Alaska Legislature: Senate Education — May 4, 2026 3:30pm

Good afternoon, everyone. I call this meeting of the Senate Education Committee to order. It is 3:33 PM here on Monday, May 4th. We are in the Belz Committee Room here in the State Capitol Building, located in what is quickly becoming beautiful, sunny downtown Juneau. I just want to ask folks who are here in the room if they could please mute their cell phones.

Documents for today's meeting have been distributed to members. They have been uploaded to BASIS, that is akleg.gov, and additional copies are available for folks right there by the door. Members Present today are Vice Chair President Stevens— oh no, I fear that one day I'll say that for the last time— Senator Keel, Senator Young, Senator Bjorkman, and myself, Senator Lukey Gail Tobin. Please let the record reflect we do have a quorum to conduct business. I want to thank Jude from the Juneau LIO for moderating today's meeting and Mary Gwen from Senate Records for being here to document today's meeting.

On the agenda today, we have the confirmation hearing for the appointment appointment of Joy Coburn-Smith to the State Board of Education and Early Development. We also have the first hearing for Senate Bill 257, Education Funding Residential Schools, and we have the first hearing for House Joint Resolution 485, Support Special Education Funding. On to our first item on the agenda, the confirmation hearing for the appointment of Joy Coburn-Smith from Kotzebue to the State Board of Education and Early Development. Her resume has been distributed to committee members. There are additional copies available by the door, and she is joining us via Teams.

Ms. Coburn-Smith, can you hear us? Yes, I can. If you could please identify yourself for the record and make opening remarks if you so wish to. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair.

My name is Joy Cogburn-Smith, and I am honored to be considered for appointment for the Alaska State Board of Education, and I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today. I currently serve as the Director of State and Federal Programs for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. Through my work, I focus on expanding educational opportunities, strengthening program funding, and ensuring that resources reach students and staff who need them to the most. I moved to Alaska from Oklahoma in 1997 and have joined and enjoyed each classroom that I've had the privilege of teaching in. Through those experiences in rural Alaska, I have strived to improve student outcomes within the classroom, and when I became an itinerant specialist and now as a director, I endeavor to support effective educational programs for both students and staff.

Living and working in rural Alaska has given me a strong understanding of the unique challenges our districts face from the geographical isolation, to maintaining staffing, school attendance struggles, and infrastructure issues. I'm especially mindful of the importance of supporting rural and Alaska Native communities in ways that honor their local knowledge and native language while also preparing students for the wide range of future opportunities. I'm committed to expanding these opportunities for all students and advancing sound policies that will support both student and school staff success. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Are there any questions from committee members?

Senator Keel. Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Cogburn-Smith, you come well recommended. You mentioned that you currently work for an Alaska school district. Of course, the State Board of Ed considers issues that benefit but also impact school districts around the state.

How would you handle situations that might have impacts or particular benefits to your employer district? Okay, um, I, uh, in my role, uh, if I'm confirmed, uh, in my role as the, as the state board, I think, um, I would be able to step back from my position in the district and, and advocate for policies that help all students. So I, I don't feel that it will be a conflict of interest or anything, but I feel that I can weigh the balances of things that are statewide versus things that would impact my district directly. Follow-up. Thank you.

And Ms. Coburn-Smith, I know it's a bit uncomfortable or atypical, but if you could say your name and your affiliation each time you speak, that will help our— I'm sorry— Senate recorder ensure that she attributes the comments to the correct speaker. President Stevens. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you very much for applying for a position. I appreciate your background. It's just really great.

But could you tell me a little bit— an unusual thing that we have in the state of Alaska— the state school board has a responsibility to Mount Edgecumbe, which is a little different, I think, than most states. And even in this state, it's unusual to have a school under the state school board. Could you talk about your understanding of that relationship and how it works and what your interest would be in that state-run school?

Through the chair, Joy Kime-Smith. From my understandings of quickly reading through the board bylaws and that relationship is that the board provides the policy direction and the oversight for the Department of Ed and Early Development, so DEED, and that DEED is the one that carries out those, so they would be the ones that would be directly over Mount Edgecomb versus the state board. But, um, if my understanding is not correct, please let me know. No, I'm not sure. It's just an unusual situation where there is then no school board for, uh, for that school.

Is that right? Well, and if you don't know, that's, that's fine. I understand that. I just, uh, appreciate your comments. Thanks.

Thank you. Thank you, President Stevens. Additional comments from committee members? Ms. Coburn-Smith, I do have one question for you, uh, and that's specifically on the, the vacancy that you are filling. It has been an open position for over a year, and it is a vast district, that Judicial District 1.

And so I'm curious about your, uh your approach to ensuring that you are representing all the voices of the district, going all the way down into the Bethel and more western states or western part of the state, all the way up to the, the Uktiágvik area as well?

Well, I mean, I was encouraged to apply by my school board because they were concerned that the vacancy had been open for so long. I know they had reached out to other school districts in our district asking for ideas of who could apply, and they just weren't getting any, anything back from those other districts and everything. So I stepped up and said that I would apply. I have a pretty good working relationship with the other school districts and in my districts and would be able to make contacts within those communities, I feel, to be able to represent the entire region. Thank you, thank you, Miss Coburn-Smith.

Uh, the most previous representative was Jeff Erickson out of Unicleet. I actually went to school with Jeff's kids, so there's a great resource there in the Bering Strait School District as well. Any additional questions?

Seeing none, I want to thank you again for stepping up and filling this critical role, especially for the district in which represents the area which I grew up in, and I know that community has been very keen on— interested in ensuring their voice is at the seat at the table for our State Board of Education. So thank you once again. Seeing as there's no additional questions from committee members, I'll now open public testimony. If you would like to testify on this appointment to the State Board of Education, please call one of the following teleconference numbers. If you are calling from Anchorage, the phone number is 907-563-9085.

From Juneau, the phone number is 907-563-9085. (586) 9085. From all other locations, please call this toll-free number. That is (1) 844) 586) 9085. You can also email your public testimony to [email protected].

That's [email protected]. I'll now open public testimony. Is there anyone here in the room who wishes to testify? Seeing no one here in the room and no one online, I'll now close public testimony. Ms. Colburn-Smith, do you have any final comments you would like to make?

Uh, through the chair, I, I do not. I am, I'm just happy to serve and I look forward to it. Thank you. Thank you very much. That completes our review of the appointment of Joy Colburn-Smith to the State Board of Education and Early Development.

President Stevens. Madam Chair, the Senate Education Committee has reviewed the qualifications of the Governor's appointee to the State Board of Education and Early Development. The committee recommends that the name of Joy Cogburn-Smith be forwarded to a joint session for consideration. This does not reflect the intent of any of the members of the Senate Education Committee to vote for or against this individual during the joint session to consider confirmations. The name Joy Cogburn-Smith will be forwarded to a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature to consider confirmations.

We will take a brief at ease to sign the committee reports and transition to our next item on the agenda. Brief at ease.

And we're back on the record here in Senate Education. On our agenda is the first hearing of Senate Bill 257 relating to funding for residential schools. This bill is sponsored by Senator Mike Cronk. He is joined by his legislative aide Paul Menke. Mr. Menke and Senator Cronk, if you'd like to put yourselves on the record and begin your presentation when you are ready.

Thank you, Chair Tobar and Senator Mike Cronk, District R, with my staff Paul Menke here. Today we're introducing Senate Bill 257. Residential schools are critically important for rural and urban Alaskan students, communities, and families and offer great returns on investment for the state of Alaska education dollars. Our residential schools provide high-quality career and technical education, and collegiate-level coursework through Advanced Placement and dual credit programs, enabling students to qualify for the Alaska Performance Scholarship. These opportunities prepare hundreds of young Alaskans each year to enter the workforce, serve in the armed forces, or pursue post-secondary education.

Residential schools present valuable chances to students who may not otherwise have these opportunities at home. However, Alaska's residential school stipend funding statute has remained unchanged since 2014, while the cost of taking care of our kids has only gone up. Senate Bill 257 aims to bring the stipend much closer to what it actually costs to feed, house, and care for residential students by effectively doubling the current amount of the residential school stipend and tying it to various percentages of the base student allocation. Since calendar year 2006, the year the residential school stipend was created, the BSA statute has changed 9 times, while the residential stipend statute has only changed twice since its inception. SB 257 ties the stipend to the BSA so that our residential schools aren't left behind.

When the stipend is left out of the funding funding increases, districts have to pit funding their residential programs against funding their other brick-and-mortar charter or correspondence programs. I've always said all of our families deserve a choice, and all public school students should be given equal opportunities no matter what. All these are our kids. That doesn't matter if they came from Anchorage, Nome, Tok. These are our kids, you know, and, you know, I think we should give them every opportunity to succeed.

Sometimes going to a residential school is a safety net for some of these students. It's a way out some bad situations, and, you know, and these schools changed their lives. Two of my daughters attended 4 years in Mountain Edge Academy, and, you know, it was a really valuable experience. And, um, you've seen the value that, that's, that they brought, you know, my daughters, um, you know, of having a good education, um, and learning to live on their own, actually. You know, they prepared them for college life because they both went on to a little bit of college there.

For me, we have, you know, a Galena— we have, you know, Galena Learning Center or Academy, and then we have the Correspondence School in Niniana. And having the opportunity to visit both of those schools and talk to those kids and why they came, you know, I think is really powerful when we get the chance to talk to those kids. So with that, I'm happy to turn it over to my staff to go over the sectional, or we can go right to your invited testimony that we have. That work with our great residential school kids on a daily basis. Well, thank you, Senator Cronk.

I think the, the bill speaks for itself. We can also see the slide that you have available for us so we can understand the components in the bill that deal with the percentage of base student allocation. So while I appreciate the dulcet tones of Mr. Menke, I think we do not need a sectional analysis. Are there any questions for the bill sponsor before we move on to invited testifiers? Seeing none, we will move on to your invited testifiers.

I do want to thank Stephen Culkin from the Nancity School District for welcoming the task force on education funding as we did a site visit there earlier this year that I think was very informative for committee members— or excuse me, for task force members. Assistant Superintendent Culkin, if you would like to kick us off, please identify yourself for the record and begin your remarks when you are ready.

Thank you, Chair. Um, my name is Stephen Culkin. I am the principal of Ninanna City School, incoming superintendent of the district. Um, good afternoon, Senate Education Committee. Thank you so much for taking the time this afternoon to hear from us and for all of your hard work and dedication to the children of this great state.

For 25 years, the state of Alaska and Ninanna City School District have held an agreement to offer a residential program for children who are not year-round residents of Ninana to attend Ninana City School. This covenant between state and local government has provided roughly 1,850 children from over 40 communities an opportunity to attend a school outside of their hometown or region. We have a capacity for 104 students per year. Last year, our district spent $2,406,767 on operating our residential program, which we affectionately call the Living Center. Of this $2.4 million, we spent $1,8— $111,222 on staff wages and benefits.

We spent $203,086 on building maintenance, upkeep, water, power, and heat. Another $178,300 was spent on food services. We employ 25 people total, including part-time and full-time staff, to provide this residential service. For the last audited year, the district received state residential school stipend funding, including the one-time funding, for roughly 70% of these expenses. With the sunset of this one-time funding, Lean Inisit's closer to the Residential Schools Coalition average —of roughly 50% funding needed from state residential stipends to function.

We have only been able to offset this deficit through a mix of grant infusions from partners, federal grants, and drawdowns from reserves. Many of these funding sources are no longer available. Simply put, we cannot continue to operate our residential program at these funding levels. We are very thankful for an increase in the BSA, but those dollars are not meant to cover the costs associated with us— with residential facilities. House Bill 380 attempts to adjust for inflation from 2015 levels.

In Nenana's case, that would only cover an additional 25% or so of the costs associated with our living center, still leaving a significant gap. Currently, I have a lifelong Nenana student who's working at a Fairbanks McDonald's as a shift manager. She gets paid $24 an hour, and since she's full-time, she receives some additional benefits like tuition assistance. Our current negotiated agreement has residential advisors, the same people who are doing everything from tutoring pre-calculus to counseling students through acute mental health crisis, starting at just under $21 an hour. SB 257 would allow us not only to overcome our current funding gap, it would provide us an opportunity to increase staff pay and levels so we can provide more professional development and training, offer students more services, and ensure that their home away from home reflects and celebrates who they are, as well as prepare— prepares them for college and career.

Underlying this discussion is a philosophical question: why should the legislature increase per-pupil spending on residential students and not all students? Of course, we fully support an increase to the BSA so that all schools can provide excellent opportunities in education. Our district was authorized to run this program, and we cannot sustain it at current funding levels. Moreover, fully funding these residential programs will effectively increase opportunities for many children in our state, as you've heard from Senator Cronk. Every family and every student has their own story regarding why they come to Ninana and other residential schools, and we are honored to be a part of their journey and want to see this opportunity to continue.

So please support SB 257. Our district's mission is to pursue excellence, and with what comes from this bill, we can better live up to that mission and ensure that we provide the services to the children they deserve. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Assistant Superintendent Culkin.

Are there any questions from committee members?

Seeing none, I want to thank you once again for providing your remarks. If you could submit your written testimony, I do think that our Senate Records individual would really appreciate having those numbers that you gave at the very beginning of your remarks written down so that we can capture them correctly.

Thank you. We will now move on to the director of the Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center, who works within the Bering Strait School District and for Nome Public Schools, Dr. Doug Walrith. Dr. Walrith, if you can hear us, if you could please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony when you are ready.

Yes, certainly. For the record, my name is Doug Walrath. I'm the director of the Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center here in Nome, and I have served in this position since 2009. Senator Tobin, Chair Tobin, Vice Chair Stevens, and members of the Senate Education Committee, I appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony today in support of Senate Bill 257. So NACTEC supports the efforts to increase the residential school stipends of AS 14.16.200(b), which have otherwise remained at the same funding levels since 2014.

Phone is ringing because it is a travel day and students are arriving right now, and this is where it'll hopefully stop after this. Uh, the history of residential stipends in the northern remote region, Region 5, where NACTEC is located in Nome, was established in 2006, as Senator Cronk had identified, then at a funding level of $592 per student. So this is the monthly rate, which is applied across the 9 months of the school year. 7 Years later, the stipend was doubled for our region again, the, the northern remote region, to $1,184 in 2013. One year later in 2014, the rate was increased an additional 50% to $1,776 for Region 5, where it has remained ever since.

So I was here in probably my fourth year or so, and when NACTEC applied to the Department of Education and Early Development in fiscal year '14 for variable term boarding school stipends, receiving our approval during the FY '15 school year. So since 2014, the base rate for residential stipends has remained unchanged, and NACTEC's per-student allocation has remained at that amount, $1,776, while our program costs have steadily increased over the past 12 years. Residential boarding schools provide school choice for students statewide with semester and year-long options, uh, such as Galena and Ninana. And variable term residential programs provide shorter duration programs with a wide menu of career and technical education CTE offerings which are otherwise impossible to deliver across the rural and remote school districts. So aside from CTE offerings which fill the 7 hours of the school day— so I sit here in Nome Belt High School.

High school begins at 8:30 in the morning and ends at 3:20. The middle school begins at 9:10 and ends at 4:10. That's the 7 hours of the school day. So what the boarding school stipends do is they support those other 17 hours of the day where students are traveling away from home and are the costs related to, to housing them in a remote location and supporting them. So essential staffing here at Naktek includes staff working 4 PM to midnight and midnight to 8 AM shifts during the week and then full days across the weekend program.

So examples of boarding school stipend expenses include the staffing to oversee room and board elements such as meals, propane, heating fuel, electricity, internet, supplies, and state compliance of the dormitory. So we, we can serve up to 26 students here. Naktek House, our dormitory, is a 26-bed dormitory, which at the $1,776 student monthly rate is a monthly stipend for 30 students of $46,176. While this total aligned with the program cost 12 years ago, it no longer does. The cost of supporting students during the 17 hours outside the regular school day has doubled since 2014.

Looking at just the daily student per diem rate of $60 a day, $60 a day times $30, it's $1,800 a month. So our allocation is $1,776, you know, so times, you know, 26 students for a month That total is $46,800 for meals. And again, that's $624 more than the current allocation is. So that's just looking at meals alone. In conclusion, NACTEC supports Senate Bill 257 funding proposal with a percentage of the current BSA as the means of bringing residential stipends funding proportionality to current residential programming expenditures.

Thank you. That concludes my testimony. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Walroth. Are there any questions from committee members?

Seeing none, same request to you, Dr. Walroth. If you could please send your written comments in to [email protected], we'll ensure that the Senate recorder receives those and documents the numbers correctly.

We'll now move on to our last invited testifier. We are joined by the CTE and residential director for Kuselbek Career Academy, part of the Lower Yukon School District, Mr. Conrad Woodhead. Mr. Woodhead, if you can hear me, if you could please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony when you are ready. To the chair, co-chair, members of the committee, for the record, my name is Conrad Woodhead. I serve as the Career and Technical Education and Residential Director for Kuzelbek Career Academy in the Lower Yukon School District.

I previously spent 9 years as a teacher and administrator in the Bering Strait School District and 8 years as an administrator down on the Kenai. I've worked with several of you over the years in those roles, and I'm here today representing the Alaska Residential Schools Coalition. And I want to thank Senator Cromp for bringing SB 257 forward. If we are serious about workforce development in Alaska, we have to be serious about K-12 as the foundation of that workforce and about making sure all students have access to it. For a large portion of the state, that access requires residential programs.

Rural districts are working hard to meet student needs in career and technical education and dual credit programming. Because of our geographic location, our students do not always have the same opportunities to compete for Alaska's workforce pathways as students in urban settings. That is exactly why Kuzelbach Career Academy was created by our school board in our district. KCA was built to increase access to programs, facilities, and instructors. Our district struggled for years to find viable solutions to provide this equi— these programs equitably.

We are now sending students into CTE and post-secondary opportunities at rates that far exceed what we are able to generate across our school sites alone. And it's working. We've served over 500 students in our 7 years of existence, filled more than 1,000 session slots, and students who attend KCA have had a 0% dropout rate over the last 3 years. More than half of our graduates now attend KCA, and roughly 70% of our top academic performers have participated in one or more sessions. Just this week we celebrated our first Alaska Middle College school graduate who was our very first when we, when we first opened up our second year in existence.

Joseph Cholek from Skammon Bay. He recently just graduated from UAF this week. He's former Skammon Bay valedictorian, KCA alumni, and now UAF graduate. That is what access can do, but the funding model behind these programs has not kept up with the reality. Across coalition programs, audited data shows it costs roughly $25,700 per student to provide room and board and the wraparound services that ensure student success.

The current stipend is about $12,900 on average, roughly half of the actual cost. That gap shows up in real decisions, fewer opportunities, reliance on short-term grants, or shifting costs back to districts that are already stretched. And this is not new. Residential schools were also the only public school programs that lost funding FY25, FY26 when the, when the 25% one-time stipend increases expired after those years. So while the state continues to prioritize workforce development, the programs delivering that access to rural students at the K-12 level are operating behind.

That's why the coalition supports SB 257. It does two things that matter. First, it moves funding closer to the actual costs by effectively doubling the current stipend levels. Second, it ties the stipend to the base student allocation. Tying the residential stipend to the BSA ensures residential funding is looked at every time the BSA is discussed.

Right now, these stipends sit off to the side as fixed dollar amounts, which means they can be overlooked while the rest of the education funding moves forward. SB 257 keeps residential programs in the same conversation. The coalition also believes this is a reasonable ask. It brings funding in the right direction while staying within what we feel the legislature can realistically support. The bill is not just about expanding programs.

This is about stabilizing a system that is already producing results and making sure it can keep pace moving forward. If Alaska is serious about building its workforce from within, then Alaska must also be serious about the residential programs that make that access possible. SB 257 is how we begin to align funding with that reality. Thank you for your time and your consideration. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Woodhead. Are there any questions from committee members? President Stevens, maybe just a quick question about the students coming in, uh, from outside communities and getting together in a different community. What do you do about counseling? Do you have counseling services available for the children?

Uh, through the chair, um, Senator Stevens, yes, we do provide counseling. Uh, it comes from, uh, two different sources. Um, one comes from a, uh, we have two counselors, one a CTE school counselor, and she is funded out of our federal programs. And then we have a behavioral health counselor that was funded out of an Office of Indian Ed discretionary grant that we got. Very lucky to have that.

We find that those wraparound services are very instrumental in making sure that students are successful. You know, you take a student away from their supports back in their villages, you bring them to an urban setting, you put them in a room full of strangers, it takes a lot to provide all the needs for that student, and counseling services is is definitely something that we could not do this without. And ironically, those are provided by other funding sources outside of residential funding or base student allocation. Thank you. I'm sure it's very important.

Thank you. Thank you. Any additional questions? Seeing none, I want to thank you again for joining us here in Senate Education. We will now have School finance manager from the Department of Education and Early Development, Lori Weed, walk us through the fiscal note.

Ms. Weed, at your convenience.

Good afternoon, Chair Tobin, President Stevens, and members of the Senate Education Committee. For the record, my name is Lori Weed, and I serve as the school finance manager for the Department of Education and Early Development. I am here today to provide an overview of the fiscal note associated with SB 257. I believe I was told that you have the corrected version dated today. It's NTXCR.

Is that correct? [Speaker] Can we have a brief at ease? [Speaker] Ms. Weed, we're going to take a very quick brief at ease. Brief at ease.

And we're back on the record here in Senate Education. Ms. Weed, unfortunately, we do not have the corrected version of the fiscal note. I apologize for that. I know we had some conversations earlier today, but we weren't able to get members a copy of that. So if you can walk us through, we might have some additional questions after this hearing if folks are unable to follow along.

Right. Again, for the record, my name is Laurie Weed. Um, the fiscal note that you will have before you, uh, changes the stipend in statute to a percentage increase of the BSA.

If for Region 1, that will increase to—. I just realized I don't have that in front of me.

That will increase the Region 1 stipends to approximately $2,464. Region 2 will increase to approximately $2,308.

$2,998. Region 3 will increase to approximately $2,930. Region 4 will increase to approximately $2,997. Region 5 will increase to approximately $2,530.

All told, the total FY '27 request will come in at about $18,000 Sorry, $18,051,000 less the governor's requested budget of $9,307,000 makes the FY '27 increase $8,744,000. This does include the increase for the approved Lincoln Pen Bristol Bay Regional Career and Technical Education Program. And as the bill does currently have an immediate effective date, there is a supplemental amount of $6,269,600.

Thank you. That is the fiscal route. Are there any questions from committee members? Senator Young. Thank you.

Through the chair to whoever would like to answer this, but in the past when the the state has done one-time money, either through the formula or possibly outside of it, or if we did a one-time energy credit in the future, would any of that money flow to these types of schools? That's my question. Ms. Weed, do you want to take a stab at that?

Certainly. Through the chair, Lauren Weed. As written, the currently The current energy relief programs that I see do not specify that residential schools would receive any special allocation. They would receive funding through their adjusted ADM for their standard foundation.

Sorry, again, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Weed. Next, we will move on to public testimony for Senate Bill 257. If you'd like to testify, For public testimony, please call one of the following teleconference numbers. We have from Anchorage, please call 907-563-9085.

From Juneau, the phone number is 907-586-9085. From all other locations, please call this toll-free number, that's 1-844-586-9085. You can also submit your written testimony to [email protected]. That's [email protected]. I'll now open public testimony.

Is there anyone here in the room who wishes to testify? Seeing no one here in the room, we'll move online where we have one person, Mary Marks. Miss Marks, if you could hear us, if you could please identify yourself for the record and begin your public testimony. Mrs.

Moni, you have 3 minutes. [SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE] Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Senate members. My name is Mary Marks, and I am a parent of a former student who attended Monarch High School, and I'm proud to say that my son will be graduating from University of Tucson with a double doctorate degree. I am writing to express my support for Senate Bill 257 relating to funding for residential schools in Alaska. This bill addresses a very real and ongoing need for students who must leave their home communities to access education.

For many of our rural and tribal students, attending a residential school is not a choice. It is the only option. Because of this, it is critical that the funding structure reflects the true cost of housing, food, and transportation in each region. I support the shift in this bill to tie monthly stipend for room and board to a percentage of the base student allocation. This approach is more responsive to economic changes and regional cost differences than the current fixed amounts.

The existing stipend levels have not kept pace with inflation or the actual cost of living, particularly in remote areas, and this has placed strain on both families and school districts. Ensuring adequate funding for residential students is not just a financial issue, it is an equity issue. When students are separated from their homes and support systems We must ensure they are placed in a safe, stable, and well-supported living environment. Proper funding helps make that possible. I also want to acknowledge the importance of transportation coverage included in this bill.

For many families, even one round trip cost can be a barrier. Supporting travel helps maintain family and cultural connections, which are essential to student well-being and success. I encourage you to support Senate Bill 257 and continue working towards solutions that strengthen access to education for all Alaskan students, especially those in rural and tribal communities. Gunalchéesh, and thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. I don't see anyone else online, so I'll now close public testimony. Any closing remarks, Senator Cronk? Nope, just want to say thank you, Chair Tobin, and members of the Senate Education Committee, for hearing our bill. And, um, this is obviously something that's very important for our state, and you can see the, the cost— everything is cost-driven, right?

And we haven't had a big increase, and so those costs are reflected in our our schools. And so it's, it's probably time where you take a look at this and make some adjustments. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Kronk.

It is my intent to hold Senate Bill 257 until a future meeting. We will ensure that folks get the updated fiscal notes. If you'd like to offer any changes or amendments, please work with the bill sponsor and my offices and my office. Our final item on our agenda today is the first hearing for House Joint Resolution 45, urging the U.S. Congress to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This resolution is sponsored by the House Education Committee.

Co-chair Representative Storey is here with us today to introduce House Joint Resolution 45. She is joined by her legislative aide, Tammy Smith. Representative Storey, if you could please identify yourself for the record and begin your remarks when you are ready. Thank you, Chair Tobin, and thank you, Senate Education members. Very pleased to be here today.

For the record, my name is Andy Storey, and I represent District 3, which is the northern Mendenhall Valley, Fritz Cove, Oak Bay, Out the Road, Haines, Skagway, Klukwan, and Gustavus. And Tammy Smith, staff for Representative Storey. Thank you. So I am pleased to be here today on behalf of the House Education Committee. Before you, we have a House Joint Resolution urging the U.S. Congress to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

Over 50 years ago, there were many children longing to attend school with their peers. They were experiencing some disability of one sort or the other, and their families longed for them to go to school too. They advocated to the federal government, and we passed some special education laws. The most recent one— we've been continuing to fund them. The most recent one, 1990, is the one we are following today, which is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Disabilities Education Act, better known as IDEA. This act guarantees students with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, and the federal government committed to providing up to 40% of special education costs. While the law, while the law transformed the lives of many of these children and their families, the federal government has never fully funded and met its commitment. In practice, IDEA has been funded up to— only up to 10 to 15%, leaving states and local districts to absorb the remaining costs. In Alaska, the impact of this funding shortfall is especially severe.

Districts face higher operational expenses, persistent special education staffing shortages, and the logistical challenges of serving students across remote communities. Educators are stretched thin, families are frustrated, and schools are forced to make difficult decisions about funding special education students' needs and the other needs of students that they served. This is not what was intended when Congress passed IDEA. The responsibility for funding this mandate should not fall disproportionately on states and local districts. This resolution before you sends a clear message and calls on Congress to honor its longtime commitment to students with disabilities.

Fully funding IDEA is an investment for all of our schools, communities, and most importantly, our families and all students. This resolution respectfully urges Congress to pass either the Congressional House Bill 2598, known as the IDEA Full Funding Act, Act, which is before Congress now. It's a glide path bill to provide for regular mandatory increases for the Individuals with Disabilities Act to reach 40% over time, over a series of years. Or the resolution calls for Congress to immediately fully fund IDEA. So we present this for your consideration and we ask for your support.

Thank you. Thank you, Representative Story. Are there any questions? Questions? President Stevens.

Just comment. I— we've done so much and we recognize that it is an issue that needs to be fully funded and studied. I just want to share a story. I was in Beijing, China, and met with the Commissioner of Education there and asked him what they are doing in terms of special ed. And he said, "We don't have special ed here.

We don't have a problem." So it simply means that those kids are not taken care of. Their problems are not addressed. And I know we've got a ways to go. We need more help. We need to honor that commitment.

And thank you for presenting this. Thank you. Thank you, President Stevens. Seeing no other questions or comments from committee members, we'll now move on to your invited testifiers. We are joined by the special education director for the Kodiak Island Borough School District, Daniel Klinger.

I hope I pronounced that correctly. Director, if you could please identify yourself for the record, say your last name correctly, and please begin your remarks when you are ready. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the Senate Education Committee. For the record, my name is Dan Klingler, and I am the proud director of special education for the Kodiak Island Borough School District. I am here today representing the voices of families and educators from Kodiak and across the state to urge your support for HJR 45.

I'm here to testify in strong support of the House Joint Resolution urging the federal government to fulfill its promise to our students with disabilities by fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, also known as IDEA. As you already know, when IDEA was enacted in 1975, the original, Congress committed to funding 40% of the average per-pupil cost for special education. However, historically, federal funding has hovered between 10 and 15%. This creates a massive unfunded mandate. When the federal government fails to pay its share, the financial burden shifts directly to Alaska's state and local budgets, stretching already thin resources even further.

This hits home especially hard in Kodiak. We are an island community. We face an island premium, the high cost of recruiting and retaining high-quality staff in a remote setting. When we have vacancies, we can't just drive to the next town to find a qualified professional to fill the vacancy. We are often looking at expensive travel costs to get providers to our outlying villages like Port Lyons or Old Harbor.

When the federal government underfunds IDEA, they are ignoring the reality of the last frontier. They are leaving Alaska's districts to choose between cutting services or increasing the burden on local taxpayers. In Kodiak, we believe in taking care of our own, but we should not have to carry the federal government's tab for a mandate they created. We have incredible educators in the Kodiak Island Borough School District, but they're being asked to do the impossible. Chronic underfunding leads to larger caseloads and burnout.

In a tight-knit community like ours, when a special education teacher leaves because the resources aren't there, it doesn't just impact a classroom, it impacts the whole community. We are competing with the Lower 48 for a shrinking pool of professionals, and without the promised federal share, Alaska is fighting with one hand tied behind its back. HJR 45 supports HR 2598, which as mentioned provides a glide path to full funding. It is a responsible, predictable way to ensure that the 20,000+ Alaskan students with IEPs get the paraprofessionals, the therapists, the teachers that they need to thrive. It isn't just about education spending.

It's a human rights and economic common sense issue. A student who receives proper support in Kodiak or across Alaska today is a resident who can— excuse me— who contributes to our community tomorrow. Alaska has always been a state that stands up for its self-reliance, but we must hold the federal government accountable to its word. Let's send a clear message from Juneau to D.C. Full funding for IDEA is an investment in the spirit and future of every Alaskan child. I urge you to consider and pass HJR 45.

Thank you, and I'm open for any questions if there are any. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. I don't see any questions here from committee members. I want to thank you again for providing your testimony.

We'll now move on to the Executive Director for the Special Education Service Agency, Olivia Yancey. Ms. Yancey, if you could please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.

Good afternoon, Chair Tobin, Vice Chair Stevens, and members of the Senate Education Committee. Thank you, Co-Chair Storey, for the opportunity to testify in support of House Joint Resolution number 45, a resolution urging the United States Congress to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. For the record, this is Olivia Yancey, Executive Director of Special Education Service Agency. Given members of the Senate Education Committee have already received information about CESA services offered to Alaskans during this legislative session, my objective for this testimony is to highlight CESA observations of needs across the state in the field of special education and to fully support the resolution you have before you. In February 2025, the Council for Exceptional Children developed a fact sheet, IDEA and Federal Funding, to briefly summarize how IDEA provides federal financial assistance to states through formula and discretionary grants.

To receive these funds, states must offer free appropriate public education for all infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. However, congressional appropriations for funding under IDEA are not matching the current need for Alaska. Alaskans. Within the same fact sheet, it states that the state-level IDEA funding supports initiatives such as technical assistance, staff development, and professional training. Special Education Service Agency strives to provide technical assistance and professional learning opportunities for Alaskans working with students that have low incidence disabilities, which is about 1% of the school age population.

CESA believes every child deserves access to a high-quality education that meets their unique The resolution you have before you emphasizes high-quality education and ensuring each child has the opportunity to succeed in reaching the child's full learning potential. It also emphasizes that an individualized education program, quote, requires a strict, rigorous legal process using evaluations conducted by highly qualified and trained professionals who provide standardized assessments and analyze comparison data involving input from parents, educators, specialists, and administrative officials. This school year, CESA has a small team of highly qualified professionals with an average of 13 years of teaching and consulting experience working with students of low-incidence disabilities. With over 200, as of April 17th, urban, rural, and rural remote site visits, CISA has observed the following: an increased need for consistent in-person, highly qualified professionals providing direct services to students on-site with professional experience in various learning environments, such as resource rooms, mainstreamed and inclusion, and self-contained. In the field of special education, for those without a full-time special education teacher on-site, there is an observation of many paraprofessionals with an itinerant special education teacher or telepractice services offering support for the students, SEESA specialists are assigned.

For those school students with a full-time special education teacher on site, they have less time to engage in professional development opportunities due to high caseloads. This increases the value of the time they do offer specialists to review assessment results and engage in coaching requirements or opportunities. For how to teach a student with this unique need. There continue to be several, quote, hard-to-fill direct service provider positions needed within school districts, such as teachers for the deaf and hard of hearing, teachers of the visually impaired, deafblind education specialists, educational audiologists, assistive technology specialists, and alternative augmentative communication specialists. Another observation and final observation is high turnover of special education and teachers in rural and rural remote sites is a reality.

Our CESA specialists are often onboarding new teachers or paraprofessionals to the student's individualized education program each year within their initial consultation. CESA was created to ensure that qualified specialists are available to assist rural and rural remote Alaskan districts without regard to their location in the state in the provision of free appropriate public education for students with these unique needs. The need for special education services, as I think all of us are aware, both nationally and within Alaska, is growing. CESA numbers of referrals steadily increase. However, our own funding is not keeping up with increased requests from school districts, workforce shortages in the field of low incidence disabilities, and rising costs.

There's a decrease in available funds to maintain competitive salaries for CESA staff due to inflation, despite best efforts of the Department of Education and Early Development to supplement with one-time additional funding, which is a reality. Since the 2024-2025 school year, CSOS had to initiate a waitlist for two LID programs given consistent and steady increase of requests from Alaskan school districts. With a fixed number of students per specialist that can reasonably visit within a school year, there are currently 13 students and their teams waiting on a waitlist across 11 school districts in the South Central, Southeast, Southwest, Interior, and Northwest regions of Alaska. One of these teams includes a student in a correspondence program. This waitlist creates a gap in the timeliness that every student deserves when a school team is evaluating and determining appropriate services for the student.

This resolution is urgent. The critical window for learning for students with low incidence disabilities is now. This resolution is necessary. SESA specialists work hard and need support to continue building local capacity and reteaching when high turnover of special education teachers is our reality. This resolution identifies a systematic underfunding at the federal level.

Local school, school teams need staffing, personnel development, and resources to do their job. Alaskans deserve access to high-quality education regardless of their unique needs. SESA is committed, along with individuals behind this resolution, to increase children's potential to be skilled, productive, and talented members of our society. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Are there any questions from committee members? Seeing none, Representative Story, any final comments? Well, I did want to have a final comment based on what President Stevens had added. I was at a conference.

William Daggett is a very well-known education consultant, and he was in front of a huge National Association of School Boards conference, and he said, "I will argue that the United States of America has the best education system in the world," and he said, "It's because we help all children. We believe all children can learn," and it is exactly that we have students who learn differently, have special education needs, and we serve them. And so I'm very proud of our country for that. I really do urge our country though to fully fund their commitment, their promise that they made to those students and their families. Thank you.

Thank you, Representative Story. Uh, it is my intention that I'd like to move House Joint Resolution 45 from the Senate Education Committee. President Stevens. Madam Chair, I move to report. House Joint Resolution 45, work order 34-LS1551/i, from the Senate Education Committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note.

The Senate Education Committee gives legislative legal authority to make technical and conforming changes to the resolution. Without objection, House Joint Resolution 45, work order 34-LS1551/i, I as in Iditarod, is reported from the Senate Education Committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note. Please stay behind to sign the committee report. This concludes our agenda for today. The Senate Education Committee will not meet on Wednesday.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 8th. As there is no other business before us today, I will adjourn us at 4:30 PM.