NOTICE OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO EARLY LEARNING GUIDELINES

 IN THE REGULATIONS OF

THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The proposed amendments would adopt updated State of Alaska Early Learning Guidelines, which define the domains of development for pre-elementary children. 

The State Board of Education and Early Development proposes to adopt regulation changes in Title 4 of the Alaska Administrative Code dealing with programmatic requirements for pre-elementary schools. 4 AAC 60.170(a) is proposed to be changed by adopting an updated version of the State of Alaska Early Learning Guidelines.

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 Tuesday, December 22, 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 regulation change. 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 in writing on the proposed regulation changes, including the potential costs to private persons of complying with the proposed 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@alaska.gov 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 Tuesday, December 22, 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 January 26, 2021 at 9:00am, by Zoom virtual platform. The teleconferencing facilities will be operated from the Department of Education and Early Development Commissioner’s Office Conference Room, 801 West Tenth Street, Juneau, AK 99801. The public comment period will be held from 9:10 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. but may be extended. You may join the online Zoom meeting at https://zoom.us/j/99391482721 or by calling 1-253-215-8782 and selecting *9 on your phone’s keypad. To mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, in-person attendance will not be permitted. When public comment is over, the meeting will continue to be broadcast at the above website.  

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, 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 Friday, December 11, 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 ten-day cut-off 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)465-2800 or linda.mattson@alaska.gov not later than November 30, 2020, to ensure that any necessary accommodation can be provided.

After the public comment period ends, the Department of Education and Early Development will either adopt the proposed regulation changes or other provisions dealing with the same subject, without further notice, or decide to take no action. The language of the final regulation may be different from that of the proposed regulation. 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 14.07.060,

Statutes being implemented, interpreted, or made specific: AS 14.07.020

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