Section 4 AAC 33.090 - District-operated statewide and district-wide residential schools(a) A district must obtain approval from the department before operating a statewide or district-wide residential school. A district may apply to establish and operate a new school only during a period of open applications established by the department under (c) of this section. Applications must include (1) designation of the facilities that will house the residential school, including any proposal to build or renovate a facility, and the revenue sources that will support the construction or renovation;(2) a five-year budget for the operation of the residential component of the school; the budget must specify the revenue sources that will support the proposed budget, including a provision for charging student tuition;(3) a tuition waiver policy for families that can demonstrate financial hardship, including a definition of "hardship";(4) an enrollment and selection policy for students applying to attend the residential school;(5) a list of course offerings;(6) a plan to assist students in crisis; and(7) a staffing plan for the school.(b) The department may require that a district supplement its application with additional information. The department may require a district to change its policies or proposed practices before approving an application. A district must operate the residential school in conformance with its approved application. A district that wishes to change any of the requirements of an approved application must submit a revised application. In determining whether to grant or deny an application, the department will consider (1) whether the community in which the school is located has sufficient infrastructure to support the residential school; (2) demand, current capacity, and regional needs for residential schools; (3) the cost to provide a residential school in the applying district; (4) the district's ability to offer a high-quality academic program to students; (5) the health and welfare of students housed in the residential school, including the ability of the district to offer a high-quality residential school; (6) for a revised application, whether the school has complied with the policies and practices that the district identified in its current application; and (c) The department will open a period of application annually on May 1. The application period will close on June 30. The department may require that applications be targeted to provide a particular program to meet specific needs of students in the state. A period of open application and solicitation does not imply that the department will approve the establishment of any new schools.(d) This section does not prevent a governing body from establishing an in-district residential school that is not eligible for state support for the operation of the residential aspects of the school . (e) A district that operates an approved statewide or district-wide residential school shall submit an annual report to the department. The report must include the (1) number of applications received by the school; (2) number of students accepted into the school ;(3) students' communities and districts of residence at the time of application for enrollment; (4) students' academic achievement results; (5) date of, reason for, and number of withdrawals from the school during the school year; (6) number of expulsions from the school during the school year; (7) number of students receiving a tuition waiver; and (8) other information requested by the department with respect to the school . (f) On December 1 of each school year, a district that operates an approved statewide or district-wide residential school shall submit to the department an application, on a form provided by the department, for payment of a stipend under AS 14.16.200(b)(2). The district is eligible for payment of the lesser of actual cost to house the student or the amount allowed in AS 14.16.200(b)(2) for each residential student who is housed by the district on the last day of the student count period under AS 14.17.600, and whose parents or guardians do not reside in the community in which the school is located. If appropriations are insufficient for the residential component of approved statewide or district-wide residential schools, the department will reduce each district's entitlement by a pro rata amount as determined by the department. (g) The department may withdraw its approval for a district to operate a statewide or district-wide residential school if the department determines that continued operation of the school is not in the public interest. In making this determination, the department will consider (1) the health and safety of the students in the residential school; (2) whether students at the school have demonstrated sufficient academic achievement; in making this determination, the department will consider all evidence of student academic achievement and improvement, including evidence of (A) students' scores and improvement of students' scores on statewide student assessments under 4 AAC 06.710; and (B) the program's record of demonstrating progress in accordance with 4 AAC 06.800 - 4 AAC 06.899 (school and district accountability), and the reasons for its success or failure to demonstrate progress; (3) the demand for the school; (4) the cost of operating the school; (5) whether the school has complied with the policies and practices that the district identified in its application; and (6) the existence of alternative methods of meeting the needs of students. (h) A district may apply during a period of open application under (c) of this section for approval to operate a variable-term statewide or district-wide residential school that will house students for the entire school calendar. The minimum term for each student must be at least two weeks. A variable-term school is eligible for reimbursement for a monthly stipend for up to nine months of the school year under (f) of this section for the number of students that it housed on the last day of the student count period under AS 14.17.600 if the district will continue to house at least the same number of students throughout the entire school term. Upon the written request of a school district, the commissioner may permit a district to report the number of students it housed on a date other than the last day of the student count period if the date is within the count period set out in AS 14.17.600 and the date more accurately reflects the numbers of students the district will house throughout the school term. A variable-term school is eligible for a one-time air fare reimbursement under AS 14.16.200(b)(1) for the number of students housed by the school on the last day of the student count period, based on the average cost of round-trip air fare for all statewide or district-wide residential schools. A district may not include students housed by a variable-term school in the school's student count submitted to the department for foundation funding under AS 14.17; a student being housed by a variable-term school during the student count period may be included in the count of the student's district of residence. In this subsection, "variable-term statewide or district-wide residential school" means a statewide or district-wide residential school that rotates students in and out of the school during the school year for the entire school term as defined under AS 14.03.030.Eff. 10/22/2006, Register 180; am 6/8/2013, Register 206; am 10/16/2013, Register 208; am 2/21/2014, Register 209; am 3/6/2015, Register 213, April 2015Authority:AS 14.07.020
AS 14.07.060
AS 14.07.165
AS 14.16.100
AS 14.16.200