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.