Legislature(2001 - 2002)
04/27/2001 01:37 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 40-EDUC.OF DISABLED OR GIFTED CHILDREN
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN announced SB 40 to be up for consideration.
DR. BRUCE JOHNSON, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Education and
Early Development, said SB 40 was developed with a broad based
constituent group on the special education of children with
disabilities and individuals representing the exceptionality of
giftedness. They believe it is a good bill.
He said last year DOEED required school districts to provide
services for children identified as gifted, but left the service
decisions up to the local district. There is no money at the state
level; money is passed through as the 20 percent block grants.
Constituents wanted the state to provide oversight, however.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN said that currently the state has no say in
qualifications for a gifted program for a certain district.
DR. JOHNSON said that is correct. The scope of the project is up to
the school district and DOEED receives a plan of service from each
of them.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked if the state has an appeal process.
DR. JOHNSON said the appeals process is an issue and the state
rarely gets involved in resolving disputes, but the threat of the
state getting involved helped the districts solve the differences.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked if the school districts have a mandate to
provide an appeal process for all parents and students for
decisions that a school district makes that a parent doesn't like.
DR. JOHNSON replied that he didn't know if it was in statute, but
every school district has a complaint resolution process that's
well founded in the board's policies and administrative procedures.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked if it was limited to special education
students.
DR. JOHNSON answered that it is open to any parent or community
member that has an issue with the school district. It usually
involves trying to resolve the issue at the lowest possible level
and moving it forward to the Board of Education and then to the
Superior Court.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked if there could be a mediation process if the
local school district had it in their policy.
DR. JOHNSON answered, "Absolutely."
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN said she thought that the districts probably had a
variety of ways of implementing a complaint procedure.
DR. JOHNSON said that was correct.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN said that there has been continued interest in the
state having the appearance of oversight. She explained that the
proposed committee substitute handles the problem a little
differently and her goal was to get it passed this year. She asked
Dr. Johnson to explain the dilemma DOEED is in if it doesn't pass.
DR. JOHNSON responded that for the last several years, the
Department has been under corrective action from the federal
government and it had to do with the fact that the Department some
years ago was spending federal dollars on the G/T
(Gifted/Talented) programs around the state, particularly when it
came to monitoring. Three years ago, a monitoring review by the
federal government said the state could not do that; that the
federal money was to be used for children with disabilities, even
though the state had a broader definition of exceptional children
with an umbrella that covered children with disabilities and G/T.
DR. JOHNSON said they have been respecting that review ever since
that time and had regulations prepared a year ago giving clear
directions. Now, DOEED is trying to get statutes in line with the
federal IDEA '97 statutes and regulations. SB 40 is an attempt to
do that. The portion dealing with children with disabilities does
that very well. The federal government has no voice in identifying
children who are gifted. It's up to the local district.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN said that Congressman Jeffords was trying to get a
federal mandate for gifted children and she thought the timing
would be better if Alaska tries to get its statute to conform to
the federal one.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN recessed the meeting to the call of the chair.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN called the meeting back to order at 4:37 p.m. with
all members present. She said that SB 40 was before them.
SENATOR WARD moved to adopt the F version committee substitute of
SB 40. There were no objections and it was so ordered.
SENATOR WARD moved to pass CSSB 40(HES) from committee with the
accompanying fiscal note with individual recommendations. There
were no objections and it was so ordered.
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