Legislature(2019 - 2020)BARNES 124
05/03/2019 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB91 | |
| HB24 | |
| HB127 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 91 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 24 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 127 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 24-LIMITED TEACHER CERTIFICATES; LANGUAGES
CO-CHAIR WOOL announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 24, "An Act relating to instruction in a language
other than English; and relating to limited teacher
certificates."
CO-CHAIR WOOL opened public testimony on HB 24.
5:05:40 PM
KATIE GARDNER, Matsu Borough School District, expressed her
support for HB 24. She informed the committee that Matsu is
home to Fronteras Spanish Immersion Charter School and said the
borough needs qualified immersion teachers to run the immersion
program. Doing that, she said, will require cultural experience
as well as language fluency. She stated that the teachers
employed in Matsu are trained, qualified, and highly competent
educators who's only limitation to accessing the regular
certification is their limited English language, which
ironically, is one of the attributes that makes them so
qualified. She said that HB 24 will allow the expansion of the
opportunities that already exist in programs like career
technical education and junior ROTC, to the language immersion
program.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN asked if Fronteras has taken advantage of
the Type W certification.
MS. GARDNER replied that they have one teacher who is employed
on the Type W. Nonetheless, she said there is basic competency
requirement under Type W that limits its usefulness for
employing language teachers. The basic competency exam is the
main limiting factor, as the only option for the test is in
English.
MS. GARDNER, responding to a follow-up question from
Representative Hannan, acknowledged that the candidates for
employment are teachers from different countries who have a
verified bachelor's degree and have completed and completed a
teacher preparation program in their country. She restated that
the major limitation is the basic competency exam and that there
is no option of taking it in their native language.
5:09:59 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN proposed allowing a 2-year window to
complete that for a full certification, as opposed to a
certification that is held by the district.
MS. GARDNER acknowledged that it would be helpful; however, it
would not solve all the barriers facing this issue. She
explained that in the past there have been some individuals who
had around 1 year to work on the basic competency.
Unfortunately, she said, it didn't present enough time for he or
she to pass the exam. She added that it takes more than 2 years
to learn the English language.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN asked what content areas, aside from the
Spanish language, the educators should be teaching.
MS. GARDNER explained that the Fronteras program has grades K-8
splitting the day with some of the subjects taught in English
and some in Spanish. She added that they would want them to
have the equivalency of at least an elementary education
endorsement.
5:12:45 PM
CO-CHAIR WOOL announced that public testimony for HB 24 would be
left open.
[HB 24 was held over.]
5:12:53 PM
The committee took an at-ease from 5:12 to 5:15 p.m.