CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 19(EDC) "An Act relating to instruction in a language other than English; and establishing limited language immersion teacher certificates." 9:05:26 AM REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS, SPONSOR, relayed that it was the third legislature to hear the bill. He asserted that the bill spoke to a growing demand for emergent language programs in Alaska schools, both in world languages and Alaska Native languages. He cited that the Anchorage School District (ASD) and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District had extremely popular and successful immersion language programs that had been nationally recognized. He commented on the growing interest in Native language immersion programs all over the state. Representative Kreiss-Tomkins shared that one of the limiting factors to starting immersion language programs had been the inability to attract and recruit teachers that were fluent in the target language. He summarized that a language immersion program was an elementary language program that immersed students while teachers taught in the target language for a majority of the day. The students advanced in the language year by year and the ratio between the target language and English was reduced and by the time the student left the program they would be fully fluent. Representative Kreiss-Tomkins spoke to the challenge of finding teachers. He shared that programs had been seeking greater flexibility to attract teachers, and that there were many unique circumstances that arose around immersion language programs. He noted that world language immersion programs often sought to recruit a teacher from the country of the target language. He used the example of a teacher from Japan that taught in Anchorage in contrast with fully fluent Alaska Native language speakers from rural Alaska. 9:08:42 AM Representative Kreiss-Tomkins continued his remarks. He characterized the bill as a calibrated approach to try and provide flexibility to school districts seeking to create the immersion programs. The goal was to provide more tools to attract and retain teachers to make the programs reality, while still having state and local sideboards that approved teachers and promulgated regulations. He mentioned conversations with the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED). He specified that it was the bills intent that the department interpret dual-language education programs in the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) be included in the language of the bill. Senator Hoffman asked where LKSD was located. Representative Kreiss-Tomkins understood that LKSD was an exemplar of Alaskan education. Senator Hoffman relayed that LKSD stood for the Lower Kuskokwim School District. 9:10:37 AM Senator Olson asked if the fiscal note was all-inclusive or if there would be liability to the school districts. Representative Kreiss-Tomkins informed that the $6,000 fiscal note covered only the cost of regulation writing for the department. Any costs associated with setting up an immersion language program would be borne by the district. Senator Olson asked if school districts were supportive of the bill. Representative Kreiss-Tomkins thought there was universal support for the bill from the K-12 education community, including urban and rural districts from across the state. He could not recall exactly which organizations had supported the different iterations of the legislation, but he thought the Association of Alaska School Boards (AASB) and the Superintendents Association had positive orientations toward the legislation. Senator Olson asked if he had support letters from school districts even thought they were financial liable for the programs. Representative Kreiss-Tomkins answered in the affirmative and offered to produce the list of school districts that had taken a formal position on the legislation. He addressed the liability question. He stated that there was not any extraordinary liability that would be assumed by school districts, and many were already operating immersion language programs as they would any other program. The bill did not change anything or create any additional exposure or liability for school districts. Co-Chair Bishop asked Representative Kreiss-Tompkins to repeat the latter part of his answer. Representative Kreiss-Tompkins reiterated that there was nothing in the bill that would create new exposure, liability, responsibility, or mandates for school districts. The bill just gave districts a new option for teacher recruitment. Senator Wilson asked if teachers would still have to meet all other requirements for teaching under the provisions of the bill. He mentioned the requirements for Alaska Native cultural education and domestic violence training that were established for certificated teachers. Representative Kreiss-Tompkins deferred the question to the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)m which was authorized to write the regulations to figure out the sideboards. 9:14:30 AM SONDRA MEREDITH, ADMINISTRATOR FOR TEACHER CERTIFICATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT (via teleconference), asked Senator Wilson to repeat his question. Senator Wilson asked if the new type of certificate proposed in the bill would require the same training and professional development courses currently required of teachers. Ms. Meredith stated that there would be the same requirements around mandatory training that all educators were required to do. The bill allowed for other criteria besides a bachelor's degree and testing requirements currently required for regularly certified teachers. The board would have to regulate the alternative. She discussed the Type M certificate, which allowed for requirements to be substituted with various factors. Co-Chair Bishop asked if the state school board supported the bill. Representative Kreiss-Tompkins did not believe the Alaska Board of Education had taken a position on the bill. Co-Chair Bishop clarified that he asked because the board would have to meet and approve the new type of certificate proposed in the bill. Representative Kreiss-Tompkins relayed that DEED Commissioner Michael Johnson had spoken in favor of the legislation in prior hearings. He recognized that the commissioner was not a board member, although he worked with the board. Co-Chair Bishop asked how long it would take the department to make changes if the board were to make the new certificate proposed din the bill. Ms. Meredith stated that considering the department's regulatory process, it would take between six to twelve months to regulate the certificate. 9:18:48 AM PEGGY RANKIN, SENIOR DIRECTOR, TALENT MANAGEMENT, ANCHORAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT (via teleconference), spoke in support of the bill. She noted that ASD Superintendent Dr. Deena Bishop had submitted a letter in support of the bill on April 22, 2021, and had also testified on the matter. She commented that education had changed in the past twenty years and the bill proposed to provide additional opportunities for students. She thought the bill supported immersion programs. 9:19:57 AM BRANDON LOCKE, DIRECTOR, WORLD LANGUAGES AND IMMERSION PROGRAMS, ANCHORAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT, spoke in support of the bill. He echoed Ms. Rankins comments. He acknowledged a nationwide teacher shortage and asserted that there were even greater challenges in Alaska. He cited that there were about 8,000 students in a world language or immersion program in ASD. Specifically, there were 2,600 students in K-12 immersion, including Spanish, Japanese, Russian, and German. Mr. Locke cited there were three ASD high school seniors currently employed by the National Security Agency working on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) working as linguist interns. He mentioned growing programs in French, Mandarin, and Yupik. He noted that finding teachers for the programs was next to impossible, and the district often had to hire from outside the country where certification processes were very different. He cited challenges in hiring foreign teachers. He emphasized working with international teachers and supporting them to fill difficult-to-fill positions in immersion programs. He did not see the bill as a way to open the floodgates, but rather it would be up to each school districts human resources process to hire the most qualified people for the positions. 9:23:05 AM Co-Chair Bishop OPENED public testimony. 9:23:21 AM Co-Chair Bishop CLOSED public testimony. Co-Chair Bishop set the bill aside. HB 19 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further consideration.