AS Title 14, Chapter 16: Special Schools

Article 1. State Boarding Schools. Chapter 16. Special Schools. Sec. 14.16.010. Establishment of state boarding schools. The department may establish and operate boarding schools, to be managed in accordance with this chapter. A state boarding school must offer a secondary education curriculum to students enrolled in it, and must provide domiciliary services for students needing such services, if approved by the board. Sec. 14.16.020. Operation of state boarding schools. In the management of state boarding schools, the board shall (1) adopt a philosophy of education for state boarding schools; (2) approve the employment of personnel necessary to operate state boarding schools; (3) establish the salaries and benefits to be paid teachers, excluding administrators; (4) designate the employees authorized to direct disbursements from the money appropriated for the operation of state boarding schools and for the construction of facilities; (5) provide custodial services and routine maintenance of physical facilities; (6) establish procedures for the development and implementation of curriculum and the selection and use of textbooks and instructional materials; the procedures must require a review of textbooks and instructional materials at least once every 10 years; (7) prescribe health evaluation and placement screening programs for newly admitted students; (8) establish procedures for staff evaluation; and (9) establish procedures for providing the training under AS 14.18.060 , AS 14.20.149 , 14.20.680, AS 14.30.355 , 14.30.356, 14.30.362, AS 14.33.100 , AS 18.66.310 , and AS 47.17.022 ; the procedures established under this paragraph must include a training schedule that ensures that not less than 50 percent of the total certificated staff employed by the district receive all of the training not less than every two years and that all of the certificated staff employed by the district receive all of the training not less than every four years. Sec. 14.16.030. Admission to school. (a) A state boarding school may admit students who are qualified in accordance with applicable admission standards. Preference for enrollment must be given to students currently enrolled at a boarding school and to students whose educational, emotional, or family requirements warrant attendance in a domiciliary environment. (b) The board shall prescribe admission standards and procedures by regulation. Admission standards may not discriminate in favor of or against any resident based on race, sex, creed, national origin, or the location or type of residence within the state. Sec. 14.16.040. Status of state boarding school. A state boarding school is a public school of the state. Sec. 14.16.050. Applicability of education laws. (a) The following provisions apply with respect to the operation and management of a state boarding school as if it were a school district: (1) requirements relating to school district operations: (A) AS 14.03.030 — 14.03.050 (defining the school term, day in session, and school holidays); (B) AS 14.03.083 — 14.03.140 (miscellaneous provisions applicable to school district operations); (C) [Repealed, § 3 ch 36 SLA 2024). (D) AS 14.12.150 (authorizing school districts to establish and participate in the services of a regional resource center); (E) AS 14.14.050 (imposing the requirement of an annual audit); (F) AS 14.14.110 (authorizing cooperation with other school districts); (G) AS 14.14.140 (b) (establishing a prohibition on employment of a relative of the chief school administrator); (H) AS 14.18 (prohibiting discrimination based on sex in public education); (2) requirements relating to the public school funding program and the receipt and expenditure of that funding: (A) AS 14.17.500 (relating to student count estimates); (B) AS 14.17.505 (relating to school operating fund balances); (C) AS 14.17.500 — 14.17.910 (setting out the procedure for payment of public school funding and imposing general requirements and limits on money paid); (3) requirements relating to teacher employment and retirement: (A) AS 14.14.105 and 14.14.107 (relating to sick leave); (B) AS 14.20.095 — 14.20.215 (relating to the employment and tenure of teachers); (C) AS 14.20.280 — 14.20.350 (relating to sabbatical leave provisions for teachers); (D) AS 23.40.070 — 23.40.260 (authorizing collective bargaining by certificated employees), except with regard to teachers who are administrators and except that the board may delegate some or all of its responsibilities under those statutes; (E) AS 14.25 (provisions regarding the teachers' retirement system); (4) requirements relating to students and educational programs: (A) AS 14.30.180 — 14.30.350 (relating to educational services for children with disabilities); (B) AS 14.30.360 — 14.30.370 (establishing health education program standards); (C) AS 14.30.400 — 14.30.410 (relating to bilingual and bicultural education). (b) A person employed as a teacher at Mt. Edgecumbe High School on May 28, 1988, acquires tenure rights in accordance with AS 14.20.150 and 14.20.155 as though the person had been employed by a school district. Sec. 14.16.060. Status of employees. The employees of a state boarding school are state employees. Sec. 14.16.070. Applicability of Public Employment Relations Act. AS 23.40.070 — 23.40.260 (Public Employment Relations Act) apply to the employees of a state boarding school. Sec. 14.16.080. Financial provisions applicable to state boarding school. (a) AS 14.17.440 applies to the calculation of public school funding payable for operation of a state boarding school. (b) In the transmittals required by AS 37.07.060 — 37.07.062, the governor shall request amounts for the expenses of construction, rehabilitation, and improvement of the facilities of a state boarding school. (c) Unless specified otherwise in any appropriation bill, AS 37.25.010 does not apply to an appropriation made for the purposes of (a) of this section. (d) AS 37.25.020 applies to money appropriated for the purposes of (b) of this section. (e) For purposes of application for and receipt of federal aid to education, a state boarding school constitutes a local educational agency. Article 2. School Districts Operating Residential Schools. Sec. 14.16.100. Application for residential school. Before establishing a residential school, a school district shall apply to the department for approval to establish and operate a statewide or district-wide residential school. The department shall accept applications during an open application period conducted annually. A period of open application in itself does not indicate that the department will approve the establishment of a new residential school. Sec. 14.16.200. State funding for districts operating residential schools. (a) A district that operates a statewide or district-wide residential school for students in grades nine through 12 that has been approved by the department under regulations adopted by the board is eligible to receive a boarding stipend as reimbursement for the costs incurred by the district in operating that school. To be eligible for reimbursement for costs, a statewide or district-wide residential school operated by a district must provide a suitable student dormitory, food service, and daily access to a public school offering the appropriate grade level for a variable-length or 180-day school term as provided under AS 14.03.030 for the full school year. (b) Costs that may be claimed by a district for reimbursement under (a) of this section are (1) one round trip on the least expensive means of transportation between the student's community of residence and the school during the school year if the district expends money for the trip; and (2) a per-pupil monthly stipend to cover room and board expenses as determined by the department on a regional basis and not to exceed the following amounts: (A) for the Southeast Region (Region I), $1,230; (B) for the Southcentral Region (Region II), $1,200; (C) for the Interior Region (Region III), $1,452; (D) for the Southwest Region (Region IV), $1,509; (E) for the Northern Remote Region (Region V), $1,776. (c) [Repealed, § 4 ch 48 SLA 2013.] (d) A district may cooperate with an Alaska Native organization, as defined in 20 U.S.C. 7546(2), or a nonprofit organization for the provision of room and board services to students enrolled in a statewide or district-wide residential school operated by a district under terms and conditions required for licensing in the state and as specified by the department in regulation. (e) In this section, “district” has the meaning given in AS 14.17.990 .