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.

May 26, 2006

--GOVERNOR SIGNS HB 13, INCREASING AID FOR K-12 SCHOOLS
--NEW POLL SHOWS VOTERS WANT FEDERAL DOLLARS FOR EDUCATION
--LEGISLATURE IN RECESS UNTIL MAY 31
--GOVERNOR SIGNS STATE BUDGET, WITH $400 MILLION FOR K-12
--FCC ORDERS NEW E-RATE FLEXIBILITY

GOVERNOR SIGNS HB 13, INCREASING AID FOR K-12 SCHOOLS

Just before announcing his plans to run for a second term, Governor Murkowski signed HB 13 on Thursday in Fairbanks.  The legislation raises the Base Student Allocation in the state foundation funding formula for K-12 schools from the current $4,919 to $5,380, effective July 1.  It also implements the first adjustment to the Area Cost Differential in the formula since 1998.  And HB 13 extends the popular school bond reimbursement program until 2008 and enacts a pilot program for providing staff bonuses to schools whose students improve on state tests.  AASB supported passage of HB 13.  For a news account of the bill signing, see this link:
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~3319013,00.html


NEW POLL SHOWS VOTERS WANT FEDERAL DOLLARS FOR EDUCATION.

As members of Congress head home for the Memorial Day holiday, a national poll from the National School Boards Association finds a majority of likely voters believe that Congress is out of touch with the public’s expectations when it comes to funding federal education programs and want congress to fulfill its funding commitment to schoolchildren.  See full news release and links to the poll here:
http://www.nsba.org/site/doc.asp?TRACKID=&VID=2&CID=1782&DID=38485 <http://www.nsba.org/site/doc.asp?TRACKID=&amp;VID=2&amp;CID=1782&amp;DID=38485>

The poll also illustrates the significant disconnect between the current federal investment in education funding and what voters think is spent. On average, voters believe that 20 percent of the federal budget is currently spent on K-12 education, a far cry from the 1.5 percent actually spent and the 37 percent those polled said should be spent.

LEGISLATURE IN RECESS UNTIL MAY 31

Both houses of the Alaska Legislature return to the work of the special session on oil and gas issues next Wednesday, May 31st. That’s the day that many of them will be filing their official candidate papers for the August primary election. (The deadline to file for office is June 1).  

Before recessing this week, the Senate voted 15 to 4 in favor of a bill modifying the state petroleum production tax and sent it to the House. The House Finance Committee is scheduled to debate that bill May 31.. SB 2001 is the latest version of an oil tax bill that dominated the regular session agenda but failed on the final night before adjournment May 9.  The governor called the special session the following day.

In the meantime, the Murkowski administration has embarked on a series of public meetings around the state to solicit citizen comment on a proposed contract with major oil companies concerning a North Slope natural gas pipeline. Here is an account of last night’s meeting in Fairbanks:
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~3319006,00.html


GOVERNOR SIGNS OPERATING BUDGET, WITH $400 MILLION FOR K-12

HB 365, the state operating budget for the 2007 fiscal year, was signed into law on Monday by Governor Murkowski. He issued no vetoes to the budget. The $3 billion spending plan includes about $400 million for K-12 education, including $54.7 million to underwrite the cost of pupil transportation statewide.  Although the governor’s news release on the budget signing  (available at http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php?id=2398 ) mentions the figure of $1 billion in state assistance to schools next year, the full amount won’t be available until he signs SB 231, the capital budget.  The legislature inserted $565 million for K-12 education funding in SB 231.


FCC Orders New E-rate FlexibilitY

The Federal Communications Commission released two significant appeal decisions on May 19th that will dramatically affect the way the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) reviews and processes E-rate applications. The two key decisions clarify the FCC's position that allowances for program applicants may be warranted in order to assure that all legitimate funding requests are approved, and further criticized the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) for its currently inflexible review procedures. The two appeal decisions are:

In Order re. Bishop Perry Middle School et al. ( FCC 06-54 <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-54A1.doc////////ohttp://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-54A1.doc////////t_blank> <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-54A1.doc////////ohttp://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-54A1.doc////////t_blank>  ) the FCC granted 196 appeals and waivers concerning funding denials related to clerical or ministerial errors in the application such as failing to meet certain minimum processing standards, late filings of Form 470, and submissions made outside the Form 471 filing window. In these cases, the FCC opined that the violation at issue was procedural, not substantive, and therefore the complete rejection of these applications was not warranted. The FCC acknowledged the complexity of the program and indicated that E-rate was not the primary job of most of the people filling out these forms, especially in small school districts.

The second, Order re. Academy of Careers and Technologies et al. (FCC 06-55 <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-55A1.doc////////ohttp://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-55A1.doc////////t_blank> <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-55A1.doc////////ohttp://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-55A1.doc////////t_blank>  ) affected a more targeted aspect of the application review procedures - the so-called "pattern analysis" process - under which the SLD had been denying applications for reasons such as similarities in application forms among applicants associated with the same vendor. In this case, the FCC decided that it is incumbent on USAC to conduct further investigation and analysis prior to denying funding since there may be legitimate reasons why applicants could have used similar language in their applications.

While the decisions do not do away with any existing E-rate program rules and requirements, the FCC has instructed USAC to be more accommodating in future applications. In total, the two appeal decisions involve applications potentially worth an estimated $106 million. The decisions should have "minimal effect" on the Universal Service Fund as a whole, however, since USAC already has a reserve to handle outstanding appeals.