AKLN continues, despite lack of direct funding from the Alaska State Legislature

AKLN, the Alaska Learning Network has been reorganized and will continue to offer classes to Alaska students, despite lack of direct funding from the Alaska State Legislature.  AKLN is no longer offering generic courses from K-12, but is now offering 21 Alaskan-based courses from 12 sponsoring school districts. 

The cost is $175 for a semester-long course, and $325 for a year-long course, and most course fees will go to the sponsoring school district.  There is room for 20 students in each course, and space is available first come, first served.  All courses meet course requirements for the Alaska Performance Scholarship.  Students from any one of the 54 school districts in the state can enroll in courses, but must be signed up by the principal of their school or the principal's designee. 

The 21 courses being offered are.....

Governor Parnell Budget Vetoes: Capital Budget, Operating Budget, Education Funding

Governor Parnell signed the FY 13 budgets Monday, May 14, including SB 182 and the General Obligation Bond bill, and held a press conference to review his vetoes.  Education items vetoed were all related to early learning:

·    $1.2 million from HB 284 (operating budget) for Pre—K grants

·    $2,860,000 from SB 182 (education funding) for Parents as Teachers

·    $973,000 from SB 160 (capital budget) for the Pilot Pre-K Program expansion

Link to budget documents and details on the press conference.....

Capital Budget & Explanation of Education Funding in SB 182

Here is a link to the capital budget: http://www.legis.state.ak.us/PDF/27/Bills/SB0160C.PDF.  This is the House Finance version: HCS CSSB 160(FIN).  It was amended on the floor of the house with the addition of $25 million for revenue sharing, but that version is not available on line yet.  Once you pull up the bill, you can do "find" search within it to quickly find specific projects.

Here is SB 182, the education funding package: http://www.legis.state.ak.us/PDF/27/Bills/SB0182C.PDF 

The fiscal notes for the bill have details on how much funding each district will get for the individual provisions of the bill:

Fiscal Note #3: http://www.legis.state.ak.us/PDF/27/F/SB0182-3-4-041412-EED-N.PDF shows how much increased state contribution for education a municipality will get for going to a flat mill rate of 2.65 for required local contribution.  This provision has the most widely varying effect on districts - for those municipalities already funding to the cap, there will be no benefit to the school, although there will be a benefit to the municipality.  For those already at the low end of the local contribution mill rate, there won't be as much benefit, and for REAA's there will be no impact.  For municipalities not funding to the cap, there would then be more money available at the municipality's discretion, should they decide to increase educuation funding.  For instance.....

HB 284 - Conference Committee Appointed, House & Senate

The conference committee for HB 284 - Operating Budget has been appointed in both the house and the senate:

House: Rep. Thomas is the house chair, with Reps. Stoltze and Gara as the other house members

Senate: Sen. Hoffman is the senate chair, with Senators Stedman and Thomas as the other senate members

HB 284: http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20284&session=27 

Senate Action on FY 13 Operating Budget

This next week or so will be pivotal to what ultimately ends up in HB 284 http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=27&bill=HB284, the FY 13 operating budget.  The house has passed one version of HB 284, and the senate is now finishing their deliberations on the bill (the Senate Finance DEED Subcommittee will be doing their closeout this week).  After the senate passes their version, the house and senate will meet in conference committee to choose which portions of each bill will ultimately be voted on in the conference committee substitute. 

 

The main point of the conference committee process to remember is:

1.  If an item was not in either the version passed by the house or the version passed by the senate, it cannot be considered in conference committee;

 

So at this point, if there is something you are concerned about in the version of HB 284 passed by the house, then you should contact your senator's office to discuss your concern with them.  If you would like to read up in more detail on the conference committee process, it is outlined in Rule 42 of the Uniform Rules: http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/docs/pdf/uniform_rules.pdf 

House Finance Committee taking public testimony on operating & mental health budgets next week

The House Finance Committee will be taking public testimony on the operating and mental health budgets next week.  There is a two-minute time limit on testimony.  Here is the schedule on when you can testify from your community:
Tuesday: 

Rm. 519, Capital Bldg.

1:30 p.m. – Juneau

2:45 p.m.  – Bethel, Kotzebue, Barrow, Nome, Delta Junction, Offnets

4:00 p.m. – Anchorage

Wednesday: 

Rm. 519, Capital Bldg.

1:30 p.m. – Fairbanks

3:00 p.m.  – Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg, Dillingham, Cordova, Unalaska

4:15 p.m. – Homer, Kenai, Valdez, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Matsu, Glennallen, Tok, Seward

HB 284 – Operating Budget

http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20284&session=27

HB 285 – Mental Health Budget

http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20285&session=27

Follow me on Twitter

Hey, I've kind of moved to Twitter for instant news.  Today my two posts were:

HB 242 moved out of H. Education cmte; provides funding for technology equipment in schools

and

Fairclough says she will be offering amendments to increase funding for#UA advisory programs and #ANSEP

Follow me on Twitter for occasional breaking tidbits. Once in a while I will post something longer on the blog.  But really, you should subscribe to my reports if you want all the details!

https://twitter.com/#!/AKEDUPDATE

Correction: Advisory Programs NOT YET Required for Postsecondary Institutions to Accept APS Awards

I need to retract my statement that advisory programs are required at postsecondary institutions in order for them to accept Alaska Performance Scholarship awards.  The original legislation passed to establish the program does not contain a requirement that postsecondary institutions have advisory programs (SB 221, passed in 2010 http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=26&bill=SB221). 

 

However, both HB 104 (http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=27&bill=HB104) and SB 43 (http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=27&bill=SB43) which establish a funding mechanism for the scholarship program require advisory programs at postsecondary institutions in order for them to accept Alaska Performance Scholarship awards.  So that legislation, if passed, will either have to have that provision removed, or funding will have to be reinstated for advisory programs at the University of Alaska in order for them to receive Alaska Performance Scholarship awards on behalf of recipients.

Governor Parnell Zeroes Out Funding for University of Alaska Advisory Programs, Putting Performance Scholarship Awards at Risk

On Wednesday, University of Alaska President Patrick Gamble testified at the end of the House Education Committee, telling the committee that Governor Parnell's proposed FY 13 operating budget left out ALL of the funding (every single cent, zeroed the whole program out - even funding originating from the university) for student advisory programs at the university.  


Those are the same advisory programs that post-secondary institutions will be required to have in order to accept Alaska Performance Scholarship awards if the legislation establishing a funding mechanism for the program is passed.  Both HB 104 (http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=27&bill=HB104) and SB 43 (http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=27&bill=SB43) require advisory programs at postsecondary institutions in order for them to accept Alaska Performance Scholarship awards.  So that legislation, if passed, will either have to have that provision removed, or funding will have to be reinstated for advisory programs at the University of Alaska in order for them to receive Alaska Performance Scholarship awards on behalf of recipients.

President Gamble also made the point during his testimony that every career he could think of starts at a higher salary than teachers, and that teacher pay is an issue they can't ignore. 

All the funding for the Institute for Social & Economic Research (ISER) was also zeroed out from the governor's proposed budget.  George Rogers is likely rolling in his grave (or was he cremated?  I don't know). 

Lots of testimony Wednesday in the Senate Finance Committee on SB 171.  Sen. Hoffman got a little testy about people discussing pink slipping.  He said he was under the impression that forward funding education would remove that issue (which it largely has).  However, as pointed out by John Alcantra, flat funding still creates pink slipping issues, due to budget deficits.  I think Hoffman would have appreciated recognition of SB 97, which establishes a fuel supplement for school districts and municipalities when fuel prices are high.  

Rep. Eric Feige: It's OK for Private Schools to Discriminate Against Special Education Students

The House Education Committee moved HB 145, the private school voucher bill (http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20145&session=27)  out of committee on Wednesday, February 1, after hours and hours of testimony over the last two sessions.  The bill requires the state to pay up to 100 percent of both the state and local contribution for education funding to a private school.


Private schools would not be subject to AS 14.07.070, which withholds funds to districts and teachers that fail to comply with state laws and regulations relating to education, basically giving private schools carte blanche to do anything they want with the funding and not be constrained by the same rules governing public schools.


Included in the funding for private schools is funding that a student would receive if they were attending the public school district in which the private school is located, including:

• School Size Factor funding, which is based on the size of the public school, without regard to the size of the private school that the student is attending;
• District Cost Factor funding;
• Quality School Funding Factor that was earned by the performance of the public school, without regard to the actual performance of the private school;
• 20 Percent Block Grant Funding Factor for serving special education, gifted and talented, vocational education,  and bilingual services - but private schools won't be required to provide any of these services, even though they will be receiving funding for them;
• 1 Percent Block Grant Funding Factor for serving High School vocational and technical education needs - but private schools won't be required to provide this service.  

Under HB 145, private schools reserve the right to choose to enroll or not enroll any student for any reason.   An amendment offered by Rep. Peggy Wilson in the House Education Committee that would have prohibited private schools from discriminating based on race, religion, disability, or any other reason failed.


Even sponsor Rep. Wes Keller agreed that HB 145 will allow private schools to choose which students they admit, for any reason.  A Baptist school could choose not to admit a Catholic student, a Norwegian school could choose not to admit a Swede, An Aleut school could choose not to admit a Tlingit, and they could all choose not to admit any special education students.


Rep. Eric Feige said that's fine though, because special education students already have the option to attend public schools.


Rep. Paul Seaton objected to the fact that they were spending so much time on a bill that wasn't even constitutional.

Photo: Signing of Moore Case Settlement Agreement

Plaintiffs' Attorney Howard Trickey, Dept. of Education & Early Development Commissioner Mike Hanley, and CEAAC Executive Director Charles Wohlforth, signing the Moore Case Settlement Agreement on Thursday, January 26, 2012 in the Attorney General's Office in the Dimond Court House

Moore vs. State of Alaska Settlement

There was a press conference on the settlement of the Moore case on Thursday, January 26, 2012 in the attorney general's office in Juneau.  The basic details of the settlement are that there will be a one-time appropriation of $18 million, subject to legislative approval.  Four programs addressing low achievement in struggling schools will be created with that funding:

    1.  Two-year kindergarten and related pre-literacy programs,

    2.  Targeted resources grant fund,

    3.  Teacher retention grant fund,

    4.  HSGQE remediation reimbursement program

Schools eligible to participate in numbers 1, 2, and 4 are the forty schools with the lowest scores on the Modified School Growth Index for the previous three years.  A school is eligible regardless of whether it is located in an intervention district or not.  Number three is not limited to the forty lowest scoring schools, but those schools shall have preference. 

The four programs established by the settlement will initially be funded by the $18 million settlement.  At least $6 million of the $18 million will be used for two-year kindergarten and pre-literacy programs.  

Here is a link to the press conference video and audio: http://gavelalaska.org/media/?media_id=PCON120126A 

Pre-Session News

I was in Anchorage last week and was able to meet with Paula Pawlowski of the Alaska PTA and Senator Kevin Meyer, Co-Chairman of the Senate Education Committee. 


A few items of interest from those two meetings:

Paula Pawlowski told me that the grant that the Alaska PTA has for parent engagement wraps up in 2012, and they will not be seeking another grant to extend the program.  The Alaska PTA feels that since the State Board of Education & Early Development endorsed the Family Engagement Plan developed by DEED's Family Engagement Working Group, that plan should be implemented by and facilitated through DEED.  (The State Board of Education & Early Development voted unanimously to endorse the Family Engagement Plan at their January 24, 2011 board meeting.)

Sen. Meyer said that with the continuing high cost of fuel and other utilities, there will probably be either an increase to the BSA or another fuel/utility supplement for districts. 

I also asked Sen. Meyer if he thought the sunset date for standing legislative committees on education would be extended or removed, or if the education committees would revert to being part of the health & social services standing committees.   Sen. Meyer said he would like to see the education committees continue as standing  committees separate from the health and social services committees.  

(Standing committees on education were established with SCR 15, passed in 2008 as one of the recommendations of the Joint Legislative Education Funding Task Force http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=25&bill=SCR15.  Currently the standing committees on education will sunset on the first day of session in 2013.)