Legislature(2005 - 2006)CAPITOL 106
04/18/2006 11:00 AM House EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| the Whole Village Project - Presented by Alyeska Worldwide | |
| HB228 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 228 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
April 18, 2006
11:12 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Mark Neuman, Chair
Representative Carl Gatto
Representative Bob Lynn
Representative Les Gara
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Bill Thomas
Representative Peggy Wilson
Representative Woodie Salmon
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
THE WHOLE VILLAGE PROJECT - PRESENTED BY ALYESKA WORLDWIDE
- HEARD
HOUSE BILL NO. 228
"An Act imposing a maximum pupil-teacher ratio for grades
kindergarten through three in public schools."
- HEARD AND HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 228
SHORT TITLE: PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO GRADES K-3
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S) HOLM
03/21/05 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/21/05 (H) EDU, HES, FIN
05/03/05 (H) EDU AT 11:00 AM CAPITOL 106
05/03/05 (H) -- Meeting Canceled --
03/16/06 (H) EDU AT 11:00 AM CAPITOL 106
03/16/06 (H) <Bill Hearing Postponed to 3/23/06>
03/23/06 (H) EDU AT 11:00 AM CAPITOL 106
03/23/06 (H) <Bill Hearing Rescheduled from 3/16/06>
04/18/06 (H) EDU AT 11:00 AM CAPITOL 106
WITNESS REGISTER
KERRY BOYD, Director
Alyeska Worldwide
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: During the hearing of the Whole Village
Project, provided a brief overview of the project and answered
questions.
ERIC DOWNEY, Business Development Manager
Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Explained the importance of rural economic
development and education in the Whole Village Project.
DAN ETULAIN, Ph.D.
North Star Television Network
Sitka, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: During the hearing of the Whole Village
Project, highlighted the important use of television in
contributing to a healthy village.
JIM FOSTER, Chairman
Worldwide IDEA, Inc.
Laurel, Montana
POSITION STATEMENT: Described the effectiveness of school
improvement models and Individual Learning Plans (ILP) in
advancing a child's education.
FLETCHER BROWN, Vice President Communications
Polson Communications
Polson, Montana
POSITION STATEMENT: During the hearing on the Whole Village
Project, representing the Technical and Management Services
Corporation (DRS TAMSCO), provided information and solutions to
improving remote communications.
CARL ROSE, Executive Director
Association of Alaska School Boards (AASB)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: During the hearing on the Whole Village
Project, provided information on Digital Learning and its role
in the project.
FRANK ODASZ, President
Lone Eagle Consulting
Dillon, Montana
POSITION STATEMENT: During the hearing on the Whole Village
Project, provided information on broadband learning.
REPRESENTATIVE JIM HOLM
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as sponsor of HB 228.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR MARK NEUMAN called the House Special Committee on
Education meeting to order at 11:12:32 AM. Representatives
Neuman, Gatto, Gara, and Lynn were present at the call to order.
Representatives Wilson, Thomas, and Salmon were excused.
^THE WHOLE VILLAGE PROJECT - PRESENTED BY ALYESKA WORLDWIDE
11:12:52 AM
CHAIR NEUMAN announced that the first order of business would be
a presentation of the Whole Village Project, an electronic means
of delivering education.
11:13:34 AM
KERRY BOYD, Director, Alyeska Worldwide, a non-profit
organization formed by the Yukon Koyukuk School District, began
her slide presentation by listing the eight necessary components
for a healthy village: safety, health, education, economic
development, social services, culture, government, and
[entertainment]. She informed the committee that today's
meeting would focus primarily on the education and economic
development components. She explained that the intent of the
project is to integrate K-12 instruction for Alaskan youth to
include entrepreneurship, e-commerce, culture, and community
learning strategies for rural villages. To convey what [Alyeska
Worldwide] believes to be the foundation for creating this
healthy village, she quoted, "Planting seeds of entrepreneurship
must begin early enough in a child's primary education to
establish entrepreneurship as a lifelong choice." She listed,
from Slide 3, the focus of the organization: education for at-
risk Native youth using proven Individual Learning Plan (ILP)
processes; rural economic development with early development of
entrepreneurial skills; preservation of the Native cultures and
providing options for village life; and content delivery
networking to villages. She explained that Alyeska Worldwide is
the host for the project - one that has many team members and
[business] supporters - and then introduced them to the
committee.
11:17:10 AM
ERIC DOWNEY, Business Development Manager, Alaska Manufacturing
Extension Partnership, informed the committee that the company
he represents is a statewide organization promoting economic
development through fee-base business consulting services with
existing manufacturers. He noted that roughly half the
organization's mission is rural economic development focusing on
e-commerce and entrepreneurship through the sale of Native art.
As to what he, a businessman, is "doing with a bunch of
educators," he explained that, "we're all working together
toward healthy and sustainable communities, whether it's in
safety, health, education, economic development, governance,
culture, social services, and entertainment." He opined that
education is the foundation for all of this. He highlighted
that not only are entrepreneurial skills dependent upon educated
kids, they should be fostered in the primary grades, cultivated
in secondary grades, and modeled in adult life. He listed other
places in the world where entrepreneurship is present and said
that this state is currently raising its first generation of
digital Alaskans. Should Alaska wish to competitively
participate in the "new digital economy, we need smart kids," he
opined.
11:19:41 AM
DAN ETULAIN, Ph.D., North Star Television Network, relayed that
with 30 years of experience in the field of education and a
switch in careers to television, his "[current] passion is to
have a rural television license." He expressed that he is
interested in having stations that emphasize education and
entrepreneurship and opined that television can play a very
supportive part in providing the eight necessary components of a
healthy village listed earlier by Ms. Boyd.
11:21:23 AM
JIM FOSTER, Chairman, Worldwide IDEA, Inc., referred to his
former career as the assistant superintendent for the Galena
City School District where his primary responsibility was to
develop and implement a school improvement model to address the
extremely low test scores of students. He explained that in the
model's development stage, four major elements were identified:
it had to be collaborative, successful, replicable, and
sustainable. Furthermore, he said that it was determined that
the teachers had to be trained to teach differently and that an
environment had to be created where students could be
successful. Though some changes have been made since his
departure there in 2003, he highlighted that [improved] test
scores have remained consistent. He directed the committee's
attention to a series of slides showing benchmark test scores
for Galena students as being "advanced" or "proficient,"
compared to another village school with test scores "below" or
"not proficient." He explained that the following slide
showcases the achievements for those students attending the
Galena Interior Learning Academy (GILA), with marked
improvements from 9th grade standards based test scores to the
12th grade Alaska High School Qualifying Exam scores. He said,
"Over 90 percent of the kids are successful in reading, writing,
and math on the High School Qualifying Exam." He expressed his
belief that having Individual Learning Plans (ILP) for all
students is important and that these plans must be tied to state
standards. In conclusion, he listed possible solutions for the
committee's consideration: developing an ILP model [statewide],
to replicate the success, and to track students.
11:28:58 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO sought clarification on which schools' test
scores were being compared.
MR. FOSTER explained that the slide compares the Galena City
School District with another village school that had similar
test scores prior to implementation of the school improvement
model. The results show, he noted, that "their test scores
remained low and our test scores went up."
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asked whether the military base was in
operation at the time Mr. Foster worked in the district and, if
so, whether military kids were a part of those students tested.
MR. FOSTER said they were not and that the military base was not
operational then. He clarified that his work with the district
began in 1997 and that the school district is approximately 85
percent Alaska Native. In further response to Representative
Gatto, he said he was not aware that these students had a better
reading proficiency in another language, and that the only other
language spoken there was by the elders and was Athabascan.
11:30:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN said that he is intrigued by the concept of
having an ILP for each student and noted the similarity of this
plan to the Individual Education Plan (IEP) for special needs
students. However, he opined that this would entail "an awful
lot of paperwork." He then inquired as to how the ILP relates
to a teacher's classroom plan.
MR. FOSTER said he shared Representative Lynn's dislike of
paperwork. He highlighted that his company, in collaboration
with a school district in Idaho, has designed a web-based ILP
program that is stored electronically, easily manipulated,
collects data, and doesn't hinder the education process or the
efforts teachers need to make in the classroom.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN inquired as to what has happened to report
cards as a measurement of [student achievement].
MR. FOSTER said he was uncertain whether "report cards are out
the window." However, he highlighted that one key point in
designing the school improvement model was to focus on the
solution instead of the problem. He went on to explain that the
term "dropout" has a bad connotation because it infers it's the
student's fault that learning is not taking place. He remarked
that what might really be happening is that students are
actually "force outs." "We know that research tells us that
giving kids [low] grades ... [does] not motivate kids to learn
and yet we give those grades [repeatedly] to all kinds of kids,"
he said. Then he provided an example of kids in primary grades
who, in spite of scoring at [only] 60 percent, are advanced a
grade level and noted how this [percentage] can compound year
after year. He opined that by the time these kids reach the
higher grades, they are "just forced out" and "have no success."
11:35:14 AM
FLETCHER BROWN, Vice President, Polson Communications,
representing the Technical and Management Services Corporation
(DRS TAMSCO), interjected to say that it is technologically
possible to not only build ILPs for every student, but to track
a student's progress and ensure that state standards are being
met before allowing that student [to graduate].
11:35:55 AM
CARL ROSE, Executive Director, Association of Alaska School
Boards (AASB), relayed that the association's efforts to build a
comprehensive delivery system [entitled, "Consortium for Digital
Learning"], was first presented at the House Special Committee
on Education meeting on March 21, 2006. He noted that although
[some level of] technology presently exists in schools, it has
not been instituted in a systematic fashion which is one of the
important goals of the program. He informed the committee that
the association is currently seeking a $5 million contribution
from those schools willing to enter the consortium, which would
be matched by $5 million from both the state legislature and the
Alaska congressional delegation should the board's request for
appropriations be approved. This total of $15 million, he
explained, would fund approximately 10 classrooms in 21 schools,
with 25 participating students, or "technology users." He
opined that a school's "readiness for technology" will largely
affect the costs to implement the program. He highlighted that
the program is more than just about introducing hardware in
classrooms; it's about engaging the community in discussions
regarding the benefit of technology. Once the technology is
made available, he opined, the [the Whole Village Project] will
answer what can be accessed through technology to serve kids.
He relayed that AASB will be responsible for providing "the
transparency and the accountability" for identifying those
schools who are ready [to implement Digital Learning].
11:38:49 AM
CHAIR NEUMAN sought confirmation from Mr. Rose that AASB intends
to work with the Whole Village Project in its attempt to develop
new delivery systems throughout Alaska.
MR. ROSE offered his understanding that whereas AASB is focusing
on the delivery system itself, the Whole Village Project would
focus on "the content" that is delivered through the delivery
system.
11:39:33 AM
FRANK ODASZ, President, Lone Eagle Consulting, informed the
committee that he is an educator and has worked with rural,
remote, and indigenous learners online since 1988 when he
created the Big Sky Telegraph: one of the first rural, online
educational systems in the country. He explained that when he
goes to the villages, he works with preschool kids on up to the
elders teaching digital art, music, and photography. He
expressed his belief that worldwide, "we have technologies that
can allow us to bring the very best resources to the villages"
and highlighted some of the technological successes in these
areas. He then provided the committee with a demonstration of a
flipbook software program which he opined as "instantly
motivating" and one that easily allows anyone with Internet
access to become a digital author. He announced that he will be
presenting information, in the near future, on projects linking
world communities with the Internet and to the subject of
indigenous broadband applications. In noting the billions of
people currently and soon to be online, he noted that the
opportunity is there to gather "the very best broadband
applications from all around the world." He expressed his
belief that the best broadband application for Alaskans is self-
actualization and "helping each learner maximize their full
collective potential for learning, innovation, and
collaboration." Furthermore, he noted that an even better
broadband application would be one that instantly keeps pace
with progress on the latest indigenous Internet innovations as
they occur worldwide. He said he has been told by Alaska
teachers over the years that it has been a real struggle to use
technology in the classroom due to the lack of systemic support
that Mr. Rose referred to in his testimony.
MR. ODASZ went on to say that his presence at this meeting is
through the courtesy of the Alaska Manufacturing Extension
Partnership (AMEP), an organization providing assistance in
establishing an ecommerce portal for the Rural Alaskan Village
Ecommerce Network (E-RAVEN). He highlighted that 18 village
ecommerce centers have been created in the past year with 24
more in the planning stage - all engaged in participatory
research to identify the best ecommerce support system for the
villages and the best combination of educational and economic
entrepreneurial activities. He relayed that AMEP and the Alaska
Native Arts Foundation have partnered to create sustainable
village economies through global e-marketing of Alaska Native
art. He said over 722 artists have signed up to date. From his
slide presentation, he listed several key points of the Alaska
Village Sustainability Action Plan and summarized some of the
key challenges [to changing] Alaskan governmental policy to
ensure all potential innovators and entrepreneurs are motivated,
mentored, and success stories shared. Referring to his final
slide, he indicated his belief that, "'Build it and they will
come' has proved to be a field of dreams."
11:49:15 AM
CHAIR NEUMAN asked Mr. Odasz to provide the cost of establishing
delivery systems in Alaska. Additionally, he requested to know
the difference in cost between a regular book and an electronic
book.
MR. ODASZ explained that Mr. Brown is prepared to address the
economics and additionally noted that there are dramatic cost
savings to some of the very latest technological advances. In
response to Representative Gatto, he confirmed that his use of
the term "self-actualization" is used in the same context as
that coined by Abraham Maslow.
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO opined that with Maslow, self-actualization
is at the very top of hierarchal needs and yet noted that Mr.
Odasz has used the term in the context of "kids in a village."
MR. ODASZ expressed his belief that "constructivist learners
that take charge of their own learning, are what we're shooting
for in education." He relayed that the Internet is one tool
that can provide people with the opportunity to individualize
their own learning path and to find specific information within
seconds of needing it. This dynamic "has everything to do with
the general theme of self-actualization," he opined. He went on
to say that with his background in psychology, he has determined
that the problem teachers and students face is one of motivation
and seeing relevance [in what is taught]. He identified himself
as a self-actualized learner, and said he has learned to teach
others on a worldwide basis.
11:51:46 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO referred to a program used in schools 20
years ago called "Program Learning," which initially showed a
quick improvement in learning yet was followed by a "drastic
decline" because there was no teacher involved. He asked Mr.
Odasz how this differs from programmed learning.
MR. ODASZ opined that teachers are more important in the
learning process than they've ever been. He noted that there is
more online collaboration and teacher-student interaction that
takes place in the online environment than general takes place
in a physical classroom. The intent of [the Whole Village
Project] is to have "the very best of both the online and the
traditional classroom," he said.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN remarked that he uses the Internet
extensively for both his legislative and personal work.
MR. ODASZ informed the committee that Mr. Brown would address
the challenge of expeditiously bringing the best [technological]
capabilities to the people.
11:53:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO, returning to the earlier discussion of
valuing teachers, inquired as to whether there is any difference
between moms and teachers. He further defined his question by
asking whether it would be considered nurturing "just to be
there for kids as they use the digital experience" or does it
have to be a teacher [providing the instruction].
MR. ODASZ opined that the first role in teaching is to teach the
love of learning which he would apply to both [parents] and
teachers.
11:54:20 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said he is trying to determine whether this
is a project that can actually be promoted this legislative
session or one that will be just be heard. He inquired as to
whether or not a proposal and a request for funds have already
been submitted.
MS. BOYD clarified that the Whole Village Project complements
Mr. Rose's Digital Learning program. She informed the committee
that $2 million was requested from the legislature and that it
would complement the amount Mr. Rose has already requested for
his initiative. She said that Mr. Brown's presentation would
address the technology infrastructure that will be used for both
projects. In further response to Representative Gara, she noted
that the request for funds is not currently in any of the
budgets submitted to the legislature. She relayed that they
have been presenting and seeking support for their project about
once a month.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA expressed his belief that if a proposal has
merit, it should be pushed forward; however, he said it is
unclear to him whether or not this presentation will actually go
further than today's hearing.
MS. BOYD said that they hope to gain momentum and the
committee's support.
11:57:19 AM
MR. BROWN asked the committee to envision every rural village in
Alaska being connected in some type of network that would allow
content, such as voice, text, video, or rich media, to be cost-
effectively moved to every location. He highlighted that part
of this vision includes "a box" placed at the hub of each
village that serves as the primary point from which data would
be extracted. This process, he explained, is called "content
delivery networking" and that the most cost-effective way to
obtain this "is certainly not the traditional communications
pipes that are in place to rural Alaska now which is satellite
broadband." He then provided background information on [DRS
TAMSCO] and relayed that the company has been in business since
1982, grown to $330 million a year, with 15 locations in the
United States (U.S.), and 8 offices in various foreign
countries, primarily in remote and rural areas.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA requested clarification from Mr. Brown on
what is being proposed. He asked whether the project's intent
is to address the slow Internet access and downloads in Alaska
and whether it aims to provide every community with data systems
from which educational information will be extracted by trained
teachers for their students.
11:59:13 AM
MR. BROWN explained that whereas this is correct for the
education portion, it does not cover the entire scope of the
project which aims to address "the whole healthy village
concept" from safety, health, education, economic development,
culture, social services, legislative or government issues, and
healthy entertainment. In working with his colleagues at
Alyeska Worldwide, he said he has learned that focusing on only
one of these components is not adequate and that a combination
is required to allow individuals and villages to prosper and
grow. He went on to say that since 1993, his company has been
involved in rural economic development and has brought
approximately $750 million worth of business to remote areas.
He highlighted that the company's primary mission is to deliver
global communication solutions worldwide and directed the
committee's attention to PowerPoint slides showing the equipment
used to transport communications equipment. He showed other
slides featuring his company's latest project with the Yukon-
Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) that involved the
installation of a satellite hub connecting 37 remote villages
via satellite, and 11 by microwave, into Bethel for telemedicine
and video-conferencing purposes. He noted that currently his
company is in the process of implementing the largest Voice over
Internet Protocol system (VoIP) which will be a private phone
system for YKHC.
MR. BROWN then turned the discussion to the bandwidth used in
every Alaskan village for emailing and Internet purposes. He
explained that whereas the broadband may be adequately shared
for these purposes alone, it is not capable of carrying the high
quality, rich media "stuff that keep students awake" because it
consumes too much of the available bandwidth. He opined that
"just finding more bandwidth is absolutely and positively not
the answer" because there isn't enough bandwidth on all
available satellites to accomplish this, and the costs to do so
are prohibitive. Instead, he explained that "by using something
called 'multicast,' we can take a very rich media content, move
it to the satellite and multicast it" allowing "as many people
as you want within the footprint of a satellite" to receive very
high-quality information. He added that with this stream of
information, a menu of information can also be sent to villages,
stored in "a box," filed under [the eight different Whole
Village components], and pulled for viewing and reviewing at a
later point in time. He highlighted that other tools, such as
collaboration servers, terminal servers, and digital video
broadcast, can be used to multiply the effectiveness of
bandwidth. He then explained the use of content management
systems, listing several types of content such as voice, video,
text, and data, and the variety of uses from audio discussions
to entire websites. He proposed that a content management
center is needed for each of the aforementioned eight components
necessary for a healthy village and also suggested ways to
multiply the effectiveness of previously purchased bandwidth.
12:08:31 PM
MR. BROWN, in response to Chair Neuman, clarified that although
the circuit-based technology in Alaska today is moving toward
packet-based technology, it could be more effective if the
individual connections for people could be aggregated. In
summary, he said what is being proposed is to "set up an
architecture that allows you to move data from a central
location, or multiple locations ... into the hub, send it up,
multicast it out to as many villages as [deemed] necessary along
with [the menu options] for live lectures, with return channel,
and then caching for future reference." He expressed his wish
that people move away from contracting for more bandwidth and
instead contract for "a function" to address project needs. He
further summarized the key points of the Whole Village Project:
Alaska Native youth are at risk; the effectiveness of the ILP
process; having rural economic development built into the
curriculum; preserving the Native culture through the process of
change; and content delivery networking to make information
accessible to villages. He noted the final slide which shows
the [four] phases of this project and said that a fifth phase
would show a "total success story" in rural Alaska. From there,
he expressed his [desire] to see the project move into the
American Native reservations where the people "suffer the same
social, economic, and educational problems as do rural Native
Alaskans."
12:13:02 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO inquired as to whether a server could
suffice for delivery of some instructional content and "real
time" instruction could be used when students have questions
about the information.
MR. BROWN stated his agreement that it is a combination of both
live and cached content, and then provided examples of combining
both. Redirecting the discussion to textbooks, he opined that
there is no one book that covers all the information in the
state standards. He expressed his wish to see a database,
created over time, to house information on the degree of
effectiveness of a variety of textbooks.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN inquired as to whether Mr. Brown's proposed
program wouldn't work just as well in urban and home schools as
in the rural areas. In noting that rural districts are "very
expensive to operate, he asked whether some of Mr. Brown's
suggested changes might result in the consolidation of some of
those districts.
MR. BROWN apologized for excluding the urban areas and relayed
that the concept and costs would apply the same for either. For
home school students, he explained that through use of a
wireless network, the cached content is equally accessible to
those home-schooled students.
CHAIR NEUMAN announced that today's presentation of [improving]
delivery systems "is just the introduction and hopefully we'll
be able to move forward on this ...."
MS. BOYD informed the committee that she would provide further
information as needed and that a funding request has been
submitted to Senator Gary Wilken.
HB 228-PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO GRADES K-3
[Includes brief mention of HB 247.]
12:19:19 PM
CHAIR NEUMAN announced that the final order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 228, "An Act imposing a maximum pupil-teacher
ratio for grades kindergarten through three in public schools."
12:19:53 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JIM HOLM, Alaska State Legislature, as sponsor of
HB 228, expressed his belief that the education system in Alaska
is not satisfying the educational needs of children and that it
is structurally unsound. He highlighted that studies have shown
those children who do not read well by the third grade are not
as successful. Even with technology available to them, he
opined that children must learn to think for themselves. He
relayed that HB 228 would change the pupil teacher ratio (PTR)
in the lower grades and could address such problems as a
teacher's inability to control the classroom. He noted that
those teachers who must spend more time with unruly students
have less time to teach well-behaved students. Additionally, he
remarked that lowering student numbers would allow more time for
teachers to spend with parents at conferences. He provided an
example of one district's way of addressing class size reduction
by highlighting the Flex schedule used at the Fairbanks North
Star Borough Schools for some of its kindergarten classes. He
explained that the system features two small class sizes of
fewer than 20 students - one in the morning and one in the
afternoon - with a small, overlapping period in the middle of
the day combining all students for such activities as lunch,
recess, music, or gym. In conclusion, he stated, "It's a simple
bill and yet it's not a simple problem."
12:27:21 PM
CHAIR NEUMAN referred to HB 247, Representative Croft's proposed
legislation on class size reduction, presented to the committee
last month. In response to the possible cost and whether it
would be another unfunded mandate to the school districts, he
relayed that Representative Croft had informed the committee
that his legislation involved voluntary participation. Chair
Neuman requested Representative Holm provide the committee with
comparisons between the two bills and to address whether or not
his legislation was an unfunded mandate.
REPRESENTATIVE HOLM suggested he would tell districts, "We won't
let you not do it." He opined that "[large class size] is a
singular causation of poor performance" and that "it's more
important to build those foundations for those young children of
Alaska." He expressed his belief that addressing this is far
more important than consideration of the cost to do so. He
remarked that up to 35 percent of funds has been added to the
system but asked whether the funds are being directed where
needed. He expressed his belief that with the performance
standards set by No Child Left Behind (NCLB), "we need to raise
the children's abilities, and to [do this], smaller class sizes
are absolutely imperative." In response to Chair Neuman's
question regarding the need to add teachers and classrooms to
accommodate any [overflow] of students, he opined that these
decisions would have to be made at the district level. He
informed the committee that his proposed class size limit of 20
students is higher than he'd like because of the ramifications
of costs to implement the change.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA commented on the number of bills introduced
every year to address lowering class size and the available
research showing that class size must be somewhere below 20
[students] in order to make a real difference.
REPRESENTATIVE HOLM said he agrees with this and stated his
interest in having the dialogue that says, "this is something we
can fix; this is something we legislatively can set in policy."
He opined that district decisions are more apt to be guided by
available funding and yet priority should be given to ensuring
that performance standards are met.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA, in noting that available research has shown
"merely reducing class size from 25 to 20 is an ineffective form
of implementation," said that before large amounts of funds are
spent, he would like to see the legislation crafted in such a
way to ensure it would really make a difference. He expressed
his hope that Representative Holm would consider drafting a
sponsor substitute to reduce class size to 17 students.
REPRESENTATIVE HOLM informed the committee that he is "not set
in stone" as to what the actual number is and appreciated
Representative Gara's suggestion.
CHAIR NEUMAN announced that HB 228 would be held over.
12:35:31 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Education meeting was adjourned at 12:35
p.m.
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