Legislature(2007 - 2008)CAPITOL 106
03/11/2008 03:00 PM House HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SJR11 | |
| SB241 | |
| SB119 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SJR 11 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 119 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 241 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SB 241-UNIV. REPORT: TEACHER TRAINING/RETENTION 3:23:54 PM CHAIR WILSON announced that the next order of business would be CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 241(SED), "An Act relating to a report to the legislature on teacher preparation, retention, and recruitment by the Board of Regents of the University of Alaska; and providing for an effective date." 3:24:51 PM SENATOR GARY STEVENS, Alaska State Legislature, informed the committee that SB 241 was a result of the legislative education task force and requires a report from the University of Alaska (UA) specific to the tracking, training, and retaining of qualified public school teachers. He noted that the legislature does not often have a dialog with the UA Board of Regents; however, the bill proposes that, on the thirtieth day of the legislative session, the Board of Regents issue an annual report to the legislative educational committees. This annual report becomes a biannual report after 2013. The bill sends a message that the legislature wants to know what the UA is doing about the teacher shortage in the state. Senator Stevens acknowledged that, although the UA makes a great deal of information available, it is valuable that it be reported to the legislature. 3:26:59 PM REPRESENTATIVE KELLER asked for an explanation of what the UA can do to "retain" teachers. 3:27:41 PM SENATOR STEVENS explained that the UA's responsibility would be to report on the rates of retention for each school district and the school districts' plans for improvement. REPRESENTATIVE KELLER surmised that the sponsor would approve clarification of that responsibility by the committee. 3:28:21 PM TIM LAMKIN, Staff to Senator Gary Stevens, Alaska State Legislature, speaking on behalf of the sponsor, Senator Stevens, stated that one retention tool in use by the UA is the statewide mentoring project that is a direct partnership between the UA and the Department of Early Development & Education (DEED). 3:28:56 PM CHAIR WILSON observed that the UA can play a big role in retention by the proper preparation of students to handle situations in rural areas. Students need information pertinent to remote and rural placement. 3:30:29 PM MR. LAMKIN pointed out that some teachers prefer rural placement. 3:30:41 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA asked about the depth of the report; in fact, retention can be related to the amount of funding provided by the legislature. She asked whether the report would include studies on the issues of funding incentives and benefits to teachers. 3:31:40 PM MR. LAMKIN affirmed that the intent of the task force was not to limit the parameters of the report. Representative Cissna's inquiry falls in the realm of the report. 3:32:01 PM REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH expressed her concern that the report will be used to financially leverage an appropriation, rather than the discussion of actions taken to address the rates of retention. 3:32:42 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES referred to the July 1, 2012, effective date on page 2, line 26, of the bill. He asked whether this was a conflict with Section 1, that sets an effective date of ninety days from enactment. 3:33:14 PM MR. LAMKIN explained that the report would be presented annually for the first five years, and biannually after July 1, 2012. 3:34:40 PM CYNTHIA HENRY, Vice Chair, Board of Regents, University of Alaska, informed the committee that it was the position of the Board of Regents to comply with any request from the legislature. She stated that teacher education is a high priority for the UA, and expressed her hope that working together with the legislature can help to fill the teacher vacancies across Alaska. 3:35:47 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON surmised that the annual report would be delivered in person to the legislative committees. 3:36:26 PM MS. HENRY agreed. She noted that the Board of Regents holds a February meeting in Juneau that could coincide with its presentation of the report. 3:37:03 PM MR. LAMKIN affirmed that the presentation is set to accommodate the existing Board of Regents meeting schedule. 3:37:30 PM CHAIR WILSON asked for more information on what the UA could do to address the teacher shortage in the state. 3:38:17 PM JOHN PUGH, Chancellor, University of Alaska Southeast, explained that individual school districts have the primary responsibility to retain teachers; however, the UA mentor project, established in partnership with the DEED four years ago, is making a difference by supporting first year and second year teachers throughout the state. The mentors are master teachers who work with beginning teachers to help them through the critical period of the first five years of teaching. Also, the UA can provide professional development activities to school districts that ensure that new teachers are continuing professional development during their apprenticeship. Finally, the UA can encourage placement in rural Alaska by offering rural assignments during internships. Intern placements in rural Alaska have resulted in permanent placements. 3:41:00 PM CHAIR WILSON asked whether the mentors make suggestions for improvements to the program. 3:41:28 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH indicated that mentors have provided feedback on curriculum. Furthermore, the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) course requires placement in a classroom for an entire year, thus there is feedback from teachers on each student's teaching abilities. In addition, the UA uses teachers as adjutant faculty teachers at the university level; this assures that professors have the opportunity for time back in a classroom. 3:42:48 PM CHAIR WILSON asked whether the state requires teachers to visit classrooms. 3:43:02 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH said that the state does not have that requirement. The UA at Southeast (UAS) requires that all teachers who become faculty are certified. 3:43:21 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES asked how many students are enrolled in the MAT program. 3:43:36 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH answered that, at the UAS, there are 100 students in the undergraduate program, including some part-time and distance education students. In most years, there are about 50 students in the year-long MAT program. 3:44:24 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES asked whether the year-long internship, with a portion of time in rural Alaska, is available to MAT students only. 3:44:50 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH indicated that UAS does not require a full year internship in the four year program. The undergraduate program includes junior and senior year course requirements and a one semester internship. 3:45:30 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON asked for clarification of the requirement that the report include "an outline of the university's past, current, and future plans." He asked for an interpretation of the meaning of "past." 3:45:58 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH said that he was unclear on that point. He opined that the material covering all of the UA's past would be burdensome. 3:46:31 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON asked for the sponsor to comment. 3:46:37 PM MR. LAMKIN suggested that data on the past known teacher shortage is fairly recent. He also noted that the past history would be reported once just to reconcile the data. 3:47:16 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES mentioned that there has been a teacher placement service in the state for many years and data is available. He opined that data older than five years would not be helpful. 3:48:07 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON affirmed that the intent of the task force was not to go back, but rather to report on the current situation and the future plans for implementing the training, attraction, and retention of teachers. 3:49:09 PM CHAIR WILSON suggested the deletion of "past." 3:49:20 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON indicated that the deletion of "past" will be considered. 3:49:37 PM REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked whether there are active efforts to recruit students from local communities to get teaching credentials. 3:50:34 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH described the "future teachers program" in place in rural communities throughout the state. Through support by a grant, there is recruiting at high schools and Native teachers and students are bought in. Each high school has teachers that work with identified students as mentors to prepare them for course work in the field of education. 3:52:10 PM REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked that the report include information on the future teacher's program. 3:52:20 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH agreed. 3:52:23 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES recalled efforts to encourage teacher's aides in rural communities to become certified teachers. Some of the obstacles were: travel to the university for the final courses; the expense; time away from family; and university course requirements. He noted the difficulty to overcome these obstacles. 3:53:50 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH reminded the committee that UAS offers a bachelor degree in elementary education by distance from anywhere in the state. Nevertheless, good teachers must have content course work; in fact, the field of secondary education now has a federal mandate that requires a degree or a major in a given field to teach high school. Qualifying teachers for the secondary level will continue to be a challenge. 3:55:24 PM The committee took an at-ease from 3:55 to 3:57 3:57:43 PM REPRESENTATIVE KELLER expressed his concern that SB 241 is a proposal for more than a report; in fact, the bill calls for "short-term and five-year strategies with accompanying budgets." He assumed that the UA must spend money to develop a new five- year strategy; however, the zero fiscal note accompanying the bill refers only to the preparation of reports. 3:57:50 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES explained that the education tax force discussed this issue during one task force meeting. The simple inquiry that inspired the bill was to determine how well the UA was working to fill the education gap. 3:58:53 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON agreed and suggested that the issue should also be looked at in the context of the creation of the standing committee on education. The identified goal was that teacher training, and the hiring and retention of teachers, was affecting education in the state. This was a highly important issue, not related to funding, that the task force wanted to refer to the standing committee on education, and this report was a way to provide the committee with updated information from the UA. 4:00:19 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES confirmed that the main focus of the education task force was on funding and it worked hard to establish multi-year, forward funding of education so that the substance of educational issues could be investigated. 4:01:30 PM REPRESENTATIVE KELLER presumed that the intent of the sponsor was to include in the report the efforts of all schools to attract, train, and retain qualified public school teachers; not just efforts by the UA. 4:03:09 PM MR. LAMKIN confirmed that the intent of the bill was to provide a forum to allow the discussion of substantive educational policy, not just the funding of educational programs. Secondly, if the committee decides to remove the UA and to include the DEED, there must be a title change to the bill. He opined that the collaboration of other departments is implicit in the bill. 4:04:41 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES cautioned that there are many issues involved in teacher retention, such as living and working conditions, and removing the UA will take the report outside of the intent of the bill. 4:05:18 PM MR. LAMKIN spoke regarding the request for "strategies with accompanying budgets." He suggested that the UA would need to request a budget, along with its strategies, in order to be fair. 4:06:11 PM REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH expressed her concern that the bill presents an expectation for growth within the UA system. If funding becomes necessary, there must be measurable outcomes so that the funding can be retracted. For the legislative history, she said that she did not want to see the UA presenting budgets, but rather information on what it is doing to attract, train, and retain qualified public school teachers. Separately, the UA may submit options with an attached fiscal report. Representative Fairclough related that the UA budget has increased 50 percent during the last four to five years; however, the student population has not. In addition, it has added at least 80 new programs. She warned that when students enter a new UA program, the curriculum must be maintained for years, even with a small number of enrollees. 4:08:33 PM MR. LAMKIN offered to draft a letter of intent. 4:08:47 PM REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH said that she is happy to support the training and retaining of teachers in the state; however, there must be accountability in a business plan. In order to invest in education, the committee needs to understand the UA budget implications. 4:09:48 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA observed that the Board of Regents have a loose role in the bill by providing the university's past, current, and future plans. She gave the student's perspective and supported the requirement that the university issue a report with "outcome measures" in terms of successes. 4:12:05 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH agreed and said, "That is the whole point of our performance based budgeting that we have been presenting to the legislature." He gave the example that most of the UA budget money has gone to health care programs; in fact, the nursing program and health science programs have doubled or tripled graduates. He opined that the first report would show all the graduates in every area; however, some areas, such as specialized special education, although required by federal regulations, are difficult for a small state to fill. Chancellor Pugh assured the committee that all of the data was available as a part of the UA budget request procedures, and would be provided, including the projection of student enrollment for new programs. 4:14:10 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA strongly suggested that the proposed legislation should model its purpose and that the language of the bill could be improved by amendments. 4:14:58 PM REPRESENTATIVE KELLER asked for more information on the UA's involvement with the mentoring program. 4:15:23 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH informed the committee that the mentoring program began at the request of the former commissioner of education. Funding, from federal and state sources, enables the UA to hire master teacher mentors, to adopt criterion standards for mentors, and to administer the program. The master teachers are not faculty, in fact, they come from K-12 school districts throughout the state. A UA faculty member is researching the effectiveness of the program so its impact on the retention of teachers will be known. 4:16:58 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES added that the program was initially begun by former Commissioner Shirley Holloway with grant funds to the Teacher Enhancement Board. The intent was to establish and model best practices for teachers. The program began in Anchorage and after two years of development became the statewide mentoring program. Due to budget restraints, mentoring is only available to first and second year teachers. Representative Roses explained that the program is now supported by state funds. 4:19:28 PM CHAIR WILSON asked how many teachers are mentored and how long the program has been in effect. 4:19:42 PM CHANCELLOR PUGH said that the program has been statewide for three years. Approximately seventy percent of teachers are mentored and the result is a higher retention rate for mentored teachers. 4:20:38 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES stated that the ultimate goal is to mentor every first year teacher, principal, and superintendent. At this time, poor evaluations identify the teachers that will get a mentor and he opined that early intervention is the most effective. 4:22:07 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA recalled that there was a grant in the 1990's. 4:23:08 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES clarified that the grant was funded in 2000 and was specifically designed to determine what best teaching practices were and how to train teachers to use best practices to meet the goals and standards of the state. The UA then had to realign its curriculum to train teachers appropriately. 4:24:53 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA stated that part of the importance of the bill is that it would continue the work underway. 4:25:30 PM REPRESENTATIVE KELLER remarked: I'm really struggling with the concept, ... I'm all for the report ... and I'm all for the idea of keeping the program going. But the section of law this is in is not programs, and this is more than a report. When you ask for plans, strategies, and budget, that fits into the program portion of the University of Alaska, and that's fair, and then we're talking, fiscal impact and everything else. ... It just seems like we're doing more, .190, the first part here that is being added to, part (b), is nothing more than a report on what the university is doing with its money and its facilities. There's nothing in there that says that we want a plan here, and we want what you are going to do, and we want a budget, it's not proactive. ... We're doing more than just a report. ... As I understand it, we're leaving [AS] 14.40.190 in there and that becomes (a) and this is a new (b). What I am questioning is whether it's a proper drafting practice here, to put something in here that is more than a report. 4:27:52 PM MR. LAMKIN stated that the decision was made by the drafter of the bill. He spoke on behalf of Senator Stevens and suggested an amendment that would strike "accompanying budgets" and, or, "past plans." Mr. Lamkin then re-stated his opinion that there is value in having a review of the past. 4:29:13 PM CHAIR WILSON reminded Mr. Lamkin that the members of the committee would change every two years. She than announced that the bill would be held and asked Representative Keller to work out his concerns with the sponsor. 4:29:33 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON indicated that he had an amendment. 4:29:39 PM REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH asked to see a letter of intent from the sponsor and proposed that the bill should have a fiscal note attached, to provide for options and measurements, instead of the integrated budget that can not be taken apart. 4:30:30 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES asked whether the sponsor would be submitting a committee substitute or amendments. 4:30:52 PM CHAIR WILSON asked the sponsor to work with committee members on amendments. [SB 241 was held over.]
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