Legislature(2007 - 2008)Anch LIO Conf Rm
08/17/2007 10:00 AM Senate SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
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| Start | |
| SB14 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| = | SB 14 | ||
SB 14-RAISE COMP. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AGE
CHAIR STEVENS announced SB 14 to be up for consideration.
SENATOR DAVIS, sponsor of SB 14, said the bill would raise the
age for compulsory school attendance, and said it was combined
with the truancy bill. Both bills are important, but there is
another stand-alone bill that would deal with students aged 16
to 18, in case the current bill didn't move along as quickly as
it could. She asked her staff to give an overview of the bill
and how similar bills work in other states. There are no truant
officers in the state of Alaska, and only one school district
includes budgeting for such a position, she said. This
legislation would be helpful in remedying that situation.
10:17:24 AM
TOM OBERMEYER, staff to Senator Davis, said he would explain the
changes to the SB 14, currently in the K version; they are a
little different than the previous version E. Three areas from
different bills - SB 10 on truant officers, SB 14 on compulsory
school age and SB 31 on truancy and sanctions for it - had been
combined, along with modifications. He referred to the August 14
sectional analysis from Senator Davis' for version K.
10:19:27 AM
MR. OBERMEYER said that the first section raises the school age
from 16 to 18 for the crime of contributing to the delinquency
of a minor for repeated absences from school. Section 2 raises
the compulsory age of attendance from 16 to 18. Section 3 lists
exceptions to the compulsory school-age definition described in
Section 2. The only thing that has changed is that a person must
have either completed twelfth grade or graduated from a
secondary school.
10:21:26 AM
He said that section 4 requires each district to implement and
develop procedures for the reduction of truancy, including
community member involvement and a review body. This is the most
important part of the bill because cooperation is needed amongst
different agencies so that the system will work.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if the bill had received reactions from
school districts and police departments.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that he has contacted other states, and
one with a successful similar program is Oregon where three
counties and twelve schools have six truant officers. The
program is very successful because each school is audited.
Parents are notified immediately if children don't come to
school. Another similar program deals with following elementary
students into middle school, and works with them through
training programs in each grade.
10:23:34 AM
He explained that section 5 of the bill requires the Department
of Education and Early Development (DEED) to have a certain
number of truant officers based on number of students. Statute
requires that there must be an Average Daily Membership (ADM) of
1,000 or more students for truant officers, which are very
expensive.
CHAIR STEVENS asked how many districts have such an ADM.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that there are 13 such districts. The
Oregon model pays for the truancy officers on an attendance
model, not an enrollment model like in Alaska. Schools are paid
for the number of days that kids actually are in school, and
that model is very successful.
CHAIR STEVENS commented that it would be difficult to do so with
the current system.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that it could be possible with modern
computers and sufficient funding.
SENATOR DAVIS said she thought it would worthwhile to hear from
the DEED.
10:27:57 AM
RICHARD LUTHER, Special Assistant to the Commissioner,
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), responded
that a committee was looking at the funding formula, and if a
change were to be made switching from an ADM model to an ADA
(average daily attendance), that group would have to address it.
It would have to be part of the funding formula. It would be a
significant change from the way funding is determined now.
CHAIR STEVENS said this issue hadn't been previously raised in
the Task Force on Education, and asked if there was a way to
credit districts for days spent in school by truant students in
the current system.
MR. LUTHER replied that it wouldn't work with the current
system; it would just be adding another layer of complication. A
change to the way funding is determined would be necessary and
switched to using an ADA model over an ADM model.
SENATOR ELTON said one fiscal notes said 13 districts have an
ADM of 1,000 and would require a truancy program and officer;
one would be Juneau. He asked if he had asked the Juneau School
District what the cost would be for a truant officer.
MR. LUTHER replied he had not.
SENATOR ELTON said that DEED fiscal note showed a cost of about
$1 million. It didn't show anything about the potential benefits
of a truancy program - and the possible savings down the road in
law enforcement, social services, et al; it's important to look
at the benefits.
MR. LUTHER replied that he agreed with that inference. Truancy
officers could provide tremendous benefits aside from just
physically getting kids in school, but they could provide
incentives as well. He thought the program would pay for itself
in the long run.
10:32:03 AM
SENATOR DAVIS said the Juneau district is on record as being
willing to spend money on the program. Juneau is very pleased
with its truancy program and would likely be willing to share
its model with other districts.
10:32:56 AM
MR. OBERMEYER went on to explain that section 6 of version K
provides the same definitions as in versions E and M, except for
the definition of truancy, which now makes sense. Other states
make reference to the fact that students with unexcused absences
are subject to compulsory schooling; in Alaska that is already
implied in statute, so further wording shouldn't be needed.
CHAIR STEVENS said he agreed with that section.
MR. OBERMEYER then explained the elimination of the vocational
education program in Seward that had been moved from the DEED to
the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) on
pages 2 - 4; thus the reference wasn't necessary.
10:36:22 AM
He added that the committee should have paperwork in front of it
tracking recent legislation, and indicating that there has been
a change countrywide regarding compulsory school age. The report
shows that about half the states define the compulsory age as 16
years of age, but people are recognizing that students must stay
in school in order to graduate and so states are moving the age
to 18.
He said that states are moving to bring students back to school
and help them to graduate. One has to work with students as
early as possible to help them graduate; in Anchorage the
graduation rate is 64 percent, or below the national average.
However, this rate depends on which groups are included in the
statistic.
10:39:56 AM
CHAIR STEVENS said that every child could be included if the
standards were lowered, but they need to be maintained at a
certain level. Kids who have dropped out need to be brought back
into a program that has a certain level of standards he
emphasized.
MR. OBERMEYER said that the dropout rate is a complicated
number; it includes people who are removed formally from the
rolls, but there are nuances throughout the process. Based on
all the data, Alaska is well below national averages for
graduation.
10:42:13 AM
SENATOR ELTON described a hypothetical situation regarding
passing of high-school exit exams, and asked if certain students
would be included in the calculated graduation rate.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that the dropout students are deducted
from the graduation rate. The calculation is required to follow
children from ninth through twelfth grades. The state doesn't
have time to follow all its students and so doesn't know where
all of them are. The dropout rate impacts the ADM, and that
number is significant.
10:44:44 AM
SENATOR ELTON read a portion of the bill addressing arrest
warrants, and asked what the penalties are for a violation (of
AS 14.30.010).
MR. OBERMEYER replied by reading subsection (b) on page 5 of the
bill that says:
"A truancy officer shall cooperate with local and
state law enforcement agencies and may petition a
court of competent jurisdiction for an arrest warrant
to bring a person violating AS 14.30.101 (the
compulsory schooling statute) before the court for
trial and sentencing.
He said this statute has been on the books for some time.
Parents can be considered to be failing to protect their child
if they do not keep them in school. Schools have the flexibility
to get assistance from state offices if it thinks a child is
being harmed by parents' violation of attendance statutes.
SENATOR ELTON asked what the sentence would be if such a case
came to trial.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that the sentence is usually a $300 fine,
but some states do require time to be served by the parents in
certain situations.
10:47:39 AM
SENATOR ELTON noted that the truancy issue is in the same bill
as compulsory school age, and asked if the fiscal notes for the
truancy portion are predicated on students being in school until
age 16 or age 18.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that the fiscal notes are based on
students remaining in school until age 18. He then briefly
reviewed the fiscal notes.
10:50:56 AM
CHAIR STEVENS referenced an article about career earnings with
and without degrees, and how people without high school degrees
cost the nation $1.4 billion in incarceration fees.
MR. OBERMEYER said that the Office of Public Advocacy (OPA)
offered a zero fiscal note, and that currently a person can be
prosecuted for delinquency of a minor under the age of 16; the
bill raises the age to 18 and also the age of compulsory school
attendance, but is not expected to have a fiscal impact on the
OPA. The final fiscal note from the Public Defender Agency is
also zero. He said that raising the compulsory school attendance
age is not expected to cost anything more. Part of the truancy
issue is the fact that it can help reduce the amount of crime
among juveniles who are out on the streets instead of in school.
10:54:06 AM
CHAIR STEVENS said that Mr. Obermeyer's point is that the law
has been on the books for a long time.
MR. OBERMEYER agreed, and said that most people don't relate it
to truancy because usually it's used through another format or
in another sort of case. There hasn't been much prosecution
through this law. Rural inhabitants have said they would love to
utilize state law offices to help prosecute in order to put
students back in school, but there's no time for it.
10:55:19 AM
SENATOR ELTON said the reason he asked if the DEED truancy
fiscal note was based on age 16 or 18 is that a particular ADM
is 883; the question in that instance is whether enough children
between the ages of 16 and 18 would come back into the district
to put it in the 1,000-student range.
MR. LUTHER replied that the fiscal note is based on the current
system which is age 17 and he didn't know how many students of
age 18 would be coming back into the system.
10:57:22 AM
MR. OBERMEYER said if there were any changes needed to the bill,
he'd be open to considering them. His main focus is that if the
state moves forward with the program, it will have a system in
place statewide that truancy officers and schools can work with
to bring students back into the education system. One has to
bring dropouts back up to speed or they will drop out again, he
remarked.
CHAIR STEVENS commented that this is a problem the legislature
would have to face in a 90-day session. The legislature might
want and need to be able to move legislation from committee
without having to be in session. He said he also wanted to look
at the issue of attending a community college to get a high
school diploma; he didn't think that was possible now, but
perhaps it should be.
SENATOR DAVIS agreed and explained that other states provide
that possibility.
11:02:02 AM
SENATOR ELTON said he still wanted to know maximum penalties for
a violation under the bill, and asked what happens to a dropout
pursuing a Graduation Equivalency Diploma (GED) by the raising
of mandatory school attendance age to 18.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that the school district should be able to
answer that because it deals with that situation all the time.
The Anchorage school district that he is familiar with has
special programs to accommodate such students. One issue is
whether increasing the compulsory school age creates truants. He
thought this bill would reduce the number of children leaving
school and increase the graduation rate. He said the Oregon
model he described earlier has an average of an 83 percent
graduation rate out of 38,000 students. The indication is that
starting with assessments early will increase the graduation
rate and reduce the need for so many special programs.
11:04:23 AM
SENATOR DAVIS mentioned that the age might be increased to 18,
but there are still ways parents can keep children out of
school, including home schooling.
11:05:47 AM
SENATOR ELTON said he was concerned that a 17-year student who
dropped out of school to pursue a GED program would be in
violation of this program.
CHAIR STEVENS said he thought the current GED program worked
very well, and asked Mr. Luther what he thought of the bill.
MR. LUTHER replied that it would be a useful tool, and that
additional tools would be needed. Truant officers could help
implement programs that would address the reasons kids aren't in
school. However, he said one of the ways people escape keeping
their kids in school is by saying they are in home school; in
that case, the district doesn't have any control.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if some parents abuse the system by saying
their kids are home-schooled.
MR. LUTHER replied yes; he has heard anecdotal evidence.
SENATOR DAVIS said she thought that issue needed to be taken up
by the DEED. She thought most people who home-school their
children are doing a good job.
CHAIR STEVENS agreed.
11:10:20 AM
SENATOR ELTON pointed out that it would seem that by raising the
minimum age, some rural areas' populations would be bumped up to
the minimum number they need for having a school building and
that would have attendant costs.
MR. LUTHER replied that was correct.
11:11:37 AM
MR. HOPKINS asked if the state isn't banging its head against
the wall by requiring kids to attend school when they don't want
to.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that that issue has come up many times.
Dysfunctional students might slow down the rest of the student
body. These students need to be worked with early on so they
don't get into such a bad position.
11:14:46 AM
KELLY FORMAN, representing herself, said that there should be a
way to start some remediation programs before resorting to
raising the compulsory attendance age.
CHAIR STEVENS said that is an important question; other
districts have attempted to find ways to address the problem.
However, it's hard to determine which action would be more
effective first.
MS. FORMAN said that in California, when the attendance limit
was raised, new schools had to be built to deal with
particularly disruptive students.
CHAIR STEVENS said that research overwhelming shows that young
people are more successful in life having graduated from high
school.
SENATOR DAVIS said that remedial programs are already in place
in Alaska, but students are only required to attend until they
are 16; it's better to require them to attend until the age of
18.
11:17:27 AM
RICHARD BENEVIDES, staff to Senator Davis, introduced himself.
SENATOR ELTON said he didn't think that anecdotal evidence was
necessarily what public policy should be predicated on. Juneau
has an alternative high school to which many students self-
divert, and it provides an atmosphere in which troubled students
can succeed. The principal of that school, Lori Roberts-
Scandling, is a strong advocate for raising the compulsory age
from 16 to 18.
11:20:24 AM
MR. BENEVIDES said he contacted over 40 different school
districts on the issue and he learned that that most follow the
old model of school-age attendance from the ages of 5 to 16, but
the world today is different. Those compulsory-attendance ages
must be raised to teach children to a point where they can be
successful in society. All successful programs start in
elementary school, and kids who are not in the mind-set of
wanting to go to school need to be taken into account. He
continued to explain the tools the bill will offer the state in
terms of keeping kids in school, and how programs like this will
become standard in the future.
CHAIR STEVENS agreed that there's a need to be cautious with new
programs, but that they are necessary and are part of a long-
term process.
11:25:49 AM
TONY NEWMAN, Division of Juvenile Justice, Department of Health
and Social Services (DHSS), said he agreed with the
presentation, and echoed Mr. Obermeyer's comments about the
necessity of comprehensively addressing truancy and dropouts.
11:27:26 AM
SENATOR ELTON commented that the bill gives truancy officers the
ability to take a parent or guardian to court for having a
truant child, and asked if that implicates foster parents as
well.
MR. NEWMAN said he would have to research that answer.
CHAIR STEVENS thanked everyone for testifying, and, there being
no further business to come before the committee, he adjourned
the meeting at 11:29:37 AM.
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