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HOUSE BILL NO. 392
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE - SECOND SESSION
BY THE HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE
Introduced: 3/18/24
Referred: Education, Finance
A BILL
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED
"An Act relating to education; relating to funding for Internet services for school 1
districts; relating to charter schools; relating to transportation of public school students; 2
relating to correspondence study funding; relating to the base student allocation; 3
relating to funding for reading improvement plans; relating to teacher retention and 4
recruitment incentives; and providing for an effective date." 5
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 6
* Section 1. AS 14.03.127(a) is amended to read: 7
(a) Each fiscal year, a district in which one or more schools qualify for a 8
discounted rate for Internet services under the federal universal services program is 9
eligible to receive an amount for each school that is equal to the amount needed to 10
bring the applicant's share to 100 [25] megabits of download a second of the Internet
11
services. 12
* Sec. 2. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 13 33-LS1453\Y
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Sec. 14.03.256. Charter school termination appeal. If a local school board 1
terminates a contract with a charter school, the charter school may appeal the decision 2
to the commissioner under regulations established by the commissioner. The 3
commissioner may request written supplementation from the appellant or local school 4
board. The commissioner shall review the decision of the local school board to 5
determine whether the findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence and 6
whether the decision is contrary to law. The commissioner shall issue a written 7
decision within 90 days after the appeal is filed and may 8
(1) remand the appeal to the local school board for further review; 9
(2) reapprove the charter school with or without added conditions; or 10
(3) uphold the decision terminating the charter school contract. 11
* Sec. 3. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 12
Sec. 14.03.277. Charter school coordinator. A position dedicated to charter 13
school support is established in the department. This position is responsible for the 14
development of a repository of charter school resources in the department. The charter 15
school coordinator shall provide support to charter schools, including 16
(1) providing charter schools with policy and regulation expertise and 17
guidance; 18
(2) providing groups assistance preparing charter school applications; 19
(3) coordinating with school districts and the Association of Alaska 20
School Boards to support charter school academic policy committees and local school 21
boards; and 22
(4) coordinating with and providing expertise to legal services 23
provided by the state. 24
* Sec. 4. AS 14.09.010(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 25
(a) A school district that provides student transportation services for the 26
transportation of students who reside a distance from established schools is eligible to 27
receive funding for operating or subcontracting the operation of the transportation 28
system for students to and from the schools within the student'
s transportation service 29
area. Subject to appropriation, the amount of funding provided by the state for 30
operating the student transportation system is the amount of a school district's ADM, 31 33-LS1453\Y
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less the ADM for the district's correspondence programs during the current fiscal year, 1
multiplied by the per student amount for the school district as follows, for the school 2
years beginning July 1, 2024: 3
DISTRICT PER STUDENT AMOUNT 4
Alaska Gateway $2,536 5
Aleutians East 378 6
Anchorage 531 7
Annette Island 222 8
Bering Strait 60 9
Bristol Bay 3,257 10
Chatham 342 11
Copper River 1,934 12
Cordova 409 13
Craig 515 14
Delta/Greely 2,019 15
Denali 2,203 16
Dillingham 1,484 17
Fairbanks 995 18
Galena 310 19
Haines 763 20
Hoonah 364 21
Iditarod 258 22
Juneau 735 23
Kake 331 24
Kashunamiut 6 25
Kenai Peninsula 1,115 26
Ketchikan 886 27
Klawock 712 28
Kodiak Island 974 29
Kuspuk 797 30
Lake and Peninsula 468 31 33-LS1453\Y
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Lower Kuskokwim 338 1
Lower Yukon 1 2
Matanuska-Susitna 1,109 3
Nenana 716 4
Nome 757 5
North Slope 1,365 6
Northwest Arctic 30 7
Pelican 88 8
Petersburg 457 9
Saint Mary's 235 10
Sitka 522 11
Skagway 44 12
Southeast Island 1,408 13
Southwest Region 728 14
Tanana 581 15
Unalaska 790 16
Valdez 897 17
Wrangell 854 18
Yakutat 907 19
Yukon Flats 322 20
Yukon/Koyukuk 365 21
Yupiit 2. 22
* Sec. 5. AS 14.17.430 is amended to read: 23
Sec. 14.17.430. State funding for correspondence study. Except as provided 24
in AS 14.17.400(b), funding for the state centralized correspondence study program or 25
a district correspondence program, including a district that offers a statewide 26
correspondence study program, includes an allocation from the public education fund 27
in an amount calculated by using [MULTIPLYING] the ADM of the correspondence 28
program reported under AS 14.17.500(a) and 14.17.600(a) [BY 90 PERCENT]. 29
* Sec. 6. AS 14.17.470 is amended to read: 30
Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $6,640 31 33-LS1453\Y
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[$5,960]. 1
* Sec. 7. AS 14.30 is amended by adding a new section to read: 2
Sec. 14.30.773. Support for reading improvement plans. The state shall 3
provide to a school district, for each student in grades kindergarten through three who 4
is determined to have a reading deficiency based on the statewide screening or 5
assessment tool, $500 to provide the support, intervention, and services the student 6
needs for the student's reading improvement plan, including teacher and 7
paraprofessional career development. 8
* Sec. 8. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 9
read: 10
LUMP SUM PAYMENT FOR CERTAIN TEACHERS. (a) Subject to appropriation 11
for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2025, June 30, 2026, and June 30, 2027, a certificated full-12
time teacher is entitled to receive a lump sum payment as a retention and recruitment 13
incentive if the teacher was employed in a full-time classroom teaching position for the 14
entirety of the school term for the school year immediately preceding the date of payment and 15
the teacher has entered into a contract with a school district to teach for the entirety of the 16
following school term. The department shall pay the retention and recruitment incentive on or 17
within a reasonable period after July 1, 2024, July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026. The department 18
shall reduce the retention and recruitment incentive by the amount necessary to pay 19
mandatory employee and employer deductions, including a deduction required under 20
AS 14.25. Subject to the application and certification requirements in (e) of this section, the 21
department shall pay the retention and recruitment incentives through grants to school 22
districts as described in (b) - (e) of this section. 23
(b) The department shall pay $5,000 for each eligible certificated full-time teacher 24
teaching in the following districts: 25
(1) Anchorage School District; 26
(2) Fairbanks North Star Borough School District; 27
(3) Juneau Borough School District; 28
(4) Kenai Peninsula Borough School District; 29
(5) Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. 30
(c) The department shall pay $10,000 for each eligible certificated full-time teacher 31 33-LS1453\Y
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teaching in the following districts: 1
(1) Alaska Gateway School District; 2
(2) Aleutian Region School District; 3
(3) Aleutians East Borough School District; 4
(4) Annette Island School District; 5
(5) Chugach School District; 6
(6) Copper River School District; 7
(7) Cordova City School District; 8
(8) Delta/Greely School District; 9
(9) Denali Borough School District; 10
(10) Galena City School District; 11
(11) Haines Borough School District; 12
(12) Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District; 13
(13) Kodiak Island Borough School District; 14
(14) Mt. Edgecumbe High School; 15
(15) Nenana City School District; 16
(16) Nome Public Schools; 17
(17) Petersburg Borough School District; 18
(18) Saint Mary's School District; 19
(19) Sitka School District; 20
(20) Skagway School District; 21
(21) Unalaska City School District; 22
(22) Valdez City School District; 23
(23) Wrangell Public School District; 24
(24) Yakutat School District. 25
(d) The department shall pay $15,000 for each eligible certificated full-time teacher 26
teaching in the following districts: 27
(1) Bering Strait School District; 28
(2) Bristol Bay Borough School District; 29
(3) Chatham School District; 30
(4) Craig City School District; 31 33-LS1453\Y
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(5) Dillingham City School District; 1
(6) Hoonah City School District; 2
(7) Hydaburg City School District; 3
(8) Iditarod Area School District; 4
(9) Kake City School District; 5
(10) Kashunamiut School District; 6
(11) Klawock City School District; 7
(12) Kuspuk School District; 8
(13) Lake and Peninsula Borough School District; 9
(14) Lower Kuskokwim School District; 10
(15) Lower Yukon School District; 11
(16) North Slope Borough School District; 12
(17) Northwest Arctic Borough School District; 13
(18) Pelican City School District; 14
(19) Pribilof School District; 15
(20) Southeast Island School District; 16
(21) Southwest Region School District; 17
(22) Tanana City School District; 18
(23) Yukon Flats School District; 19
(24) Yukon-Koyukuk School District; 20
(25) Yupiit School District. 21
(e) To be eligible for the retention and recruitment incentive described in (a) of this 22
section, a certificated full-time teacher must apply during each eligible calendar year to the 23
department on a date not later than the final day in session for the school term established by 24
the governing body of the teacher's school district or regional educational attendance area. 25
Application for payment shall be made on a form designated by the commissioner of 26
education and early development. For each teacher who applies, the school district or regional 27
educational attendance area shall certify the teacher's eligibility for payment under (a) of this 28
section to the department. 29
(f) Payment made under this section is considered compensation for the purposes of 30
AS 14.25. 31 33-LS1453\Y
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(g) The department may adopt regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this 1
section. 2
(h) In this section, 3
(1) "certificated full-time teacher" 4
(A) means an individual occupying a position that requires 5
(i) a teaching certificate as a condition of employment; and 6
(ii) teaching on a regular basis during the normal work period 7
for each day or week at a classroom teaching assignment in a public 8
elementary or secondary school; 9
(B) does not include an individual teaching as an assistant or graduate 10
assistant or teaching on a substitute, temporary, or per diem basis; 11
(2) "department" means the Department of Education and Early Development. 12
* Sec. 9. Section 1 of this Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c). 13
* Sec. 10. Except as provided in sec. 9 of this Act, this Act takes effect July 1, 2024. 14