Legislature(2001 - 2002)
05/07/2002 03:00 PM House HES
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES
STANDING COMMITTEE
May 7, 2002
3:00 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Fred Dyson, Chair
Representative Peggy Wilson, Vice Chair
Representative John Coghill
Representative Gary Stevens
Representative Sharon Cissna
Representative Reggie Joule
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Vic Kohring
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Representative Gretchen Guess
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARING
Board of Education and Early Development
Roger Chan
- CONFIRMATION ADVANCED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 33
Relating to Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.
- MOVED SCR 33 OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: SCR 33
SHORT TITLE:OVARIAN CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
SPONSOR(S): RLS BY REQUEST
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
04/25/02 2951 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
04/25/02 2951 (S) STA
04/30/02 (S) STA AT 3:30 PM BELTZ 211
04/30/02 (S) Moved Out of Committee
04/30/02 (S) MINUTE(STA)
05/01/02 3071 (S) STA RPT 3DP
05/01/02 3071 (S) DP: THERRIAULT, PHILLIPS,
STEVENS
05/01/02 3071 (S) FN1: ZERO(S.STA)
05/02/02 (S) RLS AT 10:30 AM FAHRENKAMP
203
05/02/02 (S) -- Time Change --
05/02/02 (S) MINUTE(RLS)
05/06/02 3183 (S) RULES TO CALENDAR 5/6/02
05/06/02 3186 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME
05/06/02 3187 (S) PASSED Y19 N- E1
05/06/02 3189 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
05/06/02 3189 (S) VERSION: SCR 33
05/07/02 3415 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
05/07/02 3415 (H) HES
05/07/02 (H) HES AT 3:00 PM CAPITOL 106
WITNESS REGISTER
ROGER CHAN, Appointee
to the Board of Education and Early Development
VECO Corporation
3601 C Street, Suite 1000
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as Appointee to the Board of
Education and Early Development.
REPRESENTATIVE LESIL MCGUIRE,
Alaska State Legislature
Capitol Building, Room 418
Juneau, Alaska 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented SCR 33 on behalf of the Senate
Rules Committee, sponsor.
KIM SEXTON, Co-President
National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC) - Alaska Division
PO Box 90162
Anchorage, Alaska 99509-0162
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of SCR 33.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 02-40, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIR FRED DYSON called the House Health, Education and Social
Services Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.
Representatives Dyson, Wilson, Stevens, and Cissna were present
at the call to order. Representatives Coghill and Joule arrived
as the meeting was in progress.
CONFIRMATION HEARING
Board of Education and Early Development
CHAIR DYSON announced the first order of business would be the
confirmation hearing for the appointee to the Board of Education
and Early Development.
Number 0100
CHAIR DYSON asked Mr. Chan to tell the committee why he is
interested in serving in this capacity.
Number 0145
ROGER CHAN, Appointee to the Board of Education and Early
Development, testified via teleconference. He told the
committee that he was vice chair of the governor's task force in
education a little over a year ago and got some insight into the
educational process and its dynamics. He enjoyed that, but said
he was more interested because he has three young daughters who
are in the Anchorage School District. He noted that he has 25
years of business experience and that was something of value to
the task force and can be valuable to the board.
Number 0223
REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS asked Mr. Chan for his thoughts on the
foundation formula and how it should be used.
Number 0250
MR. CHAN replied that it has been awhile since he looked at it,
but he remembered that it looked like there was room for some
adjustments to the formula. The task force recommended some
increases; he knows there are some regional dynamics, and he is
interested in getting more involved in that.
Number 0308
CHAIR DYSON said there are challenges in delivering education in
rural Alaska. He pointed out that Alaska has one of the
stronger home school protection laws and has done more to
encourage charter schools. There are amazing things going on
with distance delivery in the cyberschools. He asked Mr. Chan
to comment on his view of these alternative education options in
Alaska.
Number 0400
MR. CHAN indicated that he certainly wasn't familiar with all of
them. He said they seem to play a role for parents who want an
alternative to public school education, and he doesn't have a
problem with parents' wanting to explore other routes for
educating their kids. He said, "We need to make sure that we
have a strong public education that we can deliver to the
parents and children of the state." But, if parents choose to
do something different and can get the quality of education they
want, then he said he thinks that is fine.
CHAIR DYSON pointed out that some of the alternatives do receive
public funding.
MR. CHAN noted that it is a matter of getting comfortable with
the different delivery systems and different curriculums being
taught. He commented that there is room for a lot of the
alternatives. He told the committee that he sees the school
system as generating a product. That product is the education
that the students demonstrate when they take tests, when they
apply for jobs, and when they write a letter to the editor. He
indicated that he thinks that if the educational system can
deliver students who can perform well in all those areas, then
the state needs to support them.
MR. CHAN referred to comments from the Chair and said he has
been watching the high stakes testing issue, but noted he
doesn't know enough about the different testing methodologies,
the scoring, and how it is tabulated. He offered that his
perspective is it's appropriate to benchmark the types of
education that the schools are delivering to the kids, and if
testing is the way to do that, it's appropriate, but it's
dangerous to read too much into it. He pointed out that there
are schools in areas that have different challenges to deliver
the curriculum to the children, and all those things need to be
accommodated, including maybe potentially adjusting test scores
in those areas. He commented that he would hate to be the
person to deny someone a high school education and limit him/her
for life because he/she happened to be in a challenged area or
from a sociological standpoint having his/her parents not being
focused or committed to an education for their children. He
said those things are all problematic and open for a lot of
debate, and "we should be open to finding solutions that
accommodate kids in those situations."
Number 0620
CHAIR DYSON asked Mr. Chan what he thinks should be done about a
kid in a school that's not doing well or comes from a social or
economic background that makes the kid disadvantaged.
MR. CHAN replied that he thinks what the task force recommended
and what he suggested was, "We attribute extra dollars to those
areas because these children are having a difficult time
competing. But I don't think that's from a testing standpoint
that we should say that these students [should] be allowed to
graduate necessarily if they can't compete with a school in
Anchorage, for example." He compared it to saying, Can you have
a person who's going to college in a junior college compete with
a Harvard graduate with the same curriculum? He said he thinks
there are different expectations about what that student is able
to do, even though they both have a four-year college degree.
There needs to be some understanding of that, whatever "that"
is.
CHAIR DYSON asked if he was saying that if the kid can't pass
the test for whatever reason, that he should be given a diploma
that doesn't mean anything.
Number 0723
MR. CHAN answered no, he is saying, "That what we should do is
we should make sure that when we administer the test to this
student, that he's prepared to take it, number one. But I'm
saying that if these students are in a Bush village and they
don't have the teacher they need, for whatever reason (indisc.),
that that should somehow enter into the equation."
CHAIR DYSON agreed that that should be picked up on before the
student gets to graduation.
MR. CHAN reported that it has been represented to him that there
are students in schools who don't have teachers who are
qualified to teach, and that's why the task force made some of
its recommendations.
Number 0779
REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS asked Mr. Chan to comment about improving
teacher recruitment and teacher retention.
MR. CHAN echoed some of the things that the task force
recommended. Forgiveness of the teachers' loans as an incentive
and competitive compensation needs to be looked at. He
indicated that there was lots of debate in the task force about
what that meant. The task force recommended some salary
increases because the task force findings were that the teachers
weren't being compensated necessarily at the right level. There
are other things that can be done, he noted. Teacher education
is an issue; increasing teacher qualifications through
additional education is an issue, and all of those things were
addressed in the task force findings. He suggested spending
additional resources on them.
Number 0873
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA commented that she has worked with people
who have skills that can't be tested. She fears putting huge
attention on a test that puts 12 year's worth of work on it and
saying that's really a test of what kids can or cannot do. She
asked if he had a way to reframe that to fit both cases.
Number 0959
MR. CHAN said he believes that every child who graduates through
the Alaska school system should be able to pass a basic test.
Children should be able to read, write, do arithmetic, have a
conversation, and put their thoughts together logically. He
admitted that he is a terrible tester. He had many tests
through all of his schooling and never thought that testing was
the most relevant gauge of his intelligence. He agreed that
there is room for testing, and testing needs to be done. His
spin on it is that testing should be more a gauge on how well
the schools are doing, as opposed to how well the students are
doing. If the students are doing well, it means that the
schools are doing well, and that's his focus on testing. He
thinks it is really unfortunate to have any student not be able
to get a high school diploma because he/she happened to flunk
calculus, if that's part of the exit exam. He has more of a
compassionate concern for the student who's raised in a
difficult situation in which there hasn't been a lot of focus on
education. He thinks the school district should put more money
into those locations so those students don't get lost.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON commented:
You've covered a lot of territory that completely
makes sense. We can't expect the students to graduate
and be able to pass all the tests if we haven't done
our job as schools to prepare them. In some areas,
... the only people that'll go out in some areas are
brand new teachers, that don't have a job somewhere
else, so they go there for their first couple years,
make their mistakes, learn by them, and move on.
Obviously, we've got ... first year teachers that are
very good teachers too. But I think there's a lot of
in-service that needs to be done, because we are all
at once changing gears in the middle of the stream,
and we have teachers out there that really don't know
for sure how to teach to have children understand this
switch that's happening. I think that needs to be,
and unfortunately, we're not giving the schools enough
money to make sure that the teachers and the schools
have the equipment they need, the in-service that they
need, ... so that the students can do this. I've got
a feeling we're going to have some schools that are
going to be coming up short because of it. The things
that you've said tells me that you're kind of on the
same track.
MR. CHAN replied that he has a lot of compassion for kids in a
situation who don't have all the opportunities somebody in
Anchorage would have. He said he thinks that the school
district has an obligation to bring those kids up to speed, and
whatever that takes needs to be evaluated. There needs to be a
formula to guarantee their success. He reiterated that the
focus for testing is not how well the students are doing, but
how well the school district is doing in delivering its
services. That has to his focus about testing.
CHAIR DYSON announced that Mr. Chan's name would be forwarded
for confirmation [to the joint session of the House and Senate].
SCR 33 - OVARIAN CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
CHAIR DYSON announced that the next order of business would be
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 33, Relating to Ovarian Cancer
Awareness Month.
Number 1234
REPRESENTATIVE LESIL MCGUIRE, Alaska State Legislature,
presented SCR 33 on behalf of the Senate Rules Committee,
sponsor. She told the committee that SCR 33 will designate
September as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in the state of
Alaska. She said she thinks this is one of the more important
concurrent resolutions that the legislature could do. The
reason why is ovarian cancer is one of those silent, deadly
killers that many women don't even know about. She shared that
a friend's mother died from ovarian cancer, and the sad part
about it is it could have been detected earlier, and her
survival rate would have been 93 percent.
REPRESENTATIVE MCGUIRE noted that one of the goals of this
resolution is to make members of the community aware. Early
detection is the key to survival. She shared some statistics.
In the United States, more women die of ovarian cancer each year
than of cervical and endometrial cancers combined. The American
Cancer Society reports that ovarian cancer accounts for four
percent of all cancers among women and ranks fifth as a cause of
death. The American Cancer Society predicts that approximately
23,000 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed yearly with
13,000 deaths annually. Early detection is key to survival; if
the cancer is diagnosed while confined to the ovary, the five-
year survival rate reaches 93 percent on average. The incidence
of advanced stage ovarian cancer is increasing due to the vague
symptoms and the lack of a screening test for early detection.
REPRESENTATIVE MCGUIRE said often the symptoms are a
stomachache, fatigue, things associated with stress, or the flu,
so a lot of women don't pick up on it. She suggested that this
is just a step this legislature can take to send that message.
Number 1379
KIM SEXTON, Co-President, National Ovarian Cancer Coalition
(NOCC) - Alaska Division, testified via teleconference. She
told the committee that she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in
2000. She noted she had been tested for diabetes and thyroid
problems and when that came back fine, the doctor told her that
her symptoms were probably just stress. Two months later she
was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She hadn't known beforehand
that she had a family history of it, otherwise, she would have
been more aware, but that only accounts for 10 percent of the
cases.
MS. SEXTON commented that she wants the public to be aware of
the symptoms and what they can do, and not let the health care
providers diagnose irritable bowel syndrome or stress or things
like that.
Number 1436
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON referred to the Prostrate Specific Antigen
(PSA) test for men and asked Ms. Sexton if there is any research
that is getting close to being able to detect some kind of
cancers like that in women.
MS. SEXTON replied that there are some studies being done with a
test similar to the prostate test. It is a simple blood test
and is proving to be about 95 percent accurate in diagnosing
ovarian cancer. It is still in clinical trials and will be
several years before it will be available to the public. Who
will get it and how often still will need to be decided. Right
now all that's available is the routine pelvic exam. If that
shows anything, a trans-vaginal ultrasound is done. If that
shows anything, a CA-125 blood test can be done, which is a
tumor marker test, but it's only about 50 percent accurate.
Number 1530
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL asked if this resolution would coincide
with work that's being done on breast cancer.
MS. SEXTON replied that they're hoping it will because there is
a link between ovarian cancer and breast cancer. Women who have
had breast cancer are at increased risk for ovarian cancer, and
women who have had ovarian cancer are at an increased risk for
breast cancer.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said that he was asking about the
information highway that breast cancer has already forged out
and wondered if this could be tied with any of the awareness
projects that they have put together.
MS. SEXTON answered that they try to let people know there is
that link, but right now there are no organizations that are
working together on this. It doesn't look like there is going
to be that cooperation. In response to Representative Coghill,
she indicated that breast cancer awareness month is October.
Number 1606
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON moved to report SCR 33 out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying [zero]
fiscal notes. There being no objection, SCR 33 was reported out
of the House Health, Education and Social Services Standing
Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee meeting
was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
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