Legislature(2021 - 2022)SENATE FINANCE 532
03/22/2021 09:00 AM Senate FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB32 | |
| SB36 | |
| SB19 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 19 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 32 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 36 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SENATE BILL NO. 36
"An Act relating to reporting requirements of the
Board of Regents of the University of Alaska."
10:17:22 AM
Senator Gary Stevens, sponsor, explained that SB 36 came
about due to the loss of accreditation by the University of
Alaska Anchorage. He discussed the process of
accreditation, which he deemed as straight forward. He
shared that he had been shocked to learn that the School of
Education at UAA had lost accreditation. He said that the
president of the University at the time had been unaware of
the accreditation loss. He felt that the University,
particularly the president of the University, should be
aware of accreditation standings of all departments and
programs.
10:19:50 AM
Tim Lamkin, Staff, Senator Gary Stevens, discussed version
B of the legislation. He said that the bill would maintain
lines of communication within the University system so that
accreditation loss did not happen again.
10:20:44 AM
Mr. Lamkin discussed a Sectional Analysis for the bill
(copy on file):
CS for Senate Bill 36 (EDC) (Version B)
University of Alaska Accreditation Reporting
Requirements
Sec. 1: AS 14.40.190(b) Amends existing University of
Alaska reporting requirements regarding teacher
training and retention, to specify the report is
required to be submitted to the Legislature (Senate
Secretary / House Chief Clerk) biennially, by the 30th
legislative day of the first regular session of each
new Legislature.
Sec. 2: AS 14.40.190(c) is a new subsection
establishing a requirement for the University of
Alaska to issue a biennial report on the status of all
of its accreditations within the UA system.
The report must be submitted to the Legislature
(Senate Secretary / House Chief Clerk) by the 30th
legislative day of the first regular session of the
legislature; and
The accreditation report is subsequently to be
presented in a formal hearing setting to the education
committees of the legislature, the scheduling for
which is intended to be at the discretion of the
chairs of the committees
10:22:08 AM
Co-Chair Bishop asked about Section 2 and the "formal
hearing", he was curious who from the University would
speak at the formal hearing.
Senator Stevens specified that the representative would be
from the Board of Regents.
10:22:42 AM
Senator Wilson asked whether the chairs of the Education
Committee in each house of the legislature would be forced
to officially hear the report, or could they simply
distribute it to committee members.
Senator Stevens asked Senator Wilson to restate the
question.
Senator Wilson asked whether the bill mandated certain work
to Education Committee chairs.
Senator Stevens believed that it should be mandated that
the presentation on accreditation be heard before the
Education Committee. He contended that he could not imagine
an Education Committee chair who would not be interested in
hearing an update on the states University accreditation.
Senator Wilson asked how many programs at the University
required accreditation.
Senator Stevens was not sure of the number but estimated
over 100.
Co-Chair Bishop thought the number was 200.
Mr. Lamkin pointed to the programmatic accreditation
summary in the bill packet (copy on file).
Senator Wilson had seen the document but had not wanted to
count all the listed programs.
Senator Stevens shared that the accredited programs were
various and numerous.
10:25:08 AM
Senator von Imhof asked whether the reports were currently
submitted yearly to the Board of Regents.
Senator Stevens responded that all involved parties had
been surprised by the loss of accreditation. He shared that
there was now a report that went to the board, which was
what would be shared with the legislature.
Senator von Imhof clarified that the report would be seen
by the Board of Regents and then forwarded to the
legislature.
Senator Stevens replied in the affirmative.
Co-Chair Bishop OPENED invited testimony.
10:26:16 AM
SUSAN KALINA, VICE PROVOST FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND
INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE
(via teleconference), testified that the three main
campuses of the University of Alaska had been reporting on
accreditation to the Board of Regents since 2012. She said
that the report was annual and that it covered both status
of accreditation with the Northwest Commission and to the
specialized programmatic accreditations for each program
requiring accreditation. She explained that UAA had 59
programs that had specialized accreditation, through 24
accrediting agencies. She stated that the reports outlined
all recommendations that might be standing for a program.
She related that accreditations were generally on 5, 7, or
10-year cycles, and they cycle ended in a self-study and a
site visit. She relayed that the results of the site visit
went to the agencies who then sent letters to the
University detailing strengths and recommendations for
improvement. She said that issues would be addressed and
discussed at the end of the accreditation cycle.
10:30:28 AM
Senator Stevens thought it was concerning to hear Ms.
Kalina's comment that the reports had been issued to the
Board of Regents since 2012, when accreditation had been
lost in 2019. He queried what could be wring with the
system the University currently had in place. He asked what
had been done by the University to make sure that the loss
of accreditation did not happen again.
Ms. Kalina revealed that the report that was presented to
the Board of Regents was very detailed. She relayed that
at UAA, school deans were required to provide status
updated to the provost at frequent intervals and status
update meetings between the provost, dean, and heads of
programs were frequent. She stressed that if concerns of
any size were identified, the provost informed the
chancellor.
Co-Chair Bishop asked Ms. Kalina to send her comments
regarding enhanced accreditation oversight to the
committee.
10:33:12 AM
AT EASE
10:33:19 AM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Bishop OPENED public testimony.
10:33:45 AM
Co-Chair Bishop CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair Bishop set the bill aside.
SB 36 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.