Association of Alaska School Boards
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of education news for Alaska's School Board Members.
Association of
Alaska School Boards, 1111 West 9th St., Juneau, AK 99801. Tel.
907-586-1083,
Fax 907-586-2995. Carl Rose, Executive Director,
crose@aasb.org: John Greely, Editor, jgreely@aasb.org. Review past issues of
the E-News on
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stating the same to jgreely@aasb.org.
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AASB E-News
August 17, 2007
--EDUCATION TASK FORCE FINALIZES RECOMMENDATIONS
--EXCELLENCE IN EDUCTION EARNS MONEY
--STUDY: PARENTS IN DENIAL DESPAIR AS TEEN DRUG USE GROWS
--SCHOOLS READY TO TAKE ON BULLYING
--ONE STUDENTÕS EFFORTS WORTH $20,000 IN AID TO SU VALLEY HIGH
--CHARTER SCHOOL CLOSER TO ENROLLMENT GOAL
--TOWNSFOLK WIDE-EYED OVER $18 MILLILON SCHOOL
EDUCATION TASK FORCE NEARS
FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Implement the ISER report. Increase funding for intensive
needs students. And forward fund K-12 education. Those major recommendations
from a task force of legislators won support of Alaska school districts and
moved closer to a formal endorsement on Thursday as the Joint Legislative
Education Funding Task Force completed the seventh of its planned eight
meetings.
ÒI am very encouraged by the work of the task force and the
universal support offered by school districts. It bodes well for success in
2008,Ó said Carl Rose, AASB executive director and the only non-legislative
member of the task force.
The task force reached a consensus to recommend the
Legislature enact a new District Cost Factor in the stateÕs foundation program
for K-12 schools based on a 2005 study by the Institute for Social and Economic
Research at the University of Alaska. The ISER study would funnel about $100
million in additional aid to districts outside Anchorage to offset the higher
cost of goods and services. The task force recommends the increase be phased in
between FY 2009 and 2013.
The intensive needs proposal would raise the formula
multiplier from the current 5 times the Base Student Allocation to 9 times the
BSA in FY 2009, 11 times the BSA in FY 10 and 13 times the BSA in FY 11. At the
same time, the BSA would increase $100 annually from the current $5,380 to
$5,680 in FY 11, a step toward forward funding of education by the state that
would allow districts to plan their budgets in a more timely fashion.
The task force, chaired by Rep. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage,
heard additional testimony on Thursday from school districts, including
Anchorage Superintendent Carol Comeau
and Board President Jeff Friedman. They endorsed the work of the task force to
date.
ÒThis has been a process of consensus. School districts and
the task force worked together on this,Ó Rose said. ÒWe didnÕt get all we wanted, but we have made progress for
every district.Ó
The task force is scheduled to meet on Aug. 30 in Anchorage
to finalize the report to the Legislature.
See additional coverage of
the task force deliberations here:
http://newsminer.com/2007/08/17/8446
And here:
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6944709
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EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION
EARNS MONEY
The state will be awarding school districts $1.85 million
worth of incentive payments earned during the most recent school year,
Commissioner of Education & Early Development Roger Sampson announced
Tuesday. The payments will go to educators and support staff whose students
showed market improvement from the previous school year in reading, writing and
math. See full story here:
http://www.adn.com/news/education/story/9221638p-9137777c.html
For a list of the schools
which will receive the awards, click here:
http://www.adn.com/news/education/story/9221637p-9137770c.html
Additional coverage of the
story from the Fairbanks area is here:
http://newsminer.com/2007/08/15/8408
The Anchorage Daily News
dissects the Performance Incentive Program in this editorial:
http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/9228346p-9144205c.html
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STUDY: PARENTS IN DENIAL,
DESPAIR AS TEEN DRUG USE GROWS
Teenagers say drug problems at school are getting worse, and
parents express doubts about ever making such schools drug free, a new study
says. The percentage of teens who say they attend high schools with drug
problems has increased from 44 percent to 61 percent since 2002, and the
percentage in middle schools has increased from 19 percent to 31 percent,
according to the survey by Columbia University. See full story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/16/teens.substance.abuse.ap/index.html
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SCHOOLS READY TO TAKE ON
BULLYING
You can get used to anything, but kids should never have to
get used to feeling unsafe. Too often in schools, that is not the case. Haines
Borough schools are no exception, but officials say they hope to implement an
anti-bullying program. See full story here:
http://www.chilkatvalleynews.com/story-3.html
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ONE STUDENTÕS EFFORTS WORTH
$20,000 IN AID TO SU VALLEY HIGH
The Fred Meyer Foundation awarded $13,000 to Susitna Valley
Junior/Senior High School to help replace some of the equipment lost in the
fire that destroyed the school in June. The donation, and others like it, was
prompted in part by the initiative of one student, Grant Hicks of Willow. See
full story here:
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/9222495p-9138627c.html
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CHARTER SCHOOL CLOSER TO ITS
ENROLLMENT GOAL
Classes started Monday at Effie Kokrine Charter School, with
132 students attending. ThatÕs below the 150 school officials were hoping would
sign up so that the charter school would get a financial boost from the state,
but a marked increase from last yearÕs 99 students. Officials credit an
intensive recruiting campaign and the schoolÕs Early College Program with the
boost in enrollment. See full story here:
http://newsminer.com/2007/08/15/8406
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TOWNSFOLK WIDE-EYED OVER $18
MILLION SCHOOL
Sometimes things really do work out. Sometimes we use our
collective talent and money to do great things, like build new public schools.
Sometimes we even manage to build them on time and under budget and make sure
that they look like a million bucks – or in the case of the new Haines
school, about 18 million bucks. For the full feature by School Board member
Heather Lende, click here:
http://www.adn.com/life/lende/story/9225354p-9141311c.html
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Alaska School Boards
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Association of
Alaska School Boards
1111 West 9th
Street, Juneau, Alaska 99801-1510 Tel. 907-586-1083
Fax 907-586-2995 Email: aasb@aasb.org
Website: http://www.aasb.org