Legislature(1993 - 1994)
01/29/1993 01:38 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
January 29, 1993
1:38 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Steve Rieger, Chairman
Senator Bert Sharp, Vice Chairman
Senator Loren Leman
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Mike Miller
Senator Jim Duncan
Senator Johnny Ellis
Senator Judith Salo
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Alaska State Board of Education Presentation: Alaska 2000
WITNESS REGISTER
Joe Montgomery, Chairman
Board of Education
1048 Beech Lane
Anchorage, Alaska
Robert Walp, Second Vice Chairman
Board of Education
804 P Street, #4
Anchorage, Alaska 99501-3252
John Hotzfield, School Board Member
5890 Liberty Court
Wasilla, Alaska 99687-9345
Don Fancher, School Board Member
P.O. Box 2027
Bethel, Alaska 99559
Judy Norton, School Board Member
9824 Atka Circle
Eagle River, Alaska 99577
June Nelson, School Board Member
P.O. Box 158
Kotzebue, Alaska 99752-0158
Karen Meehan, Student Advisor
3640 Chiniak Bay
Anchorage, Alaska 99515
Jerry Covey, Commissioner
Department of Education
801 W. 10th Street
Juneau, Alaska 99801-1984
Leo Land
Haines, Alaska 99827
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 93-6, SIDE A
Number 001
SENATOR STEVE RIEGER called the Health, Education, and
Social Services Committee meeting to order at 1:38 p.m. and
introduced Joe Montgomery, Chairman, State Board of
Education.
JOE MONTGOMERY said he appreciated being invited to the
meeting and introduced the members of the Board who were
present.
Number 42
ROBERT WALP, Second Vice Chairman, State Board of Education,
gave an overview of his career with eduction in Alaska. He
said the main goals were to create conditions where there is
greater parental involvement in education, accountability in
terms of effectiveness of the schools, and expanding the
choice of school opportunities for students. They are also
modestly reforming the school finance system.
Number 142
MR. WALP said their long range goal is to develop a school
system that graduates world class students who have
demonstrated communication skills, logical thinking,
creativity, vocational and technical skills, citizenship,
health and fitness, and responsibility. He is concerned
about the number of children who don't have at least one
parent or adult who will nurture, support, and discipline
him so he can complete school.
Number 222
SENATOR LEMAN asked him how many children he was talking
about. JOHN HOTZFIELD, School Board Member, said a rough
estimate was 26% of school children were in dysfunctional
homes in the Mat-Su Borough.
Number 250
DON FANCHER, new Board member, supported the Alaska 2000
recommendations.
Number 323
JUDY NORTON said she has been a teacher for the last 20
years. She chaired the Committee on Choice for the Alaska
2000. She said there is encouragement from top educators
who want parent involvement. She feels that parents, even
in dysfunctional homes, love their children and are willing
to help if they are invited. She thought it was important
to involve the parents in making the decisions on how their
children would be educated.
MS. NORTON said they feel that charter schools are
empowering parents to educate their children the way they
want them to be educated. She thinks it comes down to
either the educators own the system or the parents, and she
thinks the parents do.
Number 400
SENATOR SHARP said he had been briefed on the potential for
charter schools and he looked forward to getting more
information in this respect.
SENATOR LEMAN said he thought the primary responsibility for
education should be the parent and that the teacher, in
turn, is empowered by the parent. He asked how the
dysfunctional family problem could be helped. MS. NORTON
said "dysfunctional" is a term being used as an excuse for
not providing some children with a good education.
SENATOR LEMAN said his impression is that in rural Alaska
parents are a little bit closer to their schools than in
urban centers.
Number 484
SENATOR RIEGER asked if more charter schools would be
initiated by teachers or parents if these Alaska 2000
recommendations passed. MS. NORTON said she thought there
were many teachers who wanted a chance to change the system.
Number 500
SENATOR RIEGER asked what were the parameters of what was
permissible in a charter school. MS. NORTON said they must
follow all the state and local district regulations and an
advisory program would make the decisions.
Number 530
SENATOR LEMAN commented that one of the reasons for success
in home schooling is that there are different ages of
students all present in the learning environment so they can
learn from each other.
Number 557
JUNE NELSON, Kotzebue Board member, said she has been
involved with school boards over the past 20 years. She
viewed Alaska 2000 as a method to make much needed changes.
She thought these recommendations would allow local control
and provide a means for accountability. She does support
the concept of charter schools, although she thought they
would be more compatible to urban centers.
TAPE 93-6, SIDE B
Number 579
SENATOR LEMAN asked if charter schools would be a
possibility in Kotzebue? MS. NELSON thought they might work
if they existed in other areas for a while so they could
learn about them first.
Number 535
KAREN MEEHAN, Anchorage Board member, said she was excited
about the standards that are being established with math,
english, and science through Alaska 2000. She was very
excited about the Certificate of Mastery in this respect.
SENATOR RIEGER asked from the student perspective were the
present standards not high enough. MS. MEEHAN answered that
they weren't.
SENATOR SHARP asked if she noticed any difference in
parental involvement between good students and students who
didn't do quite as well. MS. MEEHAN answered said there was
a direct correlation between good students whose parents
were involved with their education. She knew, also, there
was a possibility of a student excelling without their
parents being directly involved with the school.
SENATOR RIEGER asked her what she thought about the increase
in the length of the school year. MS. MEEHAN supported it.
Number 526
JOHN HOTZFIELD, Wasilla Board member, said he received his
schooling from a Christian School which had no funding from
the state. They operated on parental involvement
completely. He strongly supported the Alaska 2000
recommendations.
MR. HOTZFIELD commented that a third of the state budget
goes into the education system, but it is hard to account
for it. He said his Christian School operated at $2000 per
child. Their children come out with very good scores. They
have a very low student/teacher ratio. There is a lot of
love and education involved in the program. There aren't
many regulations.
He encouraged the committee members to look at the Alaska
School Price Index formulated by DOE and try to understand
how they came up with the figures. Sixty five percent of
the budget goes to certificated staff, another twenty
percent goes to non-certificated staff, the final fifteen
percent goes to non-personnel. He thought the plan was
equitable for the whole state, although there was room for
improvement.
He supported giving accountability to the districts by
allotting certain percentages of funding to them and then
they had to decide how to distribute. He said they could be
successful with a lot less money in the public education
system.
SENATOR LEMAN commented in Anchorage $6000 - $6500 per year
was being spent on each student. He thought when parents
are involved more in education there is more accountability.
Number 341
JERRY COVEY, Commissioner of the Department of Education,
said first of all they needed to define some goals and
standards. He said they have a billion dollar a year system
that doesn't know where it's going. He said the public has
to answer the question, "What do we want out of our public
education system?" How to do it is the question for him and
all the other public school employees to decide.
Number 304
ROBERT WALP said an advisory board for each school would
support the concept of more involvement. He commented that
in Japan the students do the janitorial work in the schools
which gives them some accountability.
Number 249
MR. MONTGOMERY said the School Board meets 12 times a year
and schedules their meetings in Juneau when the legislature
is in session. He invited the legislators to participate in
their meetings.
Number 210
LEO LAND told a story about his grandchild and agreed that
there are problems in the system.
SENATOR RIEGER thanked everyone for their participation and
adjourned the meeting at 2:55 p.m.
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