Association of Alaska School Boards

Legislative Bulletin

A weekly digest of activity by the Alaska Legislature and U.S. Congress for

Alaska’s 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. To

unsubscribe send an email requesting the same to jgreely@aasb.org.

This bulletin is distributed by email only. School districts should copy for

board members not online.

March 24, 2006

--LEGISLATIVE OVERVIEW FROM CARL ROSE: NOW ON PODCAST!

--CONSORTIUM FOR DIGITAL LEARNING GETS GOOD REVIEW

--STATE OPERATING BUDGET DUE FOR HOUSE VOTE NEXT WEEK

--SCHOOL PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE CLEARS SENATE FINANCE

LEGISLATIVE OVERVIEW FROM CARL ROSE. NOW ON POD CAST!

Curious about the latest developments in Juneau? Executive Director Carl

Rose briefed school board members around the state this week on a special

AASB Legislative Teleconference and Web cast.

If you missed the hour-long session with Rose, a podcast of the

teleconference can be accessed here:

http://alaskaice.org/aasb-podcast/

CONSORTIUM FOR DIGITAL LEARNING GETS GOOD REVIEW

The Consortium for Digital Learning, an AASB-inspired initiative to give

laptop computers to public school students, earned nods of approval from a

key legislative committee this week. Executive Director Carl Rose briefed

the House Special Committee on Education about the initiative to raise $15

million in federal, state and local funds as seed money for the consortium.

A podcast of Rose’s presentation to the committee can be accessed here:

http://alaskaice.org/aasb-podcast/

MAJOR BUDGET BILLS DUE FOR HOUSE VOTE NEXT WEEK

After 75 days of work, two major budget bills – one increasing spending this

year, the other reducing increases for next year – emerged from the House

Finance Committee this week. The $55 million supplemental budget for FY 06

(in the form of SB 232) grew by $650 million in the committee when it voted

to sock away about half the projected revenue surplus facing the state. The

bill directs $350 million to the public education fund – a sort of holding

tank for eventual K-12 foundation formula money – and $300 million in the

Alaska Housing Finance Corp. “The intent is simply to get $650 million off

the table” and away from legislators facing election-year pressure to spend

it, said Rep. Mike Chenault, co-chair of the Finance Committee. SB 232 was

due for a vote of the full House on Monday. The major education items in the

supplemental bill included $10.1 million to replace the fire-gutted White

Mountain school and $3.9 million as the state share of the roof replacement

at Susitna Valley High School.

Meanwhile, the FY 07 state operating budget, HB 365, was nearing completion

in Chenault’s committee with a series of largely partisan votes on

amendments to the $2 billion spending plan. As currently written, HB 365

does not fund the governor’s proposed $90.2 million increase to the K-12

foundation funding program; that will come later in the session with

passage of a bill increasing the Base Student Allocation to $5,352, up from

$4,919 this year. Chenault also says he hopes to engineer passage this

session of a bill updating the Area Cost Differential to inject extra state

funds into his Kenai Peninsula school district and many others. Among the

amendments rejected by the Finance Committee were a half dozen seeking to

restore money requested the Department of Education and Early Development,

including $5 million to continue the mentoring program for teachers and

principals.

SCHOOL PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE CLEAR SENATE FINANCE

SB 235, introduced by Gov. Frank Murkowski, would pay bonuses of between

$1,000 and $5,500 a year to school employees whose students show improvement

on standardized tests. After a second round of testimony in the Senate

Finance Committee, the bill was approved for a full Senate vote. From there

it would go to the House. The measure carries an estimated price tag of

$15.4 million, assuming 25 percent of the schools in the state qualify.

Money for the bonuses would be funded separately of the foundation program.

AASB has endorsed the intent of the bill to improve student achievement.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Computers and the Internet have changed the way we work, communicate and

collaborate. Access to a digital learning environment will help prepare

Alaska’s students to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy.”

Carl Rose, in testimony to the House Special Committee on Education on March

21.