ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON HB 156  Bill Ray Center Juneau, Alaska May 3, 2016 8:15 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Wes Keller, Chair Representative David Talerico Senator Mike Dunleavy, Chair Senator Cathy Giessel Senator Donald Olson MEMBERS ABSENT  Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins COMMITTEE CALENDAR  CS FOR SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 156(FIN) "An Act relating to a parent's right to direct the education of a child; relating to the duties of the state Board of Education and Early Development, the Department of Education and Early Development, school boards, and school districts; relating to public school curriculum and assessments; relating to compliance with federal education laws; relating to public school accountability; relating to a statewide assessment plan and review of education laws and regulations; repealing the minimum expenditure for instruction for school districts; relating to sex education, human reproduction education, and human sexuality education; relating to suicide awareness and prevention training; relating to contracts for student assessments; relating to questionnaires and surveys administered in public schools; relating to physical examinations for teachers; and providing for an effective date." - MOVED SCS CSHB 156(FIN) OUT OF COMMITTEE PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION  BILL: HB 156 SHORT TITLE: SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES; FED. LAW SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) KELLER 03/20/15 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 03/20/15 (H) EDC 03/30/15 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 03/30/15 (H) Heard & Held 03/30/15 (H) MINUTE(EDC) 04/08/15 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 04/08/15 (H) Heard & Held 04/08/15 (H) MINUTE(EDC) 04/10/15 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 04/10/15 (H) Scheduled but Not Heard 04/13/15 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 04/13/15 (H) Heard & Held 04/13/15 (H) MINUTE(EDC) 03/14/16 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 03/14/16 (H) Scheduled but Not Heard 03/16/16 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 03/16/16 (H) Heard & Held 03/16/16 (H) MINUTE(EDC) 03/18/16 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 03/18/16 (H) Heard & Held 03/18/16 (H) MINUTE(EDC) 03/21/16 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 03/21/16 (H) 03/23/16 (H) EDC AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 03/23/16 (H) Moved CSHB 156(EDC) Out of Committee 03/23/16 (H) MINUTE(EDC) 03/24/16 (H) EDC RPT CS(EDC) NT 5DP 2NR 03/24/16 (H) DP: KELLER, TALERICO, COLVER, SPOHNHOLZ, VAZQUEZ 03/24/16 (H) NR: DRUMMOND, SEATON 03/25/16 (H) FIN REFERRAL ADDED AFTER EDC 04/04/16 (H) FIN AT 1:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519 04/04/16 (H) Moved CSHB 156(EDC) Out of Committee 04/04/16 (H) MINUTE(FIN) 04/05/16 (H) FIN RPT CS(EDC) NT 3DP 1DNP 4NR 1AM 04/05/16 (H) DP: WILSON, GATTIS, THOMPSON 04/05/16 (H) DNP: KAWASAKI 04/05/16 (H) NR: SADDLER, PRUITT, EDGMON, MUNOZ 04/05/16 (H) AM: GUTTENBERG 04/10/16 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S) 04/10/16 (H) VERSION: CSHB 156(EDC) AM 04/11/16 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 04/11/16 (S) EDC, FIN 04/12/16 (S) EDC AT 6:00 PM BUTROVICH 205 04/12/16 (S) Heard & Held 04/12/16 (S) MINUTE(EDC) 04/13/16 (S) EDC AT 6:30 PM BUTROVICH 205 04/13/16 (S) Moved SCS CSHB 156(EDC) Out of Committee 04/13/16 (S) MINUTE(EDC) 04/14/16 (S) EDC RPT SCS 3DP 1DNP NEW TITLE 04/14/16 (S) DP: DUNLEAVY, GIESSEL, HUGGINS 04/14/16 (S) DNP: GARDNER 04/15/16 (S) FIN AT 8:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532 04/15/16 (S) Heard & Held 04/15/16 (S) MINUTE(FIN) 04/15/16 (S) FIN AT 5:00 PM SENATE FINANCE 532 04/15/16 (S) Heard & Held 04/15/16 (S) MINUTE(FIN) 04/16/16 (S) FIN RPT SCS 3DP 3NR 1AM NEW TITLE 04/16/16 (S) DP: KELLY, MICCICHE, DUNLEAVY 04/16/16 (S) NR: BISHOP, HOFFMAN, OLSON 04/16/16 (S) AM: MACKINNON 04/16/16 (S) FIN AT 9:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532 04/16/16 (S) Moved SCS CSHB 156(FIN) Out of Committee 04/16/16 (S) MINUTE(FIN) 04/17/16 (S) VERSION: SCS CSHB 156(FIN) 04/17/16 (H) CONFERENCE COMMITTEE APPOINTED 04/17/16 (H) KELLER(CHAIR), TALERICO, KREISS-TOMKINS 04/22/16 (S) RECEDE MESSAGE READ AND HELD 04/29/16 (S) RECEDE MESSAGE TAKEN UP 04/29/16 (S) CONFERENCE COMMITTEE APPOINTED 04/29/16 (S) DUNLEAVY (CHAIR), GIESSEL, OLSON 05/02/16 (H) HB156 AT 11:30 AM BILL RAY CENTER 208 05/02/16 (H) SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES; FED. LAW 05/03/16 (H) HB156 AT 8:15 AM BILL RAY CENTER 208 WITNESS REGISTER CHRISTA MCDONALD, Staff Senator Mike Dunleavy Alaska State Legislature Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a summary of Senate changes to HB 156, on behalf of Senator Mike Dunleavy, Conference Committee Co-Chair. ACTION NARRATIVE 8:15:38 AM CHAIR WES KELLER called the meeting to order at 8:15 a.m. Representatives Keller and Talerico were present and Senators Dunleavy, Olson, and Giessel, at the call to order. 8:16:11 AM HB 156-SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES; FED. LAW  8:16:45 AM CHAIR KELLER announced that the only order of business would be SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 156(FIN), "An Act relating to a parent's right to direct the education of a child; relating to the duties of the state Board of Education and Early Development, the Department of Education and Early Development, school boards, and school districts; relating to public school curriculum and assessments; relating to compliance with federal education laws; relating to public school accountability; relating to a statewide assessment plan and review of education laws and regulations; repealing the minimum expenditure for instruction for school districts; relating to sex education, human reproduction education, and human sexuality education; relating to suicide awareness and prevention training; relating to contracts for student assessments; relating to questionnaires and surveys administered in public schools; relating to physical examinations for teachers; and providing for an effective date." 8:17:03 AM CHAIR DUNLEAVY moved that the Conference Committee for HB 156 adopt the Senate committee substitute (CS) for CS for HB 156(FIN), Version 29-LS0566\Q. 8:17:29 AM SENATOR OLSON objected for discussion and asked to hear a review of the Senate changes to the House version. 8:18:08 AM CHRISTA MCDONALD, Staff, Senator Mike Dunleavy, Alaska State Legislature, directed attention to the committee packet and paraphrased from the document titled, "Summary of Senate Changes to House Bill 156," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Parental Rights  Section 1. Codifies parental rights by requiring local school boards to adopt policies allowing parents to withdraw their children from any activity, class, or program, or standards based assessment to which the parent objects. Provides parents with at least a two week notice before presentations on human reproduction or sexual matters. Section 2. Exempts the curricula and materials for The Alaska Safe Children's Act from the definition of "human reproduction or sexual matters." Fiscal Concerns Addressed  Section 10. The Senate added an amendment to this section that would allow the Department of Education to administer a standards-based assessment between the dates of July 1, 2017 to July 1, 2019 should the Unites States Department of Education provide notice of its intention to withdraw federal education funding. This has resolved the fiscal concerns associated with the bill and resulted in a zero fiscal note. Technical Changes to Crisis Prevention Training  Section 11 - Section 16. These sections contain technical corrections to the crisis prevention training established last year in HB 44 by replacing "School" with "District" for tracking trainings. Department of Education has explained that it is logistically challenging to track these trainings at the school level. This will enable the districts to organize and schedule the required trainings. Physical Examinations for Teachers  Section 17. Allows school districts to require physical examinations for teachers, but clarifies that the district is not required to cover the costs. This change was made at the request of school districts throughout Alaska. Sex Education Teachers & Curriculum  Section 18. Adds a new section that only a certified teacher, or person supervised by a certified teacher, may teach a class in sex education. It establishes that curriculum and materials for sex education classes must be approved by the school board and available for parents to review. It also provides that before a person who is not a certified teacher teaches sex education they must be approved by the school board and the person's credentials made available for parents to review. Section 19. Provides that the teacher certification and supervision requirements do not apply to the sexual abuse and sexual assault awareness and prevention training on dating violence abuse awareness. (Bree's/Erin's Law) Technical Change to Suicide Prevention Training  Section 20. Removing "in grades seven through 12" from AS 14.30.320 to bring AS 14.30.362 into alignment with the requirements contained in four other statutes that "all certificated staff" receive suicide prevention training. This change came at the request of the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development. Procurement Code Exemption for Student Assessments  Section 21. Amends AS 36.30.850(b) to exempt department contracts for student assessments from the state procurement code. This change to statute was made at the request of Interim Commissioner McCauley in order to make the process of selecting an assessment cheaper, more efficient and to improve transparency throughout the process. Repeal of the 70/30 Provision  Section 22. Repeals AS 14.17.520, the minimum expenditure for instruction. Repeal of the 70/30 provision is supported by school districts, the Alaska Association of School Boards and the State Board of Education. Student Surveys  Section 24. Repeals sec. 4, Ch. 2, SSSLA 2015, which created an opt-in system for all student surveys. This section will revert the system back to an opt-out for surveys which do not contain information that inquiries into the personal and private family affairs. This was requested by AASB who annually distributes a "School Climate and Connectedness Survey" which is used to improve the school environment. 8:21:07 AM CHAIR DUNLEAVY pointed out that the described changes were contained in the Senate version that was submitted to the House for consideration. CHAIR KELLER opined that the House version began as a piece of good legislation, which was improved upon by the Senate version. 8:21:40 AM SENATOR OLSON asked whether a health professional visiting, or relocating to, a community would be allowed to make a presentation to a classroom as a guest speaker. CHAIR DUNLEAVY responded that the bill requirement is for anyone providing sex education in a public school to obtain prior approval from the [local] school board. He emphasized that no groups or individuals are being prohibited classroom access through this legislation. 8:22:41 AM SENATOR OLSON withdrew his objection. 8:22:48 AM CHAIR KELLER, hearing no further objection announced that the Conference Committee has agreed to recommend the adoption of the Senate CS for CSHB 156(FIN). 8:23:05 AM CHAIR KELLER thanked the participants. ADJOURNMENT  There being no further business before the committee, the Conference Committee on HB 156 meeting was adjourned at 8:23 a.m.