SB 89-PARENT RIGHTS: EDUCATION; SCHOOL ABSENCE  8:05:15 AM CHAIR HUGGINS announced consideration of SB 89. [CSSB 89(STA), version LS-0735\G, was before the committee.] SENATOR COGHILL moved to adopt CSSB 89(RLS), version LS-0735\F, as the working document. There were no objections and it was so ordered. 8:05:48 AM JODY SIMPSON, Staff to Senator Huggins and the Rules Committee, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, explained the changes in version \F as follows: Sec. 1 & 2 have no changes. Sec. 3, 4, & 5 are deleted. Sec. 6 & 7 have no changes. Sec. 8, 9, & 10 are deleted. She said that therefore the bill now requires local school boards to adopt policies allowing parents to withdraw their children from any activity, class, program or standards-based assessment required by the state to which the parent objects. MS. SIMPSON explained that section 2 prohibits school districts and educational services organizations that contract with school districts from contracting with abortion service providers. Section 3 prohibits school districts from paying the costs for physical examinations for teachers, and section 4 prohibits school districts from permitting abortion services providers to offer, sponsor or furnish course materials or instruction related to human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases. CHAIR HUGGINS noted the zero fiscal note, found no questions, and invited the bill's sponsor to the table. SENATOR DUNLEAVY, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of SB 89, explained that the content in SB 89 is now the same as when it left the Senate State Affairs and Education Committees last spring. In the special session over the summer much of the material that has been taken out of this bill was incorporated into HB 44 and passed, he said. One item was still left in the bill regarding physical examinations for teachers. That material initially was in the bill in an effort to help school districts roll back some regulations and undue burdens to try and save some money. In essence, nothing was added to the bill. It is essentially a cleanup for what was taken out for HB 44. CHRISTA MCDONALD, Staff to Senator Dunleavy, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, had no additional comments. 8:09:04 AM At ease 8:10:21 AM CHAIR HUGGINS called the Senate Rules meeting back to order. SENATOR GARDNER offered Amendment 1. 29-LS0735\F.4 Glover 2/22/16 AMENDMENT 1 OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR GARDNER TO: CSSB 89(RLS) Page 2, lines 3 - 8: Delete "because of concern regarding (A) content involving human reproduction or sexual matters; (B) inquiries into personal or private family affairs of the student or family that are not a matter of public record or subject to public observation" SENATOR COGHILL objected. SENATOR GARDNER explained that currently parents have a right to withdraw their child from any activity, class or program without explanation to the school. Keeping the language that says "they are withdrawing because of a concern regarding A and B" limits them and that is not the intention of the sponsor. SENATOR DUNLEAVY said he needed a moment. 8:11:51 AM At ease 8:14:46 AM CHAIR HUGGINS called the Senate Rules Committee meeting back to order. SENATOR DUNLEAVY said he preferred to keep the bill as it is. SENATOR GARDNER commented that when you innumerate possibilities in statute and you leave something out, it could be read to say it's not covered. That is her concern here. CHAIR HUGGINS found no questions. SENATOR COGHILL maintained his objection and a roll call vote was taken: Senator Gardner voted yea; Senators Meyer, Kelly, Coghill, and Huggins voted nay; therefore Amendment 1 failed. 8:15:56 AM SENATOR GARDNER moved Amendment 2. 29-LS0735\F.5 Glover 2/22/16 AMENDMENT 2 OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR GARDNER TO: CSSB 89(RLS) Page 2, lines 9 - 10: Delete ", but not more than six weeks," SENATOR COGHILL objected. SENATOR GARDNER explained that leaving "providing parent notification not less than two weeks before an activity, class or program" is problematic because permission slips are hard for schools to track when students come in. She said that parents have many things to sign for their kids in school. She would rather sign one blanket time for the whole term and not have to think about it again through the year. Requiring schools to do this in a narrow window "no more than...no less than" creates a headache. Amendment 2 helps with efficiencies. SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked to keep the original language in the bill. He explained that the time periods are in there specifically to box in any situation, so that parents are notified within a certain timeline. CHAIR HUGGINS found no questions. SENATOR COGHILL maintained his objection and a roll call vote was taken: Senator Gardner voted yea; Senators Meyer, Kelly, Coghill, and Huggins voted nay; therefore Amendment 2 failed. 8:18:49 AM SENATOR GARDNER moved Amendment 3. 29-LS0735\F.6 Glover 2/23/16 AMENDMENT 3 OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR GARDNER TO: CSSB 89(RLS) Page 1, line 4: Delete "and" Page 1, line 5, following "teachers": Insert "; and providing for an effective date"   Page 2, following line 31: Insert a new paragraph to read: "(2) "human reproduction or sexual matters" does not include curricula or materials for (A) alcohol and drug abuse education described under AS 14.30.360; or (B) suicide awareness and prevention training required under AS 14.30.362." Renumber the following paragraphs accordingly. Page 3, following line 4: Insert a new bill section to read: "* Sec. 2. AS 14.03.016(c)(2), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, is amended to read: (2) "human reproduction or sexual matters" does not include curricula or materials for (A) sexual abuse and sexual assault  awareness and prevention training required under  AS 14.30.355;  (B) dating violence and abuse awareness and  prevention training required under AS 14.30.356;  (C) alcohol and drug abuse education described under AS 14.30.360; or (D) [(B)] suicide awareness and prevention training required under AS 14.30.362." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly.   Page 3, following line 19: Insert new bill sections to read: "* Sec. 6. Section 2 of this Act takes effect June 30, 2017. * Sec. 7. Except as provided by sec. 6 of this Act, this Act takes effect July 1, 2016." SENATOR COGHILL objected. SENATOR GARDNER explained that this amendment has to do with timelines and it excludes certain education programs from the definition of "human reproduction or sexual matters". Those are the programs that are addressed under Erin's Law. Three of them don't take effect until July, 2016, or June. 2017, so the amendment has to be in two sections in order to comply with language in HB 44 (that passed with Erin's Law). SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked to keep the original language in the bill. CHAIR HUGGINS found no questions. SENATOR COGHILL maintained his objection and a roll call vote was taken: Senator Gardner voted yea; Senators Meyer, Kelly, Coghill, and Huggins voted nay; therefore Amendment 3 failed. SENATOR GARDNER moved Amendment 4. 29-LS0735\F.7 Glover 2/22/16 AMENDMENT 4 OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR GARDNER TO: CSSB 89(RLS) Page 2, following line 29: Insert a new subsection to read: "(c) Nothing in this section prohibits a school employee or volunteer from answering a question from a child about any topic." Reletter the following subsection accordingly. SENATOR COGHILL objected. SENATOR GARDNER explained that Amendment 4 allows for responsive conversation between school employees and children, who will often talk to teachers out of the blue about all kinds of things. It simply says, "If a child asks a direct question" of an employee, that employee is not prohibited from answering it. SENATOR DUNLEAVY said he disagreed with the amendment, and it changes the bill. CHAIR HUGGINS found no questions. SENATOR COGHILL maintained his objection and a roll call vote was taken: Senator Gardner voted yea; Senators Meyer, Kelly, Coghill, and Huggins voted nay; therefore Amendment 4 failed. SENATOR GARDNER moved Amendment 5. 29-LS0735\F.8 Glover 2/22/16 AMENDMENT 5 OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR GARDNER TO: CSSB 89(RLS) Page 2, following line 29: Insert a new subsection to read: "(c) This section does not apply to religious schools or private schools." Reletter the following subsection accordingly. Page 3, following line 3: Insert new paragraphs to read: "(4) "private school" has the meaning given in AS 14.45.200; (5) "religious school" has the meaning given in AS 14.45.200;" Renumber the following paragraph accordingly. SENATOR COGHILL objected. SENATOR GARDNER explained that Amendment 5 just says this statute is being made for "state funded public schools" and what they are doing here doesn't apply to religious schools or private schools, which can run their own affairs as they see fit. SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked to keep the original language in the bill. CHAIR HUGGINS found no questions. SENATOR COGHILL maintained his objection and a roll call vote was taken: Senator Gardner voted yea; Senators Meyer, Kelly, Coghill, and Huggins voted nay; therefore Amendment 5 failed. 8:23:20 AM SENATOR GARDNER moved Amendment 6. 29-LS0735\F.10 Glover 2/23/16 AMENDMENT 6 OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR GARDNER TO: CSSB 89(RLS) Page 1, line 2, following "provider;": Insert "relating to school performance  designations and teacher evaluations;" Page 2, line 21, following "AS 14.30.020": Insert "if the child's parent withdrew the child from the activity, class, program, or standards-based assessment or test or gave permission for the child's absence" Page 3, following line 7: Insert new bill sections to read:  "* Sec. 3. AS 14.03.123 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: (h) For purposes of assigning performance designations under this section, when the department calculates a public school's participation rate for standards-based assessments, the department shall exclude a student who is withdrawn from a standards- based assessment under AS 14.03.016 from the total number of enrolled students at the school.  * Sec. 4. AS 14.20.149 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: (i) In a certificated employee evaluation, a school district may not consider a student who is withdrawn from a standards-based assessment under AS 14.03.016 in the calculation of the participation rate for the standards-based assessment." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. SENATOR COGHILL objected. SENATOR GARDNER explained that one of her concerns about the broadness of some of the language is that the school, which is responsible for tracking whether children are present and alerting parents if they don't show up, is that the school has no idea if a child is absent with the parent's knowledge or not. She knows kids who skip school rather than attend two days of testing thinking that the school will assume "my parent withdrew me and my parent won't know." This amendment says that if a parent is actively withdrawing a child from an activity, they need to tell the school that, so they know the child didn't simply not show up. In addition, she said, the amendment says the participation rate can't be used for the required 95 percentage of students to participate in things like testing and teacher evaluations. SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked to keep the original language in the bill, because language in the amendment substantially changes the bill from its original intent. CHAIR HUGGINS found no questions. SENATOR COGHILL maintained his objection and a roll call vote was taken: Senator Gardner voted yea; Senators Meyer, Kelly, Coghill, and Huggins voted nay; therefore Amendment 6 failed. MS. MCDONALD said this bill is pretty straight forward and is just cleanup language from what passed in a previous session. SENATOR COGHILL moved to report CSSB 89(RLS), version F, from committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note. SENATOR GARDNER objected. She said leaving aside the meat of the bill that she disagrees with, it has unintended consequences that could easily be addressed aside from knowing where their kids are. It's important for schools to gather data on what activities parents find objectionable, to maybe reconsider, but they don't have a way of doing that. The bill also has a zero fiscal note to the state, but it doesn't have a zero fiscal impact for schools. She said that a lot of work was done in the Education Committee, at the chair's suggestion, to try to ameliorate. The schools fiscal impact could have been made a little bit less by letting people do things like blanket permissions. 8:27:14 AM SENATOR GARDNER said she was also very troubled by teachers being "muzzled" and not being able to simply answer a child's question. Teachers shouldn't be afraid to respond to children if for instance, one asks where baby birds come from. Children ask these innocent questions and this bill creates a climate where teachers have to be afraid of simply responding to their students. That is unhealthy for the kids, for the teachers and for families. SENATOR GARDNER maintained her objection and a roll call vote was taken. Senators Meyer, Kelly, Coghill, and Huggins voted yea; Senator Gardner voted nay; therefore CSSB 89(RLS) moved from committee.