Legislature(2013 - 2014)CAPITOL 120
03/11/2014 01:00 PM House MILITARY & VETERANS' AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB313 | |
| HB318 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 318 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 313 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 318-ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT: MILITARY FAMILIES
2:03:13 PM
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 318, "An Act relating to public school reports
of students whose parents are members of the active duty
military service.
2:03:24 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER introduced HB 318 as the prime sponsor.
He informed the committee that military families in Alaska face
special challenges such as: frequent transfers; overseas
deployment on short notice; students must transfer schools and
adjust to different graduation criteria and class requirements;
and students face social dislocations and social pressures.
These challenges can impede students' normal progress toward
graduation. Military parents may be very aware of these
challenges to their children's educational progress, but they
are largely hidden from school districts, and state and federal
governments. Although state law requires annual reports on
school and student performance regarding accreditation,
achievement test scores, proficiency, retention, attendance,
drop-out and graduation rates, and enrollment changes, the
Department of Education and Early Development (EED) does not
specifically track the performance of military students thus
there is no indicator linking school performance to military
status. The U.S. Department of Education (DOE), Impact Aid
Program seeks to collect information on military families and
their students for tax purposes, but it does not identify the
specific school or individual students' performance.
Representative Saddler said there are about 37,000 military
dependents in Alaska including a significant number of
kindergarten through twelfth-grade students. The bill seeks to
capture information on students of active-duty military families
and require school districts to gather and report to EED on the
number, attendance, and performance of students in public
schools. Also, the information would be posted on the worldwide
web with other reports. The families affected are those on
active duty in the armed forces of the U.S., the U.S. Coast
Guard, the Alaska National Guard, the Alaska Naval Militia, or
the Alaska State Defense Force. He concluded that having this
information would benefit local school districts, help school
districts design programs, generate federal tax assistance, and
provide guidance to incoming military families. Furthermore,
educational organizations connected with military students
endorse identifying and tracking students, and seven states have
similar laws or executive orders.
2:07:39 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES asked whether the U.S. Department of
Defense (DoD) or DOE has requested this information, and if this
information has been proven to be helpful to military families.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER deferred to a representative of DoD.
REPRESENTATIVE HIGGINS observed that HB 318 directs certain
information to be gathered that is already known by school
districts.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER responded that EED does not gather this
information on students from military families, although local
schools may on a voluntary basis. In further response to
Representative Higgins, he said EED would create new forms and
questionnaires to collect the required information.
2:10:56 PM
PAUL PRESSING, Deputy Director, Division of Teaching and
Learning Support, EED, affirmed that the department now gathers
the following information: sex, race, original spoken language,
and migrant status, but not whether a student is part of a
military family. This would require a new data element to be
incorporated into the department's data collection system.
REPRESENTATIVE HIGGINS expressed his belief that a military
transfer would be part of a student's school registration.
MR. PRESSING explained EED could request certain information
that schools already have. In further response to
Representative Higgins, he noted that the state report cards on
each school and school district show the academics for subgroups
such as English Language Learners. A military student subgroup
would reveal reading, writing, and math scores, and could be
compared to other students or subgroups on the state report
card.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER added that other performance comparisons
could be on graduation rates, attendance, and higher or lesser
achievement than peers.
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES cautioned that even if the information is
gathered by group, when the information is used a pattern may
inadvertently identify individual students.
MR. PRESSING assured the committee that all student data is
confidential, and districts use this type of data to drive their
educational programs.
2:16:16 PM
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX opened public testimony on HB 318.
2:16:33 PM
MARK SAN SOUCI, Regional Liaison, State Liaison Office, DoD,
informed the committee this issue arose in 2012 and 2013 as one
of the key issues towards improving the quality of life for
military families. He said there are school districts in Alaska
that document military families, but these are typically schools
near military installations that do so in order to apply for and
receive military impact aid from DoD or DOE; this aid totals
about $2 million, however, DoD and DOE do not know about the
population in schools that do not request money. Tracking of
this type reveals trends such as absenteeism based on parental
deployments or other military service. In addition, this
information can facilitate the distribution of DoD and local
resources. In the 2014 DoD budget, $25 million is designated to
school districts and the first step is to know how many
military-connected kids are in a school district. Mr. San Souci
pointed out the bill has a low fiscal note because most schools
would just need to add a code to their information-gathering
system. He added that the intent of the bill is to protect
privacy, and similar legislation is too new to provide
supporting documentation. In response to Representative
Higgins, Mr. San Souci confirmed that this information is
important to the education agency of DoD.
2:20:35 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HIGGINS asked whether DoD has funds to contribute
to the cost of gathering this information.
MR. SAN SOUCI recalled in 2013 the DoD Impact Aid Program gave
Alaska EED $1.5 million and the Delta/Greely School District
$48,000, and DOE provided approximately $106 million in federal
aid to school districts.
2:22:23 PM
LIEUTENANT COLONEL KAY SPEAR BUDD, State Family Program
Director, Alaska National Guard, said she was representing the
Coalition for Alaska Service Members, Veterans and Families.
The purpose of the coalition is to support Joining Community
Forces, a national initiative, which seeks to educate community
members about the military throughout Alaska, to identify gaps
in services, and to encourage collaboration between agencies.
From its outreach efforts, the coalition has identified the gap
in information addressed by HB 318, which is to identify all
students of parents who have served in the past or are currently
serving in the military. She stated that the benefits of
collecting this data are to connect and communicate with
teachers and schools to aid children of military families and
provide resources and referrals. The U.S. has been at war for
over 12 years and the coalition is looking at the long-term
effects of war on the children of military families and at the
community support that is needed now more than ever.
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX inquired as to how to prevent the disclosure of
an individual's performance information in a small school
setting.
2:26:05 PM
MR. SAN SOUCI responded that there would be the same protection
of information as there is for any other subgroup of kids. He
added that some military families live away from the base, and
their children attend school in a district not highly-impacted
by the military.
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES cautioned that publicly reporting
performance in a school with two or three military-family
students could reveal their identities easier than other
subgroups. She asked if a school with very low numbers of these
students could be exempted.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER acknowledged that the reporting of small
samples is a challenge in Alaska; he was unsure if there are
provisions in existing protective laws for the non-public
disclosure of small populations, but said this situation is "in
the clutter of statistical reporting ... information."
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES requested that Co-Chair LeDoux discuss her
concerns with EED at the next committee of referral. In
response to Representative Saddler, she agreed that being in a
military family is honorable, but frequent moves can be hard on
students.
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX said she and the sponsor will ensure that this
issue is thoroughly vetted at the next committee of referral.
2:30:49 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HIGGINS opined that in Alaska there are many
studies that are completed and paid for, but that are without
value. He stressed that when the military deploys a service
member there are not many choices of location for the family,
and questioned how spending $80,000 - and $10,000 per year
subsequently - to collect information, will help military
families. Representative Higgins remarked:
... and when it goes to the next committee, I want ...
to hear specifics, how does it help you? ... It all
sounds good, but until we actually put pen to paper,
how does it help?
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER answered that the information will help
parents know whether or not to live on base. Further, DoD wants
to know at which locations the kids of soldiers and airmen are
getting a good education, because a good education for their
family members is a significant element for morale.
REPRESENTATIVE HIGGINS interjected that the military cares most
about the service member.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER acknowledged that the service member is
most important, but his experience shows that the military does
value a strong family. Another value of HB 318 is to school
districts; for example, DoD has programs at schools near Joint
Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) for counseling for kids of
deployed parents through Impact Aid resources.
2:34:32 PM
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX asked whether there are any statistics that show
that there are high-performing schools that are not working for
students of military families, or vice-versa. She suggested
that the school reports that show a school is doing well in
general should be sufficient.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said identifying students with the unique
challenges of military families provides the metrics required to
measure outcomes. There are benefits to knowing the
performances of subgroups, because "what gets measured gets
managed."
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG read from AS 14.60.010(6) as follows:
Public schools include elementary schools, high
schools, citizenship night schools for adults and
other public educational institutions that may be
established;
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG questioned whether the bill includes
charter schools or only affects non-charter schools.
2:38:19 PM
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX said charter schools are public schools.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG then referred to the bill on page 2,
lines 25-28, paragraph 11, which read:
(11) information on the number, attendance, and
performance of students enrolled in the school whose
parents or guardians are on active duty in the armed
forces of the United States, the United States Coast
Guard, the Alaska National Guard, the Alaska Naval
Militia, or the Alaska State Defense Force.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said paragraph 11 would only require
EED to provide information on "number, attendance, and
performance" of the students. Paragraph 10 [page 2, lines 24
and 23] read:
(10) other information concerning school performance
and the performance of the school's students as
required by the state board in regulation
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG questioned whether the information
required in paragraph 11 was equal to the information required
in paragraph 10.
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX suggested the sponsor review the order of
paragraphs 10 and 11.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked supporters of the bill whether
any additional information is desired.
2:41:37 PM
LIEUTENANT COLONEL SPEAR BUDD said there is a lot of confusion
with the term "active duty." For example, service members in
the National Guard or Reserve that are not deployed, are not
considered active duty. She suggested that the language,
"parents or guardians, serving or have served in the armed
forces" would ensure that all of the families and students get
the services that they have earned as former or current military
service members.
2:43:28 PM
MCHUGH PIERRE, Deputy Commissioner, Office of the
Commissioner/Adjutant General, Department of Military and
Veterans Affairs (DMVA), added that the goal of [paragraph] 11
is to include those affiliated with DoD or the U.S. Coast Guard
that are active service members. He clarified that the Alaska
Naval Militia and the Alaska State Defense Force are state
entities that are not technically considered military. They are
the organized state militia as far as the State of Alaska is
concerned, but not by DoD, thus including these services might
glean more information than is necessary. Additionally, members
of the Alaska Naval Militia serve under a memorandum of
understanding with the Navy Reserve and any of its Reserve
members will already be counted.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER, in additional response, said veterans or
traditional [U.S. Coast Guard] service members do not transfer
as much so - at this time - the proposed legislation is focused
on active military.
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES asked for affirmation that a deployed
member of the Reserve fits the bill's definition of "active duty
in the armed forces."
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said the Alaska National Guard has
deployed service members.
MR. PIERRE clarified that the effort [of the bill] is to
acknowledge that some service members in the Alaska National
Guard do move across the state; he agreed that the sponsor of
the bill is correct to include members of the Alaska National
Guard. In further response to Representative Hughes, he
confirmed that if Reserve members of the Alaska National Guard
are deployed, they meet the definition of active duty in
[paragraph] 11 of the bill.
2:46:41 PM
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX, after ascertaining that no one else wished to
testify, closed public testimony on HB 318.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG urged the sponsor to closely review the
language of the bill.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said Representative Gruenberg's question
would be posed to EED.
2:47:23 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES moved to report HB 318 out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal
notes. There being no objection, HB 318 was reported from the
House Special Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs.