Legislature(2001 - 2002)
02/20/2002 01:35 PM Senate HES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 250-SCHOOL PERFORMANCE REPORTS
MR. MARK LEAL, Director of Assessment at DOEED, informed
committee members that the school report card has been a dynamic
document over the years. In the late '80s and early '90s, the
report card focused on providing information about each school
district in a fairly detailed format. In the mid to late '90s,
the focus shifted to reporting statewide information; district
information was included in a table in an appendix. Beginning
with the 99-00 report card, the focus was on reporting school-by-
school information. District information was provided in a table
in the back of the report card.
When DOEED started to look at reporting information on a school-
by-school basis, a few unique challenges arose. First, the small
size of many of Alaska's schools made it difficult to report
information without violating a requirement to not release
personally identifiable information under the federal Family
Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Second, when DOEED
looked at publishing the report in a paper format, as it had in
the past, the document had grown from 25 pages to 520 pages.
Because of high printing costs, DOEED decided to post the report
cards on its website and publish the last two years' report cards
on CDs at the end of March. DOEED is also changing the web
version of the school report card to be more user-friendly by
organizing the schools into districts rather than alphabetically.
In addition, the format will have a district-by-district file.
MR. LEAL said he is currently reviewing the school report card to
identify areas that need to be improved to meet the intent of
statute and provide the public with useful information. Alaska
statute requires that district goal reports be collected and
summarized by DOEED. That information fell by the wayside when
DOEED moved to district spreadsheet profiles. In addition, the
new federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
contains a variety of public reporting requirements.
MR. LEAL distributed a document he prepared for the committee
entitled "Report Card to the Public," which contains current
Alaska law, items currently reported by DOEED, and additional
reporting requirements that must be incorporated into the
existing report card. He noted that DOEED is figuring out how to
manage this data at the department level because it is required
to compile and warehouse data and verify its accuracy.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked Senator Wilken if his concerns have been
satisfied by the information provided.
1:43 p.m.
SENATOR WILKEN said he had a few more questions, the first being
where DOEED is headed regarding comparability and whether the new
report will contain a chart that compares districts, similar to
one on the web last year.
MR. LEAL said it will contain a similar chart. DOEED is in the
process of formatting it to put on the web.
SENATOR WILKEN indicated that DOEED used to publish the dollar
expenditure per student each year. He said he would like to
amend SB 250 to require that amount be reported and categorized
by "total, federal, state, local and other" per student.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked Senator Wilken about a start date for that
requirement.
SENATOR WILKEN replied:
I would say next year but our office is certainly
capable of publishing that for the '01 audited
information and we could probably do '02 now that it's
all set up. I guess I'll defer to the department
whenever they'd be comfortable to do it. I don't think
it's a big project.
SENATOR WILKEN then moved to insert on page 2, line 4, a new
paragraph (4) that reads, conceptually, that dollars per student
expenditures be reported and categorized by total, federal,
state, local, and other (Amendment 1).
SENATOR WILKEN then moved to amend Amendment 1 to change the word
"expenditures" to "revenues."
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN announced that with no objection, the amended
amendment was adopted.
SENATOR WILKEN said his concern last week was that over the
years, the report has changed from a detailed one to a very
rudimentary one. He said he now feels comfortable that DOEED is
creating a usable report that allows comparability and that it is
something an interested parent can understand.
SENATOR WILKEN said he had a good discussion with Mr. Leal about
federal reporting requirements for schools with fewer than 10
students. It is his understanding that the number 10 was passed
on to DOEED through the federal government, but that the state
may eventually decide that 5 or 15 students should be the limit.
DOEED is trying to avoid problems with FERPA but is looking at
reducing that number to 5.
MR. LEAL said that number came from guidance from the federal
government, DOEED's testing contractor, and from information
based on what other states are doing.
2:50 p.m.
SENATOR DAVIS said she has no problem with the request of
information from DOEED, but she does not understand why it should
be included in this bill as it is about school designators, not
school report cards. She asked if Amendment 1 will require a
title change.
SENATOR WILKEN said the way he reads it, it all falls under AS
14.03.120, which this bill addresses. Language in .120(f) says,
"The report must include" and the bill lists items that must be
included. Amendment 1 adds another item that is not in statute
today.
SENATOR DAVIS stated that all items required to be in the school
report card are not listed in the statute.
SENATOR WILKEN said the intent of the motion was to make sure
that dollars per student are in the report card. Today they are
not.
With no further questions or testimony, SENATOR WILKEN moved CSSB
250(HES) from committee with individual recommendations and its
attached fiscal note.
SENATOR DAVIS asked if Amendment 1 will change the fiscal note.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN said the bill has a zero fiscal note and that it
has a referral to the Senate Finance Committee, where the fiscal
note can be addressed. She then announced that without objection,
CSSB 250(HES) will move to the next committee of referral.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|