Legislature(2021 - 2022)ADAMS 519
05/16/2022 01:30 PM House FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB72 | |
| HJR1 | |
| HB66 | |
| SB25 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 72 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 25 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HJR 1 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 66 | TELECONFERENCED | |
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 72(FIN)
"An Act relating to civics education, civics
assessments, and secondary school graduation
requirements; and providing for an effective date."
2:18:52 PM
Co-Chair Merrick reported that SB 72 was heard during the
morning meeting [05/16/22 9:00 A.M.].
Co-Chair Merrick OPENED public testimony.
2:19:19 PM
Co-Chair Merrick Closed public testimony.
Co-Chair Merrick indicated there was one published fiscal
impact fiscal note from the Department of Education and
Early Development (FN3 (EED). She invited the department to
review the fiscal note. She indicated Vice-Chair Ortiz and
Representative Johnson had joined the meeting.
2:19:56 PM
AT EASE
2:24:40 PM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Merrick indicated Representative Wool,
Representative Josephson, and Representative Rasmussen had
joined the meeting.
2:25:03 PM
DEBRA RIDDLE, DIVISION OPERATIONS MANAGER, DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT (via teleconference),
explained that there would be a one-time cost of $6000 for
legal fees to implement the necessary regulation changes
and for the development of civics standards. The bill added
reporting requirements for the departments data collection
system that added setup costs. In addition, grants would be
offered to educators in all school districts for the
development of a civics curriculum.
2:26:16 PM
Representative LeBon MOVED to ADOPT the previous committee
substitute that was adopted in the Senate Finance
Committee, CSSB 72(FIN), 32-LS0478\D, as the working
document.
Co-Chair Merrick OBJECTED for discussion.
Representative LeBon explained that the current bill
version referred out of the House Education Committee
contained significant changes. He noted that the Committee
Substitute (CS) eliminated passing a civics exam as a
requirement for graduating from high school. The Senate
Finance Committee CS allowed a student to pass the
assessment with a score of at least 70 percent, provided
waivers for students with disabilities, and allowed a
student to take the test as often as necessary to receive a
passing score. He offered that an assessment insured that
the educational tools were working, and students were
learning. Without the assessment, it was impossible to
measure civics education proficiency among students and
inform policy makers if changes were warranted.
2:28:05 PM
AT EASE
2:34:34 PM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Merrick WITHDREW the OBJECTION.
Representative Wool OBJECTED. He applauded the desire to
include civics education in high school. He mentioned
cramming studying to pass a test and professed that most
of the information was eventually forgotten. He believed
that taking a test did not adequately measure proficiency
but felt that the civics education was valuable. He thought
that the topic was complicated and some of the information
was obtuse. He appreciated the desire to instill the
information. He commented that students were graduating at
a very low rate and currently there was a teacher shortage.
He asked the sponsor whether there were other tests
necessary to graduate and discovered that no other test was
required. He did not believe the test should be mandatory.
2:36:32 PM
Representative Rasmussen indicated that if the state did
not have a way to measure whether the students were
learning the information, she would prefer not to adopt the
bill. She spoke of personal experience in high school and
that without the testing she did not want to fully engage
in required classes. She thought that without an
assessment, it would be difficult to measure whether the
curriculum was successful and contributed to a better
education or if the time would be wasted. She supported
adopting the CS.
Representative Carpenter thought that if the test model was
based on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Test
(copy on file) that contained 128 Civics questions, the
student would not need to retain all the information with a
70 percent passing grade standard. He hoped that all school
curriculums addressed 70 percent of the material throughout
a childs education. He thought that there were questions
he would have a difficult time answering but some of the
information was important to know. He exemplified questions
concerning what the rule of law was and the nations
economic system. He restated that with a score of 70
percent at least a percentage of the information should be
retained before the student engaged in civic activities
like voting. He opined that he could forget a significant
amount of Algebra, but there were many things on the civics
test he should never forget. He deemed that graduating
students lacking a Civics instruction was probably the
reason for the current societal problems. He favored the
CS.
2:40:24 PM
Vice-Chair Ortiz agreed with most of Representative
Carpenter's statement. However, he deduced that out of the
128 question test, the teacher would randomly select 20
questions. He thought that some of the questions were good,
but some were open-ended. He wanted to better understand
how the test questions were given to perspective new
citizens for citizenship. He was curious about how the exam
was distributed, and how the information was taught.
Co-Chair Merrick invited Mr. Lamkin to comment.
2:43:01 PM
TIM LAMKIN, STAFF, SENATOR GARY STEVEN, explained that the
legislation was intended to direct the state Board of
Education and the Department of Education and Early
Development (DEED) to develop a curriculum and an
assessment that was based on the immigration test. The bill
was not prescriptive nor mandated rote memorization but
rather to prompt conversations regarding what was important
in Civics. He emphasized that the exam was not high
stakes but the issue was high stakes because of the
current national environment.
Vice-Chair Ortiz agreed with Mr. Lamkins statements. He
liked the idea of promoting civics education but was unsure
whether extracting questions from the citizenship test was
the best way to instill the importance of a Civics
education.
2:45:33 PM
Mr. Lamkin indicated that critical thinking was a key
phrase regarding the bill. He pointed to the document in
members packets titled SB 72, Promoting Civics Education
in Alaska (copy on file), that included a sampling of
online Civics resources. He expounded that the U.S.
Naturalization test was an online interview and resource.
The prospective citizen was given all the questions in
advance and all the potential answers. There was no single
correct answer and there was a list of all the acceptable
correct answers.
2:46:28 PM
Representative Josephson cited Mr. Lamkins statement that
the sponsor felt that teaching Civics was an important for
addressing the current issues facing the county. He
wondered if the sponsor had some description of what was
going on in the country. He felt that the question was
provocative. He wondered if the issues were a new
phenomenon. Mr. Lamkin deferred to Senator Stevens for the
answer. Representative Josephson shared that all he read
was biographical and historical writings for pleasure. He
noted that he had regretted his vote to repeal the high
school qualifying exam. He agreed that people would forget
the answers but thought it would likely make people better
citizens.
Representative Rasmussen thought that presently in the
country there were many citizens that did not understand
Civics; the three branches of government and separation of
powers. She believed that if people were more knowledgeable
of how the 3 branches worked, they could scrutinize
campaign promises. She thought that the root of the
country's problem was lack of knowledge of how the
government worked. She believed that teaching Civics
instilled more tolerance and would benefit the state and
the country.
Co-Chair Merrick indicated that Representative Tuck and
Representative Kreiss-Thompkins had joined the meeting.
2:50:09 PM
Representative Carpenter ascertained that the proposed test
was not the only element based off the Citizenship test. He
believed that the value was in the curriculum based off the
questions and the ability of the teacher to connect with
students, ensure learning, and ultimately produce better
citizens. He did not think there would be as good of a
connection if there was not a way to measure teaching the
curriculum. He believed the value was in both the test and
the curriculum and the test was a common base of knowledge
that all Americans should know. He hoped that future
generations would be better off than the current
generation with Civics education.
Co-Chair Merrick reported Representative Edgmon had joined
the meeting.
2:52:34 PM
Representative Wool noted that the legislature eliminated
the graduation exit exam. He purported that many subjects
were required in school. He had taken a class in U.S.
History. He maintained that if students passed the class,
it was assumed that some of the knowledge was retained. He
pointed out that exit exams were not required for other
important subjects like math and history. He stressed that
tests were administered as part of the course work. He
reminded the committee that if students do not pass
required classes they do not graduate and pointed out that
the states graduation rate was low. He contended that
adding another mandated test prior to graduating would not
help the graduation rate. He opined that a Civics class
would not have prevented the storming of the U. S. Capitol
on January 6, 2019. He declared that every generation had
issues and Civics should be taught in schools because the
way history was interpreted was viewed through different
lenses over time. He supported mandating Civics but
strongly opposed requiring the test for graduation.
Representative LeBon appreciated the spirited debate. He
indicated that a school board set the curriculum and
decided whether a class was a requirement or an elective.
He recalled when Alaska History was an elective in the
Fairbanks School District. He suggested that a consolidated
class of U.S. History and Alaska History was a darn good
idea. He voiced that if the bill passed with a mandated
exam, it alerted the school boards to take action and set
the standards so the graduating seniors could pass the test
by at least 70 percent.
Representative Wool MAINTAINED the OBJECTION.
A roll call vote was taken on the motion.
IN FAVOR: Rasmussen, Carpenter, Johnson, LeBon, Merrick
OPPOSED: Wool, Edgmon, Josephson, Ortiz, Foster
The MOTION FAILED (5/5).
The MOTION to ADOPT CSSB 72(FIN) FAILED.
Co-Chair Merrick indicated amendments were due to the
co-chairs as soon as possible.
CSSB 72(FIN) was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
2:59:17 PM
AT EASE
3:00:27 PM
RECONVENED