Legislature(2003 - 2004)
04/03/2003 05:10 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
April 3, 2003
5:10 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Fred Dyson, Chair
Senator Lyda Green, Vice Chair
Senator Gary Wilken
Senator Bettye Davis
Senator Gretchen Guess
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 30
"An Act relating to information and services available to
pregnant women and other persons; and ensuring informed consent
before an abortion may be performed, except in cases of medical
emergency."
HEARD AND HELD
SENATE BILL NO. 107
"An Act relating to the state centralized correspondence study
program, to funding for educational programs that occur
primarily outside school facilities, and to the duties of school
boards of borough and city school districts and regional
educational attendance areas; and providing for an effective
date."
MOVED SB 107 OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 105
"An Act relating to eligibility requirements for medical
assistance for certain children, pregnant women, and persons in
a medical or intermediate care facility; and providing for an
effective date."
SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
SENATE BILL NO. 110
"An Act relating to admission to and advancement in public
schools of children under school age; and providing for an
effective date."
SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
PREVIOUS ACTION
SB 30 - See HESS minutes dated 3/17/03 and 3/26/03.
SB 107 - No previous action to record.
SB 105 - See HESS minutes dated 3/26/03.
SB 110 - No previous action to record.
WITNESS REGISTER
Ms. Mari Galreave
1429 Hans Way
Fairbanks AK 99707
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 30.
Ms. Ruth Abbott
HC 60, Box 4225
Delta Junction AK 99737
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 30.
Dr. Bob Johnson
PO Box 945
Kodiak AK 99615
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 30.
Ms. Cyndi Saunders
6400 Woodmont Dr.
Anchorage AK 99516
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 30.
Ms. Cassandra Johnson
10171 Betula Dr.
Anchorage AK 99507
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 30.
Ms. Amy Menard, Atty.
19000 Hill Rd.
Anchorage AK 99516
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 30.
Ms. Jennifer Esterl
Alaska Civil Liberties Union
PO Box 742
Girdwood AK 99587
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 30.
Dr. Kathy Todd
PO Box 1829
Valdez AK 99686
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 30 and SB 107.
Ms. Virginia Phillips
404 Lake Street
Sitka AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 30.
Ms. Eileen Becker
Pregnancy Care Center
Box 2
Homer AK 99603
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 30.
Ms. Jennie Grimwood
PO Box 2132
Cordova AK 99574
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 30.
Dr. Colleen Murphy, OB/GYN
Anchorage AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 30.
Ms. Debbie Joslin
Delta Junction AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 30.
Ms. Eva Small, R.N.
Juneau AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 30.
Mr. John Monagle, President
Alaskans for Life
Juneau AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 30.
Dr. Carolyn Brown
No address provided
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 30.
Ms. April Ferguson
PO Box 202869
Anchorage AK 99520
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 30.
Mr. Eddy Jeans, Manager
School Finance and Facilities Section
Department of Education &
Early Development
th
801 W 10 St.
Juneau, AK 99801-1894
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 107.
Ms. Nancy Wladyka
Sitka AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Paula Williams
No address provided
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Nancy Richar
No address provided
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Victoria Martin
530 E 46th Pl.
Anchorage AK 99503
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Mr. Sean Ruddell
530 E 46th Pl.
Anchorage AK 99503
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Haley Ruddell
530 E 46th Pl.
Anchorage AK 99503
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Laurell Clough
7303 N. Douglas Hwy.
Juneau AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Mr. John Paden, Counselor
Alyeska Central School
8606 Evergreen Park Rd.
Juneau AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Cecilia Miller
PO Box 22627
Juneau AK 99802
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Katie Bousler
1501 5th St.
Douglas AK 99824
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Aran Felix
3970 N. Douglas
Juneau AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Shawna Thompson
7036 Linden Circle
Anchorage AK 99502
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Kym Wolcott
PO Box 1023
Willow AK 99688
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Unidentified speaker
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Mr. Mike Jeffery
PO Box 808
Barrow AK 99723
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Ms. Gayle Goedde
ACS teacher
113 5th Street
Douglas AK 99824
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SB 107.
Mr. Kevin Sweeney, Special Assistant
Department of Education &
Early Development
th
801 W 10 St.
Juneau, AK 99801-1894
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 107.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 03-15, SIDE A
SB 30-ABORTION: INFORMED CONSENT; INFORMATION
CHAIR FRED DYSON called the Senate Health, Education and Social
Services Standing Committee meeting to order at 5:10 p.m.
Present were SENATORS GUESS and DAVIS. He announced SB 30 to be
up for consideration. He explained that the new version adds a
new section to legislative findings, recommended by the
Department of Law that explains the state's compelling interest
in regulating this issue. Section 2 of the bill directs the
Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) to develop a
free pamphlet to assist pregnant women in their choices. Doctors
are not required to use the pamphlet, but they are offered the
option and can supply whatever other information they want to.
This version (Q) also elevates informed consent, which was in
regulation, to statute and adds to the current abortion
reporting requirement whether or not the client received the
pamphlet.
SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS moved to adopt the CS to SB 30, version Q
for purposes of discussion. There were no objections.
MS. MARI GALREAVE, Fairbanks medical professional, said that a
fetus is not an unborn child unless you subscribe to a certain
religion. In her religion, the soul enters the body 40 days
after conception. Her point is to keep religion separate from
abortion rights. She stated, "If the new pamphlet uses the words
'unborn child,' it is harassment. Don't legislate what someone
should say in the new pamphlet."
SENATOR WILKEN arrived at 5:15 p.m.
MS. RUTH ABBOTT testified on behalf of a local Delta Junction
charity and said, "Women should insist on being given the
respect of being provided with all the information necessary to
make an informed decision as is mandatory in all of their
medical procedures."
DR. BOB JOHNSON, Kodiak, said he is a retired physician and
while he was practicing, he did abortions. He has plenty of
experience talking to women about their decisions and responding
to their questions about the procedure and believes this is a
highly private matter. Women have the right to know everything
they want to know and everything they should know and that
applies to any procedure that is performed on them. He noted:
For the Legislature to make the assumption that they
know what women should ask is presumptuous. I think
they do have the right to know anything they want to
know and they should be able to ask and they should be
able to learn what they need to learn....
DR. JOHNSON explained that he scheduled four appointments for
each abortion. The first one was to help decide whether the
patient had made an appropriate decision; the second was to
answer questions about the procedure as well as its short and
long-term effects. In his experience, he found none of the short
and long term effects publicized by the Right-to-Life group to
be factual.
MS. CYNDI SAUNDERS said she wanted both men and women to know
the truth about the pain, guilt and relationship problems that a
20 to 30 minute procedure can have on the rest of a person's
life. She is sad that she had the procedure three times and no
one told her how she would feel 30 or 40 years later or how it
would affect her children that are alive today.
MS. CASSANDRA JOHNSON said the main purpose of the wording in
the proposed pamphlet is to intimidate women and make them feel
guilty for exercising their rights. Aside from being an attempt
to withdraw women's rights, there are several other problems
with the bill. First, the Legislature has no business telling
doctors the specifics of what they can tell their patients.
Doctors are already bound by standards of practice which include
complete and unbiased information about medical procedures, and
insures that any patient truly consents to the procedure they
are about to undergo. There is no need for special
information/consent for an abortion. The proposed "counseling"
material is clearly biased and includes a lot of other
information about pregnancies and possible serious
complications.
MS. AMY MENARD said she is an attorney primarily for health care
delivery, medical licensing and liability issues. She
recommended that the committee table this bill, because it is
contrary to existing Alaska law and its need has not been
demonstrated. She maintained:
As a matter of Alaska law, abortion like any other
medical treatment or procedure, always requires
informed consent under AS 09.55.556. That has been law
for 27 years. This law guarantees not only that women
have a right to information about medical care, but
that all Alaskans do. Moreover, the content of
informed consent is covered ethically by the American
Medical Association's code of ethics. Code provision
8.08 already directs physicians and their informed
consent obligation to their patient.
The so-called findings as articulated at the outset of
the bill are patently wrong. This bill does not
promote judicial economy nor will it provide
clarification for physicians. It's actually contrary
to the rubric of [indisc.]. And what this bill does,
particularly with its informed consent provisions, it
decrees a double standard for physicians who provide
abortion services contrary to those who do not. The
creation of this pamphlet and the language that's
supposed to be added to the bill, and I'm referring to
subsection (h) that would be under Title 18.16.010, is
contrary to existing law as it regards physicians and
their practices. Decreeing [indisc.] language with
regard to informed consent that is contrary to what is
already called for under Title 9.
This law is poorly written and unsupported. As far as
the findings articulated, it will not clarify anything
for physicians and it will guarantee litigation for
the state.
MS. JENNIFER ESTERL, Alaska Civil Liberties Union, opposed SB
30; one reason being the extra mandatory counseling that
includes irrelevant medical information. Mandatory extraneous
lectures do not give women accurate or meaningful medical
information; they put words in doctors' mouths and involve a
litany of conceivable pros and cons even when those alternatives
are not in the patient's best interest and, worse yet, may even
harm her. Women who are seeking prenatal care in order to carry
a pregnancy to term should not be forced to waste time and money
listening to a diatribe about their options and alternatives.
She informed them that the risk of carrying a pregnancy through
to childbirth is 20 times greater than that of a first trimester
abortion.
Second, this bill refers to possible psychological effects that
have been associated with having an abortion. Substituting
politicians' judgments to that of doctors' is misleading. A
1987-88 investigation by the attorney general of the United
States (who was not a champion of choice) and a World Health
Organization study state there is no medical evidence that shows
abortion causes psychological injury.
Third, requiring physicians to deliver extraneous lectures makes
access to quality reproductive health care much more difficult
and expensive. Informed consent is already required for medical
procedures. "This bill is designed to make a woman's very
personal decision even more difficult...."
DR. KATHY TODD said she is a practicing physician in Valdez and
opposes SB 107 for all the reasons previously stated. Women come
to her already having very carefully considered their options -
having talked to their significant others, their friends, their
pastors and another physician sometimes. They need other health
information by the time they see her. She stated that sometimes
24-hours is a long time and means an extra journey for people
who live 100 miles from her office - and this happens a lot.
Evidence shows that informed consent issues are best discussed
with social workers and specially trained nurses, not the
physician. It has also been proven that people won't read any
pamphlet that is more than two pages long.
MS. VIRGINIA PHILLIPS said that SB 30 is desperately needed in
Alaska. She explained, "Most of the time a woman is not told of
her options. A 24-hour waiting period is needed to give a woman
time to evaluate all her options along with the consequences."
She said that most women don't realize that the National
Physicians Center for Family and the [indisc.] Cancer Center
have acknowledged there is an abortion-breast cancer link. She
surmised, "The state has a compelling interest to pass this bill
to protect a woman's physical, mental and emotional health...."
MS. EILEEN BECKER said she has five children and has been
involved with the Homer Pregnancy Care Center for 15 years. She
stated that in a recent article, she read that only 24 percent
of women who have abortions don't have regrets or after effects.
About 10 million women in American regret their decision and, in
the last 30 years, 40 million babies have been aborted. One out
of every four women in American has had an abortion, very high
numbers. Post abortion syndrome is an actual feeling that she
helps women deal with at the Homer Pregnancy Care Center.
MS. JENNIE GRIMWOOD, Cordova resident, said that this informed
consent bill and pamphlet is very important. She indicated:
Often many women who are pregnant don't understand
fetal development. Many times health professionals
don't answer all the questions. A scared pregnant
women is often an uninformed one...The abortion
industry puts blinders on women. They don't want women
to really know what is happening to their bodies. Many
women today are coerced into having abortions by their
boyfriends, health professionals, their parents and
uncles. It often is not an individual choice or a pro
choice, as people would have us believe. It is often a
choice made out of fear and ignorance....
DR. COLLEEN MURPHY, Anchorage OB/GYN, said she is an abortion
provider and provides health care that is sanctioned by the
National Abortion Federation. She has a multitude of guidelines
to follow in her practice and she endeavors to provide the
highest quality care for women throughout their reproductive
health careers. She informed the committee that current levels
of care already exceed those prescribed in the bill. Birth and
abortion considerations are a private concern between her and
her patient. They talk about it and decide together what is
needed. She urged them to, "Leave medicine to doctors...."
MS. DEBBIE JOSLIN, Delta Junction, said one of her four sons,
Isaiah, was born May 10, 1999 and died 32 days later. It's
largely because of her experience with him that she supports
this bill. The bill contains:
...unbiased medical information regarding the
development of the unborn child, abortion procedure,
risks associated with abortion, alternatives to
abortions including adoption agencies and support
groups for parents and children with special needs
such as Down's Syndrome....
She explained how her husband had received a similar booklet for
his eye cataract procedure that gave him sound medical facts
that allowed him to make a good informed decision. In Planned
Parenthood of Southeast Pennsylvania v. Casey, the Supreme Court
upheld a state statute requiring disclosure of the nature of the
abortion procedure, the risks of the procedure, the alternatives
to the procedure, the gestational age of the unborn child and
the medical risks of carrying to term.
The court also said if a woman shall request, she must
be given a State Department of Health brochure
describing fetal development and a list of agencies
offering alternatives to abortion. Many states have
initiated legislation that protects the state and the
physician from liability by giving this information to
all women who are considering abortion as an
alternative....
5:43 p.m.
MS. EVA SMALL, Juneau R.N., said as a registered nurse, she
truly understands the significance of informed consent and
rational decision making for patients undergoing surgical
procedures. Informed consent laws form the foundation of medical
ethics that guarantee the patient the right to make autonomous
rational decisions free of coercion. Women's right-to-know laws
empower women to make informed decisions. Not only do they
insure knowledge of the procedure and options, but include
information on paternity establishment and child support. She
supported many of the statements made earlier.
MR. JOHN MONAGLE, President, Alaskans for Life, said he recently
had major surgery and the doctor spent three hours making sure
he understood everything about it beforehand. Doctors want to
protect themselves from liability and want to furnish as much
information as possible to their patients for their own good.
Conversely, women would want as much information as they can get
about any surgery, certainly in the case of pregnancy and
abortions.
DR. CAROLYN BROWN said she has been a physician for about 44
years and for 25 years had been in the practice of obstetric and
gynecology. She said:
This proposed bill will not mandate much of anything.
If offers a pamphlet that we're supposed to give to
some people and doesn't tell us who we have to give it
to; it doesn't tell us who has to give it to anybody;
it doesn't tell us the person we're giving it to wants
an abortion, doesn't want an abortion or hasn't made
their mind up yet. So, let's be clear on that.
DR. BROWN said she has three basic issues with the bill; the
first being that it is not equitable and has a "sincere amount
of discrimination." There are 10,000 babies born in this state
every year and some are lost through miscarriage. The bill does
not mandate this information be given to all pregnant women; it
only suggests that the pamphlet can be given out. The bill does
not say who is going to have the oversight of the distribution
of the pamphlet and who will make sure the information is
correct.
DR. BROWN said that some terms were not defined very well, like
"circumstantial criteria," "unbiased," "major bodily function"
and "major psychological function." She noted that even doctors
can't agree on what those things mean and asked how the
legislature can come up with something and put it in stone.
Third, she said the fiscal note is $42,000 for the first year
and $24,000 for the next five, but that wouldn't begin to cover
costs when they are talking about a waiting period with women
having to travel. Somebody is going to pay for them to stay over
night. Many women are on Medicaid and the oversight for policing
will cost a great deal of money.
MS. APRIL FERGUSON said, "I have had a child; I have had
miscarriages and I have had an abortion and it's all my
business. It's not your business; it's not the business of the
woman down the street...."
Further she said that anyone who bases a decision of this
magnitude on a pamphlet that someone hands them 24-hours
beforehand is absolutely ignorant.
CHAIR DYSON announced that Senator Green arrived at least a half
hour ago and that the committee would hold the bill for further
work.
SB 107-CORRESPONDENCE STUDY
CHAIR FRED DYSON announced SB 107 to be up for consideration.
MR. EDDY JEANS, School Finance Manager, Department of Education
and Early Development (DEED), said he was asked to describe the
cost savings of this bill, which come mainly from eliminating
the Alyeska Central School (ACS) as funded through the
foundation program. No other school district in the state is
authorized to receive state funding for summer school programs.
Other school districts operate summer school programs through
learning opportunity grants and other sources of funding.
Another possible savings of $369,000 is not reflected in any of
the fiscal notes, but could be realized from relinquishing space
leased in the Goldbelt Building for ACS. It is not included in
this bill, because he didn't know the state's intentions in
terms of using that space for some other program.
He informed them that ACS had been around since 1939. However,
approximately seven years ago the state made a policy decision
to allow school districts to operate statewide correspondence
programs and 11 of those came into existence.
The reason the state has operated a correspondence program since
1939 is because many people didn't have access to public schools
or school districts. In 1997, Alaska went from state operated
schools to 53 school districts that cover the entire state and
Rural Education Attendance Areas (REAA).
TAPE 03-15, SIDE B
MR. JEANS explained that school districts are charged with
educating every resident who resides within their district
boundaries. This is a substantial change from when ACS was
created in 1939. Approximately 814 students are currently being
served through the Alyeska Central School. Of that number, 686
(roughly 85 percent) of them reside in the largest school
districts - Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan, Kenai,
Kodiak, Mat-Su and Petersburg. Approximately 45 to 50 students
are educated through the Alyeska Central School who do not have
daily access to some educational program. The school districts
that those people reside in do have a statutory obligation to
provide some educational program for those kids.
However, ACS is the only accredited correspondence program in
the state. Four school districts have applied for accreditation
and have "conditional" accreditation while they go through the
process. He understands that while they go through the process,
the units of work that are earned are transferable and are
considered accredited units.
Another important concern is that section 6 doesn't deal
specifically with ACS. It reverses the foundation program in AS
14.17.430 that deals with correspondence study and its 80
percent funding. He said other programs in the state would say
they are not correspondence programs that they are home school
programs - schools without walls, but the statute doesn't
address that type of program. Therefore, he suggested an
amendment to expand the definition from "correspondence program"
to "correspondence study and similar programs". He said the
department feels very strongly that the size adjustment table in
the foundation program was intended for brick and mortar schools
and not for something that falls outside of that category. So,
DEED has proposed this amendment that deals with programs that
occur primarily outside of school facilities.
SENATOR GRETCHEN GUESS asked a funding question that was
indiscernible on the tape, but she was referring to the range of
80-100 percent.
MR. JEANS replied that DEED hasn't tried to calculate that
because it depends on what school the student is enrolled in.
SENATOR GUESS said she would let the Finance Committee deal with
it and asked how the department plans to fulfill its obligation
to students who live in communities of up to 25 people and
aren't in a major district.
MR. JEANS replied that the school districts have the obligation
to provide an educational program.
SENATOR GUESS asked if a district is still obligated to fund a
school with fewer than 10 students in a facility.
MR. JEANS replied the school districts have to provide some form
of an educational program or assist those children in finding an
educational program.
SENATOR GUESS said she didn't want to take up the public's time
with her questions, but she had a list of concerns. The most
interesting thing in the governor's letter was the word
"duplicative," as well as classes, education approach, meeting
with teachers, part-time students, can you call the teacher,
year-round, standards-based, and accreditation. She commented:
If all of those are in another program, if you're
going to say this is a duplicative service, then you
really have to say it's the same service somewhere
else versus different services. So, I am interested in
that. And I do, for the record, Mr. Chairman, I think
the accreditation issue is the issue along with
parental choice and some others. Having one be on a
list, maybe, for accreditation, I think, is
inappropriate to refer to that as an okay choice. We
need to offer people an accredited program...
MS. NANCY WLADYKA, Sitka resident, said that cash rebates are a
highly successful advertising gimmick. More and more parents are
opting to home school their children because local schools do
not meet their children's needs. Correspondence programs offer
cash allotments and the higher the allotment, the higher the
enrollment figures are, but the issue of whether that allotment
is adequate to allow the parent to purchase educational
materials needs to be addressed. She maintained:
Alyeska Central School offers academic excellence. It
exemplifies the No Child Left Behind mandate. No child
can slip through the cracks at ACS because the
teachers make certain of that. They require
accountability. ACS offers choices approved in
curriculum materials and verify that those materials
are appropriate for your child. ACS provides more than
books, it provides daily lesson plans, which ACS
teachers write themselves and constantly review and
update. I cannot stress the importance of having these
lesson plans to use.... ACS has a proven track record
and is an Alaska success story. If the governor knew
what Alyeska Central School does for the children of
Alaska, it would be receiving recognition awards and
accolades and this absurd proposal to close it would
appall legislators. A comparable program does not
exist. There are and always will be children for whom
ACS is an irreplaceable and essential service. Please
don't leave Alaskan children stranded.
MS. PAULA WILLIAMS opposed SB 107 for the same reasons Ms.
Wladyka stated. She added that this bill doesn't save money for
the state, but for the closing of the summer school. For 3,450
students across the state last year, ACS's summer school was
their only option. She opined, "You're not just saving $1.2
million, you're closing the door to these students."
MS. WILLIAMS said that some students use ACS to accelerate their
program. She accused the legislature of following a political
agenda.
MS. NANCY RICHAR opposed SB 107. Her son recently graduated from
ACS after attending since kindergarten. He was her fifth child.
She has experienced both public and rural correspondence schools
in the past and they were nightmares at times. She said there is
no comparison. She told members:
I called the Mat-Su Borough last week to see if they
had been approved. They have been closed to new school
students most of the year; they continue to order
their courses all from out of state [indisc]. They
have no knowledge of the Academic [indisc.] Leadership
Conference or state and national [indisc.] programs,
all of which ACS has attended for years. She was told
that if a student enrolled after the November 1 cut-
off date, the parents had to pay the $250 fee for each
course ordered. She called Mat-Su and was emphatically
told they are not a correspondence school; they help
parents order courses direct from publishers with an
allotment and the parents are the only teacher
involved in the education. These education dollars are
all going out of state.
DR. KATHY TODD said she also wanted to testify against SB 107.
She has an 8th grader and an 11th grader and has needed
correspondence courses to supplement the curriculum in her small
school district. The states of Nebraska, North Dakota,
Washington and Florida and many more consider that they have the
need for a central correspondence or on-line school to
supplement their curricula. They believe that their schools
can't offer all of the things that need to be offered. This is
the kind of school that will help the No-Child-Left-Behind
mandate be successful.
MS. VICTORIA MARTIN said she has lived in Alaska since 1946 and
educated her children through ACS and is now educating her
grandchildren through it. She spoke very highly of the program.
She said that accreditation is a very important issue.
MR. SEAN RUDDELL, ACS student, opposed SB 107. His testimony was
indiscernible.
MS. HALEY RUDDELL, ACS student, said ACS is the only
correspondence program that is accredited and students need to
go to an accredited school in order to get into college because
the credits are not valid otherwise.
MS. JENNIFER WILCOX, ACS student, opposed closing the school for
two reasons, the first being that the alternative schools are
not equal to ACS. Second, eliminating ACS would not save the
state money. Alternative schools are understaffed and lack
accreditation. It will take up to five years before many schools
receive their accreditation. There is also the issue of the
computer-based after school program, which is not an option for
her, because she doesn't want to sit in front of the computer
that much.
MS. WILCOX said it costs the state $3,220 to educate an ACS
student and if she were to enroll in the public school, it would
cost the state $10,992, a $7,772 increase. She summarized that
she hoped they didn't close the school.
MS. LAURELL CLOUGH said she is a retired public school teacher
and supports the public schools and Alyeska. Two sons are
currently with Alyeska part-time. People home school for a
variety of reasons, she said. Every student is not a fit for
every place. Her oldest son is disabled and cannot function full
time in a public school. She stated, "Alyeska has saved him."
She didn't see how eliminating ACS would save the state any
money and its services are not duplicated anywhere. She thought
there might be some secret somewhere about why ACS was to be
closed, because no one has testified in favor of that.
MR. JOHN PADEN, ACS Counselor, opposed SB 107 for the same
reasons already stated. He said that ACS provides summer school
at the request of the Legislature each year. If they want to
save money, they can cut summer school, but that wouldn't affect
ACS's year-round program. Summer school affects kids around the
state who are already in other schools; it allows them to take
one or two courses that they may need to graduate in spring
instead of holding over until the fall and taking another year
to graduate. He summarized that there is no significant savings
in the regular program; there is no genuine duplication of
services; and this is bad policy in light of the service being
rendered to students in this state.
MS. CECILIA MILLER, ACS math and technology teacher, opposed SB
107. She said she had some students that wouldn't be testifying
today because they live in very remote areas - the exact reason
ACS was started. They don't have access to a local school. They
depend on ACS being mandated by the state as an accredited
option. Each year the districts get the choice of putting in a
statewide correspondence program application. Last year there
were 12 schools on the list; two of them are not on the list any
more having chosen not to do it. Another one of those schools
decided to do K-8. She also has a high school student who lives
outside of Kodiak who sent her a letter that she read into the
record. It basically said that he lived in rural Kodiak and
didn't have a phone. The only real communication he had with
teachers was through the mail with ACS.
MS. MILLER noted that ACS has more students than 35 school
districts in the state. Many of the school's children are
looking to the Legislature to give them something they can
depend on.
MS. JEANNE FOY, ACS teacher, said that assessment of student
work is part of a teacher's job that families will have to do if
ACS is closed. Some families are happy with the stipend they get
and don't want interaction with a teacher, but many of them
choose to use ACS; they want the accountability, the courses and
the instruction that the school provides. Some of her students
have no access to a local school, but they are smart and plan to
go to college. She has been able to help them get the skills
they need in order to succeed in college. She also teaches
advanced placement English literature over the Internet and one
of her students has e-mail because the Internet is way too
expensive for her family. The advantage to having the
correspondence teachers here in Alaska is that they can work
with a student to make any modifications necessary for their
particular situation.
MS. KATIE BOUSLER said that her daughter, Kaitlin, is a
sophomore at Juneau Douglas High School and she is an exchange
student in Bern, Switzerland. She has received numerous academic
opportunities and she would not have been able to study abroad
this year nor have such an impressive resume' without the
existence of Alyeska Central School. Like many Alaskan students,
she is able to get credit for her courses in Switzerland through
ACS and then transfer them to Juneau Douglas High School. She
could not do that directly through the regular high school. She
told members:
ACS is the only accredited school in the state through
which this is possible. I urge you not to pass this
legislation and preserve unique opportunities for
future Alaskan leaders like my daughter, Kaitlin.
MS. ARAN FELIX, ACS teacher, asked the Legislature to consider
the disruption this bill is causing her students while their
fate is being considered. Many are traveling and like Kaitlin,
some of them do not start school on September 1 like a lot of
schools; and some students study at a slower pace. If people
want to look at boarding schools, Mt. Edgecumbe's closing date
for application was March 31. Many students and parents have
testified that they have been unable to find a statewide program
similar to ACS where graduates can finish up from January
through December. The only students who will have it easy are
the ones who return to their local schools, which will cost the
state more money. She mentioned a parent who called yesterday
who wanted to enroll her two children. The parent had just
purchased a home and moved to Edna Bay. Shortly thereafter,
their local school closed and ACS was recommended. Their local
school district is struggling to create a correspondence
program.
MS. SHAWNA THOMPSON, ACS student, said it is a really good
program and it would be wonderful if they kept it open.
MS. KYM WOLCOTT read a letter from an ACS student who loved the
school and opposed SB 107.
An unidentified woman said that closing Alyeska School was a
step in the wrong direction. The school is not a duplication of
other services. If high school kids need courses outside of the
core curriculum, there is no way to get them without going to
ACS.
MR. MIKE JEFFERY said he is in favor of keeping Alyeska Central
School going, but he didn't have any objections to opening
funding up to the other schools. He said the accreditation issue
is very important and college admission officers know that. His
daughter had been admitted to Stanford and several East Coast
schools and he attributed that to the extremely high quality of
education at Alyeska. That could not have been done locally in a
town like Barrow.
MS. GAYLE GOEDDE, ACS teacher, said that no other program
provides the teaching services that ACS does. She works with
children who are failing in the regular school system and they
blossom with her help at ACS. She has many students who write
her letters of thanks saying that they learned so much in her
class and that she gave them the courage to go on.
TAPE 03-16, SIDE A
MS. GOEDDE said she gives her students feedback on their writing
and gives them support that is different than other programs
where the parents grade the work.
CHAIR DYSON thanked her for her testimony and for the good job
she had done with those students.
MR. KEVIN SWEENEY, Special Assistant to the Commissioner,
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), said that
regarding the bill, three decisions need to be made. The first
question is it will translate into a real money savings and the
department feels it can easily identify $1.2 million in savings
from closing the summer school. In addition, the facility
savings would amount to about $370,000.
Regarding the argument that a lot of the kids would not go into
other correspondence programs and enroll in their home school
instead, MR. SWEENEY said, "Most of the students who chose this
curriculum and chose the correspondence type program do it
because it's where they sort of can flourish and that's the type
of program they want...." He noted that other correspondence
programs in the state are funded at 80 percent no matter where
they are.
MR. SWEENEY said as far as curriculum is concerned, the
department's intent when ACS closes is to make ACS's curriculum
available to all districts in the state. They can also be
utilized in other state-run and district-run correspondence
programs. Right now the Alaska On Line Consortium, which is made
up of ACS, Mat-Su, Kenai and Delta, is developing curricula.
DEED wants to help the districts continue to grow the programs
that are being offered. Enrollment in the district-run statewide
correspondence schools has grown tremendously since 1997 while
enrollment in the regular program at ACS has gone down. That
brings him to the third point - that this is a policy call. The
question is should the state continue to be in a state-run
correspondence school business. He told members:
We believe, and the governor believes now, that other
programs are being offered, that it's time for the
state to get out of this business and to allow the
districts to operate the state-run correspondence
program.
6:50 p.m.
SENATOR WILKEN asked him to explain the other state run
programs.
MR. SWEENEY replied that he may have misspoken and he meant
other statewide correspondence programs.
SENATOR WILKEN asked how many of the school districts chose to
operate summer schools with their [indisc.] money. Someone
responded that Mat-Su did and Senator Wilken added that
Fairbanks did, too.
SENATOR WILKEN asked what the relationship is between
accreditation and a diploma and/or the high school qualifying
exam.
MR. JEANS replied that accreditation provides an assurance to
the receiving school district that the course work the students
have completed is of the same standard level when measured by
the Northwest accreditation of schools and colleges. When a
child transfers from ACS to Juneau Douglas High School, for
instance, their staff has assurance that whatever those grades
are on the transcripts for courses are of like courses that
would be offered at their school.
SENATOR WILKEN asked if accreditation has any bearing on a
diploma or the qualifying exam.
MR. JEANS replied that it does not.
SENATOR WILKEN said a couple of years ago some districts did an
audit of some of the statewide programs and one of the measures
used was the teacher to student ratio, which was 800 to 1. He
asked if there was a similar measurement of the other statewide
programs versus Alyeska Central School.
MR. JEANS replied that many of the existing programs do not have
the same student pupil teacher ratio that ACS currently has, but
a number of school districts have assured him that they want to
expand their programs to offer like pupil teacher ratios that
ACS is currently offering. The legislation has an open
enrollment policy requirement for any district that operates a
statewide correspondence program. So, those districts that are
currently closing their enrollment would have to comply. It
would be the department's intent that that would at least apply
through the foundation count period.
SENATOR WILKEN said some statewide programs can decline to take
a disabled student and asked if that will be changed in this
legislation.
MR. JEANS replied that a school district cannot discriminate on
the enrollment of a child because of special needs.
SENATOR WILKEN asked if a statewide correspondence program can
discriminate.
MR. JEANS replied that a statewide correspondence program is
operated by a school district and cannot discriminate on that
basis.
SENATOR WILKEN asked if the department would follow up on that
if such an incident had happened.
MR. JEANS replied that it would.
SENATOR WILKEN said he would get that information to him
tomorrow. He then asked if that issue is addressed in this
legislation.
MR. JEANS replied that it is on page 1, section 2, but an
amendment is necessary because another provision in statute
specifically refers to regional education attendance areas with
similar wording. Line 14 says, "a school age child who is
enrolled in or a resident of the district...". The department
has interpreted that to mean [a district] has to have an open
enrollment in policy, at least through the foundation count
period.
SENATOR WILKEN said Mr. Sweeney spoke of the tremendous growth
of correspondence students from 2,000 to 9,000 in eight years.
Mr. Sweeney indicated that was correct. Senator Wilken asked him
to rethink his suggestion of closing the school and asked if
there would there be a real savings of $375,000 if it moved out
of the facility. He thought there would be a savings to DEED but
someone else would have to pick up the tab on that space. He
noted, "There really is no savings."
CHAIR DYSON followed up that there might be a net savings if
that precludes them from having to go out and rent some other
space. Mr. Sweeney indicated that's what he meant.
SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS said that some schools are not accredited
and that might cause some problems for the students. However,
she knows from serving on the State Board and visiting school
districts that students are graduating from those schools all
the time.
MR. JEANS replied that the provision they are referring to is
section 6. He used the example of a Family Partnership Charter
School in Anchorage and explained:
In their charter, they clearly state that they are a
home-based school program. Because the statute
currently does not state correspondence or home-based
programs, they have continued to appeal our
classification of them for funding purposes as a
correspondence program. They want to go through the
school size adjustment table and receive that
additional funding for what we provide for staffing,
heating, maintaining a school facility, as well as a
20% adjustment for special needs. This provision here
is simply put in, as a clarification that we're
referring to any program that provides educational
services outside a public school facility - will be
funded at the 80%.
SENATOR DAVIS responded that she understood that very well, but
[accreditation] needs to be taken care of and not necessarily in
this bill. She was talking about programs like alternative or
charter schools and wanted to know if those children would run
into any problems getting into another school because of lack of
accreditation.
MR. JEANS replied that it depends on where the students are
going. Colleges have assessment tools other than high school
transcripts available to them from an accredited or non-
accredited school to determine whether a child is ready to enter
college.
SENATOR DAVIS responded that she did not want students to have
problems getting into colleges of their choice because of high
school accreditation and that should be addressed.
CHAIR DYSON said that very few students have trouble getting
into college, no matter where they went to school.
SENATOR GUESS said she respectfully disagrees and that in her
work, higher education does mean something. She noted:
I think children at least need to know when they're
not in an accredited program the limits it puts on
certain options that they have including the military,
which I think is a serious issue.
SENATOR GUESS asked about the focus and breadth of the summer
school programs that Senator Wilken mentioned are going on in
the state. She questioned if, after the October open enrollment
count, a parent called up a program district correspondence
program, the student could be denied entry.
MR. JEANS replied that has been occurring and it is an issue
with the department right now.
SENATOR GUESS said she was confused and thought he said that was
solved in the bill.
MR. JEANS replied:
The department's position on that is when a person
moves into Alaska, they have the right to attend a
public school in the community in which they move in
to. If you want to enter into a statewide
correspondence program under these provisions, it
would require you to do that prior to the end of the
count period. It does not leave that avenue available
to you to enroll after the count period in any
statewide correspondence program that you want.
Alyeska does do that for some students based on
whatever their conditions may be and you can ask their
counselor or any of the other people in here. They
don't simply allow all students to enroll after the
count period. Alyeska has some limitations on their
enrollment policy as well, but what this statute does
is afford the people the opportunity, at least through
the count period.
SENATOR GUESS thanked him and asked what happens if the fat
[funding] of every district that has correspondence school goes
away. The bill does not address that issue if there isn't a
statewide correspondence program. She asked Mr. Jeans to point
out the provisions that the department has set out in that case.
MR. JEANS replied that she is correct about the bill not
addressing that subject. He couldn't say that the department has
a plan set in stone that it can hand her. He added, "We don't
believe that's going to happen."
He said that enrollment in correspondence programs, in general,
has leveled off in the last three years. DEED sees movement
between districts and between programs. Some districts, like
Kenai and Mat-Su, operate district programs that had declined
for a couple of years and are now taking off again. The reason
is the districts realized the need to modify the programs they
were offering because they weren't meeting the needs of their
children - and they wanted to get their children back into their
school districts.
SENATOR GUESS wanted to know if that's a constitutional problem,
regardless of what he thinks will happen. She is concerned this
bill could get through the whole system and be signed into law
even though it does not have an accreditation provision in it.
MR. JEANS responded that Alaska has 53 school districts that
cover every square mile. Each school district has the obligation
to provide some form of educational program to the students who
reside in its district. He acknowledged, "Even if all the
statewide correspondence programs go away, the districts still
have an obligation to provide educational services of some
form."
CHAIR DYSON added that the state is mandated under the
Constitution to provide education for everyone. He believes very
strongly that if the district-based programs weren't working,
recreating something like Alyeska Central School would be
mandated.
SENATOR GREEN moved to pass SB 107 from committee with
individual recommendations and its accompanying fiscal note.
SENATOR DAVIS objected.
A roll call vote was taken. SENATORS GREEN, WILKEN, and DYSON
voted yea; SENATORS GUESS and DAVIS voted nay and SB 107 passed
from committee.
CHAIR DYSON adjourned the meeting at 7:12 p.m.
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