HB 31-AK PERFORMANCE SCHOLARSHIP; ELIGIBILITY  8:32:09 AM CO-CHAIR RUFFRIDGE announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 31, "An Act relating to the Alaska performance scholarship program." 8:32:43 AM REPRESENTATIVE ANDI STORY, Alaska State Legislature, provided a brief introduction, and began a PowerPoint, titled "HB 31: Improving the Alaska Performance Scholarship." She explained HB 31 proposes changes that were identified in the 10-year program review of the Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) to improve the program with the goal of increasing student participation to help address Alaska's workforce shortage. She continued on slide 2, titled "The Alaska Performance Scholarship," where she reiterated past goals and that they still remain today. 8:34:49 AM REPRESENTATIVE STORY continued on slide 3, titled "Strengthening tomorrow's workforce," with a graphic showing 96.9 percent of working graduates are from the University of Alaska and are Alaska residents. She explained that in 2021, the McKinley Research Group, LLC published a report on APS, and that the changes proposed in HB 31 come directly from recommendations from this report. On slide 5, titled "Making APS more accessible," she summarized that the bill change requires that students get earlier notifications in their junior year that they qualify for APS. Another recommendation, she explained, is to increase the number of years the scholarships can be used after high school graduation from six to eight years. Another recommendation is to include Career Technical Education (CTE) courses, as shown on slide 6, titled "More flexibility in curriculum for CTE," where she reiterated the inclusion of CTE courses, and that in the past six years, CTE concentrators had a 19 percent higher graduation rate than their counterparts. She stated the courses must meet rigorous standards. She reminded the committee that the accompanying standards can be found in the committee packets. 8:39:40 AM REPRESENTATIVE STORY moved on to slide 7, titled "Increase award amount to keep APS competitive." She pointed out the levels of increases and that the amounts are "affordable for Alaska." She proceeded to slide 8, titled "Reduce barriers for eligibility," and explained that HB 31 would remove testing requirements as recommended by the report, highlighting that it is more fair to remote areas. In conclusion, she described APS as a powerful but underused tool at Alaska's disposal and urged the committee to support these policy changes to help make postsecondary education more affordable and accessible, and to revitalize student use of APS. 8:42:53 AM MIRANDA WORL, Staff, Representative Andi Story, Alaska State Legislature, gave the sectional analysis for HB 31, [included in the committee packet], on behalf of Representative Story, prime sponsor. The sectional analysis reads as follows [original punctuation provided]: Section 1: Amends AS 14.43.820(a)(2), allowing that a student may qualify for the Alaska Performance Scholarship 12 months prior to graduation from an Alaska state high school. Amends AS 14.43.820(a), Alaska Performance Scholarship eligibility requirement to allow career and technical education coursework in three different pathways: • AS 14.43.820 (a)(3)(A): Replace one year of social studies with one year of CTE coursework (within Math & Science Track) • AS 14.43.820 (a)(3)(B)(ii): Replace two years of world language with two years of CTE coursework, one year of which is sequentially more rigorous, within a career cluster. • AS 14.43.820 (a)(3)(C): Replace one year of social studies with one year of CTE coursework (within Social Studies & Language Track) Deletes AS 14.43.820 (a)(5), removing the college entrance exam requirement from the Alaska Performance Scholarship. Section 2: Amends AS 14.43.820(g), defining "career cluster" as a group of jobs and industries that are related by skills or products and renumbering the subsection accordingly. Section 3: Adds new subsections (h)(i) to AS 14.43.820, requiring students to be notified of their progress towards receiving the APS scholarship during their junior year, and notifying them of an award in the fall of their senior year. Adds new subsections (j)(k) to AS 14.43.820, establishing that an applicant must be signed up for any remaining course requirements and must have a qualifying GPA. The award would be revoked if an applicant fails to complete the requirements. The applicant's GPA upon graduation will be used to conclude the final award amount. Section 4: Amends AS 14.43.25(a) by increasing the awards and removing entrance exam requirements. • Level one: $7,000 (was previously $4,755) • Level two: $5,250 (was previously $3,566) Level three: $3,500 (was previously $2,378) Section 5: Amends AS 14.43.25(b) by increasing the number of years a student can use the scholarship after graduating high school from six to eight years. 8:46:08 AM CO-CHAIR ALLARD questioned how many dollars are "left on the table" not claimed by students. REPRESENTATIVE STORY replied the student scholarships are paid through investment earnings each year. She estimated approximately $100 million had been spent within the program, and noted the importance of keeping the fund high so the program can live through investment earnings. CO-CHAIR ALLARD commented on the $6 million that was left on the table last year for post-secondary education, and she questioned whether the problem was not unclaimed money, but the outreach program. REPRESENTATIVE STORY acknowledged the work that still needs to be done with "getting the word out," and she said the aforementioned report reflected that need. 8:48:53 AM REPRESENTATIVE PRAX brought up the amounts being amended in Section 4 of HB 31 and questioned whether more help is being given to "those who need it less" from the perspective of getting through college. REPRESENTATIVE STORY explained the students doing requirements for APS are very dedicated top students, and the award amounts are based on their grade point average (GPA) as well as their testing results. 8:52:35 AM REPRESENTATIVE MCKAY questioned step 4 of the foundation funding formula that included a step up for CTE instruction, and asked why a student needs a scholarship for something already in the formula. He stated there is a lot of reform [proposed] for one bill. REPRESENTATIVE STORY responded that this is for after students leave high school, so they are using the CTE classes that the districts fund while in high school, and when they go on to post-secondary their scholarship could be used for any vocational university degree they desire. 8:56:57 AM REPRESENTATIVE HIMSCHOOT asked about the $6 million that Alaska students did not collect from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and if more information can be given on why this is a requirement. REPRESENTATIVE STORY explained the FAFSA is offered to students based on their financial circumstances, and pointed out Alaska gets the lowest amount of free federal aid due to high school students not filling out the FAFSA. She noted it is critical that Alaska students know there are funds available to them. 9:00:04 AM CO-CHAIR RUFFRIDGE asked if there was an increase in the dollar amount for the scholarships, whether it would reduce the number of scholarships available. REPRESENTATIVE STORY replied that currently it would not because of the low number of students. 9:01:44 AM CO-CHAIR RUFFRIDGE thanked Representative Story and turned to invited testimony. 9:02:25 AM REBECCA BRAUN, Consultant, McKinley Research Group, LLC, joined for invited testimony in support of HB 31, and explained she was part of the 2021 APS program review team. She noted a result of the research is that the concept behind APS has been validated, but the program's reach is short of expectations. 9:06:49 AM MS. BRAUN turned the focus onto the positive results from the surveys and data. Participants say the scholarship motivated them in high school, it influenced their decision to stay in state, and it helped them access the postsecondary education they wanted while reducing financial stress. She explained the reports give examples of the reasons for falling short, and that there are statutory fixes that can help. The recommendations are in HB 31. The testing requirements and distinctions were highlighted, as well as increasing award levels. 9:11:31 AM MS. BRAUN recommended working with school districts to best balance rigor with fairness and access. In conclusion, the research indicated the program has real potential to increase Alaska's low rates of postsecondary training to help address the workforce shortage and slow "out migration." 9:13:01 AM CO-CHAIR ALLARD pointed out there are $6 million left on the table but additional funds are still being requested. She asked how the problem will be solved in regard to parents and students being notified to receive these funds. MS. BRAUN replied the answer is outside her area of expertise, but the question may be better directed to the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education (ACPE). She stated making the scholarship come out earlier would be helpful, and she anticipates districts working to let parents know. She also noted sometimes "things are missed." CO-CHAIR ALLARD asked why the question of finding out how to access the scholarship funds was not included on the survey. MS. BRAUN responded that a version of the question was asked a few years ago but she does not remember the exact verbiage; she recalled there were a lot of "open ended" responses. She noted she can follow up with the committee on the results of past surveys. 9:16:11 AM REPRESENTATIVE MCKAY asked how much is currently in the higher education investment fund. He pointed out the fiscal note being $11 million for fiscal year 2024 (FY 24) and questioned whether this would be in addition to what is already there. REPRESENTATIVE STORY replied that the fiscal note is within the earnings of the higher education investment fund and there is a zero change in revenue - so the money reoccurs from the interest earnings of that total amount. She confirmed she will provide the committee with the information on what is currently in the investment fund at a later date. 9:18:40 AM REPRESENTATIVE PRAX referred to the CTE courses being provided through the high schools and not available through the university system. He asked Ms. Braun if there had been any research into putting more focus on high school CTE rather than university level CTE, resulting in a better return on investment. MS. BRAUN replied no, but stated she would support him on that. 9:22:22 AM JENNIFER KNAGGS, School Counselor, Juneau-Douglas High School, began by stating the APS has made a difference by being less quantitative and more qualitative. She pointed out the first proposed adjustment being the removing of testing requirements and brought up examples of the hardships accessing the tests in rural areas, and other states not utilizing the testing requirements, thus making it more attractive for students to seek education out of state. On the CTE inclusion, this is where, she explained, real world learning comes together in a practical way, and she provided examples of students who thrived from CTE. She noted that GPA is a much better predictor of success in the postsecondary world. 9:27:44 AM PATRICIA ZUGG, CTE Program Administrator, Matsu Borough School District, provided a brief introduction and pointed out her 30 years' experience serving in CTE. She noted CTE is not vocational education; CTE has rigor and relevance which makes a difference in today's education. She encouraged the committee to be data driven, and to support Representative Story's bill that modernizes APS. 9:32:54 AM MS. ZUGG stated that scholarships should be modernized with the goal of retaining all young Alaskans - not just the brightest and best. She said it is imperative to embrace and deploy some paradigm shifts, and she reiterated to the committee to be data driven and responsive and support HB 31. 9:34:41 AM CO-CHAIR RUFFRIDGE announced that HB 31 was held over.