul Layer, Vice President for Academics, Students
& Research
o Dr. Dan White, UAF Chancellor
o Dr. Cathy Sandeen, UAA Chancellor
o Dr. Karen Carey, UAS Chancellor
• Association of Alaska School Boards
o Norm Wooten, AASB Executive Director
• Alaska Council of School Administrators
o Dr. Lisa Parady, ACSA Executive Director
o Kerry Boyd, ACSA President, Superintendent Yukon-
Koyukuk SD
o John O'Brien, Superintendent Kenai Peninsula Borough
SD (KPBSD)
o David Jones, Asst. Superintendent, KPBSD
• Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
o Dr. Michael Johnson, Commissioner
o Heidi Teshner, Director of Finance and Support
Services
o Lacey Sanders, Administrative Services Director
o Erin Hardin, Legislative Liaison
CHAIR STEVENS noted that Co-Chair Story planned to present a
video at the end of the meeting, and that it is accessible
online as well.
CO-CHAIR STORY said the video is very moving and she will show
it at the end of the meeting.
CHAIR STEVENS announced the first presentation for the Student
Enrollments in Alaska's School System is from the University of
Alaska (UA).
8:05:14 AM
PAT PITNEY, Interim System President, University of Alaska,
Fairbanks, Alaska, referenced slide 2 from her presentation
entitled, Alaska's System of Higher Education. She said UA is
not a university; it is Alaska's system for higher education. UA
has three universities, each with very different missions.
She detailed that UA has its research university in Fairbanks at
the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), its urban
comprehensive university in Anchorage at the University of
Alaska Anchorage (UAA), and its small regional place-spaced
university in Juneau at the University of Alaska Southeast
(UAS).
She said each of the universities, unlike most any university in
the United States, also has the community college and
vocational, technical mission for their regions that are carried
out at the main university sites and at the community campuses.
PRESIDENT PITNEY stated that the UA higher education reach is
essential to the state and local economies, especially now for
economic recovery. The degree to which the state is successful,
the degree to which industries are successful, and the degree to
which communities are successful depends on UA' ability to be
completely engaged and working side by side.
8:07:19 AM
PRESIDENT PITNEY said the UA presenters will talk about the
experience with the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in 2020, some
of the unique research and service projects, the impacts on
finances and enrollment, and how the university will go forward
post COVID-19.
She turned to slide 4, Serving Students During COVID-19. She
said like everybody, early in March 2020 when the COVID-19
orders came down, all the universities and campuses immediately
shifted from onsite delivery to remote delivery via audio
conference, web conference, and Zoom video conferences. Outside
of a few allowances for things like hands-on labs, the
transition in March to remote delivery was remarkable.
PRESIDENT PITNEY complemented the UA faculty and staff for their
flexibility and hard work during the summer to make the courses
and the experience for students as good as possible in its new
almost entirely remote delivery.
She noted that all three UA universities adjusted their on-
campus housing occupancy to be public health appropriate.
Dormitories in Fairbanks and Anchorage, based on their designs,
went to 25-percent occupancy. They currently have wings
available for quarantine and isolation. In Juneau, the design of
the dormitories allows for 50-percent occupancy. That occupancy
has been very important because of their students not having the
necessary internet and a safe space to stay. Being able to keep
a certain degree of university housing is valuable.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if the universities are encouraging students
living in dormitories to stay and not to return home because of
the threat of taking COVID-19 with them.
PRESIDENT PITNEY replied each of the university chancellors will
respond with their distinct local policies.
8:11:39 AM
DAN WHITE, PhD, Chancellor, University of Alaska Fairbanks,
Fairbanks, Alaska, said UAF has approximately 800 students in
two separate residence halls with 100 rooms available for
isolation.
CHANCELLOR WHITE noted that UAF encouraged students to not
travel over Thanksgiving; they planned activities for those who
remain on campus. Little student travel is expected, and the
university asked those who must travel to work with faculty to
finish out the semester online.
8:12:58 AM
CATHY SANDEEN, PhD, Chancellor, University of Alaska Anchorage,
Anchorage, Alaska, said the approach at UAA is virtually
identical to UAF in discouraging Thanksgiving travel. They also
reinforced their current testing protocols should someone travel
and return.
CHAIR STEVENS asked how many students are living in UAA
dormitories.
DR. SANDEEN answered UAA is trying to control and minimize
contact with 25 percent on-campus occupancy. Approximately 230
students are living on the Anchorage campus where every student
has their own room and bathroom. The dining commons are not
open, and all food is take-out. The dormitory at the Kenai
Peninsula campus does not have any UA students currently.
CHAIR STEVENS said he is sorry that students are missing a great
growing up experience by living in dormitories.
8:14:45 AM
KAREN CAREY, PhD, Chancellor, University of Alaska Southeast,
Juneau, Alaska, said UAS has about 120 students living in its
dormitory and apartments. The university kept one dormitory
empty specifically for quarantine.
She noted that UAS also has strongly encouraged students to stay
on campus for Thanksgiving. They recommend that students who
must leave remain at home and work with their faculty members to
finish the semester.
8:15:41 AM
SENATOR BEGICH joined the meeting.
8:15:59 AM
SENATOR HUGHES joined the meeting.
SENATOR HUGHES expressed concern about student mental health and
depression and said going home could provide students with a
"shot in the arm." She said she would hate the policy
encouraging students to stay on campus to result in a poor
mental health outcome for some of the students.
CHAIR STEVENS asked President Pitney for comments on concerns
about student mental health.
8:17:23 AM
PRESIDENT PITNEY replied the universities have increased access
to mental health and counseling. None of the chancellors
mandated people stay on campus, which serves to assure students
that they have an option.
PRESIDENT PITNEY said faculty have been remarkably flexible
through the COVID-19 period, not only revamping their courses to
be online, but also setting protocols for when a student tests
positive. For instance, there was a student in a welding class
that tested positive for COVID-19, the class shutdown
immediately for two weeks and they will make up their time.
Universities have emphasized mental health issues and the
availability of counseling.
SENATOR HUGHES restated concern for student mental health,
especially young people who are particularly susceptible. She
said campuses being aware and alert to students making the tough
choice not to go back to see family is important.
CHAIR STEVENS asked Dr. Paul Layer if he had any comments.
8:19:51 AM
PAUL LAYER, PhD, Vice President for Academics, Students and
Research, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, said what
President Pitney talked about regarding mental health is very
important. UA students are very aware of what is going on in
their home communities as well. UA wants to keep both students
and communities safe.
SENATOR BEGICH asked what COVID-19 testing the universities are
doing and if work has begun on a distribution plan when the
vaccine becomes available.
PRESIDENT PITNEY replied the chancellors will address their
exact testing protocols. The initial thought by UA is to develop
a plan over time to prioritize those that need the vaccine the
most from a life, health, and safety perspective.
8:22:02 AM
DR. WHITE explained that UAF has a two-test requirement for any
student living on campus. He said all students have access to
the Student Health and Counseling Center where they can receive
tests, and UAF has conducted 1,360 tests to date.
DR. WHITE detailed that UAF does a daily health questionnaire
screening of students, but the university does not do
asymptomatic testing unless students or employees request it.
UAF also did job-related testing required for employees on the
Research Vessel (RV) Sikuliaq.
CHAIR STEVENS said one of the vaccines requires a holding
temperature of minus 73 degrees Fahrenheit and UAF is one of the
few facilities in the state that has that capability.
DR. WHITE said the Alaska State Virology Lab is located on the
UAF campus and it is active in vaccine planning. The university
has several facilities on campus that can house samples up to
minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
CHAIR STEVENS asked Chancellor Sandeen for her comments on
testing and vaccine distribution.
8:24:10 AM
DR. SANDEEN answered the university's testing protocol is the
same as UAF, but student athletes receive more frequent testing
than the general student population. UAA does not do
asymptomatic testing, but essential workers or students living
on campus receive testing if they were in contact with someone
who has tested positive or if they exhibit symptoms.
She said she is very pleased with the university's contract
tracing protocols in the rare event a student or staff member on
campus tests positive.
She stated that vaccine distribution is a new issue and it is
too early for the university to make a statement.
CHAIR STEVENS asked Chancellor Carey if she has any comments.
DR. CAREY replied UAS does not have the same resources as UAF
and UAA, but they have been working closely with public health
and doing all required testing. She said she assumes public
health will be doing the vaccine distribution for UAS students.
8:26:00 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND asked if anybody knows how the technical
school in Seward [Alaska Vocational Technical Center (AVTEC)] is
doing. It has a dorm for 120 students.
PRESIDENT PITNEY answered that she does not know their
protocols.
CHAIR STEVENS said his office will investigate the status of
AVTEC in Seward. He added that it is a great program through the
Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD).
PRESIDENT PITNEY turned to slide 5 regarding distance delivered
courses and noted that UA pivoted quickly to online education.
As of the fall 2020, UAA has 80 percent of their student credit
hours via distance, UAF has 76 percent, and UAS has 81 percent.
Both UAF and UAS have 100 percentage of their courses online,
but much more lab intensive. For example, hands-on work at UAS
is onsite with a lot of art.
PRESIDENT PITNEY said communication is different among the three
universities. UAA was very specific about being online as much
as possible. UAF and UAS allowed for maintaining as much as they
could for face-to-face courses that required hands-on
interaction. However, those have tremendous mitigation
protocols, or they separate the desks. There are labs in the
health fields, a field that makes up 22 percent of the courses
at UAA. The labs use plastic dividers between people.
She expressed appreciation for all the work the facilities
personnel did to retrofit the classrooms to make it safe in a
COVID-19 world.
She said because many of the universities' programs and faculty
had experience in distance education, UA was able to make the
transition to online more systematically than universities in
the Lower 48 that are typically much more face to face. Because
UA has been pushing for more online capabilities, it has the
support structure.
She noted 350 UAA faculty participated in intensive training to
move from face to face to online. UAF's eCampus model allows the
university to switch quickly from face to face into distance if
needed. However, the university tried to maintain as much face
to face is they could.
PRESIDENT PITNEY referenced slide 6 regarding mitigation
structures.
8:31:15 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS asked if she had ever seen widespread
affects from lack of connectivity for eLearning at rural
campuses.
PRESIDENT PITNEY answered that because so much of UA's delivery
has been via distance for so long and because of their community
campus connectivity, the universities have dealt with low
bandwidth issues. She added that accommodations for rural
campuses includes going to audio or different packets of
education.
She said the Quintillion telecommunications line has helped some
with connectivity, but the cost is extreme. UA was able to get
some cost relief and increased bandwidth in the early months of
the pandemic, but because UA has dealt with thin connectivity in
certain areas for so long, it has different mechanisms via audio
or downloading information packets. The rural connectivity
mechanisms are asynchronous rather than synchronous.
DR. WHITE said connectivity is one of the reasons the university
felt it was important to house students at UAF or Bethel
residence halls. Many students could not rely on bandwidth for
eLearning. He added that UAF's history working with rural
students helped a great deal during the crisis.
8:34:25 AM
CHAIR STEVENS said he keeps hearing that the higher education
system in the United States may look quite different after
COVID-19.
He said he would like to hear how UA is going to respond to
students that experienced online classes as well as addressing
nationwide issues regarding high educational costs and enormous
debt.
CO-CHAIR STORY said one concern she has had is that some
students have had difficulty adjusting to online learning. She
asked if the UA universities were reaching out to students who
are struggling with online learning and tracking the ones who
drop out as a result.
8:36:32 AM
DR. SANDEEN replied UAA has a robust system with an attuned
faculty that advises its counselor and care team. The UAA care
team is a group of faculty members who reach out to students who
are having difficulties or are in crisis. UAA encourages faculty
to assess constantly what is going on with students and to
connect them with help support and services. That is something
that has been in place even before UAA went online. UAA has its
faculty participate in professional development workshops on how
to increase the level of engagement with students in an online
format.
DR. SANDEEN said she believes UAA is doing everything it can to
support students who may not be comfortable with an online
format. Many UAA students have taken online courses before, so
fully remote delivery was easier for them. However, UAA
acknowledges that it has many first-generation college students
entering as freshmen and sophomores who may need more support to
learn how to operate and learn in a more autonomous online
format.
DR. SANDEEN noted that when UAA changed to remote delivery, the
student dropout rate during the semester was equivalent to what
it usually is. The Anchorage campus saw about a 5 percent
decrease.
8:39:31 AM
CHAIR STEVENS said that is good to hear.
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND asked how the Alaska Native Science and
Engineering Program (ANSEP) is currently operating.
DR. SANDEEN replied ANSEP is operating the same as much of UAA;
it is primarily remote delivery. She noted that UAA does have
rural Alaska students who are involved in the university-level
ANSEP and are in student housing.
8:41:18 AM
PRESIDENT PITNEY displayed slide 7 regarding enrollment services
that UA provides during the pandemic and commended the College
of Health (COH) at UAA, Chancellor Sandeen, and Dean Jeff
Jessee.
She said that when the pandemic started, COH distributed their
personal protective equipment to areas throughout Anchorage.
They also built a contact tracing training program that has
trained over 500 contact tracers to date. COH graduated nurses
early to get them on the streets and into care facilities.
PRESIDENT PITNEY noted that UA also has epidemiology and
modeling scientists throughout the system who are paying
attention to COVID-19. She said Mr. Mouchine Guettabi, Associate
Professor of Economics at the UAA Institute of Social and
Economic Research (ISER), has done a tremendous amount of
modeling on how COVID-19 affected businesses. Dr. Tom Hennessy,
Infectious Disease Epidemiologist with UAA, has been invaluable
to UA's COVID-19 mitigation strategy. He has also been available
to all communities and schools in the state.
PRESIDENT PITNEY said the Alaska Small Business Development
Center and the Business Enterprise Institute at UAA came forward
immediately to support businesses with the Paycheck Protection
Program (PPP) loans, U.S. Economic Development Administration
funding, and advice.
PRESIDENT PITNEY said Chancellor White mentioned the Alaska
State Virology Laboratory is on the UAF campus and noted that
the biology programs and researchers helped expand their testing
capacity.
She said there is a group of faculty members in COH, Department
of Biology, Anchorage, and Institute of Arctic Biology,
Fairbanks, working on isolating the COVID-19 strains and looking
at how those strains have mutated and gone through Alaska's
population.
8:45:32 AM
PRESIDENT PITNEY referenced slide 8 on the impacts from COVID-
19. She said UA has had significant revenue impacts from COVID-
19 that includes student refunds fall 2020, running dormitories
at 25-50 percent capacity, and lower enrollment. When interest
rates went to almost zero, UA lost the normal stream of interest
income.
PRESIDENT PITNEY said the UA revenue impact has been just short
of $30 million with another $5 million in direct costs from
people on COVID-19 leave, UA personnel transitioning to focus
completely on COVID-19, personal protective equipment, and a
particularly large hit from mitigation strategies within
classrooms via barriers to continue to have classes open.
8:47:16 AM
PRESIDENT PITNEY reported that UA has received $12 million in
funding for COVID-19 and another $4 million from the CARES Act
that went directly to students during the abrupt shift in the
spring 2020 semester. UA was able to help students with refunds
for some of their costs and mitigate a lot of the impact, but
not all of it.
She noted UA has requested a supplemental for about $17 million
for COVID-19 impacts on top of the $25 million reduction in 2020
and another $20 million reduction in 2021 in the compact. If UA
can get some mitigation to its COVID-19 impact, it would be
helpful.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if she expects the $17 million supplemental
request to be in the governor's budget.
PRESIDENT PITNEY replied the UA board approved the supplemental
request, but there is no sense of expectation.
CHAIR STEVENS replied he hopes the $17 million is in the
governor's budget, but the legislature can add it in to make
sure it stays in the budget.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS asked if the decline in enrollment was
equivalent across campuses.
PRESIDENT PITNEY replied the next slide addresses that question.
8:49:53 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON asked if UA had seen any hard cost
reductions.
PRESIDENT PITNEY answered yes; for example, travel is lower and
that has helped mitigate some of the $25 million reduction.
However, travel expenses are not going to be a sustainable
change and is small relative to the $17 million.
PRESIDENT PITNEY said the slide illustrating student support
during COVID-19 is a breakdown of the direct funding to students
that came from the CARES Act: UAF is about $1 million, UAA is
$2.7 million, and UAS about $186,000. She pointed out UA's
increased mental health services.
8:51:46 AM
PRESIDENT PITNEY advised that UA main campus enrollments were
down 4-6 percent and community campus enrollments were down
significantly more.
She said there are different theories on community campus
enrollment, but enrollments nationwide have been down
significantly. One theory is that many people using the
community campuses have children and job challenges, which does
not leave a lot of time for the community campus. UA anticipated
enrollment decline closer to 20 percent, so they were
encouraged. The UA head count was down about 10 percent and
student credit hours were down 8 percent.
PRESIDENT PITNEY said UA is seeing students taking more classes
in some places and for certain programs. For example, there are
slightly fewer students in COH, but people are taking more
classes related to health care workers.
8:53:57 AM
PRESIDENT PITNEY noted the enrollment increases in the College
of Fisheries and Ocean Science programs, School of Management,
and COH in Anchorage and the Sitka fisheries tech program.
She said UA freshmen enrolled in fall 2019 courses returned at
the highest rates in fall 2020 in the last 7-8 years. Overall,
UA experienced one of its worst enrollment retention and
smallest classes in the recent past, largely due to the budget.
She said the budget has been more problematic than the virus.
She said the real lesson is UA needs fiscal stability and
certainty to serve communities by educating the workforce.
She noted UA is seeing a good sign with increased applications
and admissions for spring 2021. They are getting a lot of
positive messaging for online distance learning.
8:56:31 AM
SENATOR BEGICH expressed concern about the dramatic reduction to
UA programs that have new importance in the current environment.
He highlighted the supply chain program that addresses
programmatic approaches considering COVID-19, sociology, veteran
administration (VA), and hospitality administration.
He asked if UA has reconsidered the 40-plus programs that it is
thinking about discontinuing.
PRESIDENT PITNEY answered that there were very clear criteria in
the program reductions and eliminations, and part of that was
participation.
She said the commitment she has given to the universities and
chancellors is to preserve programs, but UA made the decision to
go forward and rethink the programs that make the most sense
once there is stability. Revisiting those decisions until UA
gets to stability is not prudent. UA has more reductions to go,
but the assurance made is to focus on maintaining programs
because that is where enrollment comes from.
8:59:34 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON asked if UA has discussed the impact on
their programs going forward from graduating high school
students who may be losing ground academically.
PRESIDENT PITNEY answered UA is open access except for specific
programs that have entrance requirements. UA is prepared for
students to go through very specific entry-level testing and
placement so they can succeed at the appropriate level. Students
may have to take a few extra courses initially, but UA can
accommodate them within the system.
PRESIDENT PITNEY advised that the UA presentation would address
some of the great successes in middle college. Students who have
gone through a middle college program in the system often
graduate early from a UA program. Middle college expansion over
the last several years is a huge highlight that will also
accommodate many of the students impacted by COVID-19 in high
school.
9:03:17 AM
CHAIR STEVENS thanked President Pitney for attending the
meeting.
DR. LAYER displayed slide 13, Engineering Bachelor's Degrees
Awarded by UAF (CEM) and UAA (CoENG). He said he would share
some longer-term growth and good news about the key programs the
university has developed over the last 20 years.
He highlighted UA's engineering programs and noted the goal in
2000 to double the engineering graduates over time. With support
from the legislature to construct some new engineering
facilities, UA has been able to grow those facilities and have
engineers for Alaska. He said UA engineering graduates and
enrollment is continuing to be strong even now.
DR. LAYER advised that UA set a goal to increase both associate
health degrees and bachelor nursing degrees. However, UA is
still not meeting the state's needs in those areas but is
working to grow those programs.
DR. LAYER noted that the number of health graduates continues to
grow, including programs in allied health, mental health, and
certificate programs in dental. UA offers its nursing program
statewide through the UAA COH and its allied health programs at
all three of its universities and many of its rural campuses.
DR. LAYER said UA's education and health programs are bright
spots at the university that are helping to meet the state and
workforce needs going forward.
CHAIR STEVENS said he appreciates the news on UA's bright spots
in engineering and health and hopes similar gains will occur
soon in teacher education.
9:06:27 AM
DR. LAYER stated that UA is the largest provider of workforce
development training in the state. They work with DOLWD,
Alaska's Institute of Technology (AVTEC), and other facilities.
UA works well with its partners in a coordinated effort to cover
different areas of the state with different types of programs.
DR. LAYER said the other challenge UA has is addressing the
40,000 Alaskans who have become unemployed because of the
pandemic, how to develop programs, and fast track associate
degree certificates to retool and upscale the workforce. UA is
working with the state and municipalities to see what the
university can do to provide support for those students to
participate. Some of them have had some college experience but
not a degree, so UA wants to get them back in school.
He said UA can create very flexible programs to meet workforce
needs and fast track various skills in a post-COVID economy.
This is a great time for people to consider going back to
school, especially if UA can provide support for them.
DR. LAYER noted one bright spot in the COVID-19 world is that UA
has far more courses and programs online than the university had
a year ago. There are challenges with some of UA's connectivity
questions, but courses and programs that UA did not think
possible for online access are now online and could be available
to students across the state. After COVID-19, the hope is that
many of the online programs will continue because an educated
workforce is necessary for the state.
He said he also wanted to mention the value of scientific
research. UA has a strong research mission that contributes to
knowledge of the state to understanding the state's hazards and
resources. Scientific research also is a direct investment into
local economies. It relates directly to community life in terms
of the state's fisheries, villages, and health and safety.
DR. LAYER said there is an economic benefit to UA's research.
Every dollar of State support for research brings in $6 of
external funding.
9:09:50 AM
DR. LAYER displayed slide 16 that shows the first report on the
oil and gas industry. He said it talks about the benefits of
education for engineers going into oil and gas as well as the
two-year process technology certificate that is relevant to the
industry. UA will be producing these kinds of reports for many
sectors of the industry including fisheries, mining, teacher
education, and business, among others. UA will be sharing the
reports with the legislature and local communities.
DR. LAYER reiterated that UA wants to be part of getting
students back in the university to get skills.
SENATOR BEGICH commented that Dr. Layer chose the example of the
oil and industry, but his hope is that everyone understands that
the industry has collapsed worldwide because of COVID-19 and
that has led to an increase in alternative energies. He said his
hope is that UA will focus on what the future looks like in
terms of jobs opportunities instead of looking into the past.
DR. LAYER asked Chancellor White to discuss UA's efforts in that
area with the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP).
9:11:56 AM
DR. WHITE explained that UA started ACEP nearly a decade ago to
look specifically at and train people in renewable energy and
its integration into existing carbon-based energy grids.
He explained that ACEP has the only grid simulator in the
country specifically designed for the grids in Alaska. It allows
many different renewable energy technologies to be built into
carbon-based grids for rural communities, mining operations, and
military installations where failure is not an option. The grid
simulator allows training of operators and engineers from across
the state.
He said there is a lot of work in petroleum engineering at UAF,
but there is more in the renewable energy area and its
application in Alaska.
SENATOR BEGICH said he looked forward to seeing a more robust
presentation about that in the next legislative session.
9:13:36 AM
DR. LAYER emphasized that UA has a lot of opportunity and
capacity to increase enrollment. He asked each chancellor to
highlight their efforts to support students going forward in
terms of programs, enhanced recruitment, and retention.
DR. WHITE said UAF issued the Nanook Pledge, which is a four-
year financial aid commitment to students. It commits merit-
based scholarships to students for all four years of their
education. The scholarship program is over-subscribed, so they
are expanding it to need-based as well to the community and
technical college.
DR. WHITE said another important program is UAF's military
pricing package to address the needs of military who represent
12 percent of UAF students. It allows military students to use
their federal support without any out-of-pocket cost. He said
UAF thinks that is important for serving its military community
in Fairbanks and in Alaska.
He noted an earlier question on high school students and the
important issue of taking online courses. He explained that UAF
developed the Alaska Advantage Program, which is a package of
online university courses for high schools to compete with
Arizona State and many of the other online programs that have
been selling to Alaska's high schools.
DR. WHITE said all three of the previously mentioned programs
will help in recruiting students in Alaska, keeping students in
Alaska, and providing a well-trained workforce for Alaska.
9:16:57 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked if the military pricing includes spouses and
dependents.
DR. WHITE answered yes.
9:17:13 AM
DR. SANDEEN highlighted that one of UAA's most successful
efforts has been to provide multi-year funding for students
through the 49th State Finishers. The program focuses
specifically on individuals who have some college and no degree
and gives them financial support to return and finish their
degree at UAA.
She referenced the unemployment number related to COVID-19 and
explained that UAA worked with employers to develop a group of
short-term certificate programs to train individuals displaced
from their job to retool and go into an area with high demand.
UAA certificate programs include the university's contact tracer
program, IT support specialists, infant-toddler development for
childcare, and entrepreneurship for those who want to start
their own businesses. These are certificates from existing UAA
courses for validated in-demand areas that an individual can
complete in three semesters or less.
9:19:04 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked her to comment on the middle school college
because it should be a highlight.
DR. SANDEEN answered that UAA has a very robust and large middle
school college program, the largest of which is on the Anchorage
campus. UAA also has students coming from high schools
throughout the state participating in the ANSEP acceleration
programs that are in addition to the middle college program. The
university's middle college program is at all its campuses, but
the largest are in Anchorage, Mat-Su, and Kenai Peninsula
College. She said the program has roughly doubled from last year
and most middle school college students enroll at a UA campus.
DR. CAREY reported that UAS has several programs, one of which
is a scholarship program for any student that is interested in
dual enrollment. UAS also partners with UAF on their very
successful Alaska Advantage Program. Finish College Alaska is
another successful program to help people who have some college
but no degree.
DR. CAREY noted that UAS is partnering with the Alaska
Association of School Boards on a grant called the [Supporting
Transitions and Educational Promise Southeast Alaska] (STEPS)
Grant, which provides scholarships to students that are low
income or Alaska Native. She said the university is very proud
that twenty percent of UAS students are Native.
9:21:14 AM
DR. LAYER said one last highlight is the AlaskaX (edX), a
national consortium of massive online open access courses
founded by MIT and Harvard. UAF joined edX on behalf of UA to
provide the free and open access courses. To date, UAF has
developed five classes in several areas including: salmon,
Arctic security, health, and how to use data from the Alaska
satellite facility. The edX program is an exciting opportunity
to draw students to Alaska while addressing the problems that
Alaska has in the Arctic. UA will be evaluating how the
university can use those to get students interested in issues in
the Arctic.
DR. LAYER turned to slide 18 on UA expanding partnership
opportunities by considering how to provide other support for
its students outside of Alaska. He said many are aware of the
successful [Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho]
(WWAMI) program with the University of Washington School of
Medicine. Many good students from UA go to that program and
return to be doctors in Alaska.
DR. LAYER noted that UA has partnerships in chemical
engineering, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, and law. He said
each of those provides access for students through the 2+2
Program or similar partnerships to get those skills. Due to the
cost of the program, the School of Pharmacy in Alaska
successfully partnered with Idaho State. UA's partnerships are a
reminder that the university has that kind of access available
for UA students.
9:23:53 AM
DR. LAYER said teacher education is clearly an area that UA
knows it needs to work on because there are tremendous needs for
teachers in Alaska. UA is evaluating how it can better serve the
needs of K-12 schools going forward and meeting those needs. He
said UA convened its faculty across the system to collaborate on
program development and recruitment to enhance teacher
education.
9:25:12 AM
DR. LAYER turned to slide 20 and noted that UA has the advantage
of several middle college models that work for different student
populations in different communities. He said the middle college
and ANSEP programs at UAA's Anchorage and Mat-Su campuses have
been very successful in bringing students to dual enrollment
programs. UAF partnered with the Fairbanks North Star Borough
School District in the fall of 2020 for their first cohort of
middle college students. UAF capped the program at 40 and
waitlisted many more students and parents. He reiterated that UA
believes its middle college program can help bridge some of the
student concerns about being prepared for college.
He said he finds that students who complete UA's middle colleges
come to one of UA's universities prepared. Many of them have
credits equivalent to an associate degree and can be successful
at UA universities. Students can save money at the same time
because the programs are available through the schools. He
reiterated that middle colleges work to address student debt,
student retention, and student progress.
9:27:18 AM
DR. LAYER said that in addition to UA's face-to-face component
for on-campus middle college, there is the "virtual" middle
college called the Alaska Advantage Program. The virtual program
is a partnership with districts where UA solely provides the
content. The program partners with the teachers and advisors in
the district who work closely with the instructors in UA's
programs and courses to deliver a full suite of courses with an
Alaska focus.
DR. LAYER emphasized, "We are Alaskans, we are Alaska educators,
we are Alaska professors as opposed to a package that might come
from Arizona State or someplace else. UA can tailor its courses
to meet specific needs of the district." He said UA already has
over 30 districts and home school programs participating. The
advantage of the virtual program is a student does not have to
be in place with a university or community campus, a student can
be in a rural district. UA created the virtual program to
improve student access.
DR. LAYER said UA has several other programs that are more
specific on types of careers by preparing, educating, or
introducing students to health or teaching careers. UA also
focuses on getting its rural students onto campus through its
ANSEP programs as through the UAF [Rural Alaska Honors
Institute] RAHI program. He said the middle college programs
have all been very successful in encouraging students who might
not think they are college material to come to the university
and to be successful. He said the different formats work for
different students and different districts and UA will continue
to work with districts in all locations across the state.
9:29:38 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked how the middle college funding works and
whether the district pays UA at a discounted rate.
DR. LAYER answered that each of the programs have slightly
different funding models. Students enroll as regular students in
UA's programs at UAA and UAF and they receive support from
districts for their tuition, fees, and books. He said he
believes either districts or students can participate. UA
reduces tuition because districts also provide support.
DR. WHITE said the exception is when an individual chooses to
take a course on his or her own. In that circumstance, the
district assumes most of the cost.
9:31:30 AM
DR. LAYER turned to slide 22, Reduced BudgetReduced Footprint.
He said UA has been under the compact for the last three years
as it plans for FY 2022 budgeting. Since FY 2014, state support
has dropped $120 million or one-third. While they have still
been able to provide quality programs, their footprint is
smaller. They want to build on the high-quality programs and
research. UA faculty are assessing those high-quality programs,
whether they are face-to-face or online to ensure quality and
accessibility. However, it is important to recognize that is not
possible to do what they were doing before.
DR. LAYER said UA would like to get to stability and some
certainty about where it is going with state support,
enrollment, research efforts, and the ability to attract and
retain faculty. He emphasized that a diverse faculty is very
important for UA, as is a diverse student body.
DR. LAYER said UA is going to be smaller. For example, UA has
reduced programs. UA faculty, staff, and chancellors continue to
do a deep assessment of all programs to look at demand, costs,
and meeting needs in similar programs throughout the state.
Reducing academic programs is unfortunate but necessary given
the university's situation. UA is also evaluating how it can
reduce its footprint by reducing the number of leases and
looking at all its facilities.
DR. LAYER said UA is also looking at how to deal with faculty
and staff reductions across the system. UA is smaller than what
it was and that has put a lot of strain on the system. He
emphasized that the key to success in enrollment, retention of
faculty and staff, and research funding is stability.
He said the conversation about what the university will look
like with the smaller budget has been difficult but each of the
universities has come up with robust plans for how to meet the
restrictions and move forward to develop programs to attract and
retain students. He concluded that stability is a key to how the
university can contribute to Alaska's economic recovery.
9:35:33 AM
CHAIR STEVENS said thanks for effectively discussing the reality
of the difficulties the university has faced, the problems with
the compact, and the strain it has had on the faculty and
administrators. It is an important message to receive.
He said the committee understands the issue with stability as it
continues to ask more from UA even though the university
receives fewer funds. He asked Dr. Layer to continue the
discussion and to provide his thoughts about what the university
will look like after COVID-19.
SENATOR BEGICH asked if there has been any effort to find a
needs-based scholarship for financial planning like the
University of Michigan.
SENATOR BEGICH said Dr. Layer's focus in looking towards the
future while dealing with the current crises is commendable and
a testament to his work, the chancellors' work, and President
Pitney's work in trying to refocus on stability while keeping an
eye on the future.
SENATOR BEGICH said he and his staff have been discussing
activities at other universities, particularly what the Michigan
governor has done to attract lower-income students who want to
improve their skills or retool because of the COVID-19 issues.
They have some college experience but no degree or they may be
older students looking to come back to the system.
9:38:09 AM
DR. LAYER answered that UA has been evaluating needs-based
scholarships mostly at the university level. However, each of
UA's universities have a different student base. He asked each
chancellor to talk about needs-based scholarships from a system
perspective. UA is considering developing stronger scholarships
and developing efforts to reach those students to let them know
of those options. In many cases, the UA population is very
vulnerable and reaching those people to provide economic
opportunities is important to the university.
DR. SANDEEN noted that UAA submitted fast-track career
certificates to DEED for those eligible for federal financial
aid and most received approval. UAA also has local institutional
financial aid available. UAA's principle effort is to meet the
needs of those individuals who have lost jobs during this
period. UAA expects to add more certificates and to continue to
push programs like that.
9:40:05 AM
DR. CAREY said UAS has been working with the City and Borough of
Juneau that received CARE Act funding. She said conversations
with the mayor and others will hopefully lead to the federal
government extending funds beyond December 31, 2020. The borough
would very much like to make that money available specifically
to students who need to retool and UAS is hoping to get those
funds.
DR. CAREY advised that UAS is currently reviewing its computer
science programs to help people get a quick occupational
endorsement and to provide several occupational courses that
students can take at the downtown technical education center.
UAS is really trying to do an outreach to get people who need to
retool back to school.
DR. WHITE explained one reason for reduced enrollment at UAF is
children being at home for remote learning or from job loss. The
University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has been considering is
childcare, particularly to help nontraditional students. Not
only are children at home more, but many childcare facilities
shut down due to COVID-19. UAF is considering expanding
childcare access to get the some-college, no-degree students the
opportunity to finish their degree while allowing them to
maintain a family and other responsibilities.
9:42:58 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND noted alternative energy systems are
increasing throughout the state. He asked Dr. Layer for UA's
role in alternative energy systems.
DR. LAYER indicated UA will provide a broader, more in-depth
presentation on the university's research and facilities during
the upcoming legislative session. He noted Chancellor White
mentioned UA's efforts at ACEP, but UAA is also conducting
research in that area.
9:44:39 AM
SENATOR COSTELLO joined the meeting.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked for clarification on continuing education
students where students are not limited to take online courses
at the university near their residences. She acknowledged that
each university has a separate online presence that is sometimes
tricky to navigate.
She asked if UA had made any effort to unify its online presence
for people who are taking classes.
DR. LAYER answered this process is one of President Pitney's top
priorities. UA is currently examining how to coordinate the
universities' processes better and exploring whether it is
restricting online participation since many students take
courses at two or more UA campuses. They have also been
reviewing their Information Technology (IT) operation.
9:46:29 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked for an update on UA's presidential selection
and when can the legislature expect a permanent president.
DR. LAYER responded the [Board of Regents] will be making that
selection. However, the board did not discuss the topic at its
fall 2020 meeting. He offered his view that the board wanted
first to provide some stability with Interim President Pitney.
Both President Pitney and the board are contemplating that she
would serve 12-18 months. Thus, the process needs to start soon.
CHAIR STEVENS said the new legislature will begin in January and
his expectation is many committee members will be back with
great interest in what is happening with UA.
9:48:29 AM
CHAIR STEVENS announced Norm Wooten, Executive Director of the
Association of Alaska School Boards (AASB) will provide an
overview.
9:48:48 AM
NORM WOOTEN, Executive Director, Association of Alaska School
Boards, Juneau, Alaska, noted AASB has coordinated its
presentation with the [Alaska Council of School Administrators]
(ACSA) so there will be no repetition.
He offered to address the concern over the loss of the average
daily membership (ADM) or student population with school
districts across the state.
He noted many have seen the hold harmless provision in AS
14.17.410(e) as a solution to the loss of the ADM in the state.
The statutory hold harmless provision applies to those districts
who are experiencing a reduction in enrollment.
MR. WOOTEN explained the eligibility process. To determine
eligibility, a district compares its total in the school-size
adjustment in the foundation formula against the prior fiscal
year to determine if a decrease of five percent or greater has
occurred within that district relative to the school size
adjustment. If that occurs, the last fiscal year will become the
base for determining that district's funding under the
foundation formula. However, there are several caveats that have
a direct bearing on the provision.
MR. WOOTEN said the provision is available to the districts up
to three years, provided the district remains below the base
year. In year one, the district retains 75 percent of the
difference to the base year, 50 percent in year two, and 25
percent in year three.
He remarked that while the hold harmless provision sounds good,
districts will still experience significant shortfalls even if
they qualify. In 2020, districts had to plan for three options
at the beginning of the school year, including in-person
schooling, a hybrid model of in-person and distance learning,
and a distance learning option.
9:51:59 AM
MR. WOOTEN explained that shortfalls addressed by the foundation
formula only make up a part of district revenue. For instance,
the hold harmless provision does not consider the loss of
revenue funding through the transportation fund or through the
nutrition services fund, so districts will experience losses in
those areas.
MR. WOOTEN noted ASCA will discuss data from districts across
the state and their expected shortfalls, many of which will be
significant.
He explained that districts had already contracted their
teaching staff for the year when the pandemic arose, but there
has not been any loss of personnel so far.
9:53:02 AM
MR. WOOTEN said COVID-19 expenditures have increased as
districts put their pandemic plans into effect, including in-
person learning, enhanced cleaning, establishing district
protocols, purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE),
digital platforms for distance learning, software programs,
hardware for student access, and costs to create hotspots and
deliver meals.
He pointed out districts using the hold harmless provision "will
actually not be held completely harmless," since districts will
not be afforded protection from those costs.
MR. WOOTEN summarized his intent was to briefly review the hold
harmless provision for committee members.
9:54:29 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked if the AASB has discussed the count dates
and if that will require consideration or changes when the
student population count occurs.
MR. WOOTEN deferred the technical question to others. He
remarked that the October count period has been in place for
several years and typically would be appropriate. However, the
school districts may need to do something different for the
student counts.
MR. WOOTEN explained AASB selected Lon Garrison to be his
successor as the executive director. He described Mr. Garrison
as eminently qualified to assume that position. Mr. Garrison
currently serves as the AASB director of member services and
served one term as the AASB president. He also served on the
Sitka school board for many years.
He said that is assisting with Mr. Garrison's transition to the
executive director position on January 2, 2021. The AASB board
has asked him to stay on through the 2021 legislative session to
perform advocacy work for AASB.
9:57:24 AM
At ease.
10:03:28 AM
CHAIR STEVENS called the meeting back to order.
He said the committees will hear from the Alaska Council of
School Administrators (ASCA). Dr. Lisa S. Parady will provide an
overview entitled, Public School Enrollment During the Pandemic.
10:03:52 AM
LISA SKILES PARADY, PhD, Executive Director, Alaska Council of
School Administrators, Juneau, Alaska, noted three ASCA members
will share some impacts on public school enrollment during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
She turned to the presentation, Alaska Council of School
Administrators LeadershipUnity and Advocacy for Alaska Public
Education on slide 2. She described ACSA as the umbrella
organization for the Alaska Superintendents Association, the
Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals, the Alaska
Association of Elementary School Principals, the School Business
Officials, and school district administrators across Alaska who
serve Alaska's students.
DR. PARADY turned to slide 3, Few Schools Are Open, But
Educators Are Crushed. She complimented school administrators,
teachers, and all education staff for working tirelessly since
spring 2020 to provide students with education during the
pandemic. Schools may be less visible with virtual and blended
learning, but teachers and educators are doing more work than
ever to support students and communities. Teachers are on the
frontline and are leaders in their communities, taking on
additional responsibilities and helping to make decisions for
their communities. Superintendents have dedicated staff to
address notification related to COVID-19.
10:06:09 AM
DR. PARADY reviewed slide 4, What Is The Best Way To Educate
Alaska's Students. Superintendents, principals, Alaska
Association of School Boards, and educational leaders have met
weekly to establish unprecedented levels of statewide
coordination to keep communities safe and support their
students.
She highlighted that since March 2020 ACSA has held weekly
superintendent meetings with principals and statewide
educational leaders. She commended Commissioner Johnson and Dr.
Anne Zinc [Chief Medical Officer for the Alaska Department of
Health and Social Services] for their work with the ACSA. The
ASCA has hosted these meetings to help ensure its members and
students receive the best possible levels of coordination and
collaboration during the pandemic.
She referred to slide 5, The Lasting Impact of a Continuing
Pandemic, which read: Alaska's second wave of COVID-19 is
delaying return to school and is closing schools that have been
in person until now, with many schools delaying return to in-
person instruction.
DR. PARADY said educators must respond to the current crisis and
plan for the long-term impact of the pandemic. The pandemic has
led to a full year of diminished learning.
10:08:51 AM
DR. PARADY reviewed slide 6, COVID-19 Concerns About Enrollment.
She said the Alaska Superintendents Association (ASA) leadership
drafted the August 7, 2020 letter to Commissioner Johnson to
enlist his support to use the November 19 estimated student
count data for education funding for FY2021.
DR. PARADY stated educational leaders are taking an active role
to protect Alaska's schools, highlighting a secondary crisis
that will arise with uncertain and inadequate funding. Unstable
funding will not improve the situation schools are facing.
Action to provide funding stability is necessary as ASCA hopes
to highlight in today's presentation. She agreed with Mr. Wooten
that current statues may be insufficient to handle the current
situation.
10:10:35 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS said Mr. Wooten previously explained the
hold harmless provision does not hold districts harmless because
the districts lose funding when their population drops. He asked
whether the provision's formula helps address the rapid decrease
in student enrollment at schools versus a gradual community
population decline.
DR. PARADY thanked the legislature for the hold harmless
legislation that has helped districts deal with periods of
population change. However, the legislature did not design the
policy for short-term budget stabilization in times of crisis
that districts currently face throughout Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS noted the Fairbanks school district lost
2,000 students, or 10 percent of its students, who left for
various reasons. Further, Fairbanks has been experiencing
declining enrollment and increased COVID-19 costs that have
devasted several school districts. He emphasized the importance
of the August 7, 2020 ASA letter, which would hold districts
harmless by using the 2019 figures to compensate for declining
enrollment and increased costs.
10:12:48 AM
DR. PARADY explained that ASA represents all regions in the
state and districts unanimously supported sending the letter to
Commissioner Johnson. Eighty percent of superintendents from
large and small districts responded to a survey regarding their
enrollment issues and noted a consensus to set a floor but not a
cap because of the varying range of changes in enrollment across
the state.
10:14:10 AM
DR. PARADY turned to slide 7 and explained that this slide
contains the language in AS 14.17.600(a) related to the student
enrollment count used for public school funding. Schools already
completed their student enrollment counts for FY 2021 as
mandated by the Alaska statutes, and DEED just received those
figures, she said.
She detailed the first day of the student count for the FY 2021
school year was September 28, 2020. However, many of the schools
were still navigating distance and safe learning due to COVID-
19. While some students were returning to classrooms, some
schools and most rural schools were distance learning with some
families transitioning to homebased programs.
DR. PARADY reviewed the hold harmless provision on slide 8,
which provides enrollment stabilization funding for districts
experiencing loss in enrollment as previously stated. However,
the provision only applies to districts that lose more than five
percent by adjusted ADM in a single year and it acts as a step-
down to allow districts more time to adjust to funding loss.
DR. PARADY explained the provision's design aids districts for
gradual population change, but not for short-term budget
stabilization in times of crisis. That is a real take away from
ASCA's presentation because that is the place in which
superintendents, school districts, and school boards find
themselves. The provision also does not specifically apply to
loss of intensive needs students and their funding.
10:16:24 AM
DR. PARADY reviewed slide 9, showing five other states' policy
responses to support schools through the pandemic. Arizona's
Governor Ducey took executive action to provide additional grant
funding, specifically to stabilize funding but not to change the
foundation formula or ADM process. The grants provide stopgap
funding to allow districts to continue operations as expected
during the crisis.
DR. PARADY said the North Carolina General Assembly amended its
foundation formula statutes specific to FY 2021 funding for
allocation according to the greater of actual or anticipated FY
2021 enrollment to provide stabilization to districts with
enrollment losses without negatively impacting the budgets of
districts of higher than anticipated enrollment, which
Representative Hopkins indicated Alaska also faces.
DR. PARADY noted other statesincluding Michigan, California,
and Coloradohave seen near universal decreases in district ADM
and have responded by basing FY 2021 funding on FY 2020 ADM. The
next slide shows Alaska is not alone. Other districts across the
United States are addressing the same issue and ASCA certainly
appreciates the legislature's consideration.
10:18:03 AM
DR. PARADY addressed slide 10 and noted her previous slide
mentioned states have recognized the need to take emergency
action and support schools through budget stability. She
cautioned that failing to support schools through this time
would have lasting impact. The budget crisis the districts face
today is an acute emergency. She said the state did not design
the hold harmless provision to address the current situation.
10:19:24 AM
SENATOR HUGHES expressed concern that Dr. Parady's presentation
focused on the need for money rather than on student needs. Some
parents have voiced concern about the education their children
are getting during the pandemic. Over time, the legislature has
put more money into education but has not observed a parallel
change in student achievement. The current situation is creating
situations where some students are failing because they are not
receiving instruction.
SENATOR HUGHES noted Dr. Parady indicated that the districts are
facing financial difficulties because of COVID-19. She related
her understanding that the Mat-Su School District saw a savings
in its spring 2020 because the students were not physically
attending schools.
SENATOR HUGHES pointed out Dr. Parady did not mention additional
federal funding. Although AASB wants the hold harmless provision
for districts, the association is asking the state to pay for
students who are no longer at the district and are in a
homeschool program or attend school at a new location. She asked
if she has the data to show that districts are in a financial
crisis. Parents are going to be livid if suddenly the
legislature is putting a whole lot more money into districts
without demonstrated results.
10:22:56 AM
DR. PARADY stated that the association's focus is not about
money but on stabilizing school districts to allow focus on
students' needs, health, safety, and on their outcomes.
She explained the data is not consistent by district. In some
cases, there have been gains like the Mat-Su School District and
in other cases, there have been great loses. Although AASB
agrees that there is a not a loss across the entire state, it is
important that districts apply the hold harmless provision to
provide stability for focusing on students and their safety,
wellbeing, and instruction. She emphasized that every
administrator, teacher and educator she has worked with since
March 2020 is primarily concerned about the students.
DR. PARADY described her own experience with the level of
education provided by the Juneau School District, where her four
daughters attend school. She commended the time and effort
teachers put forth to make sure students receive the highest
caliber academic experience. Her youngest daughter is in middle
school on Zoom every day and she has never worked harder. She
offered her view that administrators and teachers across Alaska
are doing more to ensure a quality experience for students.
DR. PARADY emphasized the cost of running a school district has
not shifted because many contracts were signed prior to the
pandemic, including transportation costs.
DR. PARADY said the next speakers, superintendents Kerry Boyd
and John O'Brien, will provide specific situations of variance
from a rural, urban, and homeschool perspective.
10:28:06 AM
KERRY BOYD, President, Alaska Superintendents Association,
Superintendent, Yukon-Koyukuk School District, Fairbanks,
Alaska, noted her service on the ASA board for over a decade.
She has served as superintendent with the Yukon-Koyukuk School
District (YKSD) since 2008.
She said she will share with committee members a statewide lens
as well as an individual perspective as superintendent from a
rural district with a statewide homeschool program.
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 12, EnrollmentThe Big Picture
Statewide. She said ASA surveyed all 53 of its superintendents
to document the diverse situations each district faces. Eighty
percent of districts responded and demonstrated their unique
concerns and challenges. The pandemic affected some districts
more than others. Unlike other states, Alaska does not have any
uniform, statewide trend in enrollment. Many districts are
taking enrollment losses, but the magnitude ranges from over 50
percent in some districts to less than 1 percent in others. Over
30 percent of the districts have seen enrollment gains of up to
10 percent.
MS. BOYD said that the Alaska Department of Education (DEED)
recently received the final count information and she is
uncertain if the department had a chance to analyze the data,
which takes time.
MS. BOYD highlighted ASA's goal is to raise awareness of how the
pandemic not only affects districts but also Alaskans. Families
struggle with the decision whether to send their children to
school or to keep them at home. Both rural and urban working
families have childcare concerns.
10:31:43 AM
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 13, Statewide Enrollment Changes. She
said there is an unprecedented growth in this year's
correspondence program enrollment in Alaska. Multiple programs
have experienced over 1,000 percent growth in a single year.
Preliminary data from DEED shows 27,702 homeschool students
statewide, which is a significant increase from last year.
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 14, Shifting Enrollments for 2020/2021.
She said superintendents across the state have expressed concern
about whether homeschool or in-school is the best way to educate
students during the pandemic. While some can districts offer in-
person, meaningful, quality education, some unequipped districts
can better provide that quality education in a remote learning
model, while other districts do not have internet.
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 15, Large District Impact. She noted
some larger districts have seen considerable loss in
neighborhood school enrollment and most have seen enough decline
to qualify for the hold harmless provision. Many creative larger
districts have shifted to correspondence programs. The ASA was
impressed with the programs these districts created in response
to students enrolling in homeschooling programs.
MS. BOYD agreed with Senator Hughes about the concern for
providing a meaningful education during the pandemic. She noted
that the pandemic has forced everyone to review the districts'
responses and to prepare for distance and remote learning.
10:34:52 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND highlighted the shifting enrollment, noting
there are 27,000 homeschool students statewide, with about 21
percent of Alaska's K-12 students currently enrolled in
homeschool programs.
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND asked her for the current number of homeschool
students the K-12 system.
MS. BOYD answered the DEED did not provide the information to
her, but she surmised the number is around 10,000-15,000. She
deferred to the department to respond.
10:37:03 AM
MS. BOYD said that most large districts have seen enough loss in
neighborhood school enrollment to qualify for the hold harmless
provision. As a result, many large districts have created their
own homeschool programs. Uncertainty exists statewide whether
these students will return to in-person instruction and if
enrollment will return to previous levels. ASA is not sure how
enrollment will shift for next year's start.
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 16, Rural District Impact. She stated
that there has not been a consistent trend in small and rural
districts and most rural districts have seen relatively small
enrollment changes. One challenge for the smaller rural
districts is to provide a strong education program if the
infrastructure is not available. When many rural districts close
their doors to in-school learning, these districts provide
remote school through paper and pencil packets or computers
loaded with assignments. However, remote school does not replace
in-person or Zoom classes. Further, many rural districts cannot
provide ongoing, meaningful contact with families. Parents have
experienced difficulties trying to homeschool and work without
adequate support.
She noted some small districts have seen unprecedented
enrollment drops of up to 40 percent. Rural districts not
offering in-person instruction have experienced a loss to
homeschooling programs. She said DEED will provide additional
enrollment data later.
10:41:13 AM
MS. BOYD turned to slide 17, Correspondent Enrollment, which she
said has seen unprecedented increases. Many programs have seen
significant enrollment gains, requiring districts to shift their
focus and expand staff. Some staff report their biggest
challenge is to provide support to homeschool programs. Since
many families are trying to homeschool for the first time, ASA
wants to make sure these parents have what they need to provide
meaningful education at home until they decide whether to go
back to brick-and-mortar schools.
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 18, Staffing Concerns. One significant
statewide challenge is trying to find qualified teachers to fill
positions to provide guidance to families in the correspondence
program. Districts must be clear when hiring teachers that no
guarantees are made for their positions beyond a year. She
acknowledged that once teachers are hired, they often have an
opportunity to stay. The hired teachers are not immune from
feeling the strain of delivering education during this time.
10:43:43 AM
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 19 and reiterated the concerns about
staffing and turnover. She noted her appreciation to the
governor and DEED for putting together a task force for
retention and recruitment, something much needed in Alaska. Last
year there were only 10 vacancies for elementary and high
school, and 104 vacancies for special education. This year,
there are over 100 elementary, middle, and high school positions
still open, and over 100 open special education positions.
MS. BOYD noted turnover for a typical rural district is 15-35
percent. Turnover in her district for the homeschool program has
been virtually zero unless a teacher retires. However, this
year, it has been a struggle to find new homeschool teachers
because people are understandably afraid to travel.
MS. BOYD noted an ISER [Institute of Social and Economic
Research] report showed the average cost of replacing a teacher,
including providing orientation, hiring, and offering career
fairs is about $20,000, although that figure varies, depending
on the area of the state.
10:46:26 AM
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 20, Turnover, which illustrates the
turnover differences across the state. Rural Alaska experiences
higher turnover rates of 36 percent for teachers and 38 percent
for principals as compared to 19 percent in urban areas. There
has been an uptick in teacher turnover in the last eight years.
Still, more educators are considering leaving the profession.
According to the State Division of Retirement and Benefits,
2,800 educators are eligible for retirement this year as
compared to the 4,700 retirements between 2010 and 2020.
Additionally, a study conducted on rural-remote, remote, and
urban regions clearly identifies the percentage of turnover and
staffing concerns. Superintendents are working with their
districts and staff to make sure teachers receive enough
support. Currently families and teachers are feeling the strain
of the ongoing COVID-19 concerns.
MS. BOYD said teachers must perform more tasks, including
screening students, educating families, and dealing with schools
opening and closing due to COVID-19 concerns. Teachers must also
learn how to teach remotely, which is a statewide trend to
address the needs of families.
10:49:38 AM
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 21, Looking Ahead, The Cost of Recovery.
She said that learning loss is an important concern. Someone
saying there has not been a learning loss is hard to believe.
Schools closed in March 2020 and the transition to virtual and
distance instruction has been challenging all districts.
Further, for many students, distance delivery has not replaced
direct, in-person instruction. Districts continuously seek
solutions to meet the ever-changing needs in Alaska due to
COVID-19. Some districts are better equipped and have better
connectivity. Other districts that even without connectivity,
are innovating ways to deliver education to the students.
MS. BOYD said Commissioner Johnson has been meeting regularly
with superintendents to find solutions and work together to
provide education. Districts want to ensure the education level
is the highest level and focus for the state moving forward.
She noted some districts have developed special plans and
programs for their special education students by providing in-
classroom times. That has been hard, but it has been working
across the state. Many districts that have lost special
education to homeschool programs are concerned about how to make
sure special education students have their equitable education
needs met.
10:53:11 AM
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 22, Equity in Education. She said the
digital divide has become more apparent under COVID-19. She
thanked the legislature for passing [Senate Bill 74] introduced
by Senator Hoffman. She noted [the companion bill, House Bill
75] was introduced by Representative Rasmussen, and will provide
up to 25 [megabytes (MB)] bandwidth, which will be an enormous
help statewide.
She explained reaching students who lack reliable home internet
is a challenge and those families receive paper packets, and
computers with downloaded materials. Without Zoom, students are
not able to take the university-level courses in their homes.
She compared the monthly cost in the Juneau school district for
100 MB is $1,050 whereas the monthly cost in Allakaket in her
district for 25 MB is $40,000.
10:55:12 AM
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 23, COVID-19 Impact on Enrollment for
Yukon-Koyukuk. Superintendents, teachers, and support staff are
working hard to adapt. She compared the Y-K homeschool program
with 135 percent increase to the rural school enrollment with
little change.
She explained that districts typically start offering contracts
in January, but due to uncertainty must wait. Superintendents
want to keep their staff to avoid the costs of recruiting. She
said YKSD has nine rural-remote communities with just over 300
students and a homeschool program with 4,300 students and six
statewide offices. Last year YKSK had about 300 rural-remote
students; enrollment did not shift. However, the district
homeschool program has increased so dramatically, the district's
focus is to work with families to make sure the program works.
MS. BOYD noted YKSD partners with other districts on how to
provide special education services, especially since special
education student numbers for YKSD have tripled.
MS. BOYD reviewed the YKSD rural school fall schedule. The
district started on September 8, about a month late. The
district started its [COVID-19] Smart Plan in the "green" for
in-person learning. Recently, it became necessary to close five
school buildings and shift to remote learning because of
increased COVID-19 virus outbreak in employees, students, and
community members. However, the district had strong mitigation
efforts at schools, which limited the spread of the virus.
MS. BOYD explained YKSD does not have the infrastructure to
provide Zoom classes. The district has been working with
internet providers to provide the much-needed services to its
families. The district has doubled its staffing at YKSD's Raven
program, but it has struggled to fill teacher positions.
10:59:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked if the district is hiring certified
teachers.
MS. BOYD answered that the district follows state guidance and
only hires certified teachers. The district was able to recruit
some teachers from other districts.
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked her if she has an estimate of how many
teachers came from other districts versus how many were new to
the Alaska school system.
MS. BOYD offered to research and report back to the committee
with the information.
CHAIR STEVENS asked her to provide his staff with the
information and his office will make sure everyone receives it.
11:03:34 AM
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 24, COVID-19 Economic Impact for Yukon-
Koyukuk. Homeschool enrollment increases will result in a 54
percent increase in revenue, resulting in an additional $12
million for 2020/2021. The district worked with the DEED to make
sure it had allotments for the families and funds for internet.
DEED made the district aware of a statute to help districts
experiencing an economic impact with forward funding.
MS. BOYD said the district has not had any significant increases
to its district office staff. They are working on a rotating
basis to help the district during the pandemic. The staff for
the Raven program primarily work from home and work minimally in
the office.
11:05:04 AM
MS. BOYD reviewed slide 25, Stabilizing Schools for Students.
While stabilizing funding is important, her priority as the ASA
president and the focus for superintendents across the state is
to provide a focused delivery of high-quality instruction during
the pandemic. ASA will continue to work with DEED and the
districts to do what it can to help students.
SENATOR BEGICH expressed concern the legislature will only have
time in the upcoming session to address budget issues. However,
he acknowledged she raised important issues, including teacher
retention. He asked for clarification on the district needs
beyond the budget.
MS. BOYD suggested the legislature look statewide at education
policy, connectivity issues, and how districts provide reading
instruction. She said the ASA and department are available to
help.
11:08:16 AM
CHAIR STEVENS remarked he realizes that things are different
with kids not receiving the education that they might normally
get. He noted his seven-year-old grandchild tells him about
students who just do not show up to her online class and are not
doing the work.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if the children that are missing out will be
able to catch up.
MS. BOYD answered that even though students are not in the
building, districts must address issues that will affect
students for the rest of their lives. Students must build
routines and responsibilities to focus and do their homework.
That is their job right now until they graduate from high school
and districts must continue to emphasize that through the
pandemic as schools close.
MS. BOYD acknowledged that some children and parents do not have
the same level of expectations with closed schools. She said
that superintendents must ensure that education expectations are
even higher during the pandemic while children are learning
skills.
11:10:22 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX noted earlier commentary on having to take a
new look on how to provide new services. He asked Dr. Parady if
there has been consideration of a force majeure provision for
all their contracts such as employee unions and bus service. In
most private industry contracts, there is a force majeure clause
for something beyond a party's control that causes the need to
change a contract. He said it seems that there was some mention
of contracts inhibiting flexibility and he was wondering if
there was consideration of force majeure.
DR. PARADY answered she understands what force majeure is in
terms of unforeseeable circumstances which districts certainly
find themselves in. She deferred to the next presentation from
the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District (KPBSD) will address
contracts.
She further added that the collective bargaining agreements
(CBAs) for personnel represents about 80-90 percent of the
districts' budget across the state. Some districts have been
working with their respective union representatives to address
specific situations and she cannot speak to each district's
issues. She deferred to KPBSD regarding their contract
situations to provide clarity to the question on force majeure.
11:13:52 AM
JOHN O'BRIEN, Superintendent of Schools, Kenai Peninsula Borough
School District (KPBSD), Soldotna, Alaska, stated he and his
colleague will focus their KPBSD presentation on enrollment and
how COVID-19 has affected enrollment in brick-and-mortar
schools, the Connections Homeschool program, and the out-
migration of students who otherwise would have been attending
school in other statewide programs: Idea and Raven.
He explained when KPBSD, under the guidance of DEED, developed
its Smart Start program, the district felt strongly in providing
parents and students with choices and options, given the
uncertainty from COVID-19.
MR. O'BRIEN said when KPBSD built its Smart Start plan, the
district provided parents with options: enrolling their students
fulltime in their neighborhood brick-and-mortar school; using
the district's Connections Homeschool Program; or remote
enrollment through their neighborhood school.
MS. BOYD noted each district has green, yellow, and red
thresholds. While KPBSD was in the green and yellow thresholds,
things were going extremely well. However, due to a spike in
COVID-19 cases in mid-October 2020, the district had to switch
from in-school options to 100 percent remote for most students.
Even though the district was 100 percent remote in its eastern,
southern, and central regions, they were still serving some in-
person special education and intensive-needs students every day.
He explained the district was also servicing pre-kindergarten
students because the district felt strongly that those literacy
building blocks are so important that if students fall behind in
those early years, it will take them their entire career to
regain those learning loses.
11:18:32 AM
MR. O'BRIEN said currently, KPBSD is the third highest region
for COVID-19 cases. On the southern peninsula, the region is 4.5
times over the number that would allow the region to get back
into the yellow threshold for in-person learning. The district's
eastern peninsula region, which includes Seward, is 4.5 times
over the threshold. More troubling are the numbers in the
district's central region, which includes Kenai, Soldotna,
Nikiski, Sterling, and Kasilof. Currently the region is 11 times
over the yellow threshold.
MR. O'BRIEN explained that the district has begun work on
reexamining its Smart Start plan by creating additional
mitigations and safety measures to try during the red threshold
to bring more students into schools. Unfortunately, the district
moved to 100 percent remote learning because the numbers in the
district reached a point where in-person learning was not safe,
even for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and intensive needs
students.
MR. O'BRIEN explained that in the early part of the COVID-19
spike, the district was in the middle of its October DEED
[Online Alaska School Information System] (OASIS) student count.
The division saw a tremendous migration from brick-and-mortar
schools to homeschool programs and statewide homeschool
programs.
MR. O'BRIEN noted during the red threshold, the district's
pandemic team had to grapple daily with hundreds of positive
COVID-19 cases for students and staff members, contact tracing,
and quarantine. COVID-19 cases would be higher if the district
maintained in-person learning. Since March with the uncertainty
of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 is the most difficult year. The
district is doing the best it can. Its teachers and
administrative staff are working hard, he said.
CHAIR STEVENS agreed that it is shocking to realize where
everyone is right now.
11:23:45 AM
DAVE JONES, Assistant Superintendent, Kenai Peninsula Borough
School District (KBSD), Soldotna, Alaska, noted his school
finance background in both the Kodiak and Kenai districts.
He reviewed slide 28, FY21 Student Count. He explained each year
the KBSD needs to project the enrollment and submits the data to
DEED by November 5 so the department can project the budget cost
for the governor and the legislature. Student enrollment
increased in the Connections Homeschool Program and that helped
the district mitigate some of its revenue losses. The district
had an 814-student outflow with the majority to statewide
correspondence programs.
MR. JONES stated the important thing about the intensive needs
students is they receive funding through the foundation program
at 13-times a regular student so losing 21 intensive needs
students is a significant loss.
11:28:46 AM
MR. JONES reviewed slide 29, FY21 General Fund Budget State of
Alaska (SOA) Foundation Revenue. This shows the effects of the
KPBSD enrollment changes. Most of the difference from the
original budget is funding that the district lost by the
decrease in intensive needs students.
MR. JONES pointed out the hold harmless provision is 75 percent
of a district's brick-and-mortar schools. However, the provision
does not address a loss of intensive needs students. He thanked
the legislature for having the forethought of putting the
provision in place in AS 14.17.410 to help districts in these
situations.
He referred to line 2, which shows the district had over a $12
million deficit and would not have had the ability to continue
operations. However, the district is only dealing with a $1.4
million deficit due to the hold harmless provision.
11:31:37 AM
MR. JONES turned to slide 30, which shows that pupil
transportation receives funding separately from the general
fund. Transportation funding is based on neighborhood school
enrollments. Each district receives funding through the
transportation program as a dollar amount per student enrolled
in neighborhood brick-and-mortar schools. However, districts do
not receive funding for transportation for students who are in
the correspondence programs.
He said the district contacted DEED to confirm the use of its
brick-and-mortar schools enrollment figure after the application
of the 75-percent credit from the hold harmless provision. The
department response was the hold harmless enrollment increase
does not apply to transportation and the district will be using
the 6,015-student count.
MR. JONES said Representative Prax previously asked about force
majeure clauses. DEED helped the district develop its contract
several years ago with its transportation company when the
legislature tasked the department to address transportation
costs and to bring in additional vendors to the state. He
explained that contracts issued in the state subsequently are
standard contracts with a guarantee to the vendors that they
would receive payment, at least for KPBSD, 170 student daysthe
district's student calendar.
MR. JONES said the district was able to attract a new vendor and
realized a $1 million savings in its transportation contract.
The district needs to make sure they still have a vendor
contract once COVID-19 goes away.
MR. JONES explained that the KPBD was able to reach an agreement
with its vendor. In the spring 2020, when the district did not
need transportation, the district used some of the buses to
deliver meals. However, because the buses were idle, the
district did not experience fuel or mileage costs for those
buses. The district paid 90 percent of the costs and is in the
process of trying to reach the same agreement.
MR. JONES said the district is currently trying to pursue other
revenue sources. The district began preliminary work with the
Kenai Peninsula Borough to see if it was eligible to receive
some of the CARES Act funding. However, districts are concerned
that funding will come from the neighborhood brick-and-mortar
schools and statewide those are down tremendously.
11:37:02 AM
MR. JONES reviewed slide 31, FY21 Quick Budget Summary, as
follows:
• FY 2021 Deficit without Revenue Loss: ($942,778)
o Deficit: ($942,778)
• Governor Veto of Legislative One-Time funding: ($2,072,133)
o Deficit: ($3,014,911)
• KPB COVID-19 Revenue related decrease (July 2020):
($2,776,473)
o Deficit: ($5,791,384)
• AK Foundation Enrollment Revenue decrease (November 2020):
($1,470,271)
o Deficit: ($7,261,655)
• Pupil Transportation: ($1,767,228)
o Deficit: ($9,028,883)
He referred to the first line, the FY 2021 deficit without
revenue loss. There was a short period in the spring 2020 when
the Kenai Peninsula Borough (KPB) agreed to fund the district at
the cap. In addition, the legislature passed early funding and
an additional $30 million in one-time funding. At that point,
the district was looking at a funding deficit of $942,000, and
the KPBSD board said the district was going to spend its fund
balance to cover the deficit.
MR. JONES remarked there was a short window of time in spring
2020 when the district thought it had a shiny future.
Unfortunately, the governor vetoed the one-time funding and said
the CARES Act fund would replace the $2,072,000 that the
district lost. However, when the regulations and controls came
out on the CARES Act fund, the district was unable to use it to
replace its lost funding. The district's budget deficit
increased to $3,014,000. At that time, the district had taken
some action because the legislature acted, and the district was
trying to maintain and recruit teachers. The district issued
contracts in spring 2020 to its non-tenured teachers a month
earlier than the district ever had in the past. Once the
district has issued contracts to its non-tenured teachers, the
district issued contracts to everyone.
Turning to the earlier question about force majeure clauses, he
explained that districts are hiring teachers in March and
signing contracts with teachers in March for the following
fiscal year. Districts are unique because the districts receive
funds based on 20 days in October. The KPBSD signs a contract,
teachers start teaching in August, and the district knows where
its funding is going to be by the end of October.
MR. JONES said under current state statutes, KPBSD is not able
to say, "Sorry, we don't have the students we thought we had,
and you no longer have a contract with the district." The
district needs to honor its teacher contracts, but it limits the
district's ability to react. When the governor vetoed the one-
time funding, the KPBSD board responded by directing use of the
fund balance because the district cannot make cuts to people
already hired.
MR. JONES noted COVID-19 started hitting the Kenai in May and
the KPBSD board said most of the funding for the district would
come from sales tax revenue. However, the impacts from COVID-19
greatly reduced the borough's sales tax revenue over the summer
and into the coming year. As a result, the borough reduced the
funding to the district by $2,776,000. In May 2020, the district
issued contracts and hired people with the feeling that it would
have students coming in the fall. The deficit increased to
$5,791,000. The KPBSD board, after much discussion, because of
their concern about the fund balance agreed that the district
would use fund balance.
MR. JONES said after the district sent its budget to DEED in
July with a $5.7 million deficit, the district sent its 20-day
count to DEED in November with an additional $1,470,000 loss,
putting the deficit at $7.2 million. If the district is not able
to get additional revenue for transportation, the district will
be at a $9 million deficit.
MR. JONES said at this point if the district covers the $1.4
million from the loss in enrollment with the fund balance, the
district will have used its entire amount of unassigned fund
balance. To fund the transportation deficit, the KPBSD board
will have to get into the fund balance that is set aside for
dire emergencies. The district is hoping that it will be able to
save some money out of the general fund to provide some
additional pupil transportation.
He turned to Senator Hughes's earlier remarks about the Mat-Su
District's fund balance increase at the end of the last fiscal
year. KPBSD's fund balance increased, but the district will use
the increased amount from last year to cover its enrollment
revenue loss and other matters. Right now, the KPBSD board
believes the district is going to be able to make it through FY
2021.
11:44:48 AM
MR. JONES reviewed slide 32, Projected FY22 enrollment. He said
the KPBSD is going to make it through FY 2021, but its bank will
be empty at the end of FY 2021. Because of that, when the
district looks at FY 2022, the district is taking a very
conservative approach.
He noted the districts have some optimistic principals
projecting that all students will be back by fall 2021. However,
the district's conservative projection for student enrollment in
FY 2022 is 7,861 students.
He said the district's enrollment projection is above its
previous year. However, because the number of contracts that the
district issues is based on the pupil-teacher ratio, the
district cannot afford to be optimistic with its numbers and
hire more teachers than it needs in its classrooms because the
district does not have the ability to remove teachers once they
sign their contracts.
MR. JONES explained that the district has told its schools that
in late March or early April 2021, the district is going to
reevaluate where it is in terms of the COVID-19 situation. The
districts will ask principals and their school personnel to
contact parents whose students are no longer in the buildings
and ask them if they plan to return in fall 2021. If families
plan to return at that point in time, the district will do an
internal budget adjustment and commit to hiring more staff.
However, the district is currently projecting a significantly
lower FY 2022 enrollment than what the district came into this
year believing where it would be.
11:48:15 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS said Fairbanks is facing a situation like
KPBSD. He referred to the August 2020 letter from ASA that asks
that the October 2019 student enrollment count be used for next
year's budget and noted that additional costs will occur from
COVID-19.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS thanked KPBSD for detailing the impacts
of the COVID-19 reductions in enrollment, an important reminder
that a lot more goes into districts' budgets than just the BSA
and the foundation formula.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS said the Fairbanks North Star Borough
School District (FNSBSD) reviewed the same numbers in their
school board meeting yesterday, noting their overall impact
doubled from $9 million to nearly $20 million. He noted the
impact is for both the current and following school years.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS recalled earlier comments on the
importance of students and the education system receiving funds
now. He agreed with Senator Hughes on the need to protect
student access and not having them lose ground this year.
However, everyone must also look towards next year. There will
be many additional costs to help students recover and rebound
from the impacts of this year, especially in the social and
emotional category regarding trauma from COVID-19.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS, referring to the ASA letter regarding
their request to use the numbers from the October 2019 student
enrollment count for next year's budget, indicated that the
legislature will address that in the upcoming session. He asked
Mr. Jones to clarify whether the districts will use the hold
harmless provision or the FY 2020 numbers from October 2019 in
FY 2021 or FY 2022.
11:50:38 AM
MR. JONES explained his understanding that the ASA letter
requested the use of the FY 2019 counts for the FY 2021 budget.
However, the district could clarify the item for the committee.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS asked if the legislature does not change
the statute and uses past numbers, then the districts would set
numbers at a floor from the hold-harmless provision currently in
statute for next year's numbers.
MR. JONES answered that is correct. When the district projects
its budget for next year, the projection uses the hold harmless
provision found in current statute. He stated, "We are
projecting that it will still be less than we projected, but it
will be a lot better than it would be without it."
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS referenced the ASA letter and quoted the
first sentence that read:
On behalf of the Alaska Superintendents Association,
we are writing to express strong support for using the
November 2019 estimated student count to determine the
amount of state aid under the public education funding
formula for FY2021.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS said that would be for the current school
year. However, without a floor, district enrollments would be
set dramatically lower than the actual enrollments expected for
next year as students come back from correspondence schools.
11:52:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX noted Mr. Jones said districts receive 13
times the base student cost for special needs students and the
district was going to lose quite a bit of money because there
was a decline in special needs student enrollment. However, the
district did not speak to the expected lower cost if students
are not present. He asked Mr. Jones if the district has analyzed
the KPBSD's cost savings.
MR. JONES explained that in the foundation formula after the
student count, the district multiplies the number of its
intensive-needs students by 13, and then multiplies that number
by the BSA value to determine the additional funding required to
hire additional teachers and staff to provide for the students'
needs.
MR. JONES said he spent a couple of hours yesterday with the
district's director of special education to discuss what will
happen when the intensive-needs students return. The district
lost half of that student population and currently has no
contact with them.
He added the district also has a problem with students who
transferred to a statewide correspondence school. These families
tell them their children will return after the COVID-19
situation resolves, but the district is going to have to provide
the services to those students without receiving the funding for
them for the period they were gone. He remarked, "If they are
not here, you would think that we would be able to just reduce
cost and move on." However, the district has contractual
stipulations and negotiated agreements that somewhat ties their
hands on how to address that during the school year He said he
would be glad to follow up and discuss this further.
11:56:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX agreed because it seems odd that in the
meantime the district has a considerable number of teachers that
are not teaching, particularly with special needs. That seems
like an onerous position in the contract that might require
additional review.
MR. O'BRIEN assured the members that there is not a situation
where the district has teachers that have no students. KPBSD is
a district with 42 schools and 8,500 students. When the district
sees a reduction in intensive-needs students, the district does
not have intensive-needs teachers sitting somewhere in a
classroom teaching zero students, there still are intensive-
students who need instruction. The district has contracted
teachers, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists,
physical therapists, and all other auxiliary service personnel
who normally service a student with intensive needs, there are
just fewer of them.
11:59:16 AM
SENATOR BEGICH commented as follows:
This is about a singular pandemic that has caused a
change in our structuring. To create stability, these
issues of whether there are enough students this year
or next year, are not about long-term changes, they
are about structural change caused by a pandemic.
SENATOR BEGICH said there should not be a debate about whether
to reduce school budgets drastically because of a monetary
crisis. Rather, the committee should be talking about long-term
stability.
SENATOR HUGHES, in terms of stability and the count, noted that
KPBSD has its own homeschool program. She recalled Mr. O'Brien
noted the district lost several students to other programs. She
asked Mr. O'Brien if he had any discussions with the parents to
determine why they did not choose the district's homeschool
program.
MR. O'BRIEN answered the district routinely has conversations
with parents when students exit either neighborhood schools or
its Connections Homeschool program. The district has struggled
with whether to take their homeschool program statewide and go
in direct competition with Idea, Raven, and other programs.
However, the district knows it offers a quality program and
feels to do so would take away from the quality provided to its
own students, and the district did not want to pilfer students
from other districts. The district made the decision to maintain
its own program.
MR. O'BRIEN said the problem that the KPBSD almost tripled the
district's homeschool program. The district needed to hire staff
or shift staff from its brick-and-mortar schools to provide the
needed support through its Connection Homeschool program, which
was a very difficult ramp up. He applauded his colleagues that
run the Idea and Raven homeschool programs on their ability to
ramp up their support level when their enrollments increased by
two to four times.
MR. O'BRIEN noted the district made a valiant effort to remind
parents that if they take their students out of the district's
Connections Homeschool program, not a single penny of those
funds would come back to KPBSD.
MR. O'BRIEN said parents have a choice and they talk to other
parents who had a good experience with another program, whether
Idea, Raven, or other statewide programs. Parents are going to
exercise their choices and the district respects their rights to
do so. However, in spring 2021, after the resolution of the
COVID-19 situation, when parents suddenly decide to reenroll
their students back into KPBSD schools, the district may not
have the programming and staffing to provide them with the
quality education because those dollars went to another school
district.
12:04:04 PM
CHAIR STEVENS said he appreciates the discussion and realizes
the quandary the school districts are in and the problems they
are facing. He thanked all participants and their contributions.
CHAIR STEVENS invited Commissioner Johnson to provide an
overview from the Alaska Department of Education and Early
Development (DEED).
12:05:42 PM
MICHAEL JOHNSON, PhD, Commissioner, Alaska Department of
Education and Early Development, Juneau, Alaska. He said, "Our
work together over the last few months has been something that
we can truly hold up as an example for Alaska students, it is an
example of the character and hard work it takes to overcome
challenges from partnerships."
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said DEED is presenting its initial
enrollment numbers. The department appreciates the opportunity
to share the information currently and looks forward to sharing
more details as it continues the annual count process.
12:07:04 PM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON referred to slide 2, Agenda. He said the
education committees asked DEED to address student enrollment
and the Alaska school system based on the initial numbers the
department collected a week or so ago from the current year's
count. In the coming weeks, DEED will be reviewing the data,
checking for duplicates and other areas, errors, and analyzing
the data for the legislature and others.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON asked the department has a lot more work to
do in the next several weeks with its partners.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON thanked the department's school finance
team who worked through the weekend to compile the data. Many do
not realize that the departmental student count process is a
manual process. The teams get separate spreadsheets that
requires collating and combining data into a single spreadsheet.
In the coming weeks, the departmental teams will be going
through the data line-by-line, school-by-school, and district-
by-district for over 125,000 students. The student count team is
incredibly experienced, but the count process is tedious and
hard work, and he appreciates their commitment to accuracy and
detail.
He said the information that the committee will see includes a
couple of snapshots just to show how the impacts looks different
in different district contexts. The information is not
comprehensive, but it is instructive via examples.
12:08:43 PM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON referred to slide 3, Our Mission; Our
Vision. He thanked all the public educators, administrators,
local tribes, fellow citizens, and parents for keeping the
department's mission front and center during the pandemic, which
is "an excellent education for every student, every day." The
struggles the department hears about are an indication of how
important education is to Alaskans.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON noted today happens to be National
Education Professional Day, so a special shoutout to all the
teachers' aides and other education professionals, they often do
not get enough recognition for the role they play.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said the public education system has
partnered with parents this year in ways it has never done
before. He expressed appreciation to parents and students for
adapting and being willing participants in all the mitigation
efforts. He frequently heard how willing students are to follow
district guidelines for safety.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON remarked he often thinks of this year's
kindergartners, their first year of school has been so
challenging, yet their enthusiasm for learning has not suffered
a bit, the virus has not dimmed their enthusiasm.
He thanked all students for doing their part to make everything
work during a challenging year. He noted earlier in the morning
he joined with students online from a south Anchorage high
school and thanked them for putting their show together and
exhibiting their inspiring can-do attitude.
12:10:35 PM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON referred to slide 4, Alaska's Education
Challenge that lists five shared priorities. He said that 2020
has been a tough time. However, with vaccines on the horizon,
many are beginning to think about the road ahead.
He said the "five shared priorities" that DEED has addressed
multiple times in the Alaska education challenge and the shared
commitment that the department has with so many school districts
are still the pathway forward, even more so now because of all
that everyone has been through.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON stated a meaningful effort to support early
learners after COVID-19 must center on reading proficiently. An
effective reading bill is still important if not more so.
Additionally, culturally relevant and indigenous skills-based
instruction will be more important than ever for high school
students. The shared priorities provide a pathway through the
innovation and modernization that will come post-COVID-19.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said he will turn the presentation over to
Director Teshner to present enrollment data.
CHAIR STEVENS said he sees students who are not keeping up will
probably not make the level of reading that they need to by the
end of the third grade. He asked if these children can make that
up.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON answered yes, but that will depend on every
student. The department will talk later in its presentation
about the federal government considering providing more aid for
public schools. Districts could apply to summer school options
and add time to the school year specifically to address some of
the challenges that students have faced. The department recently
worked on waivers for after-school programs for application in
different ways to help make up the difference.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said addressing the challenges will not be
easy, but kids are super resilient. If the education system can
be as equally resilient it will take time, but the department
can address some of the shortcomings that has happened in 2020.
CHAIR STEVENS said summer school does seem appropriate for those
kids left behind.
12:13:26 PM
HEIDI TESHNER, Director of Finance and Support Services, Alaska
Department of Education and Early Development, Juneau, Alaska,
referred to slide 5, Public School Funding. She explained that
the legislature has provided a formula in statute for funding
school operational costs, also referred to as the public-school
funding formula or more commonly known as the foundation
formula. The legislature adopted the formula under Senate Bill
36 in 1998 and implemented it in 1999 as defined in AS 14.17.
MS. TESHNER noted the funding for school districts is a
combination of state aid, required local contribution, and
federal impact aid. Regional Educational Attendance Areas
(REAAs) do not have a local contribution since they lack a
taxing authority. Just one district does not receive local
contribution or impact aid, she said. A school district is only
eligible for foundation funding as calculated under the formula,
set out in AS 14.17.410, and explained in AS 14.17.400(a). The
first step in determining state aid for a school district is
determined by the average daily membership (ADM) for each
school.
12:15:11 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 6, Annual Count Period. She explained
ADM is the defined term for student count data and is the number
enrolled students during the 20-day count period, ending the
fourth Friday of October. For the 2020-2021 school year, that
20-day count period was September 28 to October 23, 2020.
She explained that to determine state aid, districts must submit
their ADM within two weeks after the count period in accordance
with AS 14.17.600(a). For the 2020-2021 school year count
period, those numbers were due to the department by November 6,
2020.
MS. TESHNER said based on statute, the student data from the
count period is the starting point for all the calculations that
lead to the determination of state aid to school districts.
12:17:09 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 7, FY2021 Preliminary Statewide
Count. She explained that the FY 2021 projected data is a total
of the projected student count the districts provided to the
department in November 2019 in accordance with AS 14.17.175.
Preparation for the FY 2021 operating budget used these counts.
In addition, districts provided the FY 2021 preliminary data,
also known as preliminary actuals, to the department from the
results of the 20-day student count period that ended on October
23, 2020 in accordance with AS 14.17.600(a).
She said the received numbers are preliminary actuals which are
subject to change once the department has completed its
reconciliation. This process includes the clearing of all
duplications and assuring that no student accounts for more than
one ADM across the state and conducting the special education
intensive student reviews.
MS. TESHNER explained that the FY 2021 preliminary ADM for
brick-and-mortar schools has decreased 15,202.70 or 13.2 percent
compared to the FY 2021 projection. In addition, the FY 2021
preliminary for Correspondence ADM has increased 13,540.81 or
95.6 percent over the FY 2021 projected. The shift from brick-
and-mortar to correspondence aligns with what districts have
communicated to the department over the past three months.
Netting the shift from brick-and-mortar to correspondence
results in an overall total ADM decrease of 1,661.89, or a 1.3
percent decrease compared to the FY 2021 projected figures.
12:19:00 PM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked if she has data that shows where the 1,661
students have gone.
MS. TESHNER answered the department has not had a chance to do
analyze the data to determine where those students may have gone
but it will do in the coming weeks.
CHAIR STEVENS said the committee looks forward to learning more
as time passes.
MS. TESHNER said the adjusted ADM has increased 5,946.69 or 2.3
percent compared to FY 2021 projected. A table on slide 9
provides the factors used to determine the adjusted ADM.
She said the shift from brick-and-mortar to correspondence is
the main factor affecting the ADM total. The shift in count has
a direct impact on the school-size ADM calculation and
determines if the comparison with the prior year's school size
triggers the hold harmless provision. All of these are
compounding factors early in the foundation formula.
12:20:55 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 8, Hold Harmless Provision. She said
the hold harmless provision has been discussed by districts and
other stakeholders since the late spring 2020. In 2008, the
legislature enacted the provision in House Bill 273 for school
districts experiencing a reduction in their brick-and-mortar
schools' ADM after an adjustment for school size in the
foundation formula.
She explained eligibility for the hold harmless provision is
determined after the districts adjusted for the total school-
size ADM are calculated and totaled for all schools. This
represents an overall district change in school-size ADM. The
district compares its total adjusted-for-school-size ADM against
the prior fiscal year's total adjusted-for-school-size ADM to
determine if a decrease of five percent or greater has occurred.
If so, the district locks in the prior fiscal year as a base
year for the next three years. The new school size adjustment
with the hold harmless provision continues through the formula,
which results in the restoration of approximately 75 percent of
the basic need calculation in the first year.
MS. TESHNER said the hold harmless provision is available to
school districts over a three-year stepdown: 75 percent in the
first year, 50 percent in the second year, and 25 percent in the
final year, provided that the adjusted-for-school-size ADM is
below the established base year.
MS. TESHNER explained that when the legislative task force
implemented the hold harmless provision, it was not its
intention to hold districts 100 percent harmless, but rather to
provide a three-year stepdown process that allows time for
districts' budgets to adjust to a decreased funding that due to
the reduction in their brick-and-mortar schools' ADM.
12:23:08 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slides 9 and 10, Public School Funding
Formula. She noted the tables only provide a quick glance at the
foundation formula component and multipliers used to determine
each district's state aid total.
She said slide 9 shows the multipliers that determine a
district's adjusted ADM. These include the district cost factor,
special needs factor, vocation education factor, special
education intensives, and correspondence ADM.
MS. TESHNER explained that after the district reports its
student-count data, the ADM for each school is calculated by
applying the school-size factor to the student count according
to a table in AS 14.17.410. The district then uses the product
of that calculation as a factor in the next steps shown in the
slide. The steps include going through a district-cost factor,
the special-needs factor, the vocational-education factor,
special-needs intensive, and correspondence ADM, as shown in the
headings.
She turned to slide 10 that shows the remaining component and
multipliers that determine state aid. As slides 9 and 10 show,
Alaska statutes define the formula. Absent a change in statute,
the DEED does not have authority to amend or modify any
component or multiplier of the foundation formula.
12:24:44 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 11, FY2021 Preliminary Statewide
Comparison. She said her focus will be on the bottom portion of
the slide related to the funding of the foundation formula.
MS. TESHNER explained the FY 2021 preliminary figures compared
to the FY 2021 projected show a net increase of $26.5 million or
2.2 percent, reflected in the $26.5 million increase in the
current fiscal year's budget. The department anticipates that 26
school districts will receive increased aid totaling
approximately $55.1 million and 28 school districts will receive
reductions to their state aid totaling approximately $28.6
million.
She reviewed the FY 2021 preliminary data versus the FY 2020
actual, which shows a net increase of $39.5 million or 3.2
percent. She said that the DEED anticipates that 34 school
districts will receive increased state aid totaling
approximately $57.4 million, with 20 districts will receive
decreased state aid totaling approximately $21 million.
12:26:51 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slides 12-16, which are snapshots of five
districts. Slide 16, District Snapshot: Delta/Greely School
District (DGSD), reviews a regional education attendance area
(REAA) district. The district does have one district
correspondence program: Delta/Greely Homeschool.
She explained the district's FY 2021 data shows a 25-percent
decrease in the DGSD's regular brick-and-mortar ADM, with a 247-
percent increase in its correspondence ADM from the FY 2021
projected figures. This district triggered the hold harmless
provision with a 20.41 percent reduction from the FY 2020
school-size ADM. In addition, DGSD reported a decrease of seven
intensive special education students. The district is showing a
small reduction in its basic need total with a $70,300 or 0.70
percent decrease from FY 2021 projected figures.
She said since the district is an REAA district, it does not
have taxing authority, so it does not have any required local
contributions. Therefore, the required local effort highlighted
on the slide is zero. Overall, the district anticipates a
$175,200 or 1.70 percent reduction in state aid compared to FY
2021 projected state aid figures.
12:28:37 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 13, District Snapshot: Mat-Su Borough
School District (MSBSD). She said the MSBSD is a city-borough
district. This district has two correspondence programs: Mat-Su
Central, a statewide correspondence program, and Twindly Bridge
Charter, a district correspondence program.
MS. TESHNER said the district's FY 2021 data indicates a 14.30-
percent decrease in its regular ADM from the FY 2021 projected,
and a 45.10-percent increase in the correspondence ADM. The
MSBSD district triggered the hold harmless provision with an
11.44 percent reduction from the FY 2021 school-size ADM. The
district's intensive special education student count increased
by 37 from the FY 2021 projected. The district experienced an
increase in its basic need total with a $3.1 million or 1.50
percent increase from the FY 2021 projected figures. Although
the district is a city-borough school district and has a
required local effort, the MSBSD does not receive any federal
impact aid funding, so the Deductible Impact Aid is zero.
Overall, the district anticipates receiving $3.1 million or
1.80-percent increase in state aid in FY 2021.
12:30:19 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 14, District Snapshot: Unalaska City
School District (UCSD). She said this district is a city-borough
district. The UCSD's FY 2021 data shows a 10-percent decrease in
its regular ADM. The district does not have a correspondence
program and the UCSD did not trigger the hold harmless
provision.
The UCSD's FY 2021 school-size ADM experienced a 4.91 percent
reduction, just shy of the 5 percent reduction, needed to
trigger the hold harmless provision. The district's intensive
special education decreased by one. The UCSD experienced
decrease in its basic need total of $561,600 or 9.10 percent
decrease from the FY 2021 projected figures.
MS. TESHNER explained the UCSD must provide the required local
contribution and the district receives federal impact aid.
Overall, the district anticipates a $561,000 or 13.10 percent
decrease in state aid compared to the FY 2021 projected state
aid.
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 15, District Snapshot: Wrangell
Public Schools (WPSD). She said this district is a city-borough
school district. The district's FY 2021 data showed a 41.20
percent decrease in its regular brick-and-mortar ADM compared to
the FY 2021 projected figures. The WPSD does not have a
correspondence program. The district triggered the hold harmless
provision with a 33.46 percent reduction from the FY 2020
school-size ADM.
MS. TESHNER reported that the WPSD was one of four districts
that experienced a school-size ADM reduction of 30 percent or
more from the FY 2020 school-size ADM. The district's intensive
special education student count decreased by 2. The district
experienced a $559,000 or 12.60 percent decrease in its basic
need total.
MS. TESHNER explained the WPSD has the required local
contribution and receives federal impact aid. Overall, the
district anticipates a $561,000 or 14.50 percent decrease in its
state aid in FY 2021.
12:33:22 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 16, District Snapshot: Yukon-Koyukuk
School District. She said the district is a REAA district. The
district has one statewide correspondence program: Raven
Correspondence. The district's FY 2021 data indicates a 3
percent increase in its brick-and-mortar ADM compared to FY 2021
projected, and a 133-percent increase in its correspondence ADM.
The district did not trigger hold harmless provision in FY 2021.
MS. TESHNER said the YKSD reported an increase of 16 intensive
special education students compared to FY 2021 projected. The
district experienced an increase in its basic need total with a
$13.155 million or 74.20 percent increase from its FY 2021
projected figures. The YKSD is a REAA district without taxing
authority or any local contribution. The YKSD anticipates a
$12.9 million or 77.20 percent increase in state aid.
CHAIR STEVENS thanked Director Teshner for doing the
calculations and giving the committees an idea of the actual
impact on districts.
12:35:23 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 17, Foundation Payments Process. This
slide shows how districts receive state aid payments. AS
14.17.610 outlines the distribution process for a district's
state aid. Districts received monthly payments by the 15th of
each month based on the prior year's student count for the first
nine months of the school year per AS 14.17.610(a). Final
payments for the last three months of the school year is a
recalculation based on the finalized actual current year
foundation formula to "true up" the remaining three months:
April-June. This ensures that when the fiscal year ends the
districts receive what is due based on the current year FY 2021
actual reconciled ADM count.
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 18, Foundation Payments: Advances. AS
14.17.610(c) allows for advances on foundation payments. If a
school district is experiencing a large increase in its student
enrollment and the district anticipates a shortfall, this
provision allows the district to request an advance on its state
aid funding after providing bank statements, cash
reconciliation, and a list of investments with maturity dates.
12:37:33 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slide 19, Federal Impact Aid Disparity
Test. She explained in order to qualify for the provision, the
state must demonstrate an equalized funding formula in which
there is not more than a 25 percent disparity between districts'
revenue per adjusted average daily membership (AADM). The
federal government allows the state to deduct 90 percent of the
allowable impact aid from the amount of foundation formula the
state allocates to districts. Failure to pass the annual
disparity test has resulted in a cost of at least $255 million
to the state.
MS. TESHNER detailed AS 14.17.410 equates to basic need minus
required local contribution, minus the 90 percent of eligible
impact aid, equals state aid. This reduces the state's cost by
an average of $85 million per year. However, the federal
government only allows the state to deduct via federal impact
aid if it has an equalized formula in accordance with federal
law.
MS. TESHNER explained pursuant to section 7009(c)(1)(b) of Title
7Impact Aid Programs, the state of Alaska must ask for
permission from the federal government to take impact aid
payments into account in determining state aid to school
districts. This is an annual certification, and it must occur
not later than 120 days prior to the next fiscal year.
She said that by the end of January, DEED must submit their test
to the federal government. The department performs its
certification every year, which compares the high per revenue
and low per revenue districts to each other. If the funding
differential is not more than 25 percent disparity between the
district revenue per AADM, then the federal government considers
the funding formula equalized and allows the State of Alaska to
deduct that $85 million in federal impact aid in the formula.
This is also the reason for the 23-percent cap in the maximum
local contribution because its intent is to ensure that the
disparity does not go over 25 percent.
MS. TESHNER said if the state were to fail the disparity test,
the federal government does not consider the formula equalized,
Since the disparity test occurs after the fiscal year is over,
the state would owe the $85 million for multiple years. For
example, if the state fails for FY 2021, the results would be
determined in FY 2022 and recertification would not occur until
at least FY 2024. Failing the disparity test would cost the
state at least $255 million based on $85 million for each of 3
years.
She referred to an earlier about the request to establish a
floor for funding using FY 2021 projected figures. She cautioned
that there are increasing funding needs for schools experiencing
increased enrollment such as the YKSD. In the DEED's initial
analysis if the legislature were to fund districts with a floor
without establishing a ceiling, the state would break the
disparity test and face the $255 million in penalties.
12:41:07 PM
MS. TESHNER reviewed slides 20-23. Additional Considerations.
Changes in the ADM affect other state-funded programs including
pupil transportation and residential schools.
She reiterated that the DEED recently received the count data so
it has not had time to conduct analysis but will do so to
determine the overall impacts on programs.
She explained that these slides outline the support that the
state and the governor put into place to allow for additional
carryovers at the district level as well as additional funding
provided to districts.
MS. TESHNER directed attention left side of slide 21 outlines
the operating budget carryover. The governor issued the COVID-19
Disaster Order of Suspension No. 3, which suspended AS 14.17.505
and regulation 4 AAC 09.160. The suspension of this statute and
regulation allowed districts to retain more than 10 percent of
their unreserved operating funds for the following year. After
an initial review of the 40 district audits received so far, the
most districts were able to carry over their funds.
12:43:37 PM
SENATOR BEGICH referred to the snapshot slides from various
districts and noted those figures were from one year. He asked
her to confirm that the department expects the data to reflect a
pandemic and not an ongoing trend.
MS. TESHNER answered that is correct.
SENATOR BEGICH asked the record to reflect that piece. He also
noted that she previously described the possibility of creating
a disparity that would cost the state $255 million in federal
funds. He pointed out districts proposed a solution for the
disparity, but the department said the solution would not work.
He asked if the department has an approach to solve the issue of
the structural breakdown of local district budgets and maintain
a level of stability. He further inquired if the department
anticipates a federal waiver related to the disparity issue for
change or a temporary suspension for the disparity test given
every state probably is probably suffering the same thing Alaska
is.
12:45:21 PM
MS. TESHNER answered Alaska is only one of three or four states
that have an equalized funding formula. This issue will not
affect all states. She said she is unaware of any instance in
which the federal government would allow a waiver on the
disparity issue nor does not have any recommendation at this
time. However, providing additional funding to districts should
be based on the ADM because that distribution ensures
equalization across the state.
12:47:06 PM
SENATOR BEGICH asked her for the recommended policy or method to
stabilize that would be based on the ADM. He inquired if the
department will be analyzing how that would affect the
districts' ability to ensure maintaining the disparity for the
more adversely impacted districts.
SENATOR BEGICH remarked that this left him with the belief that
districts are going to face significant uncertainty and unless
there is a recommended policy from DEED, every district could
propose a different policy that ultimately will not work.
He asked Commissioner Johnson if the department will be
developing a recommended policy approach in concert with the
school districts to allow some level of certainty for them. He
explained his intent is to try to determine where the data is
leading us.
12:48:43 PM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON replied the department does not currently
have a recommendation because it has not yet reviewed all the
data and there are other important data elements to consider
before the department offers any recommendations.
He said the disparity test is a conundrum. Any solution will
pull one string that pulls another. However, the department is
will analyze all relevant data points before making any
recommendation.
He noted one strategy, not a specific solution yet, pertains to
federal money coming in for COVID-19 relief. To his knowledge,
federal money does not break the disparity test because it does
not come through state funding. This avenue warrants analysis
for consideration. At this time, the department has only had
preliminary conversations with the federal government. He said
he wanted to inform the committees that the disparity test is a
factor.
12:50:22 PM
MS. TESHNER directed attention to the right side of slide 21, to
the CARES Act Funds for districts. Per Title I, 51 districts
received the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief
Funds (ESSERF). Based on the department's 21 CARES Act
allocations and carryover report, approximately $31.4 million
will be available for school districts in FY 2021, although
there might be obligations for the carryover. In addition, the
Governor's Emergency Education Relief Funds (GEERF) total $3.7
million, of which approximately $3.1 million is available to
districts for FY 2021.
12:52:31 PM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND asked if the approximate $31 million of the
$34 million in ESSERF and $3.1 million of the $3.7 million in
GEERF are still unspent or are they committed for the school
districts' current fiscal year.
MS. TESHNER answered districts only spent a small portion at the
end of FY 2020. Most districts saved those funds for additional
COVID-19 response in FY 2021.
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND asked if the department will have to wait
until the end of the fiscal year to know how districts spent
those funds.
MS. TESHNER replied the department receives budgets outlining
how districts plan to spend the funds. The department could
provide data to show how districts spend the funds, but that
data is currently not available.
12:54:01 PM
MS. TESHNER displayed slide 22 and explained that the U.S.
Department of Education (ED) approved a DEED waiver application
in April 2020. The federal pilot programs listed are ones
covered under the funding waiver that DEED received. That means
there were no restrictions on the amount of Elementary and
Secondary Education Consolidation Application funding that a
district could carryover from FY 2020 to FY 2021.
She explained that under normal circumstances Title I, Part A
funds have a 15 percent carryover limit that is based in Section
11-27-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
However, the funding waiver allows a district to carryover 25
percent without penalty.
CHAIR STEVENS thanked Director Teshner for providing the
information, noting the department has not had a chance to look
at all the material and data, but the legislature will get the
recommendations later.
He asked Commissioner Johnson if he had any concluding thoughts.
12:55:37 PM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON reviewed future COVID-19 Federal relief.
Nationally, $30.75 billion in K-12 CARES Act funding has been
allocated to date. Current congressional discussions indicate
additional funding ranging from $58 billion to $175 billion in
additional K-12 relief. He related his understanding that the
forthcoming relief packages will not break the disparity test.
The relief packages do not solve every problem, but it does
provide one pathway forward.
12:57:03 PM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON directed attention to the helpful resources
on slide 24, with updated links to the foundation funding
formula, the public-school funding program overview, and the FY
2021 student count period and hold harmless provision documents.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON remarked that many students and families
have chosen correspondence programs. Unlike other states, Alaska
has a rich history of providing distance education. The state
has some robust and wonderful programs with many experienced
educators. Though distance learning has been difficult, and it
has not worked in every situation, he was grateful for Alaska
educators.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON, in closing, said that COVID-19 has had a
big impact on students, but the department remains committed to
an education system that works for kids and prepares them for
any future pandemic. He expressed confidence that these students
will have on the future, which gives him great optimism even as
the state suffers through the consequences of the current
pandemic.
12:58:40 PM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked members to consider the importance of
parents and school board members to provide stability and
certainty to deliver a quality education for Alaskans. Many
parents desperately want their children to come back into more
learning, in-person school. Considering alternatives and
providing certainty are important aspects when in-person
learning returns.
CHAIR STEVENS thanked everyone, noting the information from the
meeting was extremely valuable.
CO-CHAIR STORY said she had a one-minute video to share to end
the meeting on a high note. There are many good things going on
in schools and with what teachers are doing with their students.
The video is from a seven-year-old student.
1:00:15 PM
TIM LAMKIN, Committee Aide, Senator Gary Stevens, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, said Co-Chair Story's office will
present their video. It is also available via the legislative
BASIS documents file associated with the meeting.
CHAIR STEVENS said members were welcome to stay and watch the
video.
1:01:04 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the committee,
the joint meeting of the Senate and House Education Standing
Committees adjourned the meeting at 1:01 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 02_ACSA_Enrollments_Joint-Ed-Cmte_18Nov2020_r.pdf |
JEDC 11/18/2020 8:00:00 AM |
|
| 00_Agenda_Joint-Ed-Cmte_18Nov2020_Final.pdf |
SEDC 11/18/2020 8:00:00 AM |
JOINT EDUCAITON COMMITTEE - SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS - NOV 18, 2020 |
| 01_UnivAK_Enrollments_Joint-Ed-Cmte_18Nov2020.pdf |
SEDC 11/18/2020 8:00:00 AM |
Joint Educaiton Committee - School Enrollments - Nov 18, 2020 |
| 03_DEED_Enrollments_Joint-Ed-cmte_18Nov2020.pdf |
SEDC 11/18/2020 8:00:00 AM |
JOINT EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS - NOV 18, 2020 |
| Superpowers.mp4 |
SEDC 11/18/2020 8:00:00 AM |
Joint Educaiton Committee - Student Enrollments - Nov. 18, 2020 |