This bill amends Alaska's education laws to improve reporting and support for school districts and teachers. It mandates the Department of Education and Early Development to provide an annual report to the legislature and school districts, which will include new information on teacher working conditions, housing availability, and aggregated data from teacher exit interviews. School districts are also required to incorporate information from these exit interviews into their annual reports. Additionally, the bill introduces new responsibilities for the Department, such as offering financial planning and retirement training for teachers and paraprofessionals, and supporting mentoring programs for school principals and district superintendents. A new requirement is established for school districts to contract with an independent third party to conduct exit interviews for teachers who leave their positions.

In terms of retirement laws, the bill expands the applicability of certain provisions to include teachers who are members of the defined benefit retirement plan and choose to participate in it, regardless of when they became members. It also modifies the definition of "rural" communities and clarifies employment conditions related to retirement plan participation. A new section is introduced to provide a lump sum payment as a retention and recruitment incentive for eligible full-time teachers and paraprofessionals, with amounts varying by school district. Furthermore, teachers who joined the defined contribution retirement plan between June 30, 2006, and the bill's effective date can elect to switch to the defined benefit retirement plan, transferring their contributions accordingly. The bill outlines specific effective dates for its various provisions.

Statutes affected:
HB0231A, AM HB 231, introduced 05/19/2025: 14.03.078, 14.03.120, 14.03.123, 14.20.183, 14.30.760, 14.30.780, 14.03.420, 14.07.020, 14.03.125, 47.12.990, 14.07.165, 14.33.120, 14.07.030, 14.30.765, 14.30.770, 14.03.410, 14.30.800, 14.20.020, 14.25.009, 14.25.220, 39.35.095, 39.35.680, 14.25.540, 14.25.310, 14.25.590, 14.25.330, 14.43.700, 14.43.600, 39.35.120, 14.40.661, 14.40.799, 39.35.700, 39.35.990, 39.35.381, 39.25.200, 39.35.131, 39.35.158, 24.10.060, 39.30.150