Legislature(2017 - 2018)CAPITOL 106
03/15/2017 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Professional Teaching Practices Commission | |
| University of Alaska Board of Regents | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 102 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
March 15, 2017
8:03 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Harriet Drummond, Chair
Representative Justin Parish, Vice Chair
Representative Zach Fansler
Representative Ivy Spohnholz
Representative Jennifer Johnston
Representative Chuck Kopp
Representative David Talerico
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Lora Reinbold (alternate)
Representative Geran Tarr (alternate)
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARINGS(S):
Professional Teaching Practices Commission
David Piazza - Dillingham
Maureen van Wagner - Anchorage
Kent Runion - Nome
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
University of Alaska Board of Regents
Karen Perdue - Fairbanks
CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
HOUSE BILL NO. 102
"An Act relating to instruction in a language other than
English; and relating to limited teacher certificates."
- BILL HEARING CANCELED
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
DAVID PIAZZA, Superintendent
Southwest Region School District
Dillingham, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Professional
Teaching Practices Commission, Department of Education and Early
Development.
MAUREEN VAN WAGNER, Special Education Teacher
East High School
Anchorage School District
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Professional
Teaching Practices Commission, Department of Education and Early
Development.
KENT RUNION, Teacher
Nome Public Schools
Nome, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Professional
Teaching Practices Commission, Department of Education and Early
Development.
KAREN PERDUE
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the University of
Alaska Board of Regents.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:03:21 AM
CHAIR HARRIET DRUMMOND called the House Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:03 a.m. Representatives
Drummond, Kopp, Fansler, Johnston, and Talerico were present at
the call to order. Representatives Parish and Spohnholz arrived
as the meeting was in progress.
8:04:22 AM
^CONFIRMATION HEARING(S):
^Professional Teaching Practices Commission
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S):
Professional Teaching Practices Commission
CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that the first order of business would
be consideration of the appointees to the Professional Teaching
Practices Commission.
8:04:54 AM
DAVID PIAZZA, Superintendent, Southwest Region School District,
provided a statement of interest and outlined his qualifications
paraphrasing from a prepared statement, which read as follows
[original punctuation provided]:
I am the Superintendent for the Southwest Region
School District and have been in this role for almost
6 years. I have served the public educational system
within Alaska for the past 32 years as a teacher,
district-level specialist, district-level
administrator, and superintendent.
Chair Drummond and members of the House Education
Committee, it is my pleasure to be here for
confirmation for the re-appointment to the
Professional Teaching Practices Commission as the
Superintendent representative.
I look forward to continuing on the PTPC. As role
models, providing instruction and guidance to the next
generation, it is imperative that teachers and
administrators adhere to the code of ethics. The PTPC
is important as it provides educators with training to
help prevent violations, as well as, serves as an
avenue for accused individuals to receive a fair and
impartial review before any career-impacting sanctions
are imposed. The legislature in 1966 established the
PTPC as an independent commission to be governed by
members made up by representatives practicing their
profession within the K-20 educational community.
8:06:58 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked Mr. Piazza for further information
concerning individual learning programs that are not limited to
distance education.
MR. PIAZZA said a school system that seeks to meet the needs of
individual students, in addition to distance learning, can
utilize software or learning systems that encourage students to
work independently or with teachers. It is known that
independent learning systems are not best for every student, and
that quality instructors are necessary for support; however, the
district has implemented exploratory sessions that allow
students access to additional elective possibilities that are
difficult to provide in small, rural schools. Restructuring
school days during a quarter, or a semester, can provide
weeklong and intensive training for students as elective
classes, and thereby promote a higher level of student
engagement. In further response to Representative Johnston, he
said he has served on the [commission] for three years and the
upcoming term would be his second.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON questioned whether Alaska is at status
quo related to certifying and finding qualified teachers, or if
the certification process has changed in the past three years.
MR. PIAZZA responded that the teacher certification process
seeks to place the highest quality teachers in classrooms. Over
time, teacher requirements have been strengthened and teachers
are required to demonstrate measured basic competency; teachers
new to the state must take classes in Alaska history and
culture. In addition, the Code of Ethics of the Education
Profession has been reviewed to ensure that its policies and
procedures are in place to address possible violations.
8:12:55 AM
MAUREEN VAN WAGNER, Special Education Teacher, East High School,
Anchorage School District, informed the committee she has been
an educator for twenty-one years. She said she has served as
the teacher representative on the Professional Teaching
Practices Commission for the past three years and wishes to
continue her service.
8:13:50 AM
KENT RUNION, Teacher, Nome Public Schools, informed the
committee he has been a high school social studies teacher at
Nome-Beltz High School for seven years. He said this is his
first appointment to the Professional Teaching Practices
Commission.
8:14:46 AM
The committee took an at-ease from 8:15 a.m. to 8:38 a.m.
^University of Alaska Board of Regents
8:38:08 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that the final order of business would
be consideration of the appointee to the University of Alaska
(UA) Board of Regents.
8:38:20 AM
KAREN PERDUE provided brief personal background information.
She then listed reasons she is interested in serving on the
University of Alaska Board of Regents. She spoke of the
importance of mentoring, and said in her youth she was mentored
by former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens and began her career in state
government working for former Lieutenant Governor Terry Miller.
Subsequently, she served four governors, serving eight years as
the commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services
for former Governor Tony Knowles. As now, oil prices were low
during her first term as commissioner, thus she learned how to
manage and motivate employees during times of hardship. In
2001, Ms. Perdue returned to Fairbanks and worked for 10 years
as associate vice president at UA, thus is very familiar with
academic programs on all the campuses, and during her time there
she and faculty members wrote an academic plan for health care
that was adopted by the board of regents. She noted the
importance of UA to the economy of Alaska and the importance of
reversing the brain drain of students from the state; most
importantly, she stressed UA must meet students' needs in order
to attract and retain students. Further, her experience
includes service on various boards of directors - and as the
director of a board - which taught her the important difference
between governance and management. The board of regents was
intended to be a powerful oversight to one state university, as
directed by the Alaska Constitution, which also directs the
board of regents to guide UA's policy and hire its president.
At this time, UA is facing declining enrollment and severe
budget cuts, and needs to assure its students that it will
continue to offer high-quality education and world-class
research. Ms. Perdue expressed her interest in serving UA
during a turning point in the university's 100-year history.
8:45:57 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON said the president of UA has presented
Strategic Pathways [a multi-part, multi-year process to
reconfigure UA administrative and academic programs to address
funding cuts] which includes restructuring of the education
department. She recalled the political discourse surrounding
previous restructuring of the UA medical program, and asked for
the candidate's vision in regard to the current restructuring.
MS. PERDUE noted at the time of restructuring the school of
nursing - which was accredited at UAA - in 2001, there was
dissatisfaction among employers and students about a lack of
access to the nursing program. Previous chancellors [Marshall
Lind and John Pugh] sought to initiate additional nursing
programs on the Fairbanks and Juneau campuses; however, they
were asked by [former UA president Mark Hamilton] to instead
form an integrated group so that the school of nursing could
meet educational needs statewide. Ms. Perdue opined the faculty
"rose to the occasion" and increased the number of nursing
graduates by adding a third semester to the schedule, and by
developing a successful distance [education] program that is now
available at 16 sites. She said engaging the faculty to set
goals for education - such as increasing the number of Alaskan
teachers as was suggested by the president - and asking the
faculty to design and "retool" appropriate academic programs,
would result in less "territorial" discussion.
8:49:31 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND expressed optimism for improved retention of K-12
teachers and for educating teachers in Alaska.
MS. PERDUE agreed recruitment in education and teacher retention
are vital, and UA has focused on young teacher mentoring, but
perhaps more could be done.
CHAIR DRUMMOND said the mentoring program has suffered due to a
lack of funding.
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked the appointee to compare the
Strategic Pathways plan with the alternatives proposed by
Professor Abel Bult-Ito [University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)
Department of Biology and Wildlife].
MS. PERDUE advised she has not seen the proposal made by the
professor; however, her impression is his proposal is focused on
"more decentralization of the university and less in statewide
...." She said she would be attending an upcoming presentation
on this issue and noted Professor Bult-Ito has conducted an
analysis on the university for many years. She opined the
Alaska State Constitution and related Alaska Statutes envision a
one-university system with centralized management. Although
each UA is individually accredited, the public expects Alaska to
have one state university as directed by its constitution. Ms.
Perdue acknowledged there must be a balance so administrative
processes can strengthen UA and, at the same time, ensure the
faculty can function. Consistency in the system can be provided
by, for example: one legal department, one payroll system, one
information technology department, and one human resources
department. She expressed her belief that students seek one
university that allows the transfer of credits between campuses,
and where courses are sequenced to allow students to progress to
their degrees.
8:53:27 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ stated part of the challenge the
university is experiencing is a disconnect between the
administration and faculty, particularly related to Strategic
Pathways, and the no confidence votes by the faculty
associations at two campuses. Although it is not the Board of
Regents responsibility to manage the internal processes of UA,
she asked how the appointee would guide the president, as this
issue is addressed.
MS. PERDUE said at the one meeting she attended [chair of the
board Gloria O'Neill] provided an appropriate amount of time in
the agenda to discuss governance with the faculty and with
student government. She understood additional board time will
be devoted to continuing dialogue, and the president has
directed more time to campuses with affected faculty;
ultimately, once the process discussion has been closed, money
will still be an issue, which may result in reductions and very
difficult decisions.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ returned to the discord over nursing
education and expressed her belief that one of the successful
strategies to solving the issue was involving the faculty in
becoming part of the solution.
MS. PERDUE agreed the faculty members created the solution and
achieved accreditation for the distance nursing program. She
stressed the role of the faculty is to ensure the quality of the
curriculum.
8:57:09 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND has heard criticism regarding the cost of
statewide functions in relation to the amount cut from
legislative funding, and asked whether the appointee has
thoughts in advance of her appointment.
MS. PERDUE remarked:
We reviewed some numbers that were provided by the
administration on the reductions at statewide ... I'm
thinking something like 38 percent, I can't remember
exactly but, and so I wondered if the numbers were
agreed upon, and that would be a start for us, at
inside our system is to really fully vet those. The
numbers should be known; they should be agreed upon as
a start because as I hear, some people, I hear them
thinking that there's been consolidation, in
statewide, when the information that we're provided is
that there's not, there's not been any consolidation
in statewide. ... That would be my first step.
8:58:36 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH moved to advance the confirmations of
Maureen van Wagner, David Piazza, and Kent Runion, appointees to
the Professional Teaching Practices Commission, and of Karen
Purdue, appointee to the University of Alaska Board of Regents,
to a joint session of the House and Senate for consideration.
Signing the reports regarding appointments to boards and
commissions in no way reflects individual members' approval or
disapproval of the appointees, and the nominations are merely
forwarded to the full legislature for confirmation or rejection.
There being no objection, the confirmations were advanced.
8:59:10 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Education Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 8:59 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB102 Letter of Opposition .pdf |
HEDC 3/15/2017 8:00:00 AM |
HB 102 |
| HB102 Amendment Ver D.1 3.13.17.PDF |
HEDC 3/15/2017 8:00:00 AM |
HB 102 |
| HB102 Supporting Document-MSBSD Letter of Support 3.13.17.pdf |
HEDC 3/15/2017 8:00:00 AM |
HB 102 |
| HB102 Supporting Document-Response to Concerns 3.13.17.pdf |
HEDC 3/15/2017 8:00:00 AM |
HB 102 |
| HB102 Supporting Document-Comparison to Current Law 3.13.17.pdf |
HEDC 3/15/2017 8:00:00 AM |
HB 102 |