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 

Announcement of Moore Case Settlement

The Moore case has been settled, and a press conference on the details is scheduled for Thursday, January 26 at 2:00 p.m. in the Attorney General's Office at the Dimond Court Building.

HB 256: Serious Proposition or Conversation Opener?

The first prefiled bills for the second session of the 27th Alaska State Legislature were released today (full list of prefiled bills: http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/action_by_date.asp?session=27&Date1=01%2F06%2F2012&body=B ).  There are half a dozen bills that are probably of interest to the education community; a review of those is in today's Alaska Education Update.   

One bill that will perhaps raise some eyebrows is HB 256 - Repeal State Intervention in Schools.  Judge Gleason wrote in the 2007 Moore decision that, "In addition to delegating the operation of schools to the local school districts, the Legislature has delegated supervision on education to the executive branch, through the creation of the State Board of Education and the Department of Education and Early Development." 

If the ability of the department to intervene in schools is removed, what oversight will the state and the legislature have of schools?  Or does the sponsor intend there to be only local oversight of schools?  What effect might this have on federal funding requirements, and would it put federal education funding in jeopardy?  Would the state make up those lost funds to districts? 

I'm not sure yet if the sponsor intends HB 256 to be a serious proposition, or a conversation starter for reviewing intervention, but we will find out shortly.  Session begins on Tuesday, January 17, and those are some of the questions that will be raised.  

Yupiit School District, House Education Committee testimony, Alaska State Legislature

On Monday, February 28 Superintendent Howard Diamond of the Yupiit School District gave a presentation to the House Education Committee on his district. 

After his presentation, Rep. Bob Herron (not on the committee but invited by the chairman to participate) said the Yupiit School District is in his district. Last December they had a meeting with Attorney General Dan Sullivan, DEED Commissioner Larry LeDoux, himself, Sen. Hoffman, and a few others to talk about the state intervention.  Rep. Herron asked about the status of the intervention and said he and Sen. Hoffman are very concerned about the attitude from DEED.  Since Alaska now has a new attorney general and DEED commissioner has there been a loss of continuity in the dialogue with the state of Alaska, or any changes?

Superintendent Diamond said.....

House Finance DEED Budget Subcommittee makes substantial cuts to DEED's department funding

The subcommittee held their budget closeout Thursday morning and it almost looked like they weren’t going to finish the subcommittee process. Rep. Seaton was very concerned about the subcommittee recommendations, and that the proposed cuts to DEED might be extensive enough that the department would be unable to carry out their mission. Before the recess for joint session it appeared as though members weren’t going to accept the subcommittee report.

After joint session and before the subcommittee reconvened, Rep. Bill Thomas, co-chairman of the House Finance Committee showed up and.....

Moore v. State: who has control, the Alaska Legislature, the Dept. of Education & Early Development, or Local School Boards?

During the July 30 Legislative Budget & Audit hearing the agenda was a request for a DEED audit and testimony from the plaintiffs' attorneys in the Moore vs. State of Alaska case. It was a very interesting discussion of legislative versus departmental versus local control of education.

Judge Gleason’s 2007 Decision, pages 173-174, says:
1. “The Alaska Constitution requires that the Legislature.....

Moore vs. State of Alaska Links

The 2007, 2009, and 2010 court decisions:
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_documents.asp?chamber=HEDC&session=26&bill=&date1=20100407&time2=0800

From the plaintiffs' attorneys: order summaries and the draft Blueprint for Constitutional Compliance:
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_documents.asp?chamber=SBUD&session=26&bill=&date1=20100730&time2=1200

Review of the Alaska Constitution's Education Clause in Moore v. State 2007 Decision

Pages 147-154 of the Moore vs. State of Alaska 2007 Decision contain a summary of Alaska court interpretations of the Alaska Constitution's Education Clause.  They are very interesting.  Follow the title link above to access documents related to the case, including the pages referenced above.

Legislature Addresses Moore vs. State in Conference Committee

The Conference Committee met Thursday to consider open items in HB 300 and HB 302. During the last hearing on Monday, April 12, the committee dealt with all open items in the Dept. of Education & Early Development’s budget, so there are no items open in that department. Sen. Hoffman said the next meeting would address the last two open items (one in the Governor’s Office and one in the Dept. of Revenue) and any fiscal notes.

A language adoption was made for Item 3 (Conditional Language, K-12 Support) on the DEED motion sheet. The language states that it is the intent of the legislature that up to $7,000,000 of the amount appropriated from the public school trust fund, AS 37.14.110, for public school programs may be used to address issues raised in Moore vs. Alaska. Those issues include curriculum design, professional training and retention, pre-kindergarten and other intensive early learning, and remediation plans for individual students. Affected school districts include the Yupiit, Lower Yukon, Yukon Flats, Yukon Koyukuk, and Northwest Arctic.

Moore vs. State Documents posted in BASIS

The three court orders in the Moore vs. State case have been posted on BASIS.  I am not sure they are available anywhere else online, so thought I would post a link (click on the title above to go to the documents).

MOORE vs. STATE, March 31 2010 Court Order

On Wednesday, April 7th the House and Senate Education Committees will be holding a hearing on Moore vs. State. The committees will be hearing from the plaintiffs' attorney, the state's attorney, a legislative attorney, and the administration to discuss the case.

During the Monday, April 6th House Education Committee hearing, Dept. of Education & Early Development Deputy Commissioner Les Morse said the department thought this most recent court order was going to go their way. 

But looking at the order, it appears that the judge still feels the state has some work to do.  In her 2007 decision and again in the Order on Review of 2009 Submissions, Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason said....

Gathering of Attorneys - April 7 in the House & Senate Education Committees

At the end of Friday's Senate Education Committee hearing, committee staff said that Judge Gleason said in her most recent ruling on Moore vs. Alaska that the legislature is responsible for the five school districts in the case. On Wednesday, April 7 at 8:00 a.m. the Education Committees will be hearing from the plaintiffs' attorney, the state's attorney, a legislative attorney, and the administration to discuss what that means.  So we should get a pretty wide-viewpoint of what that means for everyone - the state, the schools, and the kids.

Moore vs. Alaska

The House and Senate Education Committees have scheduled a joint hearing for Wednesday, April 7 to hear a presentation on an order made on March 31 by Alaska Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason in the Moore vs. Alaska case. 

During a hearing of the House Education Committee on Friday, April 2, Chairman Paul Seaton said that Judge Gleason stated in her order that the legislature is resposible for ensuring that school districts are using adequate curriculum.  Seaton said that until now, everyone had been operating under the assumption that curriculum adoption is part of local authority, but that the judge had said that is not correct.

About AKEDUPDATE

The Alaska Education Update provides reporting on action of the Alaska State Legislature for education issues daily during the session. If there is a hearing on a Monday, the report will be in your email inbox by Tuesday morning (with the rare exception). Reports are not verbatim accounts of hearings, but they are very detailed summaries. There is coverage of the education committees, of course, and also finance and any other committees when they are hearing education-related legislation or issues. Action on education-related legislation on the floor of the House or Senate is part of the updates. There is also usually coverage of majority press availabilities, and sometimes minority press availabilities, when time allows.


Contact: Shana Crondahl
4100 Blackerby Street
Juneau, AK 99801-9535
(907) 500-7069
akedupdate@gci.net