HOUSE BILL NO. 367 "An Act relating to part-time public school students; and providing for an effective date." Senator Pearce MOVED to ADOPT Amendment 1. Senator Adams OBJECTED. REPRESENTATIVE FRED DYSON, SPONSOR, spoke to Amendment 1. He stated that he preferred a second amendment, which would put the same thing in intent language instead of in statute. He stressed that the intention was that the school districts not discriminate against students on the basis of academic classes. The intent was to have the law be absolutely silent in terms of interscholastic sports and activities. He suspected that the second amendment would clearly speak to academics only. Co-chair Sharp noted concerns that had been communicated to him that the item not result in recruitment of athletes between different teams or schools. Senator Pearce referred to a communication from the Anchorage School District. She questioned changes that had been made in the language. Representative Dyson replied that the language was put in by the House to address concerns that people would think the item would allow part-time students to have access to all school activities. He believed the bill was clear about the issue. The language was then taken out in the Senate Health, Education and Social Services Committee (HESS) to allay other concerns. SENATOR GARY WILKEN spoke to Amendment 1. He explained that the language in the amendment had been in the bill and then removed by the Senate HESS Committee. He reported that his district was supportive of the bill with the amendment and against it without the amendment. He requested the sentence stipulating that extracurricular activities not be included be put back in the bill. He believed that there would be serious consequences in schools without the item. He encouraged full public debate on the issue and noted that the school districts of Valdez, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Kenai were against the bill without the amendment. Senator Phillips referred to Amendment 3 (expected to be offered by Senator Donley), which he believed would do essentially the same thing. Senator Wilken responded that he did not think intent language was sufficient. Senator Adams MAINTAINED his OBJECTION. A roll call was taken on the motion. IN FAVOR: Phillips, Torgerson, Sharp, Pearce OPPOSED: Parnell, Adams Senator Donley was absent from the vote. The motion PASSED (4/2). Amendment 1 was adopted. Senator Sharp pointed out that Amendments 2 and 3 were moot. Senator Torgerson MOVED to ADOPT Amendment 4. Senator Adams OBJECTED. Senator Torgerson stated that his school district was against the legislation and did not feel the amendment would help. However, he supported the sponsor, who wanted the legislation with the amendment, which related to a rural exemption. Representative Dyson stated that HB 367 was against discrimination. He referred to a letter from the Kenai School District that he felt exactly explained the issue. He pointed to sentence three: I find it hard to believe that we should give equal access to our school programs for students who only want to select one or two classes at a time…Our constitution says that we must provide public education to all students. It is this attitude that I believe contravenes our constitution and indeed will elicit lawsuits. The law that we passed unanimously in both houses last year said part-time students must be treated the same as full-time. Denying access to a kid just because he is part time clearly contravenes last year's law, and I find it reprehensible. Co-chair Sharp noted that a district might assume that it would get one full-time-equivalent student for correspondence students, which may not be the case in a few days. He thought districts might get a lot less. Senator Adams MAINTAINED his OBJECTION. A roll call was taken on the motion. IN FAVOR: Torgerson, Pearce, Sharp OPPOSED: Phillips, Donley, Parnell, Adams The motion FAILED (4/3). Amendment 4 was not adopted. Senator Phillips MOVED to REPORT SCS CSHB 367(FIN) out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal note. There being no objection, it was so ordered. SCSHB 367(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with no recommendation and an indeterminate fiscal note by the Department of Education.