HB 109 and HB 172 passed the senate.  There were no changes made in the Senate to HB 109, so it has passed both bodies and will now be sent to the governor.

HB 172 had two changes made to it, so the house will have to vote on it again before it is sent to the governor.  The changes made were that, one, the Department of Revenue would have four years, instead of five for investing in the education loan fund; and two, that the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education “shall develop a proposal for a state program under which the state would repay all or part of loans to students for costs of postsecondary education.  The corporation shall submit its proposal to the legislature on January 19, 2010.”

The conference committee has concluded its work on the operating budget.  The committee substitute should be posted on BASIS soon (select the "full text" button).

HB 204 was heard and held in the House Finance Committee.  It would allow WWAMI to accommodate up to 24 new program participants each year in the program (four students more than the current number of new program participants each year).  HB 204 is identical to SB 18.

The committee discussed the cost of the current WWAMI program, additional costs that would be incurred by passage of HB 204, and how much state general funds support each student.  The current cost of the program is just over two million dollars per fiscal year.  Additional costs incurred by passage of HB 204 are contained in the fiscal note from ACPE.  The additional costs would be $210,300 in FY 2012, $425,200 in FY 2013, $550,300 in FY 2014, and $557,400 in FY 2015.  The state general fund cost per WWAMI student is $90,000 total for the four years of the program.  Alaska WWAMI students return to practice in the state at a rate of 50 percent.  If WWAMI students from other states are counted, the return rate is 88 percent.

HB 105 was heard in and moved from the House Finance Committee with two fiscal notes from the Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development.  HB 105 makes changes to the State Training and Employment Program (STEP) as recommended by the STEP Task Force.  Changes recommended by the task force include reducing training of non-state residents, increasing opportunities for private businesses to provide training through the program, including the Alaska Workforce Investment Board in oversight of STEP regulations, limiting the amount of money spent on administrative program costs to 20 percent, implementing an appeal process for grant applicants, and making the program permanent with no sunset date. 

Staff from the Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development and staff of the bill's sponsor testified that the program is funded through unemployment insurance  contributions.  The program has been fine-tuned to remove barriers between union and non-union participation, and rural and urban participation.  Since the program is funded through unemployment insurance contributions, participants must have an employment history and paid into the system.  There are other programs in place to accomodate the employment training needs of people with little or no work history.  The Finance Committee did not make any changes to the bill.  HB 105 goes to the House Rules Committee for placement on the House Calendar. 

HB 172 was heard in the Senate Finance Committee.  During the hearing Jerry Burnett, Dept. of Revenue, and Diane Barrans, Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, said they looked at different options for financing future student loans, including a direct appropriation.  Other states have used different mechanisms for solving this problem, but all the mechanisms require some sort of financial committment from the state.  In looking at the issue, they determined that the one contained in HB 172 would be the most beneficial to the state, and at the same time solve the problem of being able to continue funding student loans.  The Senate Finance Committee held the bill for future consideration. 

The House failed to concur with the Senate amendments to HB 81 and HB 83, and appointed conference committees for the two bills in the event the Senate fails to recede from its amendments.  House conference committee members for both bills are: Rep. Hawker (chair), Rep. Stoltze, and Rep. Crawford.  The bills will be returned to the Senate; it is expected the Senate will appoint senate conference committee members later this week. 

HB 206 was heard and held in the House Education Committee.  Chairman Seaton noted that the committee had heard from school districts concerned with the cost districts may incur from the provisions requiring the districts to pay for college and vocational classes.  An amendment will be drafted so that costs to districts will be limited.  It was also noted that there was no uniform standard across districts as to who paid for college classes for high school students.  One committee member suggested deleting the section of HB 206 that refers to school districts paying for college classes.  There was objection to that suggestion, since that deletion would mean that some students still would not have access to college classes if the student is required to pay all of the tuition and fees.  Chairman Seaton asked people to submit suggestions to the committee so that they could reach the goal of access to college classes.

The committee also heard a presentation from the Dept. of Education & Early Development on WorkKeys testing which outlined each portion of the test and how some other states were using the test.  WorkKeys will be required testing for all high school juniors in Alaska beginning in the 2009-2010 school year.  Alaska Job Centers are also using the test for job seekers. 

Senate Finance heard, but did not complete the hearing, on HB 109 this morning.  Continuation of this hearing will be scheduled for sometime next week.  During both this hearing and the Senate Majority press availability on Tuesday, March 31, Senator Stedman announced that HB 109 would be moved from Senate Finance, but not before changes were made to the bill. 

During the Senate Finance Committee hearing this morning, committee members expressed concern that, since HB 109 requires borrowers to have a good credit history, passage of the bill would preclude some students from receiving student loans, thereby preventing them from pursuing higher education.  Co-chairman Stedman noted that most young adults just getting out of high school don't have a credit history.  He asked how HB 109 would affect students from low-income families or families with no or bad credit histories.  Katie Koester, aid to Representative Seaton, said that group may indeed be excluded from receiving Alaska Supplemental Education Loans and Alaska Family Education Loans, although only 20% of applicants for student loans are under 21.  In addition, those students would still be eligible for Stafford student loans (federally guaranteed student loans). 

According to Diane Barrans, executive director ACPE / executive officer ASLC, the situation addressed by HB 109 is urgent,  and other states are facing the same situation.  Some states are no longer making student loans, some are buying the bonds themselves, and one is creating a guaranteed fund.  However, Alaska, in not requiring any credit for securing a student loan, is an anomoly among states. 

Committee members expressed great concern that students not be precluded from attending college due to a lack of credit history or difficult family financial situations.  HB 109 will be taken up again by the Senate Finance Committee at a later date.

HB 184 was heard in the House Finance Committee.  This bill increases the bond debt service cap for the university from $1,000,000 to $2,500,000 before legislative reporting is required.  The cap of $1,000,000 was set back in 1990.  Since that time, inflation has eroded the value of the cap, and it would be helpful to the university to have the cap increased.  revenue bonds and the debt service resulting from the bonds are critical components in securing funding for capital projects.  Increasing the cap reduces the administrative burden for both the university and the legislature.

During the hearing, Co-chairman Hawker asked the sponsor to clarify that HB 184 would not change the requirement that the University receive approval from the Legislature for projects.  Representative Kelly, sponsor of HB 184, replied that was correct.  The University would still have to get approveal from the Legislature for receipt authority for projects.  Representative Fairclough noted that the provisions in HB 184 would cover leases also.

The House Finance Committee moved the bill with individual recommendations and a zero fiscal note.  No changes have been made so far to HB 184.  It goes now to the Rules Committee for placement on the House Calendar.

The House passed HB 172 and transmitted it to the Senate.  It has not yet been referred to committees in the Senate. 

HB 109 was heard in and moved from the Senate Education Committee.  The committee did not make any changes to the original bill, and it is now in the Senate Finance Committee

Several pieces of legislation that would shore up the ability of the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education to provide student loans are moving through the legislature.  

Today the Senate Education Committee heard SB 140.  SB 140 (identical to HB 172) would allow the commissioner of the Department of Revenue to invest money in the education loan fund during times the Alaska Student Loan Corporation is unable to finance student loan demand through the issuance of bonds.  Changes in the capital market in the last year resulted in ASLC being unable to issue bonds.  Until passage of this legislation, ASLC will be unable to issue student loans for the 2009-2010 school year.

On Tuesday, March 17 HB 172 was heard in and moved from the House Finance Committee.  HB 172 is identical to SB 140.  The House Finance Committee adopted a committee substitute and two indeterminate fiscal notes.  The committee substitute directs the commissioner of the Department of Revenue to require the Alaska Student Loan Corporate to secure the investment of state money.  HB 172 moves now to the House Rules Committee, which schedules bills for floor votes.

On Friday, March 13, the house passed HB 109 , which would allow the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education to adopt emergency regulations specifying that, for Alaska Supplemental Education Loans (ASEL) borrowers must have "a credit history, at the time of application for a loan, that demonstrates an ability and willingness to pay an extension of credit or loan as it becomes due."  It also caps the annual interest rate at 8.25 percent.  Both those provisions would become effective for loans made for a school year beginning on or after July 1, 2009.  The Alaska Student Loan Corporation requested this legislation so that it can continue to use ASEL loans as collateral in securing bonds.  No changes were made to the original bill in the house.  HB 109 was transmitted to the senate and referred to the Senate Education and Finance Committees. 

SB 18, which would increase the number of medical students participating in WWAMI, was heard in the Senate Education Committee.  Here are documents related to the hearing on February 27 and this hearing.  The committee adopted a committee substitute and moved the bill from committee. 

The committee substitute makes several changes.  First, the committee substitute specifies the program to "accommodate up to and including 24 new program participants each year."  The committee substitute also removes Section 2 (d), which would have expanded the program to at least 30 new program participants every year beginning July 1, 2012.  The change was made because any more than 24 new participants per year would greatly increase the costs of the program. 

HB 126 was heard in the House Education Committee.  The bill relates to education of homeless students, medical assistance, and tuition waivers for a person who was in the custody of the state or out-of-home care, foster care, and juvenile programs and institutions. The committee adopted a new committee substitute for HB 126 and moved the bill from committee.  One change made in the committee substitute is that tuition waivers will only be provided if the legislature appropriates funds for the waivers.  HB 126 is now in the House Health & Social Services Committee. 

Don Shackelford, vice president of the Avant-Garde Learning Foundation reported on their various projcets.  His written testimony, a summary of the ISER report on Avant-Garde's Alaska Native Teacher Initiave, and a recording of the hearing are all posted on BASIS.

Avant-Garde’s largest project is the Alaska Native Teacher Initiative, funded by Shell Oil.  Original partners in the project were the Aleutians East, Bristol Bay, Lake & Peninsula, North Slope, and Northwest Arctic School Districts; and APU, UAF’s Bristol Bay and Chukchi community campuses, Ilisagvik College, and UAS.  A group of 33 students are taking their first course together this semester, with indirect support for 97 other students. The program is decentralized, with participants spread throughout the five participating school districts and five participating campuses.  ISER is evaluating the project.  Many participants are paraprofessionals currently employed in village schools.  Shackelford said that even though the initiative is not limited to native students, it has mostly native students because it is limited to rural areas.  An important facet of the program is that it is culturally relevant, so even though it has non-native students, he thinks it is accurately named “The Alaska Native Teacher Initiative.”

Chancellor Pugh also testified briefly about the PITAAS program and participation in the Alaska Native Teacher Initiative.  PITAAS gets 25 new students per year, and there are about 60 students total in the program right now. 

Avant-Garde’s other project is an alignment study looking at what students need to succeed in school.  One area of concern found was the large variation in school readiness found in students just entering elementary school.  Avante-Garde recommends early childhood education to address that variation. 

The other area of concern is the transition from high school to college, and what students need to make the transition.  High school students need to be challenged to take more difficult courses, and need more counseling to prepare for college or working.  In addition, entry requirements for the University of Alaska’s different campuses are not uniform or transparent.  UAF requires 430 on the SAT to enter English 111, while UAA requires 530 on the SAT to enter English 111, and UAS does not accept SAT scores at all for English 111, but requires a different test altogether (p. 2 ISER Summary).  Avante-Garde wants funding from the legislature for the second part of the alignment study.

After the Avant-Garde presentation, the committee heard HB 126.  The committee adopted three amendments, the first of which relates to university tuition, fees, room and board waivers for persons formerly in foster care.  The amendment states that waivers will only be provided if the legislature appropriates funds for the waivers.  The amendments and proposed committee substitute can be viewed through the link above.  The bill was held over to the House Education Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 11, 2009.

HB 58 was heard in the House Education Committee.  The committee adopted a committee substitute.  Sections 1-4 of the bill are unchanged, but the eligibility criteria contained in Section 5 has been changed.  The change removes the list of specific employment fields for eligibility.  New requirements for eligibility are: 1. Be a resident at the time of applying for the program; 2. Be working full time in a field determined by the Department of Labor to be in a shortage in the state; 3. Applicant began working in the designated field in Alaska within four years of attaining his/her degree; and 4. Student received a loan from the Alaska Student Loan Corporation.  The committee substitute also clarified that the loan repayment will only be for the outstanding loan amount at the time of application to the program.  Reimbursment will not be made for any loan amount which the student has already repaid. 

There is a good deal of background information posted under the bill in BASIS, including an 8-page list of vacant positions within the State of Alaska.  Some of the position classes with large vacancy rates are Administrative Clerks, Public Health Nurses, Fish & Wildlife Technicians, Fishery Biologists, State Troopers, Environmental Program Specialists, Engineering Assistants, Engineer/Architects, Engineering Technicians, and Staff Psychiatrists.  According to a letter from DNR, some positions in that department may have smaller vacancy rates, but are critical positions that have been left unfilled due to a lack of qualified job candidates. 

The House Education Committee requested a new fiscal note for the committee substitute and is holding the bill for future hearings.

SB 33 was heard in and moved from the Senate Education Committee.  This bill would establish a scholarship program and endowment fund that will award scholarships based on both financial need and achievement.  A committee substitute was adopted.  Changes in the committee substitute include changing the allowable cumulative GPA from 3.0 to 2.5, and adding the United States Department of Education as an allowable accrediting institution.  SB 33 is now in the Senate Finance Committee.

The University of Alaska Board of Regents is required (by SB 241, which was passed in 2008) to report to the legislature its efforts to attract, train, and retain public school teachers.  The report was presented on February 18 to a joint hearing of the House and Senate Education Committees  Minutes, audio, and backup documents of the hearing are available on BASIS.