Legislature(2011 - 2012)CAPITOL 106
03/14/2011 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): North Slope School District Superintendent | |
| HB154 | |
| HB49 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 154 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 49 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 49-EARLY CHILDHOOD ED: PARENTS AS TEACHERS
9:02:20 AM
CHAIR DICK announced that the final order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 49, "An Act establishing in the Department of
Education and Early Development a voluntary parent and early
childhood education program for pre-elementary aged children."
9:04:57 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CHRIS TUCK, Alaska State Legislature, summarized
HB 49, as he read from the sponsor statement:
HB 49 requires evidence-based education, parental
involvement, and adherence to accepted best practices
and early learning guidelines; it directs the
Department of Education and Early Development to
develop local partnerships to implement Parents as
Teachers program; and, lastly, it includes a 3-year
sunset clause.
9:06:27 AM
MS. CURRAN reviewed the fiscal note of $3.9 million, and stated
that HB 49 would establish a statewide Parents as Teachers (PAT)
program for children less than 5 years of age. The fiscal note
reflected the hire of one education administrator to oversee the
position, and contractual services and supplies to support the
general office activities of the program.
9:07:37 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI, commenting that it was a large fiscal
note, asked if this affected every child in the state.
9:08:01 AM
MS. CURRAN stated her understanding that an equation was used to
establish that of the 39,000 families, there were 1740 families
that would qualify. She said that 800 of these families could
be federally funded. She noted that the remaining 940 families
were multiplied by $4000 to obtain the grant request.
9:08:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA reflected on the cost to the state if the
program was not implemented. She opined that PAT, done well,
would save the state "huge amounts of money."
9:10:29 AM
MS. CURRAN reported that EED recognized the importance of PAT
and other viable options. She said that she would provide
savings information to the committee.
9:11:15 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON read the title of HB 154, "An act
providing for the establishment of a statewide early childhood
education plan and guidelines," and pointed to its $300,000
fiscal note. She then read the title of HB 49, "An act
establishing in the Department of Education and Early
Development a voluntary parent and early childhood education
program for pre-elementary aged children," directed attention to
its $3.9 million fiscal note, and asked "how come there's such a
big difference, basically, practically doing the same thing but
not quite."
9:12:25 AM
MS. CURRAN replied that HB 154 established an early childhood
education plan, and that HB 49 established a program, Parents as
Teachers. She noted that the implementation of a program was
more costly.
9:13:12 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON, reflecting on the three year sunset
clause, asked if adequate data could be garnered on the
effectiveness of the plan. He pointed out that the bill did not
require any report of effectiveness to be made to the
legislature. He requested that EED provide the analysis.
9:14:18 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK, in response to Representative Seaton, noted
that a prior version of HB 49 had included this requirement, and
explained that EED would be allowed the latitude to develop the
reports on the multiple pre-K programs.
9:15:24 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON asked if it was necessary to specify that
EED would develop a report to the legislature, based on
collected data that indicated the effectiveness of the program.
9:16:10 AM
MS. CURRAN replied that data would be collected, and the
department would be able to generate a report. She pointed out
that HB 154 required a report on the early childhood plan, and
perhaps this could be rolled into a report on all the early
childhood plans.
9:17:16 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI noted that the bill established that the
programs were to be evidence based, and it should be incumbent
on the PAT program administrator to prove its value. He
suggested that EED would maintain records to support this.
9:18:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE said that he would not support HB 49
without a reporting requirement included in the language, which
would demonstrate the program effect on the performance of the
pre-schoolers.
9:18:59 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON, indicating that PAT was already
established, asked why these existing programs were not
considered.
9:20:00 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK replied that PAT was nationwide and that HB
49 allowed for any other evidence based programs that fit the
guidelines.
9:20:40 AM
DEBI BALDWIN, Child Development Division Director, Rural Alaska
Community Action Program, Inc. (RurAL CAP), in response to
Representative Feige, said that PAT programs were re-certified
annually in order to maintain status, and reports were filed
with the national PAT center. She stated that outcomes were
included in all the programs for both children and parents.
These included both pre and post surveys for both children's
development and changes in parent attitudes.
9:22:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE agreed that it was a viable program;
however, he declared that a report should be provided to the
legislature.
9:23:24 AM
MS. BALDWIN expressed her agreement.
9:23:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK agreed and said that language could be
provided for an amendment.
9:24:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA agreed with Representative Feige that the
reports would verify the cost savings of prevention.
9:25:08 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON, noting that the program cost would be
$11.7 million over three years, asked about the current program
costs.
9:25:50 AM
MS. BALDWIN, in response to Representative P. Wilson, reported
that between 33 and 39 communities annually received PAT
services, at an annual cost of $3200 to $4000 per student. She
noted that 80 percent of these costs were for personnel, as it
was a human service program. She said that the next highest
expense was rent, unless an in-kind community donation was
available, and that program supplies and certifications were the
other major costs.
9:27:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON asked if any of the programs were held
in the schools.
9:27:16 AM
MS. BALDWIN replied that some schools allocated space in the
facility, and that some even offered food service.
9:28:11 AM
SARAH SCANLAN, Deputy Director, Rural Alaska Community Action
Program, Inc. (RurAL CAP), discussed the low proficiency and
graduation levels of students, and shared that Alaska was one of
twelve states that did not sponsor a preschool program. She
pointed to the critical need, especially for minority students,
for pre-school and early childhood education programs. These
programs had been identified as a means to teach parent training
and discipline, the care for children, and the value of
education. She pointed out that many Alaska Natives had been
sent to boarding schools as children, and consequently, many of
those early parenting skills had never been learned. PAT was a
proven program for teaching parents how to parent, promoting
literacy and language development, and valuing education. She
lauded Head Start as an effective program and reported that
these two programs in rural Alaska were well monitored,
administered, and regulated, and had proven outcomes. She
shared that health screenings were also conducted through the
program, which helped identify children with developmental
delays before entering kindergarten. She said that $3.9 million
"is a drop in the bucket in the big scheme of things" when the
outcome was considered.
9:33:42 AM
CHAIR DICK closed public testimony.
9:33:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK reflected on a prior presentation regarding
the economics of a pre-K program. He spoke about the cognitive,
social, and emotional skills that were developed through pre-K
programs and the cost savings for these. He pointed to the
longer reaching effects as students continued through their
school careers, which included: lower pregnancy rates, higher
graduation rates, and better parent participation throughout the
life of the child. He noted that the program improved parenting
skills as well, as the responsibility of parenthood was an
important issue to cultivate. He stated that the monthly group
meetings developed a culture of learning and education to focus
on rearing the children in a village. He stressed the need to
make this investment. He agreed with the fiscal note, that the
department had accurately forecast the needs. He offered his
opinion that the determining factor would be the benchmark third
grade proficiency scores.
9:39:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA opined that if a family had only one
child, there was an initial cost, but if there were more than
one child, the benefit and the parental learning was already
recognized.
9:40:57 AM
MS. BALDWIN, in response to Representative Cissna,
[Representative Tuck requested that Ms. Baldwin respond to
questions about the Parents as Teachers program] agreed with the
residual benefits from more than one child in a home. She
reported that cost savings had been documented with students
that had received early health intervention for developmental
delays. She pointed out that families who had been engaged in
the PAT program tended to ensure the children attended school,
which was a huge cost savings to the K-12 system. She shared
that the PAT instructors were mandated to report child neglect
and abuse, and that the incidences of abuse and neglect declined
with families which had participated in the PAT program.
9:43:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK read the previously proposed language:
Devise and implement a statewide early childhood
education rating system to assess, improve, and
publicize the quality of all public and private pre-
elementary programs in the state.
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE reflected that this level of detail was not
necessary, as a report that participating students were
receiving a benefit would suffice.
9:45:09 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 1, as
follows:
Page 2, following line 17
Insert subsection (d), requiring a Department of
Education and Early Development report to the
legislature by January 1, 2014, which would address
the effectiveness of the programs funded by the bill,
and would include a comparison of children that
participated and did not participate in the programs.
9:46:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK accepted the conceptual amendment. There
being no objection, it was so ordered.
9:46:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 2,
which stated that if room was available in a school for a
program to meet, it would be provided at no cost to the program.
9:47:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT objected for discussion.
9:47:26 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI asked if schools would need to give up
space.
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON clarified "if space was available" as
some schools had decreasing enrollments which could allow for
space.
9:47:55 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE suggested that it would encourage the
school districts to fully utilize the space.
9:48:07 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON pointed out that it would be at no cost
to the program.
9:48:17 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK expressed agreement with Conceptual
Amendment 2. He pointed out that some districts already allowed
PAT programs at no charge.
9:49:22 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT removed his objection. There being no
further objection, it was so ordered.
9:49:36 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON commented that this was a better
program than if it were mandated for EED to provide a program.
She pointed out that more parental involvement and lower cost
were huge benefits.
9:51:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT moved to report HB 49, as amended, out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHB 49 (EDC) was
reported from the House Education Standing Committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 49 Support Letters Part 1 v2.pdf |
HEDC 3/14/2011 8:00:00 AM |
HB 49 |
| HB 49 Support Letters Part 2.pdf |
HEDC 3/14/2011 8:00:00 AM |
HB 49 |