Legislature(2025 - 2026)DAVIS 106
04/02/2025 09:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Technical Assistance to Alaskans | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
April 2, 2025
9:02 a.m.
DRAFT
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Rebecca Himschoot, Co-Chair
Representative Andi Story, Co-Chair
Representative Maxine Dibert
Representative Ted Eischeid
Representative Rebecca Schwanke
Representative Bill Elam
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Jubilee Underwood
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO ALASKANS
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
OLIVIA YANCEY, Executive Director
Special Education Service Agency
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a presentation titled "Technical
Assistance to Alaskans".
JOHN BARROWMAN, Lead Autism Specialist
Special Education Service Agency
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a presentation titled "Technical
Assistance to Alaskans".
LYON JOHNSON, Emotional Disabilities Education Specialist
Special Education Service Agency
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a presentation titled "Technical
Assistance to Alaskans".
MERIAH CORY, Multiple Disabilities Education Specialist
Special Education Service Agency
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a presentation titled "Technical
Assistance to Alaskans".
ACTION NARRATIVE
9:02:51 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT called the House Education Standing Committee
meeting to order at 9:02 a.m. Representatives Eischeid, Story,
Dibert, Elam, Schwanke, and Himschoot. were present at the call
to order.
^PRESENTATION(S): Technical Assistance to Alaskans
PRESENTATION(S): Technical Assistance to Alaskans
9:04:10 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT announced that the only order of business
would be a presentation titled "Technical Assistance to
Alaskans" by the Special Education Service Agency.
9:05:28 AM
OLIVIA YANCEY, Executive Director, Special Education Service
Agency, gave a presentation titled "Technical Assistance to
Alaskans". She began the presentation on slide 2, which
displayed a photo of the Special Education Service Agency
(SESA)'s staff and moved through slides 3-4, which highlighted
the SESA's primary mission as an agency. She continued through
slides 5-6, which outlined the SESA board and funding structure
and moved to slide 7, which highlighted a series of statistics
related to SESA's work in Alaska.
9:10:47 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DIBERT asked what the term "multi-disabilities"
refers to and asked if there is a waitlist for care services to
people with multi-disabilities.
MS. YANCY answered that "multiple disabilities" is apart of the
special education eligibility category and said that there is
currently no waitlist for students with multiple disabilities.
9:11:48 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked if SESA serves both urban and rural
children with disabilities and asked how SESA is funded.
MS. YANCY answered that SESA has a cap of about 10-20 students
per school district and explained that the federal pass-through
funding comes directly from the Department of Education
alongside funding from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
(AMHA).
9:14:04 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY shared her understanding that SESA is currently
subject to an audit-sunset cycle.
MS. YANCY confirmed Co-Chair Story's understanding and said that
there will be a dip in average daily membership, which will lead
to a decrease in funding of $35,700.
9:16:00 AM
MS. YANCY resumed the presentation on slide 7 and moved to slide
8, which displayed a map of Alaska that highlighted the number
of children receiving care in specific communities in Alaska.
9:17:42 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked why everything in SESA is named after Ann
Freitag.
MS. YANCY answered that Ann Freitag was a librarian who was with
SESA for 30 years.
9:18:06 AM
MS. YANCY continued the presentation on slide 8, which displayed
a map of Alaska that highlighted the number of children
receiving care in specific communities in Alaska.
9:19:12 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT asked for clarification on the numbers
displayed on slide 8.
MS. YANCY clarified that the numbers displayed on slide 8
referred to the number of participants involved in SESA studies.
9:20:23 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ELAM asked if SESA works with correspondence
schools in Alaska.
MS. YANCY answered that SESA does work with correspondence
schools.
9:20:52 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DIBERT asked how often SESA is able to provide
care to rural communities in the face of logistics.
MS. YANCY replied that SESA does both distance delivery services
and does not perform onsite services consistently for a "variety
of reasons".
9:23:12 AM
The committee took an at-ease from 9:23 a.m. to 9:26 a.m.
9:26:29 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSHOOT invited John Barrowman to provide further
testimony on the presentation before the committee.
9:27:00 AM
JOHN BARROWMAN, Lead Autism Specialist, Special Education
Service Agency, gave a presentation titled "Technical Assistance
to Alaskans". He picked up the presentation on slide 9, which
highlighted the members of the SESA Low Incidence Disability
(LID) autism program team members and moved to slide 10, which
listed three main points of feedback from the SESA LID autism
program.
9:30:51 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked if the SESA LID autism program team could
make para-educator training videos and asked Mr. Barrowman if he
has any specific mentors in his own professional development.
She asked if the SESA parent library had books by Michelle
Garcia Winters or Superflex books on autism.
MR. BARROWMAN agreed that paraeducators are the "keystone" of
Alaskan's public schools and explained that there are currently
free training videos available to paraeducators that directly
concern their line of work. He said that his team of
paraeducators often "divide and conquer" between different
aspects of professional development as a paraprofessional or
paraeducator. He confirmed that the SESA library does have
books by Michelle Garcia Winters and Superflex books about
autism.
9:35:54 AM
LYON JOHNSON, Emotional Disabilities Education Specialist,
Special Education Service Agency, gave a presentation titled
"Technical Assistance to Alaskans". He picked up the
presentation on slide 11, which highlighted the SESA LID
emotional disabilities program and moved to slide 12, which
highlighted three main points of feedback from the SESA LID
emotional disabilities program.
9:47:57 AM
MERIAH CORY, Multiple Disabilities Education Specialist, Special
Education Service Agency, gave a presentation titled "Technical
Assistance to Alaskans". She picked up the presentation on
slide 16, which highlighted the SESA LID multiple disabilities
program and moved to slide 17, which highlighted three main
points of feedback from the SESA LID multiple disabilities
program.
9:53:34 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE encouraged Ms. Yancy to create a sort of
local advocacy program to help hire and retain special education
teachers.
9:54:56 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY thanked the invited testifiers for their work and
impact on children around Alaska.
9:55:49 AM
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT delivered committee announcements.
9:56:51 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Education Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 9:56 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 4.2.25 Special Ed Serv Agency Presentation HEDC.pdf.pdf |
HEDC 4/2/2025 9:00:00 AM |
|
| 4.2.25 SESA Resource Anne Freitag Library Booklist.pdf |
HEDC 4/2/2025 9:00:00 AM |