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.  

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.)  

Hearing: Task Force on Theme-Based Education

The Task force on Theme-Based Education is having a hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, October 5 from 8:00 a.m. - noon in Room 220, Anchorage LIO.

Agenda: There will be presentations on theme-based learning and culturally relevant standards, with testimony from invited witnessess.  If time allows, public testimony will be taken at the end of the hearing.

There are several documents related to the hearing on the task force website: http://housemajority.org/coms/tbe/tbe_background_27.php 

You can listen in from your local LIO: http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/misc/lios.php or follow the hearing on AK Legislature TV: http://alaskalegislature.tv/ 

Update on SB 84 CTE Funding, Implementation of the Alaska CTE Plan, SBA Test Scores, ESEA Reauthorization, Early Learning RttT, WorkKeys Testing, Terra Nova Replacement, & The Alaska Learning Network

The Dept. of Education & Early Development and the Association of Alaska School Administrators were kind enough to let me attend the second day of their summer meeting at the DEED offices on Monday, August 1.  It was very helpful in keeping up-to-date on issues that schools and the department are working on.

POINTS OF INFORMATION/INTEREST INCLUDE:

SB 84 CTE Funding: there is no reporting requirement for how this funding is spent, but school districts should be proactive in letting the legislature know how funds are being used. The only restriction to how funding may be used is that.....

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is quickly becoming a popular site for helping students with specific topics.  Wired Magazine has an article on how one school district is using it to increase student mastery of math:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_khan/all/1

A link to Khan Academy:

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Chinese will be the dominant language on the internet in a few years

According to this chart (http://visual.ly/chinese-new-dominant-language-internet), Chinese will be the dominant language on the internet in about five years.  Will you be able to read your Google, Firefox, and Mozilla search results when they come up in Chinese?  No, I won't either. 

But, look on the bright side: with technological advances, Google Translate and other translating programs should make it possible for people speaking different languages to read webpages from around the world.

Also, check out visual.ly for making and exploring graphics: http://visual.ly/

Governor Parnell Signs FY 12 Capital & Operating Budgets with Vetoes

Governor Parnell released the final operating and capital budgets and held a press conference to discuss his vetoes on Wednesday, June 29. Budget documents are on the Office of Management & Budget website: http://omb.alaska.gov/html/budget-report/fy-2012-budget/enacted.html  

Governor Parnell made $400 million in vetoes to the capital budget and said declining oil production and unfunded pension liability make fiscal discipline important. He is working on increasing oil production, and said that until someone else has a better plan, he will continue to pursue his plan to increase production. Tax incentives for Cook Inlet are working, and that’s what he wants to do for the North Slope.

Governor Parnell said the capital budget focuses on energy, infrastructure, and job creation. There are lots of good projects, and vetoes made on projects this year may be funded next year. He also looked at regional balance, and said he did not retaliate against legislators in his vetoes. He did not want to spend more this year than was spent last year. Just under $300 million remains in the capital budget for education projects. The top 14 projects on DEED’s major maintenance list made the cut (just under $20 million in funding). Funding for school construction grants was cut from a total of $76.5 million to just under $62 million. Construction funds for the Kivalina School were cut, but that project was contingent upon the community moving to a safer location. There is over $1 billion for energy projects.

Governor Parnell said there is 2.9 percent growth in the operating budget, which is primarily the result of statutorily mandated programs. The operating budget fully funds legal obligations of the state, including school formula funding, Medicaid costs, and unfunded pension liability. The annual payment on the unfunded pension liability escalates yearly, and is an issue the ARM Board will have to address. He said the majority of the vetoes he made in the operating budget related to decreasing debt service. The state is legally mandated to pay for most of the items in the operating budget, so it was harder to make cuts.

In terms of savings, the state will have over $15 billion in various savings accounts with the signing of these budgets, including $400 million in the Alaska Performance Scholarship fund, $400 million in the PCE fund, and $1 billion in forward funding for education.

For full details on education funding, see the Wednesday, June 29 and Thursday, June 30 issues of the Alaska Education Update.

Governor Parnell's Budget Vetoes Imminent; Possible Special Session on Coastal Zone Management

Governor Parnell's budget vetoes are due by Friday, July 1, and his goal is to cut about $400 million from the capital budget, decreasing it from $3.2 billion down to $2.8 billion. I predict he will wait until the deadline to release his vetoes because there is still talk of a last-minute deal and special session on coastal zone management. If he releases his vetoes while the legislature is in special session, they could vote to override the vetoes.

Here's an update of all the education-related legislation that passed:

HB 15 - Student Athlete Concussions: Signed by the governor on Friday, May 27; effective date 8/25/11 http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20%2015&session=27

HB 108 - Operating Budget: Transmitted to the governor on Wednesday, June 8; vetoes due back on Friday, July 1 http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20108&session=27

HB 109 - Mental Health Budget: Transmitted to the governor on Wednesday, June 8; vetoes due back on Friday, July 1 http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20109&session=27

HB 155 - Public Construction Contracts, awaiting transmittal to the governor (raises the threshold for public works projects from $2,000 to $25,000 for before projects have to pay wages under Alaska's Little Davis-Bacon Act)  http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20155&session=27

SB 1 - Board of Education & Early Development Report/Legislative Task Force, Signed by the governor on Friday, May 27; effective date 8/25/11 http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=SB%20%20%201&session=27

SB 46 - Capital Budget: Transmitted to the governor on Wednesday, June 8; vetoes due back on Friday, July 1 http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=27&bill=SB46

SB 76 - Supplemental Budget, Signed by the governor on Tuesday, May 17; see bill for effective dates 
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=SB%20%2076&session=27

SB 84 - Vocational Education/Tax Credits/Pilot, awaiting transmittal to the governor
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=SB%20%2084&session=27

An Update on Education-Related Legislation Passed by the Alaska State Legislature

HB 15 - Student Athlete Concussions: Signed by the governor on Friday, May 27; effective date 8/25/11 http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20%2015&session=27

HB 108 - Operating Budget, awaiting transmittal to the governor http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20108&session=27 

HB 109 - Mental Health Budget, awaiting transmittal to the governor http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20109&session=27

HB 155 - Public Construction Contracts, awaiting transmittal to the governor (raises the threshold for public works projects from $2,000 to $25,000 for before projects have to pay wages under Alaska's Little Davis-Bacon Act) http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20155&session=27

SB 1 - Board of Education & Early Development Report/Legislative Task Force, Signed by the governor on Friday, May 27; effective date 8/25/11 http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=SB%20%20%201&session=27

SB 46 - Capital Budget, awaiting transmittal to the governor http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=27&bill=SB46

SB 76 - Supplemental Budget, Signed by the governor on Tuesday, May 17; see bill for effective dates http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=SB%20%2076&session=27

SB 84 - Vocational Education/Tax Credits/Pilot, awaiting transmittal to the governor http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=SB%20%2084&session=27

SB 76 - FY 11 Supplemental Budget Transmitted to Governor Parnell

The FY 11 supplemental budget was transmitted to Governor Parnell on Monday, May 16, 2011. The governor has 20 days, not including Sundays, to review the bill and make any line-item vetoes he wishes to make. His vetoes are due by Wednesday, June 8. Education-related items in SB 76 are.....