An Act relating to the organization of the public school system; and providing for an effective date.

Posted: February 22, 2000
Contact: Representative Norman Rokeberg at (907) 465-2040

HB 365 contemplates one (1) school board and one (1) superintendent for Alaska’s entire unorganized borough. That is, one (1) regionally-elected Regional Educational Attendance Area (REAA) school board and one (1) appointed superintendent will replace the existing nineteen (19) REAA school boards and eighteen (18) superintendents.

Currently, Alaska’s REAA’s have eighteen (18) appointed school superintendents and one hundred and twenty-seven (127) elected board members; HB 365 proposes to change this to: one (1) REAA with eleven (11) regionally-elected board members and one (1) appointed REAA school superintendent.

Under HB 365, REAA board representation will be from the entire unorganized borough area. The single reorganized REAA will represent all areas outside organized boroughs and outside home rule and first class cities; it shall be operated on an areawide basis under the management and control of the regional school board.

Nothing in this bill changes local advisory boards. The local advisory boards are in current law and HB 365 does not change the local advisory boards.

HB 365’s intent is to affect direct cost savings in Alaska’s existing educational system by reducing the administrative “top loading” through consolidating the existing nineteen (19) REAA’s administration and boards into one (1) REAA with one superintendent---without diminishing the educational return to the taxpayers.

Eighteen (18) REAA’s reported superintendent’s salaries in the 1998-99 school year and the average REAA superintendent is paid $90,012 annually. The total REAA superintendent’s reported salaries is $1,620,222 for the 1998-99 school year. While it may be a dangerous precedent to set, it is interesting to note, that all REAA superintendent’s supervise 1025 FTE teachers; whereas, the Anchorage School superintendent supervises 2679 FTE teachers. HB 365 assumes that there is, potentially a great opportunity, for effecting economies of scale in the State of Alaska’s educational system.