The House Education Committee Moves HB 297

The House Education Committee moved HB 297 on Friday, March 12.  I'm a little surprised after what seemed like endless discussion.  Perhaps it will get somewhere after all.  But, like several legislators have said, the big issue may be whether or not the program is funded, not whether it is passed. 

Several amendments were adopted during Friday's hearing, including one that requires students in the first eligible graduating class to take three years each of math and science.  Rep. Gardner offered an amendment.....

Operating Budget on House Floor

The operating budget, HB 300 has been scheduled for the house floor tomorrow, Thursday, March 11.  If the House Finance amendment process is any indication, it may be a very short, uncontentious session with no or very few amendments offered. The typical process is the bills will be in second reading tomorrow, third reading on Friday, and up for reconsideration on Saturday. If no one objects, they can advance to third reading on the same day as second reading, If no one gives notice of reconsideration, it will go to the senate the same day as the vote on final passage. So they could do it all tomorrow and send it to the senate the same day, if everyone agrees. Anyway - one to three days and the bills will be in the senate.

Operating Budget Amendments

Wow, I am really impressed with how smoothly the amendments on the operating budget went in the House Finance Committee this afternoon. Most amendments were sponsored by the full committee. Several minority members carried a couple of amendments (sponsored by the full committee). Those included several of Rep. Gara's issues of high concern, including support for foster children and early childhood education. Only a few amendments were sponsored by individual members. Most of the amendments sponsored by individual members failed.

Amendments 1 through 23 were offered by all members of the House Finance Committee, and were adopted unanimous consent.

Amendment 2 was adopted unanimous consent. This amendment changes the “fuel trigger” for appropriations to departments for high fuel prices. The trigger is changed from $36 per barrel to.....

Gastineau Channel, Sunday, March 7, 2010

Winter has returned to Juneau

Gastineau Channel, looking toward Douglas Island

Building a Better Teacher

New York Times Magazine
By ELIZABETH GREEN
Published: March 7, 2010

There are more than three million teachers in the United States, and Doug Lemov is trying to prove that he can teach them to be better.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html

When Doug Lemov, who is 42, set out to become a teacher of teachers, he was painfully aware of his own limitations. A large, shy man with a Doogie Howser face, he recalls how he limped through his first year in the classroom, at a private day school in Princeton, N.J. His heartfelt lesson plans — write in your journal while listening to music; analyze Beatles songs like poems — received blank stares. “I still remember thinking: Oh, my God. I still have 45 minutes left to go,” he told me recently. Things improved over time, but very slowly. At the Academy of the Pacific Rim, a Boston charter school he helped found, he was the dean of students, a job title that is school code for chief disciplinarian, and later principal. Lemov fit the bill physically — he’s 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds — but he struggled to get students to follow his directions on the first try.

After his disappointing visit to Syracuse, he decided to seek out the best teachers he could find — as defined partly by their students’ test scores — and learn from them. A self-described data geek, he went about this task methodically, collecting test-score results and demographic information from states around the country. He plotted each school’s poverty level on one axis and its performance on state tests on the other. Each chart had a few outliers blinking in the upper-right-hand corner — schools that managed to squeeze high performance out of the poorest students......

Day 45 - Halfway

Today is day 45 of session; we’re halfway through the second session, and three-fourths through the 26th Legislature. The pace will really pick up from here on out.

The finance committees are beginning to hear education-related legislation. Next week, the Senate Finance Committee will be hearing SB 221, Sen. President Gary Stevens’ legislation creating a task force on higher education. One of the things the task force will be looking at is how high schools are preparing students for college and career readiness.

Perhaps the legislature has decided after the success of the Joint Legislative Education Funding Task Force that temporary legislative task forces are the way to delve deeply into substantive issues, issues that demand more time than would be possible during session. If SB 221 passes, it will be interesting to see if it has as much of a transformative effect on secondary and postsecondary education as the JLEFTF had on funding issues for K-12.

March 1, 2010 Senate Education Hearing on SB 224

Committee staff Murray Richmond and Jomo Stewart reviewed amendments that have been brought up in the House Education Committee for HB 297, the house version of SB 224.

Tim Lamkin, staff to Sen. Stevens, reviewed two amendments from Sen. Stevens. The first amendment would remove the statement of the goals and purposes of the program from the bill and place it in a letter of intent. Sen. Stevens’ second amendment adds a section authorizing the Dept. of Education & Early Development to adopt regulations establishing an application process for non-traditional post-secondary students. The second amendment also removes the six-year limit for students to use their scholarship award and increases the award from 8 semesters to 12 semesters.

Sen. Davis said she doesn’t see the legislature passing a bill without taking non-traditional students into consideration.

Sen. Meyer said they would like to hear the intent of committee members regarding whether to adopt any of the amendments that have been reviewed. Chairman Thomas said they will then put together a committee substitute, and it will be before the committee the week of March 8.

About AKEDUPDATE

The Alaska Education Update provides reporting on action of the Alaska State Legislature for education issues daily during the session. If there is a hearing on a Monday, the report will be in your email inbox by Tuesday morning (with the rare exception). Reports are not verbatim accounts of hearings, but they are very detailed summaries. There is coverage of the education committees, of course, and also finance and any other committees when they are hearing education-related legislation or issues. Action on education-related legislation on the floor of the House or Senate is part of the updates. There is also usually coverage of majority press availabilities, and sometimes minority press availabilities, when time allows.


Contact: Shana Crondahl
4100 Blackerby Street
Juneau, AK 99801-9535
(907) 500-7069
akedupdate@gci.net