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- Alaska Statutes.
- Title 14. Education, Libraries, and Museums
- Chapter 7. Administration of Public Schools
- Section 20. Duties of the Department.
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Section 10. Department of Education and Early Development.
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Section 30. Powers of the Department.
AS 14.07.020. Duties of the Department.
(a) The department shall
(1) exercise general supervision over the public schools of the state except the University of Alaska;
(2) study the conditions and needs of the public schools of the state, adopt or recommend plans, administer and evaluate
grants to improve school performance awarded under AS 14.03.125, and adopt regulations for the improvement of the public schools;
the department may consult with the University of Alaska to develop secondary education requirements to improve student achievement in college
preparatory courses;
(3) provide advisory and consultative services to all public school governing bodies and personnel;
(4) prescribe by regulation a minimum course of study for the public schools; the regulations must provide that, if a
course in American Sign Language is given, the course shall be given credit as a course in a foreign language;
(5) establish, in coordination with the Department of Family and Community Services, a program for the continuing education
of children who are held in juvenile detention facilities or juvenile treatment facilities, as those terms are defined in AS 47.12.990, in the state during the period of detention or treatment;
(6) accredit those public schools that meet accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by the department; these
regulations shall be adopted by the department and presented to the legislature during the first 10 days of any regular
session, and become effective 45 days after presentation or at the end of the session, whichever is earlier, unless
disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of the members of each house;
(7) prescribe by regulation, after consultation with the state fire marshal and the state sanitarian, standards
that will ensure healthful and safe conditions in the public and private schools of the state, including a requirement
of physical examinations and immunizations in pre-elementary schools; the standards for private schools may not be more
stringent than those for public schools;
(8) [See delayed amendment notes.] exercise general supervision over pre-elementary schools that receive direct state or federal funding;
(9) exercise general supervision over elementary and secondary correspondence study programs offered by municipal school
districts or regional educational attendance areas; the department may also offer and make available to any Alaskan
through a centralized office a correspondence study program;
(10) accredit private schools that request accreditation and that meet accreditation standards prescribed by regulation by
the department; nothing in this paragraph authorizes the department to require religious or other private schools to be
licensed;
(11) review plans for construction of new public elementary and secondary schools and for additions to and major
rehabilitation of existing public elementary and secondary schools and, in accordance with regulations adopted by the
department, determine and approve the extent of eligibility for state aid of a school construction or major maintenance
project; for the purposes of this paragraph, "plans" include educational specifications, schematic designs, projected energy consumption
and costs, and final contract documents;
(12) provide educational opportunities in the areas of vocational education and training, and basic education to
individuals over 16 years of age who are no longer attending school; the department may consult with businesses and labor unions to
develop a program to prepare students for apprenticeships or internships that will lead to employment opportunities;
(13) administer the grants awarded under AS 14.11;
(14) establish, in coordination with the Department of Public Safety, a school bus driver training course;
(15) require the reporting of information relating to school disciplinary and safety programs under AS 14.33.120 and of incidents of disruptive or violent behavior.
(16) establish by regulation criteria, based on low student performance, under which the department may intervene in a school
district to improve instructional practices, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or (15); the regulations must include
(A) a notice provision that alerts the district to the deficiencies and the instructional practice changes proposed by the
department;
(B) an end date for departmental intervention, as described in AS 14.07.030(a)(14)(A) and (B) and (15), after the district demonstrates three
consecutive years of improvement consisting of not less than two percent increases in student proficiency on standards-based assessments in
language arts and mathematics, as provided in AS 14.03.123(f)(1)(A); and
(C) a process for districts to petition the department for continuing or discontinuing the department's intervention;
(17) notify the legislative committees having jurisdiction over education before intervening in a school district under AS 14.07.030(a)(14) or redirecting public school funding under AS 14.07.030(a)(15);
(18) [Effective July 1, 2023; See delayed amendment note.] establish a reading program to provide direct support for and intervention
in the reading intervention programs of participating schools as described in AS 14.30.765 and 14.30.770;
(19) [Effective July 1, 2023; See delayed amendment note.] annually convene, either in person or electronically, a panel to review and
comment on the effectiveness of the programs created by the department and the regulations adopted by the board to implement AS 14.03.410, 14.03.420, AS 14.30.760 — 14.30.770, and 14.30.800; the panel
(A) shall provide recommendations and guidance to the board, the department, and the legislature on how to integrate early
education and reading programs created under this title with tribal compacting or programs focused on cultural education within the
department;
(B) shall discuss support for reading in Alaska Native languages and other non-English languages;
(C) must collectively represent the regions of the state and include teachers of grades kindergarten through three, school
administrators, parents of students in grades kindergarten through three, stakeholders from indigenous language immersion programs,
representatives from early education stakeholder groups, and researchers of best practices for improving literacy performance, including
best practices for instruction of indigenous students and students whose first language is not English.
(b) In implementing its duties under (a)(2) of this section, the department may not expend any money to implement the set of educational
curriculum standards for grades kindergarten through 12 established by the Common Core Standards Initiative and shall develop
(1) performance standards in language arts and mathematics to be met at designated age levels by each student in
public schools in the state; and
(2) a comprehensive system of student assessments, composed of multiple indicators of proficiency in language arts and
mathematics; this comprehensive system must
(A) be made available to all districts and regional educational attendance areas;
(B) include a developmental profile for students entering kindergarten or first grade; and
(C) include performance standards in language arts and mathematics for students in age groups five through seven,
eight through 10, and 11 - 14.
(c) [See delayed amendment note.] In this section "pre-elementary school" means a school for children ages three through five years if the school's
primary function is educational.
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