03/14/2011 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): North Slope School District Superintendent | |
| HB154 | |
| HB49 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 154 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 49 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
March 14, 2011
8:05 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Alan Dick, Chair
Representative Lance Pruitt, Vice Chair
Representative Eric Feige
Representative Paul Seaton
Representative Peggy Wilson
Representative Sharon Cissna
Representative Scott Kawasaki
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): NORTH SLOPE SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT
- HEARD
HOUSE BILL NO. 154
"An Act providing for the establishment of a statewide early
childhood education plan and guidelines."
- MOVED CSHB 154(EDC) OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE BILL NO. 49
"An Act establishing in the Department of Education and Early
Development a voluntary parent and early childhood education
program for pre-elementary aged children."
- MOVED CSHB 49(EDC) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 154
SHORT TITLE: PRE-ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PLANS/GUIDELINES
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) KAWASAKI
02/11/11 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/11/11 (H) EDC, FIN
03/09/11 (H) EDC AT 9:00 AM BARNES 124
03/09/11 (H) Heard & Held
03/09/11 (H) MINUTE(EDC)
03/14/11 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
BILL: HB 49
SHORT TITLE: EARLY CHILDHOOD ED: PARENTS AS TEACHERS
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) TUCK, KAWASAKI, GARA, PETERSEN
01/18/11 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/7/11
01/18/11 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/18/11 (H) EDC, FIN
03/11/11 (H) EDC AT 9:00 AM CAPITOL 106
03/11/11 (H) Heard & Held
03/11/11 (H) MINUTE(EDC)
03/14/11 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
WITNESS REGISTER
PEGGY COWAN, Superintendent
North Slope Borough School District
Barrow, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a presentation on the North Slope
Borough School District.
CYNDY CURRAN, Director
Teaching and Learning Support
Department of Education and Early Development (EED)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified and answered questions during
discussion of HB 154 and HB 49.
PAUL SUGAR, Head Start/Parent Involvement
Teaching and Learning Support
Department of Education and Early Development (EED)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified and answered questions during
discussion of HB 154.
EDDY JEANS, Education Policy Coordinator
Office of the Commissioner
Department of Education and Early Development (EED)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified and answered questions during
discussion of HB 154.
CARRIE BEEMAN, Chair
Upper Tanana Imagination Library
Tok, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 154.
DEBI BALDWIN, Child Development Division Director
Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc. (RurAL CAP)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified and answered questions during
discussion of HB 49.
SARAH SCANLAN, Deputy Director
Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc. (RurAL CAP)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified and answered questions during
discussion of HB 49.
REPRESENTATIVE CHRIS TUCK
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented HB 49 as one of the joint prime
sponsors of the bill.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:05:02 AM
CHAIR ALAN DICK called the House Education Standing Committee
meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. Representatives Dick, P. Wilson,
Feige, Pruitt, Kawasaki, and Seaton were present at the call to
order. Representative Cissna arrived as the meeting was in
progress.
^PRESENTATION(S): North Slope School District Superintendent
PRESENTATION(S): North Slope School District Superintendent
8:05:39 AM
CHAIR DICK announced that the first order of business would be a
presentation from the superintendent of the North Slope Borough
School District.
8:06:23 AM
PEGGY COWAN, Superintendent, North Slope Borough School
District, presented a PowerPoint, titled "North Slope Borough
School District." [Included in members' packets] She stated
that, as the district was as large as the State of Minnesota,
distance was one of the many challenges. She spoke about the
accountability of the district to the school board, the
assembly, the students and their families, the funders, and to
the legislature. She reported that the overall scores on state
assessments were not high enough, but she pointed to the 6-year
trend line which indicated a growth path. She shared that
attendance was an issue that needed improvement. She referred
to Eben Hopson, first mayor of the North Slope, and his vision
which called for self government to control the education of the
children. She declared that the district had a mission based
curriculum, and she read the mission statement:
Learning in our schools is rooted in the values,
history and language of the Inupiat. Students develop
the academic and cultural skills and knowledge to be:
Critical and creative thinkers able to adapt in a
changing environment and world; Active, responsible,
contributing members of their communities; and
Confident, healthy young adults, able to envision,
plan and take control of their destiny.
She moved on to point out the district strategic plan, which had
four goals: instruction, community and family engagement, staff
development, and organizational and financial stewardship. She
said the instructional goal was that "all students will reach
their intellectual potential and achieve academic success
through integrating Inupiaq knowledge systems into the core
content areas." She noted that the Alaska state standards and
grade level expectations were the program foundation, and that
these state standards were incorporated with a locally developed
Inupiaq learning framework and an international model of
curriculum, "Understanding by Design." She described the long
term five year process.
8:12:03 AM
MS. COWAN directed attention to the three questions for the
program, which all reflected back to the mission statement for
the district:
How will we honor Inupiaq values, history, culture,
and language while developing academic knowledge and
skills?; how will we prepare students for success in
their chosen life pursuits?; and, how will healthy
confident young adults contribute to their
communities?
MS. COWAN referred to the community focused Inupiaq Education
Initiative, which was based on the community expectations of the
school. She directed attention to the Inupiaq Learning
Framework: "Rebuilding our educational system according to
inua-our philosophy, history, language and interconnectedness
with all living things."
8:13:26 AM
MS. COWAN pointed to the realms of the learning framework, the
environmental realm, the community realm, the historical realm,
and the individual realm. Each of these realms had core themes
and essential understandings. She explained that Understanding
by Design was both a framework that synthesized the best
practices in curriculum, assessment and instruction with the
learning process, and a language that educators could use to
describe and analyze the best ways to promote student
understanding. She explained the learning metaphor of 40-40-40,
which represented the importance for the retention of
information. Some things would need to be remembered for 40
weeks, others for 40 months, and some for 40 years, the enduring
understanding. She offered examples of enduring understandings
within the Inupiaq framework. She explained the transition for
developing activities which corresponded to the Core Themes from
the Inupiaq Learning Framework, and then identifying which state
Grade Level Expectations could be met through those activities.
She provided a series of slides to illustrate a theme based
algebra lesson, which proved that rigor, state grade level
expectations, and standard based education could all be met in a
locally relative way.
8:17:55 AM
CHAIR DICK asked why the attendance was low in the district.
MS. COWAN replied that there were a lot of issues tied to the
low attendance and that the district was on "a five year
journey" of the theme based program. She declared that the
answer to the low attendance issue was "engaged, theme-based,
locally relevant curriculum," but that the district was "not
there yet."
8:19:28 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON asked whether the North Slope Borough
School District had been working with any other district using
theme based learning.
MS. COWAN replied that the district had worked with St. Mary's
City School District. She reported that EED had been
supportive, and had provided an instructional audit as a guide
to the theme based curriculum. She pointed out that a lot of
the instruction could be generalized for other districts.
8:21:28 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON asked if the attention of the student's
had improved with the new curriculum.
MS. COWAN replied that it had, though it was still anecdotal.
She directed attention to the stories from the oral history that
had been incorporated into the curriculum. She stated that the
teachers were also becoming much more involved.
HB 154-PRE-ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PLANS/GUIDELINES
8:24:59 AM
CHAIR DICK announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 154, "An Act providing for the establishment of a
statewide early childhood education plan and guidelines."
8:25:04 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI, as sponsor of HB 154, stated that, in
the state of Alaska, there were more than 7300 teachers and 7800
students in early education programs, with more than 18,400
children in the child care system.
8:26:15 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI observed that many people had visited
his office to discuss the values of early education and early
learning. He stated that higher education and career readiness
educators were recommending early learning programs with an
emphasis on parental involvement. He pointed out that HB 154
worked to keep parents involved and that early literacy deeply
affected higher education and career readiness. He stressed the
need to start early. He offered his opinion that pre-K should
not be defined too specifically as it did not follow the early
learning guidelines.
8:28:57 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 1,
as follows:
Page 3, line 30
Delete "three and four years of age"
8:30:01 AM
There being no objection, it was so ordered.
8:31:02 AM
CYNDY CURRAN, Director, Teaching and Learning Support,
Department of Education and Early Development (EED), clarified
that pre-schools needed approval, not certification. In
response to a question from a previous meeting, she described
the requirements for anyone working with pre-school children.
She declared that there were pre-elementary programs in 145
Alaska communities, which included pre-school special education
students. She referred to the pie charts on page 3 of the
handout titled "Alaska Preschool Project" [Included in members'
packets] to review the progress that was charted for the Peabody
Picture Vocabulary Test on vocabulary and receptive language
development. She directed attention to the charts on page 4,
and pointed out the significant improvement from the beginning
to the end of the school year. She moved on to the
Developmental Indicators for the Assessments of Learning (DIAL-
3), which tested motor, concept, and language development. She
shared the significant improvements. In response to
Representative Seaton, she clarified that these results were
statewide aggregates which reflected the growth of students in
individual programs.
8:36:12 AM
PAUL SUGAR, Head Start/Parent Involvement, Teaching and Learning
Support, Department of Education and Early Development (EED), in
response to Representative Feige, explained that it represented
the number of students in the pilot Pre-K project that were
attending and being assessed.
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE asked what happened to the remainder of the
students.
MR. SUGAR replied there were a number of students served through
the intervention districts and that these assessments were not
administered by those services. He expressed that EED planned
to receive data in the upcoming year from those agencies.
8:37:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE asked to clarify that the pie charts
depicted the students who were tested at the beginning and the
end of the program.
8:38:18 AM
MR. SUGAR agreed with Representative Feige, and in response to
Representative P. Wilson, said that this was the second year of
the project.
8:38:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON asked why the project was not being
offered elsewhere.
8:39:12 AM
MS. CURRAN, in response to Representative P. Wilson, said that
the project money was awarded through a competitive application
process. She shared that the Yukon-Koyukuk School District had
submitted a successful application for pre-school funding. She
noted that EED then budgeted $300,000 for the Lower Yukon School
District and the Yupiit School District to also participate in
the project.
8:40:08 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON offered her belief that, for the
intervention district schools, approximately $35,000 per student
had been set aside and she asked why that money was not used for
this program.
8:41:10 AM
EDDY JEANS, Education Policy Coordinator, Office of the
Commissioner, Department of Education and Early Development
(EED), in response to Representative P. Wilson, offered his
belief that the reference to the total revenues identified
during the Moore vs. State of Alaska case were for school
districts to receive as much as $35,000 per child, but that EED
had not directed to those districts how that revenue was to be
spent.
8:41:53 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON asked to clarify the funding. He offered
his belief that Moore vs. State of Alaska declared that the
legislature was responsible for significant progress by the
local school districts. He stated that two years prior, the
legislature had passed a pre-K program, and that money was
reserved for these authorized intervention districts to ensure
the legislature met its responsibility.
8:43:21 AM
CHAIR DICK brought the discussion back to HB 154.
8:43:40 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE pointed out that HB 154 provided "for the
establishment of a statewide early childhood education plan and
a guidelines," and that it amended AS 14.07.020(a). He pointed
out that under AS 14.07.030, EED could "develop a model
curriculum and provide technical assistance for early childhood
education programs." He asked if EED had a plan, and if HB 154
was necessary.
8:45:09 AM
MS. CURRAN replied that HB 154 created a statewide early
childhood education plan which would incorporate the early
learning guidelines for students and provide an optional pre-
elementary program in concert with the other existing pre-
elementary programs. She directed attention to the early
learning guidelines and the parent activity booklets, available
in Yupik, Spanish, and English, which were referred to in HB
154. She pointed to the fiscal note for $150,000, to be used to
write and review the plan to place the guidelines into action.
In response to Representative Feige, she clarified that these
were early childhood guidelines to be used for development, but
that the early childhood plan had not yet been written.
8:46:56 AM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
8:47:07 AM
MS. CURRAN explained that the data reflected that the program
worked.
8:47:40 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON asked about the number of Yupik
readers.
8:48:00 AM
MS. CURRAN replied that she would provide that information.
8:48:36 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA asked if there was instruction for both
verbal and written Native Alaskan languages.
MS. CURRAN expressed her agreement.
8:49:11 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON noted that the activity booklets had
been written for the parents.
8:49:24 AM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
8:49:45 AM
CHAIR DICK brought the committee back to order.
8:50:08 AM
CARRIE BEEMAN, Chair, Upper Tanana Imagination Library, spoke
about the early learning programs in Tok and the surrounding
communities, which included Parents as Teachers (PAT), Head
Start, and Imagination Library. She pointed out the needs for
the program in Tok. She urged support for HB 154.
8:51:54 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON asked about the current funding source.
MS. BEEMAN replied that the Imagination Library was grant based
with additional local funding, and that the PAT program was paid
through state funding.
8:53:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 2, as
follows:
Page 4, line 2, following "provides for"
Delete "the most"
8:54:29 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI objected for discussion.
8:54:36 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON replied that the proposed conceptual
amendment would avoid competition between the programs.
8:55:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE asked if it was necessary for "including
Head Start" in line 4, page 4.
8:55:33 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI removed his objection. There being no
further objection, it was so ordered.
8:55:56 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 3, as
follows:
Page 4, line 4, following "the state"
Delete "including Head Start"
8:56:03 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON objected for discussion. She offered
her belief that Head Start was already doing "a good job, and
they're giving early childhood education to those kids, and that
may be all they need in some areas."
8:56:54 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT offered his belief that conceptual
Amendment 3 would be congruent with conceptual Amendment 2.
8:57:19 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON opined that Head Start was not
considered a preschool.
8:57:49 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON offered his belief that Head Start was
more than a pre-elementary school program, as it included "the
wrap around services of providing food and all these other
things." He stated that it should be included in the bill.
8:58:31 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE asked the bill sponsor for his comments.
8:58:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI opined that Head Start offered a lot of
information and service, and that he would prefer to have it
retained and specified in the bill.
8:59:05 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE withdrew Conceptual Amendment 3.
8:59:19 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 4, as
follows:
Page 4, line 3, following "of"
Insert "optional"
8:59:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI objected for discussion.
8:59:55 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON explained that that paragraph (6)
referenced the "optional pre-elementary program" and that
Conceptual Amendment 4 would clarify that intent.
9:00:34 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI agreed that with the clarification.
9:00:47 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI removed his objection. There being no
further objection, it was so ordered.
9:01:27 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT moved to report HB 154, as amended, out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHB 154 (EDC) was
reported from the House Education Standing Committee.
9:02:04 AM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
HB 49-EARLY CHILDHOOD ED: PARENTS AS TEACHERS
9:02:20 AM
CHAIR DICK announced that the final order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 49, "An Act establishing in the Department of
Education and Early Development a voluntary parent and early
childhood education program for pre-elementary aged children."
9:04:57 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CHRIS TUCK, Alaska State Legislature, summarized
HB 49, as he read from the sponsor statement:
HB 49 requires evidence-based education, parental
involvement, and adherence to accepted best practices
and early learning guidelines; it directs the
Department of Education and Early Development to
develop local partnerships to implement Parents as
Teachers program; and, lastly, it includes a 3-year
sunset clause.
9:06:27 AM
MS. CURRAN reviewed the fiscal note of $3.9 million, and stated
that HB 49 would establish a statewide Parents as Teachers (PAT)
program for children less than 5 years of age. The fiscal note
reflected the hire of one education administrator to oversee the
position, and contractual services and supplies to support the
general office activities of the program.
9:07:37 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI, commenting that it was a large fiscal
note, asked if this affected every child in the state.
9:08:01 AM
MS. CURRAN stated her understanding that an equation was used to
establish that of the 39,000 families, there were 1740 families
that would qualify. She said that 800 of these families could
be federally funded. She noted that the remaining 940 families
were multiplied by $4000 to obtain the grant request.
9:08:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA reflected on the cost to the state if the
program was not implemented. She opined that PAT, done well,
would save the state "huge amounts of money."
9:10:29 AM
MS. CURRAN reported that EED recognized the importance of PAT
and other viable options. She said that she would provide
savings information to the committee.
9:11:15 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON read the title of HB 154, "An act
providing for the establishment of a statewide early childhood
education plan and guidelines," and pointed to its $300,000
fiscal note. She then read the title of HB 49, "An act
establishing in the Department of Education and Early
Development a voluntary parent and early childhood education
program for pre-elementary aged children," directed attention to
its $3.9 million fiscal note, and asked "how come there's such a
big difference, basically, practically doing the same thing but
not quite."
9:12:25 AM
MS. CURRAN replied that HB 154 established an early childhood
education plan, and that HB 49 established a program, Parents as
Teachers. She noted that the implementation of a program was
more costly.
9:13:12 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON, reflecting on the three year sunset
clause, asked if adequate data could be garnered on the
effectiveness of the plan. He pointed out that the bill did not
require any report of effectiveness to be made to the
legislature. He requested that EED provide the analysis.
9:14:18 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK, in response to Representative Seaton, noted
that a prior version of HB 49 had included this requirement, and
explained that EED would be allowed the latitude to develop the
reports on the multiple pre-K programs.
9:15:24 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON asked if it was necessary to specify that
EED would develop a report to the legislature, based on
collected data that indicated the effectiveness of the program.
9:16:10 AM
MS. CURRAN replied that data would be collected, and the
department would be able to generate a report. She pointed out
that HB 154 required a report on the early childhood plan, and
perhaps this could be rolled into a report on all the early
childhood plans.
9:17:16 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI noted that the bill established that the
programs were to be evidence based, and it should be incumbent
on the PAT program administrator to prove its value. He
suggested that EED would maintain records to support this.
9:18:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE said that he would not support HB 49
without a reporting requirement included in the language, which
would demonstrate the program effect on the performance of the
pre-schoolers.
9:18:59 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON, indicating that PAT was already
established, asked why these existing programs were not
considered.
9:20:00 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK replied that PAT was nationwide and that HB
49 allowed for any other evidence based programs that fit the
guidelines.
9:20:40 AM
DEBI BALDWIN, Child Development Division Director, Rural Alaska
Community Action Program, Inc. (RurAL CAP), in response to
Representative Feige, said that PAT programs were re-certified
annually in order to maintain status, and reports were filed
with the national PAT center. She stated that outcomes were
included in all the programs for both children and parents.
These included both pre and post surveys for both children's
development and changes in parent attitudes.
9:22:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE agreed that it was a viable program;
however, he declared that a report should be provided to the
legislature.
9:23:24 AM
MS. BALDWIN expressed her agreement.
9:23:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK agreed and said that language could be
provided for an amendment.
9:24:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA agreed with Representative Feige that the
reports would verify the cost savings of prevention.
9:25:08 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON, noting that the program cost would be
$11.7 million over three years, asked about the current program
costs.
9:25:50 AM
MS. BALDWIN, in response to Representative P. Wilson, reported
that between 33 and 39 communities annually received PAT
services, at an annual cost of $3200 to $4000 per student. She
noted that 80 percent of these costs were for personnel, as it
was a human service program. She said that the next highest
expense was rent, unless an in-kind community donation was
available, and that program supplies and certifications were the
other major costs.
9:27:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON asked if any of the programs were held
in the schools.
9:27:16 AM
MS. BALDWIN replied that some schools allocated space in the
facility, and that some even offered food service.
9:28:11 AM
SARAH SCANLAN, Deputy Director, Rural Alaska Community Action
Program, Inc. (RurAL CAP), discussed the low proficiency and
graduation levels of students, and shared that Alaska was one of
twelve states that did not sponsor a preschool program. She
pointed to the critical need, especially for minority students,
for pre-school and early childhood education programs. These
programs had been identified as a means to teach parent training
and discipline, the care for children, and the value of
education. She pointed out that many Alaska Natives had been
sent to boarding schools as children, and consequently, many of
those early parenting skills had never been learned. PAT was a
proven program for teaching parents how to parent, promoting
literacy and language development, and valuing education. She
lauded Head Start as an effective program and reported that
these two programs in rural Alaska were well monitored,
administered, and regulated, and had proven outcomes. She
shared that health screenings were also conducted through the
program, which helped identify children with developmental
delays before entering kindergarten. She said that $3.9 million
"is a drop in the bucket in the big scheme of things" when the
outcome was considered.
9:33:42 AM
CHAIR DICK closed public testimony.
9:33:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK reflected on a prior presentation regarding
the economics of a pre-K program. He spoke about the cognitive,
social, and emotional skills that were developed through pre-K
programs and the cost savings for these. He pointed to the
longer reaching effects as students continued through their
school careers, which included: lower pregnancy rates, higher
graduation rates, and better parent participation throughout the
life of the child. He noted that the program improved parenting
skills as well, as the responsibility of parenthood was an
important issue to cultivate. He stated that the monthly group
meetings developed a culture of learning and education to focus
on rearing the children in a village. He stressed the need to
make this investment. He agreed with the fiscal note, that the
department had accurately forecast the needs. He offered his
opinion that the determining factor would be the benchmark third
grade proficiency scores.
9:39:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA opined that if a family had only one
child, there was an initial cost, but if there were more than
one child, the benefit and the parental learning was already
recognized.
9:40:57 AM
MS. BALDWIN, in response to Representative Cissna,
[Representative Tuck requested that Ms. Baldwin respond to
questions about the Parents as Teachers program] agreed with the
residual benefits from more than one child in a home. She
reported that cost savings had been documented with students
that had received early health intervention for developmental
delays. She pointed out that families who had been engaged in
the PAT program tended to ensure the children attended school,
which was a huge cost savings to the K-12 system. She shared
that the PAT instructors were mandated to report child neglect
and abuse, and that the incidences of abuse and neglect declined
with families which had participated in the PAT program.
9:43:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK read the previously proposed language:
Devise and implement a statewide early childhood
education rating system to assess, improve, and
publicize the quality of all public and private pre-
elementary programs in the state.
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE reflected that this level of detail was not
necessary, as a report that participating students were
receiving a benefit would suffice.
9:45:09 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 1, as
follows:
Page 2, following line 17
Insert subsection (d), requiring a Department of
Education and Early Development report to the
legislature by January 1, 2014, which would address
the effectiveness of the programs funded by the bill,
and would include a comparison of children that
participated and did not participate in the programs.
9:46:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK accepted the conceptual amendment. There
being no objection, it was so ordered.
9:46:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 2,
which stated that if room was available in a school for a
program to meet, it would be provided at no cost to the program.
9:47:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT objected for discussion.
9:47:26 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI asked if schools would need to give up
space.
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON clarified "if space was available" as
some schools had decreasing enrollments which could allow for
space.
9:47:55 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FEIGE suggested that it would encourage the
school districts to fully utilize the space.
9:48:07 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON pointed out that it would be at no cost
to the program.
9:48:17 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK expressed agreement with Conceptual
Amendment 2. He pointed out that some districts already allowed
PAT programs at no charge.
9:49:22 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT removed his objection. There being no
further objection, it was so ordered.
9:49:36 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON commented that this was a better
program than if it were mandated for EED to provide a program.
She pointed out that more parental involvement and lower cost
were huge benefits.
9:51:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT moved to report HB 49, as amended, out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHB 49 (EDC) was
reported from the House Education Standing Committee.
9:52:44 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Education Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 9:52 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 49 Support Letters Part 1 v2.pdf |
HEDC 3/14/2011 8:00:00 AM |
HB 49 |
| HB 49 Support Letters Part 2.pdf |
HEDC 3/14/2011 8:00:00 AM |
HB 49 |