CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 72(FIN) "An Act relating to civics education, civics assessments, and secondary school graduation requirements; and providing for an effective date." 2:18:52 PM Co-Chair Merrick reported that SB 72 was heard during the morning meeting [05/16/22 9:00 A.M.]. Co-Chair Merrick OPENED public testimony. 2:19:19 PM Co-Chair Merrick Closed public testimony. Co-Chair Merrick indicated there was one published fiscal impact fiscal note from the Department of Education and Early Development (FN3 (EED). She invited the department to review the fiscal note. She indicated Vice-Chair Ortiz and Representative Johnson had joined the meeting. 2:19:56 PM AT EASE 2:24:40 PM RECONVENED Co-Chair Merrick indicated Representative Wool, Representative Josephson, and Representative Rasmussen had joined the meeting. 2:25:03 PM DEBRA RIDDLE, DIVISION OPERATIONS MANAGER, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT (via teleconference), explained that there would be a one-time cost of $6000 for legal fees to implement the necessary regulation changes and for the development of civics standards. The bill added reporting requirements for the departments data collection system that added setup costs. In addition, grants would be offered to educators in all school districts for the development of a civics curriculum. 2:26:16 PM Representative LeBon MOVED to ADOPT the previous committee substitute that was adopted in the Senate Finance Committee, CSSB 72(FIN), 32-LS0478\D, as the working document. Co-Chair Merrick OBJECTED for discussion. Representative LeBon explained that the current bill version referred out of the House Education Committee contained significant changes. He noted that the Committee Substitute (CS) eliminated passing a civics exam as a requirement for graduating from high school. The Senate Finance Committee CS allowed a student to pass the assessment with a score of at least 70 percent, provided waivers for students with disabilities, and allowed a student to take the test as often as necessary to receive a passing score. He offered that an assessment insured that the educational tools were working, and students were learning. Without the assessment, it was impossible to measure civics education proficiency among students and inform policy makers if changes were warranted. 2:28:05 PM AT EASE 2:34:34 PM RECONVENED Co-Chair Merrick WITHDREW the OBJECTION. Representative Wool OBJECTED. He applauded the desire to include civics education in high school. He mentioned cramming studying to pass a test and professed that most of the information was eventually forgotten. He believed that taking a test did not adequately measure proficiency but felt that the civics education was valuable. He thought that the topic was complicated and some of the information was obtuse. He appreciated the desire to instill the information. He commented that students were graduating at a very low rate and currently there was a teacher shortage. He asked the sponsor whether there were other tests necessary to graduate and discovered that no other test was required. He did not believe the test should be mandatory. 2:36:32 PM Representative Rasmussen indicated that if the state did not have a way to measure whether the students were learning the information, she would prefer not to adopt the bill. She spoke of personal experience in high school and that without the testing she did not want to fully engage in required classes. She thought that without an assessment, it would be difficult to measure whether the curriculum was successful and contributed to a better education or if the time would be wasted. She supported adopting the CS. Representative Carpenter thought that if the test model was based on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Test (copy on file) that contained 128 Civics questions, the student would not need to retain all the information with a 70 percent passing grade standard. He hoped that all school curriculums addressed 70 percent of the material throughout a childs education. He thought that there were questions he would have a difficult time answering but some of the information was important to know. He exemplified questions concerning what the rule of law was and the nations economic system. He restated that with a score of 70 percent at least a percentage of the information should be retained before the student engaged in civic activities like voting. He opined that he could forget a significant amount of Algebra, but there were many things on the civics test he should never forget. He deemed that graduating students lacking a Civics instruction was probably the reason for the current societal problems. He favored the CS. 2:40:24 PM Vice-Chair Ortiz agreed with most of Representative Carpenter's statement. However, he deduced that out of the 128 question test, the teacher would randomly select 20 questions. He thought that some of the questions were good, but some were open-ended. He wanted to better understand how the test questions were given to perspective new citizens for citizenship. He was curious about how the exam was distributed, and how the information was taught. Co-Chair Merrick invited Mr. Lamkin to comment. 2:43:01 PM TIM LAMKIN, STAFF, SENATOR GARY STEVEN, explained that the legislation was intended to direct the state Board of Education and the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) to develop a curriculum and an assessment that was based on the immigration test. The bill was not prescriptive nor mandated rote memorization but rather to prompt conversations regarding what was important in Civics. He emphasized that the exam was not high stakes but the issue was high stakes because of the current national environment. Vice-Chair Ortiz agreed with Mr. Lamkins statements. He liked the idea of promoting civics education but was unsure whether extracting questions from the citizenship test was the best way to instill the importance of a Civics education. 2:45:33 PM Mr. Lamkin indicated that critical thinking was a key phrase regarding the bill. He pointed to the document in members packets titled SB 72, Promoting Civics Education in Alaska (copy on file), that included a sampling of online Civics resources. He expounded that the U.S. Naturalization test was an online interview and resource. The prospective citizen was given all the questions in advance and all the potential answers. There was no single correct answer and there was a list of all the acceptable correct answers. 2:46:28 PM Representative Josephson cited Mr. Lamkins statement that the sponsor felt that teaching Civics was an important for addressing the current issues facing the county. He wondered if the sponsor had some description of what was going on in the country. He felt that the question was provocative. He wondered if the issues were a new phenomenon. Mr. Lamkin deferred to Senator Stevens for the answer. Representative Josephson shared that all he read was biographical and historical writings for pleasure. He noted that he had regretted his vote to repeal the high school qualifying exam. He agreed that people would forget the answers but thought it would likely make people better citizens. Representative Rasmussen thought that presently in the country there were many citizens that did not understand Civics; the three branches of government and separation of powers. She believed that if people were more knowledgeable of how the 3 branches worked, they could scrutinize campaign promises. She thought that the root of the country's problem was lack of knowledge of how the government worked. She believed that teaching Civics instilled more tolerance and would benefit the state and the country. Co-Chair Merrick indicated that Representative Tuck and Representative Kreiss-Thompkins had joined the meeting. 2:50:09 PM Representative Carpenter ascertained that the proposed test was not the only element based off the Citizenship test. He believed that the value was in the curriculum based off the questions and the ability of the teacher to connect with students, ensure learning, and ultimately produce better citizens. He did not think there would be as good of a connection if there was not a way to measure teaching the curriculum. He believed the value was in both the test and the curriculum and the test was a common base of knowledge that all Americans should know. He hoped that future generations would be better off than the current generation with Civics education. Co-Chair Merrick reported Representative Edgmon had joined the meeting. 2:52:34 PM Representative Wool noted that the legislature eliminated the graduation exit exam. He purported that many subjects were required in school. He had taken a class in U.S. History. He maintained that if students passed the class, it was assumed that some of the knowledge was retained. He pointed out that exit exams were not required for other important subjects like math and history. He stressed that tests were administered as part of the course work. He reminded the committee that if students do not pass required classes they do not graduate and pointed out that the states graduation rate was low. He contended that adding another mandated test prior to graduating would not help the graduation rate. He opined that a Civics class would not have prevented the storming of the U. S. Capitol on January 6, 2019. He declared that every generation had issues and Civics should be taught in schools because the way history was interpreted was viewed through different lenses over time. He supported mandating Civics but strongly opposed requiring the test for graduation. Representative LeBon appreciated the spirited debate. He indicated that a school board set the curriculum and decided whether a class was a requirement or an elective. He recalled when Alaska History was an elective in the Fairbanks School District. He suggested that a consolidated class of U.S. History and Alaska History was a darn good idea. He voiced that if the bill passed with a mandated exam, it alerted the school boards to take action and set the standards so the graduating seniors could pass the test by at least 70 percent. Representative Wool MAINTAINED the OBJECTION. A roll call vote was taken on the motion. IN FAVOR: Rasmussen, Carpenter, Johnson, LeBon, Merrick OPPOSED: Wool, Edgmon, Josephson, Ortiz, Foster The MOTION FAILED (5/5). The MOTION to ADOPT CSSB 72(FIN) FAILED. Co-Chair Merrick indicated amendments were due to the co-chairs as soon as possible. CSSB 72(FIN) was HEARD and HELD in committee for further consideration. 2:59:17 PM AT EASE 3:00:27 PM RECONVENED