Legislature(2007 - 2008)BELTZ 211
02/14/2008 09:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB101 | |
| SCR15 | |
| SB202|| SB215 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SCR 15 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 215 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 202 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| = | HB 101 | ||
SCR 15-AMEND UNIFORM RULES: STANDING COMMITTEES
CHAIR MCGUIRE announced the consideration of SCR 15.
TIM LAMKIN, Staff to Senator Gary Stevens, said SCR 15 comes
from the Joint Legislative Education Task Force as its first and
immediate recommendation for this session, and it establishes a
standing committee on education. It also calls for a recurring
review of the funding formula, regular updates of the district
cost factors, review of programs and policies within the
Department of Education and Early Development, and review of
policies of the University of Alaska. Considering Alaska's
constitutional obligation, many feel that Alaska should have an
educational standing committee. Alaska is one of only three
states that do not have one.
9:10:37 AM
SENATOR STEVENS said it became clear to him when he came to the
legislature that it would be reasonable to have this standing
committee. Chair Davis of the Health, Education, and Social
Services (HESS) Committee is very supportive. That committee
wanted to keep education in the past, but the current chair is
supportive. It seems that the university has mainly responded to
the Finance Committee, which is valid because of fiscal issues,
but the university has gotten short shrift on its programs.
9:12:10 AM
CARL ROSE, Executive Director, Association of Alaska School
Boards, said he served on the task force and has never seen such
a broad number of issues with consensus. "It is all before you
now." Education is quite complicated, and in the course of a
legislative session people will have only a few minutes to
testify. It is difficult to get congruence about many aspects of
K-12 education. Alaska spends $1 billion every year on it, and
there are a number of issues. The task force identified things
that could be worked on, and some things were more complicated
and needed more time. He said people wanted to look at the 20
percent block grant, which is the amount that goes to special,
vocational, and bilingual education. How that is distributed is
difficult to deal with in a committee. He continued:
What it requires is some time, as well as issues of,
maybe, intervention on the no-child-left-behind
reconstitution of governance and schools. You look at
the mandated nature of legislation that may be
regulations that we face: the local, the state, and
the federal role in education - these things become
very, very complicated. It's our hope, and it was the
hope of the task force, that we would be able to
create a standing committee who could deal with these
issues and give it the due diligence that they
require. … This is an effort to try to give you the
time you need to make better decisions, and I hope you
look favorably on this piece of legislation.
9:15:18 AM
RICHARD LUTHER, Legislative Liaison, Department of Education,
said the administration supports SCR 15. There are major issues
the task force didn't have time to deal with. Some of these
unresolved issues include charter and correspondence schools,
block grants, vocational and technical programs, required local
effort, and pre-K education. These are major issues that require
a lot of time, and a special committee will allow that.
9:16:40 AM
JOHN ALCANTRA, Director, Government Relations, NEA-Alaska, said
he agrees with previous comments. He said Senator Stevens spent
8 to 10 full days last summer on the task force. "It was the
first time that education had ample time to go through issues …
and all of them were not addressed." The Senate has a special
committee on education that has been shoehorned into a one-hour
timeframe with members that have to head off to other
committees. Making education a standing committee and elevating
the K-12 and university budgets "will certainly help." NEA-
Alaska members just had their 52nd annual delegate assembly, and
they have been trying to see this happen for years.
9:18:11 AM
KIKI ABRAHAMSON, Teacher, Homer, Fireweed Academy Charter
School, said her school has existed for 11 years, and it has
been doing a great job with an innovative curriculum. She has
six of her students with her, and has brought them to the
hearings at the Legislative Information Office in Homer. They
all support SCR 15. All educators and members in the community
are in favor of having a separate education committee.
CHAIR MCGUIRE said she is glad students are involved. She asked
if the HESS committee needs its name changed in SCR 15.
SENATOR STEVENS said line 12 of page 1 changes the title and
duties of that committee.
9:20:55 AM
SENATOR FRENCH said he is confused about the structure of SCR
15. It appears to be making two amendments in the same section.
MR. LAMKIN said an amendment effectively sunsets the committee
in 2013.
SENATOR FRENCH surmised that Section 1 would take effect
immediately, and Section 2 would take effect on the first
th
regular session of the 28 legislature. "So, it sunsets the
education committee."
SENATOR STEVENS said that was the desire of the previous
committee. He wasn't excited about that, but he now thinks it
may make sense to relook at it.
SENATOR BUNDE moved to adopt, as a working document, the
committee substitute (CS) for SCR 15, labeled 25-LS1348\C.
Hearing no objection, Version C was before the committee.
9:23:32 AM
SENATOR GREEN said she is the only person in Alaska that opposes
this, and she only opposes it because it causes difficulties in
the Senate - not so much for the House. The Senate has
difficulty getting members into standing committees who are not
conflicted. The special committee can meet every day if it needs
to. "We can more clearly outline with our special committee that
all legislation will be forwarded to it and it will be
responsible for all education issues." Knowing the difficulty of
scheduling and filling all of the committees, another standing
committee will be next to impossible, she explained.
SENATOR FRENCH said that is a good point because everyone is
stressed by the 90-day session. He hopes that this committee
will not result in extra bill referrals. He suggested not simply
adding an education committee referral without dropping it from
other committees. There should be the same amount of committee
work but just redistributed. "If we do it right we should be
creating some time from a reduced workload in other committees."
It should compartmentalize the work.
9:25:51 AM
CHAIR MCGUIRE said the Senate is "a lot harder" than the House.
"You really are stretched with 20 members." She hopes that the
issues of health and social services attract enough people, and
that members are not just interested in education. Education is
a popular issue. Health and social services can be tough because
there is never enough money to go around and the issues are
difficult. The sunset provision may address that.
SENATOR FRENCH moved CSSCR 15(SED) from committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). Hearing
no objections, it was so ordered.
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