03/15/2013 08:00 AM House EDUCATION

                 HB 151-SCHOOL GRADING SYSTEMS                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
10:00:52 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR GATTIS announced that the  final order of business would be                                                               
HOUSE  BILL NO.  151, "An  Act establishing  a public  school and                                                               
school  district   grading  system  for  purposes   of  improving                                                               
accountability and  transparency; providing for  Alaska strategic                                                               
educators  in  public schools;  and  providing  for an  effective                                                               
date."                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
10:00:56 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE LORA REINBOLD,  Alaska State Legislature, sponsor,                                                               
introduced  HB  151,  paraphrasing from  the  sponsor  statement,                                                               
which read [original punctuation provided]:                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     I passionately believe in  improving the achievement of                                                                    
     Alaska's students.   We can and we must do  better.  On                                                                    
     a personal  note, I gave  up a lucrative career  in the                                                                    
     healthcare   industry   to   pilot  my   own   children                                                                    
     successfully  through public  and private  school as  a                                                                    
     substitute  teacher for  over 10  years.   My son  is a                                                                    
     great product  of the public  school system,  and there                                                                    
     are  pockets of  greatness all  over the  state in  our                                                                    
     public school  system, and I am  definitely a supporter                                                                    
     of both  public, private, charter, home  schooling, and                                                                    
     any   parental  choice   to   give   our  students   an                                                                    
     opportunity to succeed.  Although  there are pockets of                                                                    
     greatness, overall  our kids are not  making across the                                                                    
     board  measurable progress  in  reading, writing,  math                                                                    
     and science  to prepare  them for higher  education and                                                                    
     to compete in the global  marketplace.  It is only fair                                                                    
     that parents  know how their  school is doing  and that                                                                    
     is  the reason  for this  bill, the  Parental Education                                                                    
     Information Act, HB 151.   House Bill 151 is a consumer                                                                    
     report  card for  education by  grading  our schools  A                                                                    
     through F.  We grade  cars and vacuums through Consumer                                                                  
     Reports  and  our  schools  and   kids  are  much  more                                                                  
     important.    House  Bill  151  will  provide  parents,                                                                    
     educators and communities  invaluable feedback on where                                                                    
     their  schools stand.   What  gets measured  gets done.                                                                    
     By   measuring  achievement,   A   through  F   clearly                                                                    
     identifies  where there  is excellence  in our  schools                                                                    
     and   where  there   is  concern,   and  provides   the                                                                    
     opportunity to raise the annual grade.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     If  a school  received  an undesirable  grade  it is  a                                                                    
     clear  signal  and  a  baseline for  action.    We  can                                                                    
     identify the  problem; we can  find solutions  and help                                                                    
     these  schools  improve  their  goals.    A  through  F                                                                    
     grading is a catalyst for change.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
     Over  a  dozen states  have  adopted  the A  through  F                                                                    
     grading system, very successfully.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
     The  state  of  Florida  has  fourteen  years  of  data                                                                    
     showing  that  clear,   understandable  information  on                                                                    
     school  achievement leads  to improvement.   I  ask for                                                                    
     your support for House Bill 151.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE REINBOLD  continued with  an overview of  the bill                                                               
and  directed  attention  to  an  untitled  chart  found  in  the                                                               
committee  packet  with  one   column  labeled,  "K-12  Education                                                               
Spending  Per  Capita State  and  Local  Spending," which  ranked                                                               
Alaska highest, and  a second column labeled,  "4th Grade Reading                                                               
Scores  Upper and  Middle Income  Students," which  ranked Alaska                                                               
lowest.    She stated  HB  151  will:    help bring  clarity  and                                                               
understanding;    encourage     school    excellence;    motivate                                                               
improvement;  direct and  attract public  and media  attention to                                                               
the  issues; initiate  a  positive  statewide competition;  spark                                                               
community  wide-spread  support; increase  parental  involvement;                                                               
and  create  school  pride.    Representative  Reinbold  directed                                                               
attention  to  a chart  found  in  the committee  packet  titled,                                                               
"Proven  Results of  the A-F  Grading System,"  which illustrated                                                               
the  results in  Florida after  14 years  of experience  with its                                                               
grading system.  In 1999, there were  677 D and F schools and 515                                                               
A and  B schools.  By  2012, there were  279 D and F  schools and                                                               
2,220 A and B schools.   Florida began grading schools in 1995 on                                                               
a  scale  of high  performing,  performing,  low performing,  and                                                               
critically low  performing.  However,  in 1998 the  grading scale                                                               
was changed to I-V, and in 1999 to A-F.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
10:08:02 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  GATTIS moved  to adopt  the proposed  committee substitute                                                               
(CS) for  HB 151, Version  28-LS0496\O, Mischel, 3/14/13.   There                                                               
being no objection, Version O was before the committee.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
10:08:45 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
ROBERT  PEARSON,  Staff,  Representative  Lora  Reinbold,  Alaska                                                               
State  Legislature,  informed  the  committee  the  first  change                                                               
reflected  in the  CS for  HB 151  is to  page 1,  line 9,  which                                                               
returns the date  of the performance designation  to September 1,                                                               
as is  currently in  statute.   The second change  is to  page 2,                                                               
lines 23-25, which  adds language to clarify that  no new science                                                               
assessments  will  have to  be  made  in  the schools;  only  the                                                               
testing that  is being done right  now will continue to  be done,                                                               
thus no additional  test will have to be developed.   He directed                                                               
attention to page 2 of  the fiscal note identified as HB0151-EED-                                                               
TLS-3-8-13,  and pointed  out the  above  changes will  eliminate                                                               
Section  2 and  its related  cost of  approximately $900,000.   A                                                               
provision  of Section  4 and  its related  cost of  approximately                                                               
$100,800,000 will  also be eliminated,  leaving only  $254,700 in                                                               
personnel costs in Section 4.   This is the substantial effect of                                                               
the CS.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
MR. PEARSON  then referred to  a document found in  the committee                                                               
packet  entitled,  "Florida's  School  Grades  Based  on  Student                                                             
Performance," saying  the change  in Florida has  been effective.                                                             
The next  page, entitled,  "'Parental Education  Information Act'                                                               
Grading  Criteria," lists  the standards  that  would be  adopted                                                               
under  HB 151.   Also,  he pointed  out that  HB 151  will exempt                                                               
small schools with fewer than 20  students - which will affect an                                                               
estimated  70 of  the approximately  500 schools  in Alaska.   He                                                               
emphasized that  the main thrust of  the bill is to  include both                                                               
the  previously  identified  standards and  additional  measures;                                                               
furthermore,  HB   151  will  incorporate   "precise,  measurable                                                               
student achievement"  into the section on  school accountability.                                                               
Also included in the committee  packet was a document provided by                                                               
the Foundation  for Excellence in Education  listing other states                                                               
that  have  adopted A-F  school  grading,  and he  restated  that                                                               
Florida was  the first, adopting  the policy  14 years ago.   The                                                               
final document found in the committee  packet was an example of a                                                               
proposed report card with letter  grades and back-up information.                                                               
He  said, "Every  parent  and school  and  community, the  media,                                                               
would receive  something like this  and the whole state  would be                                                               
clear on where  schools were performing and  each community would                                                               
know what was going on in their community schools."                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR GATTIS announced HB 151 was heard and held.