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NOTICE OF ADOPTION OF EMERGENCY REGULATION REGARDING INCREASED INTERNET ACCESS FOR SCHOOLS BY STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT.

On June 11, 2020, the State Board of Education and Early Development adopted, as an emergency regulation, changes in Title 4 of the Alaska Administrative Code dealing with increased Internet access for schools, including the following:

(1) Changes to 4 AAC 33.605 - 4 AAC 33.690 are proposed to become permanent as follows: The changes implement ch. 5, SLA 2020, to increase the amount of Internet access that is eligible for state funding from up to 10 megabits per second (Mbps) to up to 25 Mbps. The proposed changes update the text to reflect the new 25 Mbps coverage and update deadlines by which grant activities must occur. The regulations set new benchmark dates for calculating eligible funding under the new standard. The regulations clarify that a district must report all circuits or connections included on the federal universal services program application and available at a school operated by the district (instead of only those used by students at a school). The regulation changes also include a definition of “school.”

(2) 4 AAC 33.610, 4 AAC 33.645, 4 AAC 33.655 are proposed to be repealed to remove dated references to 2015, the first year of the program.

The emergency regulation takes effect June 23, 2020, and will expire October 20, 2020. The State Board of Education and Early Development intends to make the emergency regulation permanent.

The Department of Education and Early Development invites the public to submit written comments during the written comment period, which begins with the date of this notice and ends on July 27,2020, at 4:30 p.m. The written comment period closes in advance of the meeting of the State Board of Education and Early Development at which the board will consider the adoption of the proposed regulations. This allows the Department of Education and Early Development an opportunity to prepare changes based on written comment and to distribute any proposed changes to the board for its consideration prior to the meeting.

You may comment on the regulation changes, including the potential costs to private persons of complying with the changes, by submitting written comments to the Commissioner’s Office, Department of Education and Early Development, Attn: Regulations Review, 801 West Tenth Street, Suite 200, PO Box 110500, Juneau, Alaska 99811-0500.

You also may submit written comments by facsimile at (907) 465-4156; by electronic mail to Linda Mattson; and online at the website of the Department of Education and Early Development at https://education.alaska.gov/regs/comment.cfm. Written comments also may be submitted through the Alaska Online Public Notice System by accessing this notice on the system and using the comment link.

All written comments must be received not later than 4:30 p.m. on July 27, 2020. After the written comment period has ended, you may submit oral comments to the State Board of Education and Early Development at a hearing to be held by the board on September 16, 2020, by audio-conference. The hearing will be held from 8:40 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. but may be extended. In the event there are more than two hours of public comment, the board may move to amend the agenda to extend the oral hearing. To mitigate the spread of the COVID19 virus, in-person testimony will not be permitted.

You may submit oral comments at this hearing, during this time only, via the Legislative Information Office streaming by calling 1-844-586-9085 if you are outside of Juneau or Anchorage. For participation from Juneau, call 586-9085. For participation from Anchorage, call 563-9085. This meeting will be streamed through the Legislative Information Office over http://www.akl.tv/ beginning at 8:30 a.m. on September 16, 2020 (audio only). To mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, local Legislative Information Offices have been closed to the public and in person comments will not be permitted. For more information about LIOs, you may call 907-465-4648.

You may submit written questions relevant to the proposed action to Linda Mattson at linda.mattson@alaska.gov or the Department of Education and Early Development, Attn: Linda Mattson, 801 West 10th Street, Suite 200, PO Box 110500, Juneau, Alaska 99811-0500. If a question is relevant to the proposed change in the regulations and the question is received by July 17, 2020, which is ten days before the end of the public comment period, the department will make a good faith effort to answer the question before the end of the public comment period. The Department of Education and Early Development will aggregate its response to substantially similar questions and make the questions and responses available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System and on the website of the Department of Education and Early Development at https://education.alaska.gov/regs/comment.cfm. The Department of Education and Early Development may, but is not required to, answer written questions received after the 10-day cutoff date and before the end of the comment period.

If you are a person with a disability who needs a special accommodation in order to participate in this process, please contact Linda Mattson at 907-465-2802 or linda.mattson@alaska.gov not later than September 1, 2020, to ensure that any necessary accommodation can be provided.

A copy of the emergency regulation is available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System, on the website of the Department of Education and Early Development at https://education.alaska.gov/regs/comment.cfm, and by contacting Linda Mattson at linda.mattson@alaska.gov or 907-465-2802.

The language of the permanent regulation may be different from that of the original emergency regulation and may include other provisions dealing with the same subject. You should comment during the time allowed if your interests could be affected. Written comments received are public records and are subject to public inspection.

Statutory authority: AS 14.07.020; AS 14.07.060

Statutes being implemented, interpreted, or made specific: AS 14.03.127

Fiscal information: The regulation is not expected to require an increased appropriation.

Documents

4 AAC XX.XXX Please cite the Regulation you are commenting on (i.e., the 4 AAC number listed with the regulation description), and use a separate form for each regulation.