Legislature(2009 - 2010)BELTZ 211
04/06/2009 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB105 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 105 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
April 6, 2009
8:06 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Bettye Davis, Vice Chair
Senator Charlie Huggins
Senator Donald Olson
Senator Gary Stevens
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 105
"An Act relating to continuing the secondary public education of
a homeless student; relating to the purpose of certain laws as
they relate to children; relating to tuition waivers, loans, and
medical assistance for a child placed in out-of-home care by the
state; relating to foster care; relating to children in need of
aid; relating to foster care transition to independent living;
and relating to juvenile programs and institutions."
MOVED CSSB 105(EDC) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 105
SHORT TITLE: FOSTER CARE/CINA/EDUCATION OF HOMELESS
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) DAVIS
02/11/09 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/11/09 (S) EDC, HSS, FIN
03/25/09 (S) EDC AT 8:00 AM BELTZ 211
03/25/09 (S) Heard & Held
03/25/09 (S) MINUTE(EDC)
04/03/09 (S) EDC AT 8:00 AM BELTZ 211
04/03/09 (S) -- MEETING CANCELED --
04/06/09 (S) EDC AT 8:00 AM BELTZ 211
WITNESS REGISTER
TOM OBERMEYER, staff to Senator Davis
State Capital
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on CSSB 105(EDC) for the sponsor.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported CSSB 105(EDC).
TERESA TANOURY LUMBARDO, Senior Director
Casey Family Programs
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported CSSB 105(EDC).
AMANDA METIVIER, Statewide Coordinator
Facing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA)
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 105.
JEAN MISCHEL, Legislative Counsel
Division of Legal and Research Services
Legislative Affairs Agency
Alaska Legislature
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions on CSSB 105(EDC).
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:06:36 AM
VICE-CHAIR BETTYE DAVIS called the Senate Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:06 a.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Huggins, Olson and Davis.
SB 105-FOSTER CARE/CINA/EDUCATION OF HOMELESS
8:06:54 AM
VICE CHAIR DAVIS announced SB 105 to be up for consideration.
TOM OBERMEYER, staff to Senator Davis, prime sponsor of SB 105,
said he would address CSSB 105, version \R, which was introduced
previously.
MR. OBERMEYER said this bill provides tuition waivers to
students who are or have been in the foster care system who
can't go to college at all, and who are often homeless for some
period of time after the age of 18. It provides support after
they leave foster care, and helps them move into transitional
living with some monetary living expenses for a short period of
time. It is intended to cover several deficiencies in the foster
care system in Alaska; it won't cover everything but it will
cover what is absolutely necessary at this time.
8:11:27 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA, sponsor of HB 126 (similar to SB 105),
thanked the committee for bringing up this issue. He said this
bill is a synthesis of several bills over the past several years
that have tried to come up with a comprehensive fix that would
not require major staff additions to the Office of Children's
Services (OCS) and that will meet the basic requirements.
One of the major problems in Alaska and nationwide is the number
of youth who come out of foster care and are homeless. They have
no phone call lifeline. Recent UA studies show that about 30-40
percent of Alaska foster youth end up homeless at some point in
their life after leaving foster care. So, this bill extends the
rental assistance program that OCS provides for kids who come
out called the Independent Living Program from two months to a
year by removing the arbitrary cutoff for college or vocational
educational aid. Right now 10 scholarships are provided by OCS
through private foundation and general fund money.
8:14:19 AM
The bill also expands a successful federal model by expanding
the definition of "homeless" to include "all foster youth". Many
youths bounce between homes frequently, so they bounce between
schools as well. "As you bounce between schools, you fail;
that's just what happens," Representative Gara said. One of the
best things you can do is keep youth in the same school during a
school year. This help is already provided on a federal level in
McKinney-Vento, to a certain group of foster kids - those
awaiting a foster care placement. But once they are in the
foster care system, that transportation funding is not provided.
This provision is aimed at helping homeless youth, but
"homeless" is interpreted to mean "homeless-plus youth awaiting
foster care." That definition is expanded in this bill to "all
foster youth." Every school has a McKinney-Vento coordinator.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said the final provision says the state
should follow the federal rule, which is that foster youth
should be visited at least once a month by their social worker.
The recent draft of the federal review of the state's compliance
with the federal laws said that roughly a third of the kids are
being visited less than once every eight months. So, OCS is
doing a much better job of that over the last few months (since
they got the review), but even they say it is very important in
figuring out what a foster youth needs to be moved to a
permanent home.
8:16:43 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked for the parameters of the provision that
gives state aid for education up to age 29.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA explained that you want to give youth the
ability to get job training after they get out of foster care or
college education if they want that. The question is how many
years to give them to complete their degree or to figure out
what they want to do. The question is at what age lawmakers want
to use. It's a policy call.
8:18:01 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS said he knows several people who are involved in
foster care and they say the foster kids continue to call them
as if they were the parents; so he is not sure that they don't
have that lifeline.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA responded that some foster families are
wonderful and do provide that, but many feel that their
obligation ends at age 18 and some don't even have a foster
family by age 18; they "age-out" at Covenant House. A lot of
youth don't have anybody to talk to when they come out or they
will have somebody to talk to, but no real lifeline afterwards.
His personal experience with his foster family is that any
contact there was after age 18 was from him - for whatever
reason.
8:19:45 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked how him how he managed to be successful
based on his foster family experience.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA answered that he was lucky to have only two
foster placements when he was in the system so he didn't bounce
between schools. He had a family until age 6 that was very big
on education, and sent him to a private school for a year; and
he was read to. He also had two older siblings who made him do
his homework and got him involved in extracurricular activities.
They were his lifeline when he got out of college.
8:21:00 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked if rural schools have a McKinney-Vento
coordinator.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA replied that legally every school has to
have one; it is more applicable to the larger cities that have
many schools. Kids are moved from one side of town to the other
all the time. McKinney-Vento won't really apply if you move from
Nome to Bethel. In small school districts, everybody has some
teacher of staff member who is designated as a McKinney-Vento
coordinator, but there is often only one school.
SENATOR OLSON asked if his bill [HB 126] closer to the A or the
R version of SB 105.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA replied that it is closer to the R version.
SENATOR OLSON said the concern with homeless, whether they are
urban or rural, is the huge amount of remedial work that goes on
through the University and he asked if that had been factored
into the fiscal note.
8:23:07 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA replied that it probably had not been
factored into the fiscal note. The University loses money on
students who are on any program outside of liberal arts - even
if they pay their tuition. The school he went to had a remedial
school to catch kids up who came in without proper preparation.
8:25:01 AM
TERESA TANOURY LUMBARDO, Senior Director, Casey Family Programs,
said they are a private foundation that has been in Alaska for
about seven years. She said Casey has been involved in a
collaborative project involving the Alaska Court System, the
Office of Public Advocacy, Office of Children's Services, the
Anchorage School District, the Safety in Foster Care in Alaska,
and many others. They had meetings around the state to talk
about improving educational outcomes for foster care.
The courts are involved because judges have a checklist to ask
every time a child in foster care comes before them asking basic
things to make sure that education is covered. Including the
word "education" into the child welfare statutes helps folks
understand that they have the authority to ask these questions
and to report back on how the child is doing in school. They
know from research that school stability means so much for these
children for the reasons already mentioned. She said homeless
kids need support and they need it early. She closed by offering
herself as a resource to the committee.
8:28:47 AM
AMANDA METIVIER, Statewide Coordinator, Facing Foster Care in
Alaska (FFCA), supported SB 105. She said when foster kids move
from one home to another, they also change schools, and school
may be the only point of stability they have.
8:30:28 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS said his wife is the principal of an alternative
school and he understands that up to 30 to 40 percent of kids in
the Anchorage area move between schools, and he asked if that is
right and what the rate is among foster kids.
MS. METEVIER replied that the number is higher in Anchorage
because it has more schools. She said that recently they found
that younger children were moving more than the older kids, but
she didn't have firm numbers.
8:32:24 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if students stay with the same foster
family, would they stay in the same school.
MS. METEVIER said that is true, but some placements are changed
frequently. Her own foster daughter had 24 placements in 5
years.
At ease from 8:34 a.m. to 8:38 a.m.
8:38:40 AM
SENATOR OLSON moved to report CSSB 105(EDC) from committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s).
8:41:03 AM
SENATOR STEVENS joined the meeting, and said he would appreciate
a refresher on the bill before voting.
8:42:00 AM
MR. OBERMEYER quickly reviewed the CS.
8:44:20 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if the transportation language has some
flexibility.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that the bill says the transportation has
to be within reason. The funding also has to be available for
these special provisions. Right now the Anchorage School
District spends about $175,000/yr. transporting and they say
it's not nearly enough.
8:46:30 AM
JEAN MISCHEL, Legislative Counsel, Division of Legal and
Research Services, Legislative Affairs Agency, said language on
page 2, line 4, provides the exception. She explained that the
parents of a deaf child sued under Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA). Since a program wasn't available that was
appropriate for their child when they moved away from the
school, they demanded transportation services back to his
original school, a school for the deaf.
8:47:54 AM
VICE CHAIR DAVIS found there were no objections; and CSSB
105(EDC) moved from committee.
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Vice Chair Davis adjourned the meeting at 8:48 a.m.
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