SENATE BILL NO. 96 "An Act relating to education; relating to school districts; relating to course credit for students; relating to group insurance, self-insurance, and other cooperative arrangements between school districts and businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies; relating to funding for school districts; relating to school operating funds; relating to competency examinations for teacher certificates; relating to the Professional Teaching Practices Commission; relating to the duties and powers of the Department of Education and Early Development and the commissioner of education and early development; relating to a virtual education consortium; relating to the minimum wage for bus drivers; relating to the investment, appropriation, and administration of the public school trust fund; and providing for an effective date." 9:39:14 AM SENATOR SHELLEY HUGHES, SPONSOR, introduced the legislation. 9:44:02 AM Senator Hughes continued 9:45:32 AM Senator Olson // Senator Hughes / 9:46:34 AM Senator Olson // Senator Hughes // 9:47:00 AM Senator Olson // Senator Hughes // 9:47:40 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon // 9:47:50 AM JOSHUA BANKS, STAFF, SENATOR HUGHES, replied // 9:48:52 AM Mr. Banks discussed the Sectional Analysis (copy on file): Section 1 (Pages 2): Creates uncodified law for legislative findings of the Alaska Education Transformation Act in regards to virtual education, education spending, and quality teachers and classroom instruction. Sections 2-3 (Page 2-3): Makes technical amendments to AS 14.03.073 to add references to specific subsections within these sections due to a new subsection added in Section 4 of this bill. Section 4 (Pages 3): Adds a new subsection to AS 14.03.073 requiring school districts to allow credit for career and technical education, gym, music, or art classes for a student that participates in an activity that meets the educational or physical requirements of the course. Cultural activities may be used to obtain class credit. Section 5 (Page 3): Amends AS 14.03.078(a) to add a requirement that the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) submit a report to the legislature and the school districts. The DEED report will need to include categories of administrative employees and the ratio of the employees in each category compared to the number of teachers and students in the district, as well as the ratio of teachers to students. Section 6 (Page 4): Amends AS 14.03.078 to require each school district to post the portion of the report that pertains to the public through an easily accessible method. Defines the term "administrative employee" as any employee not directly involved in classroom instruction. Section 7 (Page 4-5): Amends AS 14.09.030(b) to require DEED to conduct one inspection for each school bus rather than two each year. 9:52:38 AM Senator von Imhof // Senator Hughes // 9:54:06 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon // 9:54:58 AM Mr. Banks continued to discuss the Sectional Analysis: Section 8 (Page 5): Amends AS 14.14.110(a) to amend the definition of "administrative services" to include student nutrition, student transportation, and shared facilities. This section also adds to the definition of "educational services" to include professional teacher development and the use of technology to teach students such as the use of virtual education. 9:55:26 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon / Mr. Banks. 9:56:10 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon continued to discuss the Sectional Analysis: Section 9 (Page 5): Amends AS 14.14.115(a) to allow school districts to partner with businesses, nonprofit organizations, and state or local government agencies to qualify for the one-time grant under this section. This section also increase the maximum grant amount and requires that the school district demonstrate how the grant will reduce costs for the district. Section 10 (Page 5-6): Adds new subsections to AS 14.14.115 to give further directions for the cooperative grants under this section. • Subsection (d) requires that if two school districts enter into a cooperative grant, one must be a rural district. 9:58:00 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon // Mr. Banks // 9:58:28 AM Senator Hughes furthered // 9:58:47 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon queried an effective date, because some districts // Ms. Hughes replied that // 10:00:11 AM Mr. Banks continued to discuss the Sectional Analysis: • Subsection (e) establishes that if a cooperative grant is used for health insurance pooling with the State, the grant can only be used to pay for the costs of transferring district employees to the State insurance plan. • Subsection (f) allows a school district to carry forward the savings realized during the first three years after a grant is awarded. The savings will not be counted towards the fund balance limit established in AS 14.17.505(a). • Subsection (g) defines "rural school district" as a regional educational attendance area or a small municipal school district defined in AS 14.11.025(c) as a district with less than 300 Average Daily Membership (ADM) and a district full value per ADM less than $500,000. Section 11 (Page 6): Amends AS 14.17.505(a) to increase the limit that a school district is allowed to retain in its unreserved fund balance from 10 percent to 25 percent of district expenditures. This section also allows for savings realized from a cooperative grant under AS 14.14.115 to not count towards the 25 percent limit. Section 12 (Page 6-7): Amends AS 14.20.020(i) to require the State School Board to periodically adjust the minimum score needed to pass the Praxis exam so that Alaska has the highest testing standards for teacher certification. 10:02:52 AM Senator von Imhof // Mr. Banks // 10:03:41 AM Senator Hughes furthered // 10:05:09 AM Vice-Chair Bishop // 10:07:02 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon // 10:08:42 AM Senator Hughes replied that // 10:11:26 AM Mr. Banks continued to discuss the Sectional Analysis: Section 13 (Page 7): Adds a new subsection to AS 14.20.380 to require DEED to provide administrative support services to the Professional Teaching Practices Commission (PTPC). Section 14 (Page 7): Amends AS 14.20.460 to require the PTPC to use administrative support services provided by DEED. Section 15 (Pages 7-9): Creates a new section under AS 14.30 titled Virtual education consortium which also creates a new article titled Article 15. Virtual Education. The subsections that AS 14.30.760 consists of are: • Subsection (a) establishes the virtual education consortium under DEED. The consortium will have a database of virtual education courses available to all districts for students in grades 6-12. The consortium will also provide training for teachers instructing in virtual settings and professional development for all teachers in the state. A school district or third- party vendor may offer courses for students or for teachers on the database if it is approved by DEED. • Subsection (b) will require DEED to review each course to ensure it meets state standards and is appropriate for students in grades 6-12. This subsection also requires that each course has the following information: the title, subject, and description of the course, the district or third party vendor providing the course, method of virtual education delivery, and samples of the course curriculum and teacher instruction provided in the course. • Subsection (c) requires the consortium to provide training for teachers before they are allowed to teach a course that is included in the database. A waiver may be granted if the consortium finds that the teacher has the experience and skills necessary to teach in a virtual setting. • Subsection (d) requires that the consortium provide professional development courses for all teachers in the state. The consortium shall include in the database courses provided by third party vendors. Any district that has adequate broadband access to participate in the trainings shall require its teachers to participate in any necessary trainings. The consortium may also require participating districts to adopt the same in-service days for training. • Subsection (e) allows a school district that provides a course to charge a fee to the home school district of a student taking the course. The fee will be the estimated cost that the district incurs for providing the course. This subsection also sets a ceiling for the fee which is calculated by multiplying the base student allocation by the proportion of classes that the student is taking in the district offering the virtual course. • In subsection (f), the consortium is allowed to charge a fee to any school district that offers a course in the database under (b) of this section. DEED will be able to set the fee in regulation and can adjust it as necessary annually. The fees must be set in such a manner that by June 30, 2020, the fees paid by districts will approximately equal any administrative costs of the consortium. • Subsection (g) allows the consortium to require districts that provide courses or have students taking courses through the consortium to adopt a shared calendar and a shared bell schedule for at least a portion of the school day. 10:16:36 AM Mr. Banks explained that // 10:17:07 AM Senator von Imhof // Mr. Banks replied that one of the //He commented that the wording of the bill was to enable increased technology use in the classroom. Additionally, // He mentioned other grants and fund sources 10:18:22 AM Senator Hughes stated that the e-rate program was intended to help with internet bills, and would // There was also another bill (SB 102) that would address the cost of internet connectivity. Senator von Imhof emphasized that the source of the funds was important. She // 10:19:06 AM Mr. Banks continued to discuss the Sectional Analysis: • Subsection (h) creates definitions for the terms: "asynchronous", "base student allocation", "blended", "synchronous", and "virtual education" or "virtual instruction". Section 16 (Pages 10-12): Deletes a reference to AS 23.10.065(b) in AS 23.10.055(a) (Alaska Wage and Hour Act) which is repealed in Section 22 of this bill. Section 17 (Page 12-13): Deletes the reference to AS 37.14.110(c) which is repealed in Section 22 of this bill, and rearranges the reference to AS 37.14.160. Section 18 (Page 13): Deletes language in AS 37.14.130 that requires the Public School Fund Advisory Board to prepare accounting specifically for the principal and income of the Public School Trust Fund. Section 19 (Pages 13): Deletes language in AS 37.14.160 relating to separate accounting of the principal and income of the Public School Trust Fund. This section also requires the Department of Revenue (DOR) to determine each year the monthly average market value of fund for the last three fiscal years. Section 20 (Page 13): Creates a new section in AS 37.14 to allow the Legislature to appropriate 4.75 percent of the market value established with the changes made in Section 19 of the bill. The funds shall be used to support public education in Alaska and to cover the administrative costs of the fund. Section 21 (Pages 13-14): Amends AS 37.14.170 to allow the commissioner of DOR to invest the Public School Trust Fund in order to provide increasing returns from capital appreciation. Section 22 (Page 14): Repeals AS 14.20.470(a)(7) so that the PTPC is no longer able to appoint an executive secretary. This section also repeals AS 23.10.065(b) and (c) which requires an employer to pay a public school bus driver at a rate two times the Alaska minimum wage, and which allows for wage adjustments to only occur when a contract begins or is renewed. This section also repeals AS 37.14.110(c) which sets how the commissioner of DOR will calculate the net income of the Public School Trust Fund and AS 37.14.140 which requires that net income from the fund only go towards funding public education which is unnecessary due to the changes made in Section 20 of this bill. Section 23 (Page 14-15): Creates a new section in the uncodified law of the State of Alaska to require DEED to analyze the feasibility of merging schools within a district that are at less than 70 percent capacity and within 25 miles from each other by road, and submit a report to the legislature on the department's conclusions. Factors that DEED will need to consider is whether merging schools would result in schools being over capacity, if the design of the facilities are built for all grade levels within the schools being considered for a merger, the estimated savings and costs for the district, and any legal and financial liabilities that could be incurred by the district or state because of the closure of a school. Section 24 (Page 15): Creates applicability language for the repeal of AS 23.10.065(b) and (c) so that this bill will only effect contracts made on or after the effective date of this bill. Section 25 (Page 15): Creates an effective date for this bill to be June 30, 2017. 10:23:40 AM Senator Olson // Mr. Banks replied // 10:24:26 AM Senator Olson // Senator Hughes // 10:24:55 AM Senator Olson // Senator Hughes replied that // 10:26:39 AM Senator Hughes remarked that // 10:28:36 AM MIKE ILLG, KENAI PENINSULA SCHOOL DISTRICT, HOMER (via teleconference), 10:31:28 AM BARBARA HUFF TUCKNESS, TEAMSTERS LOCAL 939, JUNEAU, 10:38:22 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon remarked that // Ms. Tuckness 10:38:32 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon // Ms. Huff Tuckness 10:38:45 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon // Ms. Huff Tuckness // 10:38:53 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon wondered whether there was a safety check required for drivers. Ms. Huff Tuckness // 10:40:21 AM Vice-Chair Bishop // 10:41:11 AM Senator von Imhof // Ms. Huff Tuckness // 10:43:11 AM Senator Olson // Ms. Huff Tuckness // 10:44:02 AM DEENA MITCHELL, MEMBER, GREAT ALASKA SCHOOLS, JUNEAU, remarked that the bill was complicated // 10:46:09 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon // 10:46:33 AM ALYSE GALVIN, MEMBER, GREAT ALASKA SCHOOLS, JUNEAU, echoed the remarks of Ms. Mitchell. 10:51:05 AM DAVID NEES, ALASKA POLICY FORUM, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), spoke to // 10:53:49 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon CLOSED public testimony. 10:54:04 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon pointed to // 10:54:32 AM AT EASE 10:54:50 AM RECONVENED Co-Chair MacKinnon stated that amendments were due Friday at 5pm. SB 96 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further consideration.