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CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 143(CRA) am H
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - SECOND SESSION
BY THE SENATE COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Amended: 5/13/26
Offered: 3/18/26
Sponsor(s): SENATOR YUNDT
REPRESENTATIVE Vance
A BILL
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED
"An Act relating to ethics and budget training for school board members; relating to the 1
terms of office of municipal school board members; relating to the size of the city council 2
in second class cities; and providing for an effective date." 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 4
* Section 1. AS 14.07.020(a) is amended to read: 5
(a) The department shall 6
(1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 7
except the University of Alaska; 8
(2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 9
adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 10
performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 11
of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 12
develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college 13
preparatory courses; 14
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(3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 1
governing bodies and personnel; 2
(4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 3
schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 4
given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 5
(5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and 6
Community Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held 7
in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are 8
defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment; 9
(6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 10
prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 11
department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 12
session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 13
whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 14
the members of each house; 15
(7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 16
marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 17
conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 18
physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 19
private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 20
(8) exercise general supervision over early education programs that 21
receive direct state or federal funding, including early education programs provided by 22
a school district for students four and five years of age, approve an early education 23
program provided by a school district that complies with the standards adopted by the 24
board under AS 14.07.165(a)(5), and revoke approval of an early education program if 25
the program does not comply with the standards adopted by the board under 26
AS 14.07.165(a)(5); 27
(9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 28
correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 29
educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 30
Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 31
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(10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 1
accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 2
paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 3
licensed; 4
(11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 5
secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 6
elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 7
department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 8
construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 9
include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 10
and costs, and final contract documents; 11
(12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 12
education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 13
are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 14
unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 15
will lead to employment opportunities; 16
(13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 17
(14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 18
school bus driver training course; 19
(15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 20
and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 21
behavior; 22
(16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 23
under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 24
practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 25
(A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 26
and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 27
(B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 28
AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 29
consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 30
increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 31
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arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 1
(C) a process for districts to petition the department for 2
continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 3
(17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 4
education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 5
redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 6
(18) establish a reading program to provide direct support for and 7
intervention in the reading intervention programs of participating schools as described 8
in AS 14.30.765 and 14.30.770; 9
(19) annually convene, either in person or electronically, a panel to 10
review and comment on the effectiveness of the programs created by the department 11
and the regulations adopted by the board to implement AS 14.03.410, 14.03.420, 12
AS 14.30.760 - 14.30.770, and 14.30.800; the panel 13
(A) shall provide recommendations and guidance to the board, 14
the department, and the legislature on how to integrate early education and 15
reading programs created under this title with tribal compacting or programs 16
focused on cultural education within the department; 17
(B) shall discuss support for reading in Alaska Native 18
languages and other non-English languages; 19
(C) must collectively represent the regions of the state and 20
include teachers of grades kindergarten through three, school administrators, 21
parents of students in grades kindergarten through three, stakeholders from 22
Indigenous language immersion programs, representatives from early 23
education stakeholder groups, and researchers of best practices for improving 24
literacy performance, including best practices for instruction of Indigenous 25
students and students whose first language is not English; 26
(20) provide school board ethics and budgeting training to school 27
board members who are required to receive the training under AS 14.08.041(g) 28
and AS 14.12.045. 29
* Sec. 2. AS 14.07.020(a), as amended by sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 2022, is amended to read: 30
(a) The department shall 31
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(1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state 1
except the University of Alaska; 2
(2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, 3
adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate grants to improve school 4
performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement 5
of the public schools; the department may consult with the University of Alaska to 6
develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college 7
preparatory courses; 8
(3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school 9
governing bodies and personnel; 10
(4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public 11
schools; the regulations must provide that, if a course in American Sign Language is 12
given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language; 13
(5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and 14
Community Services, a program for the continuing education of children who are held 15
in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are 16
defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment; 17
(6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards 18
prescribed by regulation by the department; these regulations shall be adopted by the 19
department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular 20
session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, 21
whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of 22
the members of each house; 23
(7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire 24
marshal and the state sanitarian, standards that will ensure healthful and safe 25
conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement of 26
physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for 27
private schools may not be more stringent than those for public schools; 28
(8) exercise general supervision over early education programs that 29
receive direct state or federal funding, including early education programs provided by 30
a school district for students four and five years of age; 31
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(9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary 1
correspondence study programs offered by municipal school districts or regional 2
educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any 3
Alaskan through a centralized office a correspondence study program; 4
(10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet 5
accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; nothing in this 6
paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be 7
licensed; 8
(11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and 9
secondary schools and for additions to and major rehabilitation of existing public 10
elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the 11
department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school 12
construction or major maintenance project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" 13
include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption 14
and costs, and final contract documents; 15
(12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational 16
education and training, and basic education to individuals over 16 years of age who 17
are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor 18
unions to develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that 19
will lead to employment opportunities; 20
(13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11; 21
(14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a 22
school bus driver training course; 23
(15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary 24
and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent 25
behavior; 26
(16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, 27
under which the department may intervene in a school district to improve instructional 28
practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include 29
(A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies 30
and the instructional practice changes proposed by the department; 31
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(B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in 1
AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three 2
consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent 3
increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in language 4
arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and 5
(C) a process for districts to petition the department for 6
continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention; 7
(17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over 8
education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or 9
redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15); 10
(18) provide school board ethics and budgeting training to school 11
board members who are required to receive the training under AS 14.08.041(g) 12
and AS 14.12.045. 13
* Sec. 3. AS 14.08.041 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 14
(g) Within 30 days after beginning a term, each regional school board member 15
shall receive training provided by the department on the topics of school board ethics 16
and budgeting. 17
* Sec. 4. AS 14.12 is amended by adding a new section to read: 18
Sec. 14.12.045. Required training for school board members. Within 30 19
days after beginning a term, each school board member shall receive training provided 20
by the department on the topics of school board ethics and budgeting. 21
* Sec. 5. AS 14.12.050 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 22
(d) The governing body of a municipality may by ordinance alter the terms of 23
office provided for in this section. 24
* Sec. 6. AS 29.20.130 is amended to read: 25
Sec. 29.20.130. City council composition. Each first class city has a council 26
of six members elected by the voters at large. Each second class city with a 27
population greater than 1,000 has a council of seven members elected by the voters 28
at large. Each second class city with a population of 1,000 or less has a council 29
size, established by ordinance, of not fewer than three members and not more 30
than seven members, elected by the voters at large. The council of a first or second 31
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class city may by ordinance provide for election of members other than on an at-large 1
basis for all members. 2
* Sec. 7. AS 29.20.300(a) is amended to read: 3
(a) Each municipal school district has a school board. Except as provided in 4
(b) or (c) of this section, members of a school board are elected at the regular election 5
for three-year terms and until their successors take office. Members are elected at 6
large unless a different method of election has been approved by the voters in a regular 7
election. 8
* Sec. 8. AS 29.20.300 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 9
(c) The governing body of a municipality may by ordinance approved by the 10
voters alter the terms of office provided for in (a) of this section. 11
* Sec. 9. Section 2 of this Act takes effect on the effective date of sec. 16, ch. 40, SLA 12
2022. 13
* Sec. 10. Except as provided in sec. 9 of this Act, this Act takes effect immediately under 14
AS 01.10.070(c). 15