Legislature(2019 - 2020)BUTROVICH 205
03/26/2019 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
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| Start | |
| SB79 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 79 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
March 26, 2019
8:08 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Stevens, Chair
Senator Shelley Hughes, Vice Chair
Senator Chris Birch
Senator Tom Begich
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Mia Costello
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 79
"An Act relating to course credit for students; relating to
annual reports regarding school district performance and school
district employees; relating to school operating fund reserves;
relating to competency examinations for teacher certificates;
relating to the duties and powers of the Department of Education
and Early Development; relating to the Professional Teaching
Practices Commission; relating to a virtual education
consortium; and providing for an effective date."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 79
SHORT TITLE: VIRTUAL ED/TEACHER EXAM./COURSE EXAM.
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) HUGHES
03/06/19 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/06/19 (S) EDC, FIN
03/26/19 (S) EDC AT 8:00 AM BUTROVICH 205
WITNESS REGISTER
SHEILA MORRISON, Intern
Senator Shelley Hughes
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced SB 79 on behalf of the sponsor.
MICHAEL JOHNSON, Ph.D., Commissioner
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave the DEED perspective on SB 79.
JERRY COVEY, Ph.D., representing himself
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave his perspective on SB 79.
DEENA BISHOP, Ph.D., Superintendent
Anchorage School District
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave her perspective on SB 79.
DEBORAH RIDDLE, Division Operations Manager
Student Learning Division
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Reviewed the fiscal note for SB 79.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:08:23 AM
CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the Senate Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at [8]:08 a.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Hughes, Birch, and Chair Stevens.
SB 79-VIRTUAL ED/TEACHER EXAM./COURSE EXAM.
8:08:46 AM
CHAIR STEVENS announced the consideration of SB 79. He stated
his intention to introduce and discuss the bill and hold it for
further review.
8:09:31 AM
SENATOR SHELLEY HUGHES, speaking as sponsor, said SB 79 does
three things. It expands opportunities for students through
access to courses and teachers they wouldn't otherwise have
access to; it tries to improve the quality of teachers; and it
provides opportunities for administrative efficiencies. She said
dollars in the classroom correlates with higher academic
achievement so finding efficiencies will free up dollars to use
where needed to help students.
SENATOR HUGHES said everyone has been concerned about
achievement gaps. Certainly there are pockets of excellence in
the state, but in other areas the students are not getting to
the finish line. She said her concern with this situation has
led to the work on this bill over the last two years. The idea
is to put Alaska students in a position to do the best they can
in the 21st century so that they can compete and be successful
on a global basis.
8:12:24 AM
SHEILA MORRISON, Intern, Senator Shelley Hughes, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, said the short title of the bill is
Virtual Education/Teacher Exam/Course Exam, but she will refer
to it as the Education Transformation Act. She explained that it
creates a virtual education consortium to allow students to take
virtual classes offered by other school districts. Teachers will
be able to access professional development courses as well. The
bill increases the school district fund balance cap from 10
percent of operating costs to 25 percent. It increases the
Praxis scores to be a certified teacher over time. Another
portion of the bill allows students to receive credit for gym,
art, and music classes for similar activities outside of school,
including cultural activities. The Professional Teaching
Practices Commission will be required to use administrative
support services provided by the Department of Education and
Early Development (DEED) to eliminate some duplication. The bill
also addresses the requirement for school districts to report on
ratios between administrative employees and teachers and
students.
MS. MORRISON presented the sectional:
Section 1 Page 1, Line 8
Creates uncodified law for legislative findings
regarding virtual education, education spending,
quality teachers, and classroom instruction.
Section 2 AS 14.03.073(a) Page 2, Lines 11
Makes technical amendments to add references to
specific subsections within these sections due to a
new subsection added in Section 4 of this bill.
Section 3 AS 14.03.073(b) Page 2, Line 18
Makes technical amendments to add references to
specific subsections within these sections due to a
new subsection added in Section 4 of this bill.
Section 4 AS 14.03.073 Page 2, Line 25
Adds new subsection (e), requiring school districts to
allow course credit for career and technical
education, physical education, music, or art classes
for an activity, including a cultural activity,
outside of school hours that meets the educational or
[professional] activity requirements of the course.
Section 5 AS 14.03.078(a) Page 3, Line 2
Is amended to add a requirement that the Department of
Education and Early Development (DEED) submit the
annual report that they provide to the legislature to
the school districts as well. The DEED report will
need to include a summary of categories of
administrative employees for each school district
which includes the ratio of the administrative
employees in each category compared to the number of
teachers and to the number of students in the
district, and the ratio of the number of teachers to
the number of students.
Section 6 AS 14.03.078 Page 4, Lines 5
Is amended to add new subsections, requiring each
school district to post the portion of the report that
pertains to the school district for the public on the
district's or community's website or through another
easily accessible method. Defines the term
"administrative employee".
Section 7 AS 14.17.505(a) Page 4, Lines 13
Is amended to increase the limit that a school
district is allowed to retain in its unreserved fund
balance from 10% to 25% of district expenditures. This
section also allows for savings realized from a
cooperative grant under AS 14.14.115 to not count
towards the 25% limit.
Section 8 AS 14.20.020(i) Page 4, Line 21
Is amended to require the State School Board to
periodically adjust the minimum score needed to pass
the Praxis exam so that Alaska has the highest testing
standards for teacher certification among the 50
states.
Section 9 AS 14.20.380 Page 5, Line 6
Adds a new subsection to require DEED to provide
administrative support services to the Professional
Teaching Practices Commission (PTPC).
Section 10 AS 14.20.460 Page 5, Line 9
Is amended to require the PTPC to use administrative
support services provided by DEED.
8:17:29 AM
Section 11 AS 14.30 Page 5, Line 23
Creates a new section titled "Virtual Education
Consortium" which also creates a new article titled
"Article 15. Virtual Education". The subsections of
which AS 14.30.760 consists are the following:
• Subsection (a) establishes the virtual education
consortium under DEED. The consortium will have a
database of virtual education courses available
to all districts for students in grades 6-12. The
consortium will also provide training for
teachers instructing in virtual settings and
professional development for all teachers in the
state. A school district or third-party vendor
may offer courses on the database if it is
approved by DEED.
• Subsection (b) will require DEED to review each
course to ensure it meets state standards and is
appropriate for students in grades 6-12. This
subsection also requires that each course has the
following information: the title, subject, and
description of the course, the district providing
the course, method of virtual education delivery,
samples of the curriculum, a video introduction
by the instructor, and if a synchronous course, a
video of the instructor teaching.
• Subsection (c) requires the consortium to provide
training for teachers before they are allowed to
teach a course that is included in the database.
A waiver may be granted if the consortium finds
that the teacher has the experience and skills
necessary to teach in a virtual setting.
• Subsection (d) requires that the consortium
provide professional development courses for all
teachers in the state. Any district that has
adequate broadband access to participate in the
trainings shall require its teachers to
participate in any necessary trainings. The
consortium may also require participating
districts to adopt the same in-service days for
training.
• Subsection (e) sets a fee structure for students
that take a course offered virtually by a school
district that is not the student's home district.
The student's district shall calculate the fee by
multiplying the base student allocation by the
proportion of classes that the student is taking
in the district offering the virtual course. The
student's district shall pay this fee to the
district offering the course.
• In subsection (f), the consortium is allowed to
charge a fee to any school district that offers a
course in the database under (b) of this section.
DEED will be able to set the fee in regulation
and can adjust it as necessary annually. The fees
must be set in such a manner that by June 30,
2020, the fees paid by districts will
approximately equal any administrative costs of
the consortium.
• Subsection (g) allows the consortium to require
districts that provide courses or have students
taking courses through the consortium to adopt a
shared calendar and a shared bell schedule for at
least a portion of the school day.
• Subsection (h) creates definitions for the terms:
"asynchronous", "base student allocation",
"blended", "host district", "synchronous", and
"virtual education" or "virtual instruction".
Section 12 Page 8, Lines 2
Creates uncodified law by adding a new section
regarding: Virtual Education Availability Deadline of
this Act on or before July 1, 2020.
Section 13 Page 8, Line 7
Provides for an effective date for Sections 5-12 of
this Act take effect immediately under AS
01.10.070(c).
Section 14 Page 8, Line 8
Provides for an effective date, except as provided in
sec. 13 of this Act, this Act take effect July 1,
2020.
8:21:57 AM
CHAIR STEVENS noted that the description is Section 4 reads
"outside of school hours that meets the educational or physical
activity requirements of the course." He asked if it should read
"professional" instead of "physical."
MS. MORRISON said yes.
CHAIR STEVENS said the committee would make that change.
SENATOR HUGHES said that persons giving invited testimony were
already suggesting ideas for improvement. She said that a
working group to develop ideas about how the consortium would
work would be a good idea so that school districts could weigh
in and craft something that would work for their students.
SENATOR HUGHES noted the handout on the Praxis scores. She said
that is just one aspect of determining the quality of teachers.
is important and. There are multiple ways to make sure they have
good teachers ready to go in the classroom, but they realized
their scores in a number of content areas lagged considerably
when compared to other states, as shown in the handout.
8:24:10 AM
MICHAEL JOHNSON, Ph.D., Commissioner, Department of Education
and Early Development (DEED), Juneau, Alaska, said he believes
that SB 79 includes important policy considerations that have
the potential of providing support for students, educators, and
school districts. It can serve as another component of the
Alaska Education Challenge priority areas of equity and closing
the achievement gap. He read from the bill, "Access to quality
classroom instruction whether through virtual education or
traditional deliver modes is important to the success of every
student in the state." He said he is a particular fan of using
technology to extend the benefit of great teachers to more
students in the state. One way to do that is with a virtual
academy. He said he appreciates that the sponsor is willing to
work with stakeholders and he looks forward to seeing how this
and other education bills develop over this session and the
next.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if he was comfortable with the sponsor
working with stakeholders on the consortium.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON answered absolutely.
8:27:11 AM
JERRY COVEY, Ph.D., representing himself, Anchorage, Alaska,
said that he is an education consultant based in Anchorage and
the sponsor asked him to share his insights on SB 79. He said,
overall, he strongly supports SB 79. It contains good ideas. He
said he would touch upon a few highlights. He said Section 4,
which adds credit options for career and technical education
courses and music and art, is appropriate. It recognizes that
not all good education occurs within the confines of the
classroom. He noted that some districts are moving in that
direction already. He referenced Section 5 on reporting and
offered his understanding that there is movement in that
direction as well. He said the provision in Section 8 to provide
more transparency for stakeholders is appropriate, with the
acknowledgement that local districts deploy their resources as
they see most advantageous to their students. He said he was not
sure the information is a valuable comparison district-to-
district because each school district has unique circumstances
and needs.
DR. COVEY said he smiled when he read about increasing the fund
balance in Section 7. That is long overdue and most appropriate.
DR. COVEY said recent research on the Praxis test shows that 46
percent of test takers pass it the first time. The reason for
not passing has more to do with the work the prospective teacher
did before entering the education program than anything else. He
said it is appropriate to look at increasing the scores on the
Praxis, but it also appropriate to work closely with the
university and high schools to ensure that the content areas
that the Praxis covers are well addressed. According to recent
research, a lot of the coursework that the Praxis covers could
be covered in the first two years of the university program and
that would increase the test takers' chance of passing the first
time. He offered to share the insightful report which came out a
month ago.
DR. COVEY said the virtual education consortium component is a
great idea. It is a very dynamic field. He said the best experts
are the superintendents in the districts so engaging them in a
taskforce or workgroup would be appropriate and provide the best
results.
CHAIR STEVENS asked him to share the report on the Praxis and he
would distribute it to the members.
SENATOR HUGHES noted the requirement for the State School Board
to periodically adjust the minimum score needed to pass the
Praxis exam and asked what interval he would recommend.
DR. COVEY replied that every three to five years would allow
time for universities and high schools to incorporate changes to
address the causes or reasons students are not passing the first
time. He suggested that superintendents on the working group
could provide expert input on that as well.
SENATOR HUGHES expressed appreciation for the input saying the
word "periodically" was definitely open to interpretation. It
would improve the bill to pin that down.
CHAIR STEVENS asked what ROE means in the Praxis scores report.
DR. COVEY replied that he did not know.
CHAIR STEVENS commented that perhaps someone from DEED could
answer the question.
8:34:10 AM
DEENA BISHOP, Ph.D., Superintendent, Anchorage School District,
Anchorage, Alaska, said she and the Anchorage School Board agree
with the first sentence in the sponsor statement that says,
"Every Alaska student matters and deserves a high-quality
education." because it speaks to their students' future. She
said fundamental skills are paramount and will help students
learn to learn throughout school and life.
8:35:33 AM
SENATOR BEGICH joined the committee.
DR. BISHOP said 13 years of K-12 education that provides content
on constructs will not last anyone a lifetime but eLearning
enables every person to access knowledge and understanding for a
lifetime. She said virtual learning can be a powerful tool and
Alaskan districts have become more knowledgeable about it in the
last 10 years. She encouraged the committee to establish a
virtual learning working group to gather expertise from around
the state and get input from those with boots on the ground to
come up with recommendations for policy decisions.
DR. BISHOP said the statement she likes most [in the sponsor
statement] is that the consortium will provide professional
development in support of teaching virtually. The skills in the
classroom can easily transfer to virtual learning. However,
virtual learning must not be utilized in the context of a
Carnegie unit or the parameters of the traditional classroom
learner to gain credit. Online learning is about the anywhere,
anytime, any pace, and is not bound by time and a seat. Whether
virtual learning is synchronous, asynchronous, and/or blended,
all these practices speak to individual learning, which is key
to 21st century skills. Students can meet their dreams with the
influence of virtual learning. SB 79 also asks for Alaskans in
both rural and urban towns to work together for all Alaska's
children through a consortium. This will bring school districts
closer together, providing equity for students through the
availability of effective teachers. 21st century success is
built around utilizing technology to complement and accelerate
learning and opportunity.
CHAIR STEVENS asked the sponsor if she was comfortable with the
idea of a working group.
SENATOR HUGHES answered yes; the excellent idea of a working
group came from the Anchorage School District. The Anchorage and
Mat-Su School Districts have been pioneers in this area and
their expertise will lend itself to DEED's development of the
consortium.
8:38:57 AM
DEBORAH RIDDLE, Division Operations Manager, Student Learning
Division, Department of Education and Early Development (DEED),
Juneau, Alaska, said the fiscal note for SB 79 is primarily
related to the consortium. The personnel services cost to vet
and organize the proposed seven member consortium is $806,400
each year and the associated costs are $67,200, all of which
would come from general funds.
SENATOR HUGHES asked Commissioner Johnson if he thought this
investment that would return better learning for students.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON replied that he is a fan of using
technology to extend the benefit of great teachers to more
students around the state so any investment to do so is
worthwhile. That is one of the wonderful privileges of living in
2019. The department has already started discussions and is more
than willing to participate and help lead those working groups
to discuss how this develops. He said it may be that there are
ways to do this more efficiently than the current proposal,
without letting go of the commitment to extend the benefit of
great teaching to as many kids as possible.
SENATOR HUGHES asked if he thought SB 79 could tie into the
middle college concept so students could choose a university
course.
8:42:44 AM
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON replied he sees that as a possibility
because some districts already provide students with
opportunities for Advanced Placement courses online through dual
credit career and technical education. It is reality for
postsecondary, but technology has great opportunities to be
beneficial on other levels as well. He reminded the committee
that technology doesn't replace a teacher. Rather, it extends
the benefit of great teaching to more kids, pre-K through
college. He suggested that making the middle college idea as
robust as possible will include the use of technology.
SENATOR HUGHES asked if he thought it would be a good idea to
specifically include classroom teachers in the ratio of
administrators to students and teachers that districts provide
for the annual report that DEED assembles.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON replied he would need time to think through
exactly what that reporting would be, but he does think it is
important for every school to prioritize the classroom. He said
he agreed that the ratio is important but the line between
administration and classroom teachers is not always clear.
Principals are very important to the classroom and if the
distinction is too stark it may hurt the classroom. He said it
is imperative that families, communities, legislators,
stakeholders, and school boards have information about their
school so they can compare it to other schools and consider
alternate ways of doing something.
SENATOR HUGHES noted that the two education committees heard
yesterday from a principal who was filling in and teaching a
music class. She said that is the type of situation that a
district could explain in their report.
CHAIR STEVENS asked the commissioner whether a person who helps
students who have hearing issues is a teacher or an
administrator.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON responded that he would describe that as a
teacher, but it's more nuanced for school bus drivers who teach
students every day to be respectful and sit on the bus. He
opined that almost everyone involved in public education has the
opportunity to teach students.
CHAIR STEVENS related a story about a long-time school bus
driver in Kodiak that illustrates that point.
8:48:44 AM
SENATOR BIRCH said the fiscal note says the bill amends AS
14.17.505 by increasing the limit that a school district is
allowed to retain in its unreserved fund balance from 10 percent
to 25 percent of district expenditures. He asked the
commissioner if he had a sense of how large the unreserved fund
balance is statewide; how much is currently retained; what is
characterized as the unreserved fund balance; and the purpose of
allowing the increase in the fund balance.
COMMISSIONER JOHNSON said he would follow up with information
about the amount each district has in reserve. He suggested the
sponsor speak to the reason for the increasing the reserves.
SENATOR BIRCH said the amount school districts have in reserves
would be good information.
SENATOR HUGHES said the idea of raising the cap is two-fold. It
increases flexibility and it encourages efficiencies.
8:51:51 AM
CHAIR STEVENS held SB 79 in committee.
8:52:12 AM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Stevens adjourned the Senate Education Standing Committee
at 8:52 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 01_SB079_Ed Transformation Act_Bill Text Version U.PDF |
SEDC 3/26/2019 8:00:00 AM |
SB 79 |
| 02_SB079_Ed Transformation Act_Sponsor Statement_U.pdf |
SEDC 3/26/2019 8:00:00 AM |
SB 79 |
| 03_SB079_Ed Transformation Act_Sectional_VersionU.pdf |
SEDC 3/26/2019 8:00:00 AM |
SB 79 |
| 04_SB079_Ed Transformaiton_Act_FiscalNote01_DEED_StudentLearning_22March2019.pdf |
SEDC 3/26/2019 8:00:00 AM |
SB 79 |
| 06_SB079_Ed Transformation Act_Research_Summary of Research_Online_Learning_iNACOL_June_2009.pdf |
SEDC 3/26/2019 8:00:00 AM |
SB 79 |
| 07_SB079_Ed Transformation Act_Research_ A_Fair_Chance_NCTQ_Feb_2019_lowres.pdf |
SEDC 3/26/2019 8:00:00 AM |
SB 79 |
| 08_SB079_Ed Transformation_Act_Research_A_Fair_Chance_Appendix_A_796583.pdf |
SEDC 3/26/2019 8:00:00 AM |
SB 79 |
| 09_SB079_Ed Transformation Act_Research_Praxis Passing Scores by Test and State_May 2018.pdf |
SEDC 3/26/2019 8:00:00 AM |
SB 79 |