SB 176-COMPACT: EDUCATION OF MILITARY CHILDREN  2:50:29 PM CHAIR FRENCH announced the consideration of SB 176. JOSH TEMPLE, Staff to Senator Huggins, said the purpose of SB 176 is to remove barriers facing children of military families as they move between school systems. On average a student from a military family will move between six and nine times during their K-12 years. While the military has done a lot to ease these transitions, more can be done at the state and local level to ensure that these children are afforded the same opportunity for educational success as other children. 12,106 active duty children between the ages of 5 and 18 plus the children of active members of the Guard and the Reserve will benefit from this compact. In 2008 11 states adopted this compact and 22 others have pending legislation to join. This legislation will provide these children with timely enrollment as they move from one school district to another, which will help to remove some of the associated stress of moving. The bill enjoys widespread support; it supports our troops and our kids, he said. 2:53:27 PM RICK MASTERS, Special Council, Interstate Compacts, Council of State Governments, said he has been working on and writing about interstate compacts for the last 20 years. The mission of the Council of State Governments has for 75 years been to promote the role of states in solving problems that affect more than one state but that still should be under the control of and has historically been governed by the states. This compact is no exception; it will level the playing field for children of military members when they transfer from state to state during grades K-12. Research indicates that transferring students frequently encounter problems with enrollment, eligibility, placement, and graduation. The compact attempts to address the difficulties in these four areas. 2:57:13 PM Enrollment can be delayed when students move into a new school district if the receiving school won't accept a photo copy of the student school transcript. The compact would require a school district in a member state to recognize a legitimate photocopy of a record awaiting arrival of the original record. The sending school district would furnish the record within a ten-day period. Eligibility relates to things like extracurricular activities. When students miss the required induction protocol for clubs or activities, the compact would ask the state to allow the student to participate if they are otherwise qualified. There would not be a requirement to create a position, but the compact seeks to prevent situations where a student is penalized simply because their move wasn't timely. With respect to placement, the compact seeks to have the receiving state make a reasonable accommodation to place a transferring student in comparable courses and levels to the state from which they came. It does not prevent the receiving state from doing subsequent testing and replacement. The goal of the compact is to avoid delay in placement. The fourth area addresses timely graduation. The compact asks receiving states to reasonably accommodation students who transfer in their junior or senior year by waiving certain course requirements. For example, state history from a transferring state could fulfill the state history requirement for the receiving school. The compact also asks the receiving state to consider waiving exit exams, but if this isn't possible it asks the receiving state to work cooperatively to secure a diploma from the sending state. MR. MASTERS highlighted the numerous stakeholders who are interested in this legislation. 3:03:25 PM THOMAS HINTEN, Senior State Liaison, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, Department of Defense (DOD), Washington D.C. said this is part of an ongoing effort to work with states on issues that impact military families. Transition challenges for students is the issue they hear about most frequently from military families. During times of deployment Guard members are even more dramatically impacted. DOD considers this a readiness issue because parents reflect on and make decisions about staying in the military when they're sitting around the kitchen table talking about the welfare of their children relative to education. Folks who are on the battlefield need to be concentrating on their mission rather than being distracted by whether or not their children are being accommodated properly at school. Alaska has done a tremendous job helping and supporting the military so this issue comes up not so much about what one state would do, but more about how states can work together to make the transition process work more smoothly. If each state were to follow uniform practices, students would know they would be accommodated properly. Just last week the governor of Virginia signed similar legislation. That state has the highest number of school-age military children in the nation. He appreciates that Alaska is seriously considering this as well. 3:07:03 PM CAROL COMEAU, Superintendant, Anchorage School District, conveyed that the school board passed unanimously a resolution supporting the military compact in the belief that this is good business for students of military families in Anchorage and around the state. Anchorage schools already practice most of the strategies Mr. Masters outlined and have been able to work through most situations. The board does strongly feel that if this bill passes and becomes part of the Alaska culture, it sends a strong message of support for Alaska's military families. Military parents would be better able to focus on their mission knowing that their kids are being taken care of in the school districts statewide. Superintendants in Kodiak, Fairbanks, Sitka, and MatSu have voiced support for this initiative, she said. CHAIR FRENCH closed public testimony. 3:08:53 PM SENATOR THERRIAULT asked where the House bill is in the process. MR. TEMPLE replied it is in House Finance. CHAIR FRENCH announced he would hold SB 176 for further consideration.