Association of Alaska School
Boards
Legislative Bulletin
A weekly digest of activity
by the Alaska Legislature and U.S. Congress for AlaskaÕs School Board Members.
AASB Tel. 907-586-1083, Fax 907-586-2995. Executive Director, Carl Rose, crose@aasb.org; Editor, John Greely, Review
past issues of the Bulletin on the AASB website at http://www.aasb.org.
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This bulletin is distributed
by email only. School districts should copy for board members not online.
February 1, 2008
EDUCATION FUNDING BILL
CLEARS SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
A Senate committee voted to approve SB 240, the education
funding bill, after AASB and others testified to the need for enacting changes
to the foundation formula for K-12 schools. The vote by the Senate Special
Committee on Education moved the bill to the Senate Finance Committee.
In his prepared testimony,
Executive Director Carl rose said the following:
ÒSB 240 is the work of the
Joint Legislative Education Funding Task Force, which met during the interim to
provide the member districts of AASB and the public an opportunity to testify in
depth about the needs of our public schools across the state. In essence,
the joint task force took the time that you do not have in regular
session to explore multiple parts of the foundation formula for K-12 education.
ÒAs you may recall, at the
end of the 2007 regular session, the Legislature and the public simply ran out
of time to address education funding, the PERS-TRS issue and municipal
assistance and revenue sharing. The short-term answer was a one-year cash grant
for each of these fundamental programs.
ÒIn their wisdom, the
leadership of the House and Senate drafted SCR 11 and appointed five members of
each body to work on the foundation formula, realizing that if a consensus
could be found there, the other pieces of the puzzle would fall into place. I was honored to be able to sit at the
table with these House and Senate members as an appointee of the governor to
the joint task force.
ÒChairman Hawker instructed
the task force to put all issues regarding K-12 education on the table at our
first meetings. We did so, but
soon we realized that six key issues were the primary concerns of the
Legislature and the public. Four
of those issues are embodied in SB 240, including the Base Student
Allocation, the District Cost Factor, funding for Intensive Needs students, and
a hold-harmless clause for districts with declining enrollments.
ÒThe genius of the Joint
Task Force is that it allowed 10 legislators the time required to explore
in-depth the sometimes complex challenges facing public education in Alaska. On
July 11th and 12th alone, the task force took testimony
from 14 different school districts.
Anchorage school officials testified for two hours. Kenai testified for a full hour. That kind of in-depth inquiry is seldom
available to legislators during the regular session.
ÒThe task force
recommendations are before the Senate in two bills and three resolutions. The
most important of these is SB 240. This bill represents the best hope in ten
years for improving our foundation formula and helping the school children of
Alaska achieve a first-rate education.
ÒDuring the course of my
career as a school board member and now education lobbyist, I have participated
in every major overhaul of our education laws. The opportunity to address
multiple components of the foundation formula does not come around very often.
I would encourage the Legislature to seize this opportunity. If you follow the recommendations of
the task force, the results will be worth it. These include:
ÒIn closing, I would like to
thank the Legislature for the foresight to appoint the task force. The ten
House and Senate members who devoted their time to the task force deserve a
thank you, as well, as does the governor for appointing me to serve and
endorsing the work of the task force. Special appreciation is due Chairman
Hawker for his leadership in guiding the task force to a consensus.
ÒAASB stands ready to work
with the Legislature this session on improving our education laws and helping
our school districts provide a quality education for AlaskaÕs youth.Ó
AASB LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
AND LEGISLATIVE FLY-IN, FEB. 9-12
Have you
registered for the 2008 AASB Leadership Conference & Legislative Fly In? If not, you can register via mail or
fax using the attached brochure or you can register online at,
http://www.aasb.org/FORMS/Sprflyin.html.
The Leadership
Conference and Legislative Fly In is scheduled to take place on February 9th -
12th, in Juneau at the Baranof Hotel.
The Youth Advocacy
Institute will
be held at the same time. Please
review the attached brochure for further schedule and content information.
Please feel free
to contact us with any questions.
We look forward to seeing you.
EDUCATION BILLS UP FOR
HEARINGS NEXT WEEK
Wednesday, Feb.
6, 8 a.m., Senate Education Committee
SCR 16 Education Funding/Cost Factor
Commission
SB 219 Governor's Panel on school
district cost factors
Wednesday, 1:30
p.m., House Finance
HB 273 Education Funding
Thursday, Feb. 7
3:00, House HESS
HCR 13 Education Funding/Cost Factor
Commission