Good morning, I'd like to call the House Education Committee to order.
It is 9-11 Friday, February 6th.
We are in the Betty Davis room.
Members present are from my right to left.
Rep eyeshide, rep underwood, Rep schwanki, red dye bird,
rep elum, co-chair rep hymn chute, and myself rep story.
Co- chair, let the record reflect that we have a quorum to discuss business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones during the meeting.
Thank you very much for that.
I want to thank Cale Brown, the House Education Secretary from Records, and Doug Bridges from
the Juneau LIO for staffing the committee today and our co-chair committee aides, Tammy
Smith and Ella Lubin.
Today we have a couple items on our agenda.
The first we will bring back Senate Bill 6, Asian American Programs from Senator Gray Jackson and House Bill 261,
which addresses average daily membership for public testimony.
I invite Senator Great Jackson, and her staff, Clark Bickford, to the table to identify yourself for the record.
I want to give you an opportunity to speak to Senate bill 6 before we begin public testimony.
Welcome, Senator, and Mr. Beckford.
Thank you.
Senator Albie Griejakson, Representative District G, in Anchorage.
First, I want to thank the co-chairs for here in this bill again and also the committee as a whole.
I know that there are a handful of individuals who are looking forward to testifying in support of this bill.
But I just want to offer a brief statement, as I suggested, to thank the committee and all the stakeholders who have worked with my office on this legislation for several years now.
And members of the public who follow this issue, not only during this year's committee process, but as just mentioned prior years as well.
It's been out here for quite some time and actually it almost made it to the finish line once.
I'm encouraged to see the bill under consideration, again, because this more accurately reflects the history of our great nation, and I look forward to today's public testimony.
Thank you.
Thank You, Senator Great Jackson.
Do I have any questions at this time?
Seeing none.
I will open public testimony for Senate Bill 6.
Testifiers will have two minutes for their testimony.
I want to remind the listing public that if they would like to testify,
they may call into the LIO office using the following telephone numbers.
In June of 907, 586, 9085.
In Anchorage, 906,563,
public testimony is now open. I will first go to the room. Is there anyone in the
room who would like to testify? Seeing none, I
will go online to see if we have anyone who
would
like
to
testify. We do not. Okay, seeing no one else in
the
room or online. Public testimony
is
I will set an amendment date as of Thursday, February 12th at noon for Senate Bill 6.
Madam Chair, one of the testifiers the other day, Kay, she has a pamphlet.
Would you allow her to pass it one out to everybody?
A pamphlet?
Thank you, Senator.
Yes, and we will post that pamphlet online too, so the members of public can see that.
Okay, thank you very much and happy Black History Month.
Thank You, happy black history month to you too.
Okay, at this time, I will be turning the gavel over to House Education Co-Chair, him
shoot.
We're back on record here in the Betty Davis room and house
education committee.
Welcome chair co-chair story and Tammy.
I would like to ask you to identify yourself and take the
opportunity to speak to House Bill 261 before we begin public
testimony. Thank you co chair him shoot and my fellow members of
the House Education Committee really.
I'm excited to hear any of your questions today.
I know we want to get to public testimony, but I would like to
get an indication of things that are burning questions you have about this bill.
And we can talk about them later after public testimonie or in another hearing.
But I am excited about the bill, what I try to do is diminish uncertainty
in our education funding budget process and help get more consistency.
which we desperately need.
We desperately needed to build public confidence.
We desperate needed
to be able to retain our teachers earlier
and let them know that yes,
we want to keep our beloved teachers in our communities.
So I just wanted to talk about the forming components briefly.
The first component is really the heart of the bill.
It's really what the bill is about.
It is allowing student counts to be based on the average of the previous three years
or the pervious year, whichever is greater.
And this is not something I came up with out of my own.
I wanted to remind everyone that many states do this.
And it was presented to the task force on education funding.
It was suggested in a report to Alaska legislature in 2015 that we switch to doing an average of the state count.
And why this brings more certainty is districts wouldn't know if we adopted this.
They would know July 1st what their student count would be for the school year.
school boards do their best with all the data they have in the spring of the year before July 1st before the
year starts to estimate. This would make the us be districts be able to take the three-year average
or the prior year average of their student count. And so why is this important? It's important
because we know when we do a student enrollment count in their current year, sometimes there's
There could be a loss of student body and how we, what defines our budgeting is how many students we have because we get a base student allocation for each student and also the amount of the base students allocation.
This bill does not address that, that's an issue that would be needed to take up separately.
But what this addresses is we would know what the student count was.
We could go forward in March and April when they're doing statewide recruiting and
say yes, districts could give certainty to teachers.
So that is a really key heart of the bill.
Second, we also would change how we're do an intensive needs students.
You know the components of that.
That idea is these students are of highest cost, highest need.
We have an obligation.
from the federal government, to education laws to meet their funding needs.
So we want to address that in real time and do a true up.
In February, if a student has moved into a district,
they need to have those resources to be able to hire
that personnel to take care of them.
Third, it smooths out the funding cliffs
when school membership in small districts
be falls below 100 or 425, which prevents large changes
in funding with small changes in enrollment.
You can use one or two students, fall below the cliff
and lose a significant amount of money.
And that's happening in mid-year now.
which makes it really almost impossible to adjust.
And so this also, this component was also recommended in that report by the education consultants.
And then finally, on this bill would allow for alternative schools with an average daily membership,
a fewer than 175 to be counted as their own school rather than as part of the biggest school in the district.
Being rolled into the count of biggest schools means that alternative programs
class sizes and more personalized services based on the complex needs of the students.
They are not getting the resources they need to help these important young people in our community.
So, I say it's time to fix the education funding and student count processes that we can have
an impact on with a policy change and that makes districts be able to focus more on student
achievement.
I cannot stress that more.
I saw that so much as a school board member, and I see it now in our work as legislators,
when I look at how our impact affects the communities, they're just living in the sun
families, to our teachers,
to the school communities.
So I really appreciate your consideration of this bill.
And I look forward to your comments
and then public testimony.
Are there questions?
Okay, I think, all right.
Well, right off of that,
we'll just go in order from the end of the table,
Representative Elam.
Thank you.
Thank for your presentation
and for bringing this forward.
I thank it's a good conversation to have.
I guess I'm kind of questioning
philosophically, right? There's there's components of the bill that I did I like in other areas that?
I kind of question a little bit
very much within Alaska. We have a local control model and this bill in my opinion appears to be
Trying to to level out some of The peaks and valleys of volatility and risk
And so I guess my question would be is who's introducing the risk and if you have local Control
don't you also have local risk management, you know, are the some of these decisions that are
creating the volatility. Obviously, we participate in some them in a state level, but how much of
this is also being happening at a local level whenever we talk about local control. And so
is this the state taking on local response or state-level responsibility or
for Chair Story.
Thank you through the chair to Rep. Elam.
We have to remember that the student count
is based on actual data.
We'll be using that was existed in those districts
for the past three prior years.
And that has to be done not changing that in statute.
Indeed, verifies that and I think it's really,
for our oversight, it is important to know that yes, that is.
As far as taking away local control from the district,
the districts in the spring, the local controller taking
away is in spring.
They are projecting based on the economist if they hire one,
based manually moving up all their kids from
the earlier grade to the next grade,
thinking about, oh, do we have some movement out migration,
in migration of our community and making a guess
for what the enrollment will be.
And so what we are doing now I think is helping districts I don't think we're taking away local control
If I may sure I wasn't meaning that we were taking a way local Control
But are we assuming local risk for local decisions?
If they make a decision within the local school that causes
migration out of their school
Are we? Assuming the risk? For the the volatility of they're funding by them losing students?
I think co-chair story, the example would be the district eliminates counselors, families
aren't happy with that decision.
They leave the District.
They cut the football program.
They move, you know, various things.
I'll choose the chair.
To the Chair, if that happened, I'd think no matter what we did, there's a risk that
is changed.
And so there is always flexibility in the work that we do.
I thing as policy makers and in listening to the public too, which we'll hear from about
You know, that is, you know that
is always a factor in there.
Okay, thanks.
Representative Dibert.
Yes, thank you through the chair, co-chair.
Thank you, Rep. Story for bringing this forward.
I would just like to make two comments,
and maybe there's, I don't know if there is a question,
but as a educator for over two decades in Fairbanks,
So the interior is a unique place because we have a lot of our moose hunting happens
in the fall.
So there's a lotta movement with families coming into Fairbanks and then outgoing with
their families to get their food for their freezers and this would definitely help schools
And as myself
When I first got into teaching over a long time ago
the my first couple of years I was pink slipped and
That uncertainty like I wanted to buy a house in my community, but this pink slip, you know
Didn't allow that so it kind of shut that down and so when we do that to teachers
If we want teachers to stay in our community and buy homes and raise a family, I think that
this policy will help with that.
And I know that municipalities and districts have been pleading for this for years for
predictability, forward funding, kind of smoothing out that year to year volatile.
We have to lay them off.
They have clean up their classroom.
So this legislation aims to solve that.
And I think we'll help so many principals,
so any superintendents that we heard from last week.
And, I just thank you so much for bringing that this
legislation forward through the chair.
Thank you for those comments and Representative Schwanke.
Thank You chair him shoot through.
The chair
One of the biggest questions that I have on this is the size of
the fiscal note.
And so I'm hoping that maybe we can get a breakdown of
the components of
the physical note, you have several sections in the bill.
And, so they all do something a little bit different.
So I don't know if we
can try to get some more clarity on that.
That would be extremely helpful.
And then the other is kind of a comment and I do want to express a similar concern to
Rep. Elam.
My biggest concern with this is I feel like the heart of the bill really addresses the
fact that we have some declining enrollment issues across the state and districts are
funding and districts are panicking and how to continue with services.
And so one of my biggest concerns of the bill is that it does help alleviate some of
the risk and the fear is
that the districts aren't going to take the declining enrollment as serious.
And they're not going to be immediately forced to address the very specific reasons why families are leaving.
So I'll just leave that, that's just a big concern that I have.
Would you like to respond?
Yes, yes, thank you.
Through the chair, this, you know, nationwide, we're having less.
babies, yes, less young people, and we're moving out in different optional programs.
And so this has been a trend that's happening nationwide.
And some people call this averaging a declining enrollment adjustment that they have been doing across the states because it's the idea.
By the averaging is that you're giving your district, you know, time to smooth out the planning for your educational program and not doing a sudden drop, which is very alarming to families and just.
The ability to plan and so they've seen this really other districts have seen
This is really, other states have, seen, this is, really proactive to try and smooth that out for communities and are, you know, take it very seriously, they know it's a it
to delivering on the educational programs
you want to have for your students,
rather than all of a sudden abruptly responding
to a suddenly drop in enrollment.
And so it is meant to be a smoothing, a gliding.
And what it's the beauty about it based
on a three year enrollment, because I've
had some districts that say, hey,
if I gain three students this year,
I won't have that funding for those three
And then when I've talked to other states,
it's a reminder that, well, you won't this year,
but you know what's coming for next year.
You're gonna have those three students,
so you're planning your enrollment projections
based on that.
And so there can be,
you can go either way.
But I'm hopeful that it would be used
as the best way to plan your educational program.
Looking at the Fairbanks North Starboro, the number of miners has declined by, I think it was only 3%.
in the last 10 years and yet the borough school district declined in enrollment by 19 percent.
So that's a pretty significant gap that I think that the district itself needs to reflect on.
And I believe that The Hold Harmless Clause is actually fairly effective in doing what you're
attempting to do. And, I just worry that this might not be the fix that we're hoping it will be.
When you have to have a 5% enrollment drop to get to the hold harmless and the first
year it's 75% of the funding then it is 50% and then that's 30% which is pretty drastic
To me, I think when we look at education policy,
we have to think how it affects the communities,
how to affects wanting to keep teaching staff in the state.
And so our choice is do we want to,
and it deletes the whole harmless in here,
and moves to this gradual enrollment.
So do, we wanna provide it that way to our communities
or do wanna do what we currently have?
So that's the choice that we're weighing
and we know we are taking information on.
And I wanted to address the fiscal notes,
if I might make that question.
Could I have one brief section to ask Representative Schulke,
what is your source for that?
the decline in the number of minors.
Where's that study eater?
I'll have to get back to you on that.
It was a search that I had done a little while back.
Yeah, I can find those numbers for you.
Yeah. I'd like to see it sort of statewide.
Use that same source.
Thank you, okay.
Apologies, go ahead.
No, fine, thank you for your story.
Yes, not through the chair of the fiscal note.
And I was gonna address that after we heard
public testimony because I do wanna get to that
But I met with the department the other day about the fiscal note because I too was hoping it would be broken out on different components.
So like I said, the heart of the bill is a three year averaging.
So would there be amendments to move it down to a number that I felt we could do, like taking out some of
the components? So the Department is working on that. They're going to try and
meet that and we do have Heather Hineken online to answer some questions and so I'd like
after public testimony I would like to hear from her.
Okay and just for the awareness of the committee we're going to go until 10 minutes till 10 and
we have six people to testify. We do had Heather Heinecken online for questions.
We also have remarks online questions from the leg legal division and I think what we'll do now
So, testifiers will have two minutes for their testimony.
I want to remind the listening public that if they would like to testify,
they may call into the LIO office using the following telephone numbers.
If you are in June, 907-586-9085, if you're an Anchorage 901-563-9085,
all other areas of the state may called 906-586-90085.
We're going to open public testimony,
And we'll start with the folks in the room.
I think Lon Garrison signed up to testify.
So if you could come forward to the table,
please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.
Good morning.
For the Record, my name is Lon garrison.
I'm the Executive Director of the Association of Alaska School Boards.
Co-chairs, Hymshoot, and story and members of the House Education Committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today in support of House Bill 261.
On behalf of The Association of Alaska School Boards and
locally elected school boards across the state, ASB strongly supports the bill's provisions,
establishing a three year rolling average of student counts as a basis for determining the adjusted average daily membership.
This is a practical, common sense improvement that brings greater stability, predictability, and transparency to Alaska's public school funding system.
School districts must begin building budgets months before the final enrollment numbers are confirmed.
And when funding is driven primarily by a single annual count, even small enrollment fluctuations.
particularly in small and rural districts can result in a significant swing that complicates
staffing, programming, and long-term planning.
House Bill 261 addresses this challenge by allowing districts to use the greater of the prior year count or the three-year average.
And smoothing short term fluctuations while reflecting long term enrollment needs.
ASB also appreciates that the proposal strengthens the funding system without changing the existing count period.
Or modifying the current adjustment factors or adding administrative complexity.
Instead, it modernizes the calculation method while preserving the integrity of the current
foundation formula.
Equally important, using historical data allows districts and school boards to estimate funding
levels earlier in the budget cycle, improving decision making, and reducing mid-year disruptions,
and supporting a more stable education program for the students and their communities.
In short, House Bill 261 represents a thoughtful, balanced improvement that enhances the predictability while maintaining flexibility for districts experiencing growth.
For these reasons, the Association of Alaska School Boards respectfully urges the committee to advance House bill 261.
Thank you.
Thank You Mr. Garrison, appreciate your time.
If we could have Frank Houser come forward, please put your name on the record.
Begin your testimony good morning. Thank you for being here. Good morning
Coach our sims shoot co-chair story members of house education for the record
My name is Frank house or superintendent of the Juneau school district
And I appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony in support of House bill 261
I want to begin by emphasizing that House Bill 261 is not about increasing funding or changing the core structure of
the foundation formula
It's a technical and thoughtful update that improves stability consistency and alignment between how school districts are funded and how we are required to operate
As superintendents, we're required to make long-term decisions, staffing schools,
issuing contracts, and building budgets, well before enrollment is finalized and
foundation funding is certified.
These decisions must be made months in advance before the October count is complete.
House Bill 261 directly addresses that timing mismatch by allowing districts to rely on the greater a prior year ADM or a three year average ADMs.
That approach does not ignore enrollment trends.
Instead, it reduces short term volatility so districts can adjust responsibly over time without being forced into disruptive mid-year corrections that do not reflect changes in student needs.
House Bill 261 also addresses an important equity issue related to school size.
Under current statute, small alternative schools operate as separate facilities in larger districts
are treated differently than similarly sized alternative school in smaller districts.
That difference is not based on the needs of the students served or the programs offered,
but on how many students reside in a district.
House Bill 261 corrects that inconsistency
by allowing separately administered facilities
to be counted as their own school
regardless of district size.
It simply ensures that funding reflects
the operational realities and does not penalize districts
based on the district enrollment
for offering alternative pathways that meet student needs.
Finally, House bill 261 improves the way
intensus special education services are funded
by recognizing that student
needs do not align neatly with a single count date.
Districts are legally obligated to serve students with intensive needs wherever they enroll and whenever they
enroll, and funding should reflect that reality.
The bill accomplishes this without changing eligibility requirements or service expectations.
Taken together, Hospital 261 improves predictability, fairness, and alignment.
It supports responsibility planning, consistent treatment across programs,
and most importantly, civility for students.
On behalf of the Geno School District, I respectfully urge your support for Hospital 161.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify,
and I'm happy to answer any questions.
Thank You, Mr. Houser.
We're going to go to our online folks.
We are going start with Kristi Sitz.
Identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.
Culture is him shooting story and members of the House Education Committee.
For the records, my name is Christie Sitz and I serve as the president of
the Anchorage Education Association. I've spent 27 plus years as an educator and live in Trigiac.
As an ASD graduate and a parent of four, I have seen firsthand how stability shapes a child's
I'm speaking today to emphasize how the lack of stability profoundly affects educators
and their students. Currently, many teachers in our district change schools every year due
to fluctuations in student enrollment. This continuous upheaval is stressful for teachers,
families, and students alike. Educators typically do not master their craft or curriculum
By changing schools, grade levels, and curricula annually, teachers are prevented from reaching
their full professional potential and providing the best possible support for their students.
On behalf of the thousands of educators and Anchorage, I want to thank Representative
Story for sponsoring HB 261.
We are currently caught in a cycle of backwards budgeting that is damaging the future of
Under the current system, school districts are forced into high stakes guesswork.
We ask administrators to post staff programs based on a roller coaster of uncertainty rather
than actual needs of students. The most moralizing part of this process is the annual ritual of pink
slips. In Anchorage, we are witnessing a painful exodus of both early career and experience educators.
They don't wait until late summer to see if they are going to get their job back.
They find stability in other states or other professions.
They leave Alaska and they don' t come back."
HV-261 ends the limbo budgeting. By using a three-year student count average, it ensures
programs remain intact regardless of minor fluctuations.
Can you please wrap up your comments? It allows.
I'm just asking if you could wrap up your comments.
We cannot solve Alaska's educator shortage,
one of the worst in the country.
If we continue to treat our professionals
as disposable budget line items,
I respectfully urge you to advance HB 261, thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Sitz, I apologize.
We're trying to keep our testimony to two minutes.
So if we could now go to Rod Morrison.
In Thorn Bay, Mr. Morrison, please put your name on record.
Good morning.
Yes.
My name is Rod Morton.
I'm superintendent of Southeast Island School District on Consul Wales Island.
Please begin for two minutes.
Okay.
I'll keep it brief.
I want to say that I've been in Alaska since 2001 as an administrator,
and this is the first bill that will help small school.
maintain a predictable budget.
I'm a district of eight schools in the past three years.
Our enrollment went from 194 to 164.
That's 200.
Last year we had a school on whale path that we
had budgeted for 11 kids to be there, which is just enough
to keep the school open and only nine showed up.
As a result, our district lost over $300,000,
which equates, I got to test three teachers.
you know, shut that community down. The schools are the centerpiece of our community.
This year, we'll pass them back up to 15 students, so we're able to keep it open,
but the lack of stability is awfully tough when we go to higher teachers.
And I want to hire teachers that want us to stay in our state and provide quality
education for all. So this just builds fantastic and super happy to see it there.
Thank you for your testimony. We're going to go next to Cindy O'Daniel and Skagway.
If you could put your name on record and begin your testimony, you'll have two minutes.
Yeah, hi. This is Cindy Odaniel. I'm the business manager at Skaggway School District.
Thank You for the opportunity to testify today.
I am speaking today in support of House Bill 261 from the perspective of a small rural school with luxury and enrollment.
In rural Alaska Enrollment Shift, don't mean that our costs disappear.
We still have to staff classrooms with the heat and ensure buildings with a meet, state
and federal requirements.
Under the current system, a small drop in student numbers can trigger an immediate and significant
loss of funding.
Right now, school funding is largely based on a single October student count.
That snapshot doesn't reflect how our communities actually change over school year, families
move in and out, students arrive mid-year, and students' needs evolve.
House Bill 261 addresses this problem in a practical way.
It doesnít increase the base student allocation,
and it doesníst ask for new money.
Instead, it gives districts the ability to use student count that best reflects reality.
a three-year average or a later count creating consistency, especially when a class sizes
swing between one and 18 students. For districts experiencing enrollment the client of matters,
it allows us to adjust responsibly instead of making sudden cuts that disrupt classrooms,
eliminate programs, or force staff reductions mid-the year. Stability and funding means stability
This bill also helps rural districts respond when students with intensive needs arrive
or are identified after October.
Both services are legally required and the costs are real.
House Bill 261 allows funding to better match those realities and support students.
Again, thank you for the opportunity.
I thank for bringing this bill forward.
Thank you, Ms. O'Daniel. Thanks for calling in today. We're going to go next to our final
online testifier, Caroline Storm, from Anchorage. If you could put your name on record and begin
your testimonial, you'll have two minutes. Good morning, co-chairs, chemistry, and story,
and as a house education committee, thank you for this opportunity to testify.
As I'm sorry, my name is Caroline storm. I am executive director of the coalition for
and as such, I am calling in support of H.E.T. 61 for more stable public school funding.
School boards and districts do their best to budget based on the known value of the BSA
and their projected student count every year before they know how many students are going
to be enrolled. Every year, at least one district is caught off guard with counts
based in October that don't account for students who have moved in or out of the district.
And as such, they have budgeted based on either too few or too many students.
And this is problematic when they're trying to adjust their budget in
October, once the school year has already begun.
You're doing great.
Declining enrollment is an issue.
However, it is not solely the fault of districts.
There are many factors and many reasons why parents decide to move out of state or to
a different district until the legislature is willing to address the fixed costs that
districts are saddled with and cannot change.
districts with sneezing their operations there is not one silver bullet to fixing
the public education funding but this is one small lever to adjust in order to
provide more stability for school districts and as such again I urge
support of this bill and hope that it passes out of
this committee thank you very much thank
No one else in the room and no one
else online and we are going to go ahead
and close public testimony.
And so with that we're going
to hold House Bill 261 over.
I'm gonna wrap up.
Did you want to add something?
Co-chair story, we have about one minute.
Thank you. I did want to co-chair him shooting the committee, acknowledge that Heather Heineken
has been on the line to answer questions about the fiscal note, but we will hold that. And
what I wanted to thank her for being there online today. We had both Heather heinecken and Marie
Marks online to help us with questions this morning. If you have questions for them,
we are going to bring this bill back. But for today, we're going go ahead and wrap up.
What I'm calling on time, the new on-time is 10 minutes till 10.
On Monday, so we're going to hold House Bill 261 over.
On Sunday, this committee will hold our first joint Senate and House Education meeting from
8 until 10, here in this room where we will be hearing from the Alaska Association of Schoolboards.
This concludes the committee hearing for this morning.
Education Committee meeting is adjourned.