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HOUSE CS FOR CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 140(FIN)
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE - SECOND SESSION
BY THE HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE
Offered: 1/16/24
Referred: Rules
Sponsor(s): SENATORS HOFFMAN, Bishop, Claman, Gray-Jackson, Tobin, Kiehl, Dunbar, Olson, Stevens
A BILL
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED
"An Act relating to education; relating to funding for Internet services for school 1
districts; requiring the Department of Education and Early Development to provide 2
information relating to public schools on an Internet website; relating to information on 3
the post-secondary education, career path, and residency of graduates from high schools 4
in the state; relating to transportation of students; relating to state funding for districts 5
operating residential schools; increasing the base student allocation; and providing for 6
an effective date." 7
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 8
* Section 1. AS 14.03.120 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 9
(k) The department shall establish and maintain a user-friendly Internet 10
website that allows a member of the public to view and download information 11
described in this subsection and to make recommendations relating to improving 12
public education in the state. The information on the Internet website must be 13 33-LS0687\U
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presented in a fashion that is easily understood. To the extent practicable, and without 1
disclosing information that is confidential under state or federal law, the department 2
shall make the following information available on the Internet website: 3
(1) reports required under this section and AS 14.03.078; 4
(2) copies of audits made under AS 14.14.050; and 5
(3) a description of how each district is addressing the needs of 6
students who receive special education services. 7
(l) A district may provide on the district's Internet website a link to the 8
Internet website described in (k) of this section. 9
(m) The department shall collaborate with the Department of Labor and 10
Workforce Development under AS 44.31.020 to gather data on the progress of each 11
high school graduating class in a district by collecting career, postsecondary 12
education, and residency data on each student in the graduating class. The departments 13
shall gather the data every five years for 20 years after the high school graduation date 14
of the class. 15
* Sec. 2. AS 14.03.127(a) is amended to read: 16
(a) Each fiscal year, a district in which one or more schools qualify for a 17
discounted rate for Internet services under the federal universal services program is 18
eligible to receive an amount for each school that is equal to the amount needed to 19
bring the applicant's share to 100 [25] megabits of download a second of the Internet 20
services. 21
* Sec. 3. AS 14.07.020(a), as amended by sec. 15, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 22
(a) The department shall 23
(1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 24
except the University of Alaska; 25
(2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 26
adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 27
performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 28
of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 29
develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college 30
preparatory courses; 31 33-LS0687\U
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(3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 1
governing bodies and personnel; 2
(4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 3
schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 4
given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 5
(5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and 6
Community Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held 7
in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are 8
defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment; 9
(6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 10
prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 11
department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 12
session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 13
whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 14
the members of each house; 15
(7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 16
marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 17
conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 18
physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 19
private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 20
(8) exercise general supervision over early education programs that 21
receive direct state or federal funding, including early education programs provided by 22
a school district for students four and five years of age, approve an early education 23
program provided by a school district that complies with the standards adopted by the 24
board under AS 14.07.165(a)(5), and revoke approval of an early education program if 25
the program does not comply with the standards adopted by the board under 26
AS 14.07.165(a)(5); 27
(9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 28
correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 29
educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any
30
Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 31 33-LS0687\U
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(10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 1
accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 2
paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 3
licensed; 4
(11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 5
secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 6
elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 7
department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 8
construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 9
include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 10
and costs, and final contract documents; 11
(12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 12
education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 13
are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 14
unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 15
will lead to employment opportunities; 16
(13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 17
(14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 18
school bus driver training course; 19
(15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 20
and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 21
behavior; 22
(16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 23
under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 24
practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 25
(A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 26
and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 27
(B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 28
AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 29
consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than tw
o percent 30
increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 31 33-LS0687\U
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arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 1
(C) a process for districts to petition the department for 2
continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 3
(17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 4
education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 5
redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 6
(18) establish a reading program to provide direct support for and 7
intervention in the reading intervention programs of participating schools as described 8
in AS 14.30.765 and 14.30.770; 9
(19) annually convene, either in person or electronically, a panel to 10
review and comment on the effectiveness of the programs created by the department 11
and the regulations adopted by the board to implement AS 14.03.410, 14.03.420, 12
AS 14.30.760 - 14.30.770, and 14.30.800; the panel 13
(A) shall provide recommendations and guidance to the board, 14
the department, and the legislature on how to integrate early education and 15
reading programs created under this title with tribal compacting or programs 16
focused on cultural education within the department; 17
(B) shall discuss support for reading in Alaska Native 18
languages and other non-English languages; 19
(C) must collectively represent the regions of the state and 20
include teachers of grades kindergarten through three, school administrators, 21
parents of students in grades kindergarten through three, stakeholders from 22
indigenous language immersion programs, representatives from early 23
education stakeholder groups, and researchers of best practices for improving 24
literacy performance, including best practices for instruction of indigenous 25
students and students whose first language is not English; 26
(20) collaborate with the Department of Labor and Workforce 27
Development to gather data on the progress of each high school graduating class 28
as required under AS 14.03.120(m). 29
* Sec. 4. AS 14.07.020(a), as amended by sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 30
(a) The department shall 31 33-LS0687\U
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(1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 1
except the University of Alaska; 2
(2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 3
adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 4
performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 5
of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 6
develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college 7
preparatory courses; 8
(3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 9
governing bodies and personnel; 10
(4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 11
schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 12
given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 13
(5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and 14
Community Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held 15
in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are 16
defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment; 17
(6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 18
prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 19
department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 20
session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 21
whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 22
the members of each house; 23
(7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 24
marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 25
conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 26
physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 27
private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 28
(8) exercise general supervision over early education programs that 29
receive direct state or federal funding, including early education programs provided by 30
a school district for students four and five years of age; 31 33-LS0687\U
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(9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 1
correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 2
educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 3
Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 4
(10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 5
accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 6
paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 7
licensed; 8
(11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 9
secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 10
elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 11
department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 12
construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 13
include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 14
and costs, and final contract documents; 15
(12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 16
education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 17
are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 18
unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 19
will lead to employment opportunities; 20
(13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 21
(14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 22
school bus driver training course; 23
(15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 24
and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 25
behavior; 26
(16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 27
under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 28
practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 29
(A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficie
ncies 30
and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 31 33-LS0687\U
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(B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 1
AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 2
consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 3
increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 4
arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 5
(C) a process for districts to petition the department for 6
continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 7
(17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 8
education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 9
redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 10
(18) collaborate with the Department of Labor and Workforce 11
Development to gather data on the progress of each high school graduating class 12
as required under AS 14.03.120(m). 13
* Sec. 5. AS 14.09.010(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 14
(a) A school district that provides student transportation services for the 15
transportation of students who reside a distance from established schools is eligible to 16
receive funding for operating or subcontracting the operation of the transportation 17
system for students to and from the schools within the student's transportation service 18
area. Subject to appropriation, the amount of funding provided by the state for 19
operating the student transportation system is the amount of a school district's ADM, 20
less the ADM for the district's correspondence programs during the current fiscal year, 21
multiplied by the per student amount for the school district as follows, for the school 22
years beginning July 1, 2023: 23
DISTRICT PER STUDENT AMOUNT 24
Alaska Gateway $2,536 25
Aleutians East 378 26
Anchorage 531 27
Annette Island 222 28
Bering Strait 60 29
Bristol Bay 3,257 30
Chatham 342 31 33-LS0687\U
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Copper River 1,934 1
Cordova 409 2
Craig 515 3
Delta/Greely 2,019 4
Denali 2,203 5
Dillingham 1,484 6
Fairbanks 995 7
Galena 310 8
Haines 763 9
Hoonah 364 10
Iditarod 258 11
Juneau 735 12
Kake 331 13
Kashunamiut 6 14
Kenai Peninsula 1,115 15
Ketchikan 886 16
Klawock 712 17
Kodiak Island 974 18
Kuspuk 797 19
Lake and Peninsula 468 20
Lower Kuskokwim 338 21
Lower Yukon 1 22
Matanuska-Susitna 1,109 23
Nenana 716 24
Nome 757 25
North Slope 1,365 26
Northwest Arctic 30 27
Pelican 88 28
Petersburg 457 29
Saint Mary's 235 30
Sitka 522 31 33-LS0687\U
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Skagway 44 1
Southeast Island 1,408 2
Southwest Region 728 3
Tanana 581 4
Unalaska 790 5
Valdez 897 6
Wrangell 854 7
Yakutat 907 8
Yukon Flats 322 9
Yukon/Koyukuk 365 10
Yupiit 2. 11
* Sec. 6. AS 14.16.200(b) is amended to read: 12
(b) Costs that may be claimed by a district for reimbursement under (a) of this 13
section are 14
(1) one round trip on the least expensive means of transportation 15
between the student's community of residence and the school during the school year if 16
the district expends money for the trip; and 17
(2) a per-pupil monthly stipend to cover room and board expenses as 18
determined by the department on a regional basis and not to exceed the following 19
amounts: 20
(A) for the Southeast Region (Region I), $1,845 [$1,230]; 21
(B) for the Southcentral Region (Region II), $1,800 [$1,200]; 22
(C) for the Interior Region (Region III), $2,178 [$1,452]; 23
(D) for the Southwest Region (Region IV), $2,264 [$1,509]; 24
(E) for the Northern Remote Region (Region V), $2,664 25
[$1,776]. 26
* Sec. 7. AS 14.17.470, as amended by sec. 26, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 27
Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $6,640 28
[$5,960]. 29
* Sec. 8. AS 44.31.020 is amended to read: 30
Sec. 44.31.020. Duties of department. The Department of Labor and 31 33-LS0687\U
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Workforce Development shall 1
(1) enforce the laws and adopt regulations under them concerning 2
employer-employee relationships, including the safety, hours of work, wages, and 3
conditions of workers, including children; 4
(2) accumulate, analyze, and report labor statistics; 5
(3) operate systems of workers' compensation and unemployment 6
insurance; 7
(4) gather data reflecting the cost of living in various locations of the 8
state upon request of the director of personnel under AS 39.27.030; 9
(5) operate the federally funded employment and training programs 10
under 29 U.S.C. 2801 - 2945 (Workforce Investment Act of 1998); 11
(6) administer the state's program of adult basic education and adopt 12
regulations to administer the program; and 13
(7) administer the programs of the Alaska Vocational Technical Center 14
and adopt regulations to administer the programs, including regulations that set rates 15
for student tuition and room and board and fees for the programs and services 16
provided by the department regarding the Alaska Vocational Technical Center; 17
(8) gather data on the progress of each high school graduating 18
class in a district by collecting career, postsecondary education, and residency 19
data on each student in the graduating class; the department shall gather the 20
data required under this paragraph every five years for 20 years after the high 21
school graduation date of each high school graduating class; the department shall 22
publish a biennial report on the data gathered under this paragraph; in this 23
paragraph, "district" has the meaning given in AS 14.17.990. 24
* Sec. 9. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 25
read: 26
RETROACTIVITY. Section 5 of this Act is retroactive to July 1, 2023. 27
* Sec. 10. Section 2 of this Act takes effect January 1, 2024. 28
* Sec. 11. Section 4 of this Act takes effect on the effective date of sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 29
2022. 30
* Sec. 12. Section 5 of this Act takes effect July 1, 2023. 31 33-LS0687\U
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* Sec. 13. Sections 6, 7, and 9 of this Act take effect on the effective date of sec. 26, ch. 40, 1
SLA 2022. 2
* Sec. 14. AS 14.03.120(k) and (l), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, take effect July 1, 2024. 3
* Sec. 15. AS 14.03.120(m), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, and secs. 3 and 8 of this Act take 4
effect July 1, 2025. 5