House Education Committee Part 3
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (14)
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SB648
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB648”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB740
· 2 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “Bill 740. Good afternoon, committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Senate Bill 740 is a bill that would enhance”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB894
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB894”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB246
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB246”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB323
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB323”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB346
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB346”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB383
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB383”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB436
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB436”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB578
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB578”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB663
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB663”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB786
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB786”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB788
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB788”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB793
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB793”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB81
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB81”
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Pre-2017 bill |
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- October 5, 2026
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
0:00
Senator, recognize yourself down there, and we may
Speaker 1
0:07
proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, Senate Bill 648 is pretty much contained within the title of the bill, if I will, the act to ensure that isolated school funding follows the student when an isolated school area is part of a consolidation or annexation of school districts, and for other purposes, you know, we've got fewer and fewer of our isolated schools still left
out there, but we do have some that genuinely are very isolated, and in some instances, some of these districts are struggling. In my particular district, we've got Deer Mount Judy, which is hovering right at 350, and it's unlikely they'll be able to sustain that census over the next couple years. So within a couple years, they'll probably have to be absorbed into one of the surrounding districts. Up there, there are only two options, and both of them already have three campuses in
three different counties. What this simply does is allow, should the event occur that these schools have to be consolidated, the new district that absorbs them will not lose isolated funding. In the case of Jasper, Kingston and OART, which make up the Jasper District, they're right under 1,000 students now. If they have to take 300 additional students or 340 additional students from DEER, then
they actually would go over the threshold of student census over 1,000 and actually lose funding for all their students. This is simply a way that allows in those instances where you have an isolated school that is absorbed by another district to allow that funding to flow with the student and i'll try to answer any questions immediately have any questions
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:59
for nothing but to some thank you mr chairman
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
2:07
i'm always confused by this issue seems like once the schools close then we want to make exceptions and play with the money but we can't do that before the schools closed so um... is jasper isolated is that is desperate consider an isolated school i mean that but at the school that they uh... smaller schools moving to his jasper considered an isolated school also where
Speaker 11
2:34
you know reps of hutchinson i might call on
Speaker 1
2:38
bill abernathy come up here and help me because i know when i actually wrote the isolation definition a few years ago and took the criteria and I think there are five criteria that we use to define isolated schools and at that time Jasper did meet that criteria. And if I remember correctly, Bill, didn't they have to meet, did they have to meet all five criteria? Four of the five. That's correct. But there is a student threshold on census population with that too.
Speaker 15
3:12
So that's the situation that Jasper will find themselves in if it's consolidated.
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
3:17
I have no problem if the new school is
also isolated, but I do have a problem if you send isolated money to a school
Speaker 11
3:27
that's not isolated. Well, let me say this, that
Speaker 1
3:31
if you absorb a territory that's designated as isolated and you take those children in your district, you still have all their territory in the district, district, and those students do meet that guideline. If you've got, you're going to
have to provide an education to those children. You're going to have to run buses over every bit of their district as it exists. So to do that and take
Speaker 15
3:56
less funding for students is the problem that we're running into. Let's see,
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
4:04
I had, you have another question? Okay, yes, go ahead. It
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
4:09
seems like this just becomes a bigger, bigger ball of string that's a bigger mess. Do you think we should change the formula or do something?
Speaker 15
4:21
change the formula. We're doing it. But I've not been privy to the smaller circles that
Speaker 1
4:28
make those decisions. Okay. Well, thank you. I'm simply trying to prevent what could be a near catastrophe for a district that's already struggling. That's Jasper. They've got three campuses in Madison, Newton, and Johnson counties. Two of the campuses are 70 miles apart. If they have to take Deer and Mount Judy, too, and take a cut in funding, it's going to be detrimental.
Now, as you're very well aware, we've been struggling over transportation. These huge rural districts that are running nearly $1,000 a year to provide transportation to a student, as opposed to a richer or larger district that pays maybe less than $100 per student. That's what we're up against, and that's a different issue, I realize, Representative Hutchinson, but that's what we're actually boiled down to today is trying to get a negotiated deal on transportation for these rural districts.
But whoever's going to wind up with Dear Mount Judy, and I hope Dear Mount Judy survives. I support the schools. I think they have a good system. They just are not going to be able to meet Act 60 with their student census. And whoever gets them is going to have a real challenge, and Jasper is already struggling. They've got a huge district. This new district, if and when it occurs, will be bigger geographically than the entire county of Johnson, which is one of the largest counties in the state. That's how big the school district will be.
Speaker 15
5:54
You don't want to have them have to face that with diminished funding as well. Another question? Yes. I wish someone, we've had all
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
6:04
these many bills coming through to try to put Band-Aids on the problem. I wish someone would have a bill that said we're not going to close any more small schools until we figure out this
mess that we've got ourselves into. So you've already got yours through the Senate, though, haven't you? Well, yes, I have.
Speaker 32
6:24
Of course, there are two chambers, as you all well
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
6:28
know. Well, I want to ask you to add
Speaker 34
6:31
that amendment. Thank you. Thank you. Rep. Stewart, I
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
6:34
believe I saw your hand up. Yes. I'm just going to try to help Ella a little bit,
help her understand this. When you have this isolated funding, it's because they're less density and they're further apart. It takes more to get them to school. And when you move them or consolidate them to another school, you just made the situation a little bit worse. You made it a little bit further.
So this way, the funding that was intended to help those isolated students get to school, the kids aren't going to move just because you consolidate. So now you've got a further distance to travel, more time involved, more buses, repair on the buses. So the isolated funding is still needed to help these kids achieve an adequate education. Wouldn't you
Speaker 1
7:15
agree? You're exactly right, Representative Stewart. All these children, for the most part, are going to be living where they currently live, and the new school district is going to have to provide an education and transportation for these students.
Representative Tim Summers
Unverified
7:31
Mr. Summers, do you have a question? Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman, and thank you. Senator, what is the department's position on
Speaker 1
7:43
this? There hasn't been any opposition to this bill. I've got another one that they oppose, but this one is, I think it makes sense for people to let the money follow the student. That's what the feedback we've gotten, and I would certainly say if I'm wrong about that, I'd stand corrected by anybody in the audience.
Representative Tim Summers
Unverified
8:02
I'd make a motion at the proper time, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Committee, any other questions?
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
8:09
Any other questions? Anyone in the audience want to speak against this bill? For this bill, seeing none, we'll come back to the committee. I have Mr.
Summers, you got beat out up here by Mr. Carnine, I think. Did you have a motion, Mr. Carnine? Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do pass. Committee, we have a motion to do pass. All those in favor say aye.
Aye. Opposed, like sign. Senator, I believe
Speaker 1
8:37
you passed your bill. Mr. Chairman, thank you, and I want to thank the committee, too. I know you all have had a
Speaker 54
8:45
pretty rough way to go, but I appreciate your attention. Thank you.
Speaker 56
8:59
Thank you. Next, we have Senator Flowers, Senate
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
9:01
Bill 740. Good afternoon, committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Senate Bill 740 is a bill that would enhance
the effectiveness of school district parental involvement plans.
What it does, it keeps in place most of the things that are already in our law in terms of the annual review by the Department of Education, but the department would have some more responsibility. The bill in Section 1 requires that a copy of the plan be placed on the school district's
website. Also, in Section 1, the department would periodically, on a rotating schedule, monitor the school
district's plans for parental involvement. And the monitoring would be
to evaluate whether the school district is implementing its plan the
effectiveness of the implementation of the plan the district the department
would also assess the areas in which a school district needs to revise its plan or the implementation it
would give the department priority for monitoring for schools that
Speaker 66
10:52
have been identified either as a school improvement for two consecutive years school
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
11:02
years are academically distressed school districts the remainder of
section one deals with reporting and giving
recommendations back to the school district by the department that would be accomplished by January 1. That's the same as the timeframe that we have now in the law. But it adds also that they would specifically give recommendations concerning the areas of noncompliance and also give them information concerning the results of the department's
monitoring. Then the department shall allow the school district an opportunity to implement the department's recommendations. And then last, it requires the State Board of Education to implement rules or incorporate the provisions of this section into its rules. Then in Section Two, in terms of professional development, the professional development in this bill
would be provided by the Department
of Ed. Two hours at least for the purpose of
or with the emphasis to enhance understanding of effective parental involvement strategies, and that's been in the past for teachers. And then the next three hours or more for, again, professional development to enhance effective parental involvement strategies as well as the importance of administrative
leadership in setting these expectations and creating a climate conducive to parental participation. So that goes more to the administrators. And then, like I said, the department would require this or provide
this professional development. I think it's a good bill. I think it's needed to get more parents involved, particularly in
these school districts that are academically distressed and that have
been on the school improvement list for two
consecutive years. I know in my community I serve in five counties in southeast Arkansas, and most of these schools are on the distress list. They have academic achievement problems, and parents are not involved as they should be, and they have peculiar circumstances. And I think providing that the Department of Ed be more involved in helping with these
parental involvement plans will make a difference. And I've talked to the Department of Ed. They are revising their work that they're doing in terms of evaluation and making recommendations and checking these plans that they receive from the different school districts. And I think it can be very useful to have more hands-on input from the Department of Ed, and I look forward to working with them. I've talked to Laura Bentner over there, Charity Smith, and Ms. Millett, and they seem like
they're as excited as I am about it and the potential of getting more parents involved. so I'd be happy to answer any questions
many any questions let them stir if you
Speaker 73
14:53
have a question two quick ones on page one
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
14:57
talks about the the school district website the department shall review each plan then over on the next page on parent in line five it says they will department shall monitor each plan what's
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
15:11
difference in review and monitor well monitoring is actually going to the to the school site so it's more than just taking the paper that's been submitted in the form of a plan and actually going to the school and seeing these activities that are called for in the parental involvement plan okay and then on the last
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
15:36
page and the professional development requirement yes it's got a two-hour requirement and a three-hour requirement but you took out the two
hours for teachers and you took out the three hours for administrators, so now it's just five hours
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
15:54
of professional development without any definition of who receives the professional development. MS. Well, I think the connecting language that is still there as part of the annual minimum number of hours, even though teachers was taken out in that first paragraph there, I think the fact that it's an annual required professional development, I think we'll know
what it is and the purpose designed to enhance understanding of effective parental involvement strategies. Certainly, reasonable thinkers
would know that is for teachers. When you're out there trying to get your 60 hours professional development,
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
16:31
and both Both of these say the exact same words, part of the annual minimum number of hours. So there could be some confusion on who's. And I've been the parental involvement teacher at our school and know that the teachers get
two hours, administrators get three, but you've taken that out.
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
16:53
MS. Well, I would expect that the Department of Education and its rules might be able to more clearly identify that in so much as the Department of Ed would be providing the professional development, I think it might be clarified through the department. But I mean, I'm willing to accept any change if that's something that you insist on being
there. I just think that the Department of Ed might be able to clearly identify what professional development is that they're providing and to whom. Okay, thank you. Committee, any other questions? Seeing none,
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
17:39
we'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill? For this bill?
Speaker 88
17:48
Committee, we're back to your pleasure. What is your pleasure?
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
17:56
Ms. Clemmer? I have a motion to do passed. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? No.
Leave the ayes. Have it. Thank you, Senator. Thank you, committee. Next on our list is Representative Carter is going to run Mr.
Speaker 90
18:15
Williams' bill, I believe that correct, Senate Bill 894.
Representative Davy Carter
Unverified
18:26
Identify yourself and then you may proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Davey Carter, thank you, committee. Members, this bill, understand what it has. It's been amended and engrossed to include some permissive language for a school district to have the school board elections during the general election or also on this other set date. So understand that there used to be a shall in the bill, and now there's a may, and it basically gives the school districts a choice of doing either.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
18:59
So I'll be glad to try and answer any questions. Committee, any questions? Representative Carter? Y'all are so cold you
don't want to move, do you? See no questions. We'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill? Yes, Ms. Bell. Okay. We have Ms. Bell. Will you go to
the end table, please, and identify yourself, and you may proceed.
Sherry Bell
Unverified
19:31
My name is Sherry Bell, and I'm a county clerk for Columbia County, currently
Speaker 98
19:44
in my 13th year as county clerk. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members. I'd like to state that I know this is a permissive bill, but the problem with this bill is going to be the hardship on trying to make it work in a general election. There are so many school districts that are fringe districts within counties, and so when you're trying to devise a ballot, and since the general election ballot is the largest ballot to deal with, it is a hardship for the clerks because you have your different lines for that election, where there's JP lines, school board lines with different zones, then you have your municipal lines, which is your mayor and your alderman lines.
Well, not mayor, but your alderman lines. And so trying to devise the ballot styles, there will be multiple ballot styles to have to devise to make this work, okay? Which may have to be enhancements in our software program and our voter system in order to make all this come into play. And so I'm trying to bring up enough information for y'all because nobody has really contacted us and asked us how this would all work, because what happens is when the school boards make
that decision, it would be up to the county clerks to make it work, and I just wanted to state that the county clerks are kind of against this bill because of the hardship that it would make on our
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
21:12
offices. Thank you, Ms. Bell. Committee questions? Ms. Bell, you're speaking in behalf of all the county clerks in Arkansas, is that
Speaker 98
21:19
correct? Yes, sir. There's two other county clerks that are here also that, if need be, they
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
21:25
can make comments also. All right. Mr. Steart. Yes. Representative Carter, does this affect an issue about a millage?
Will it change the dates? Or can the
schools still elect to do a millage election any time
Representative Davy Carter
Unverified
21:36
they want to? I believe that is the case. This only deals with school board elections. And again, that, you know. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Mr.
Representative Les "Skip" Carnine
Unverified
21:53
Carnine, do you have a question? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Carter, in this particular bill, I know it says May, and we've just heard
testimony from the county clerks that potentially this could be a problem logistically because of the school district setup. Do you anticipate any school district taking advantage of an optional election? i have no idea i think having the the option to
Representative Davy Carter
Unverified
22:22
do it i mean the school board knows more than than any uh you know than i know uh sitting here back in the respective districts i don't uh
you know respectfully i mean i think when you weigh that against you know however we're styling the ballots i don't see that to be um um overweigh the uh you know the the benefits of having this all at the same time and again it's up to the local school district so I think that if there are any issues there that they're certainly going to know better than any of us in the room so I just think it's I don't particularly see the big deal about letting letting them have the have the option to do it that
doesn't seem to be very you know I think it's a good thing to let them tell them have the option
Representative Les "Skip" Carnine
Unverified
23:14
thank you and mr. chair at some point would would appreciate the school board association indicating whether in fact this is a this permissive aspect is in fact where they are and what position they have on the bit Ron do you mind
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
23:28
coming to the table and addressing that question miss Bell
Speaker 115
23:36
You just stay right there. You make him look better. Amen. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. I have spoken with Senator Williams on this right off the top. We acknowledge that it's a permissive bill, but Representative McLean had the absences bill earlier. It was an easy bill at the beginning,
but there's so many tentacles that go out that are interplay with this, and this bill is the same way. The current code 614-101 is only one sentence, but it says the general election laws shall apply to school elections insofar as they are not in conflict with the school election laws. We are very uncertain of how this will interplay, and it comes also in terms of the costs of the election.
614-102, a present to, which is not in the bill, again, only one sentence. The annual school election shall only concern issues authorized to be on the ballot by the Arkansas Constitution or by statute, and no other issues shall appear on the ballot. Now, the way we interpret that, this would let the school board election be in November,
but you couldn't have all the general election issues be on the school board ballot. So then you're going to have to have two ballots, and I would let Sherry testify to that because she's more aware of it. But you have that issue. You have precincts versus school board zones that interplay and overlap not conveniently. Then you get into the costs of the election. Currently, there is code which has been amended the last two or three different sessions
working out how the costs of a school board election are divided. we don't know if this were passed whether or not the cost would be the same and divided that way or it's going to be because you're going to have more precincts more polling sites you get an early voting that's different um in in 614-102 the part that isn't in the bill but there's provisions for if it's an uncontested election um how would that interplay in a
November ballot. But I would like Sherry to address some of those issues, please. Ms. Bell, do you want to
Speaker 117
26:30
address some of those? One thing I did forget to mention earlier, we are allowed to
Speaker 98
26:35
move voter registration within the last four days of that election. So the confusion would come into play is, would a voter remember if they voted in September or they needed to vote in November? Or, as an example, you have a family within the county living in one school district that maybe their school district was in September, but all of a sudden, for unseen reasons, maybe their house burnt down or whatever, and they have to move to another area within that county.
Well, could they vote again in the November ballot because they're in a different school district? But the county clerks are trying so hard to have good elections, and we work very hard on hours to make sure we have good ballots, that we have poll workers that are trained properly, the staffing that we have within our office to make sure everybody's not disenfranchised. This would be just an absolute nightmare as far as we're concerned, even though we know that's a permissive bill. We just wanted to state that.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
27:33
Okay, thank you. Committee, any additional questions? Ms. Hutchinson, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
27:40
a while ago. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Ms. Bell, for coming. I had talked to a county clerk, and she informed me about that you can't merge the ballots. But she said if you had one ballot for the general election, then another ballot for the school board, you would be voting twice, and they would be separated. and she said it would just be the same preparation
as if we had the school board another day, election another day. It's just we would do it all at once. But she said there isn't a difference in preparation. It's just you're trying to do it on the same day. Do you think it would save money if we did it on the same day? you wouldn't have to hire as many poll workers and things like that well
Speaker 98
28:33
no ma'am because in my county if there's no nobody running against the current member and there's no millage change we take care of that during early voting
and it's over with so it's a very easy process and in getting back to the clerk that you're referring to I think it depends you have apples and oranges within the county's clerks and depending on what size county and how their school districts are determines how involved their ballot styles are and how many lines and districts that they have. And I just want to bring that to everybody's attention because within our own organization, not everybody does everything the same way, and the hardship comes on the counties that are class three counties and lower,
and they don't have, you know, the funding and, you know, they put in a lot of hours and so forth. And I just wanted to make people aware that this would be a nightmare for some of those counties. Any additional questions, committee? Seeing none,
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
29:33
do you want to come back and close with Ms. Carter in a minute, or do you want
Speaker 122
29:38
to make a comment? I just want to reserve
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
29:40
the right to close. Oh, you'll get there. We run this the right way down here. No doubt.
Speaker 90
29:45
We don't have any lawyers on this committee. So we'll go to the audience.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
29:57
Anyone who wants to speak for this bill, for this bill, against this bill? Okay, you may come
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
30:08
to the end of the table and identify yourself. I'm Susan Inman. I'm Executive Director and President of the Arkansas County Election Commission's Association, and we are very much against this bill because it would certainly complicate the election,
not only for the voters but for the election officials and trying to distribute multiple ballots, particularly. If there were more than one ballot, you run the risk of potentially disenfranchising someone and they might not have gotten the ballot or come back and say, yes, you didn't give me the ballot. It just complicates things. And furthermore, if the non-election years, non-general election years
the voter confusion about where, which election do they vote so potentially you have them voting in September in one year and November the next year Thank you. Committee, any questions? Ms. Stewart I
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
31:03
just got a question for Mr. Carter
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
31:09
I wonder when you agreed to run this bill did you know that the election commissioners and the clerks
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
31:14
were both against it? No Alright Okay, we're back in the audience. Anyone want to speak for this bill? Against this bill? Mr. Walker,
you may have a seat. Identify yourself. Now we have two lawyers in the room. That's dangerous.
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
31:30
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You tell me a little learning is a dangerous thing.
So therefore, they say, Alexander Post said, drink not of the Pyrian spring. In this situation, we have a State Department of Education which has consolidated a number of schools. Some of those schools cross county lands, and more will be crossing lands as time goes on, on because we have school districts below the population of 350, and the more of those
that we have below 350, the more consolidations we're likely to have. So it would be very, very difficult for you to have the same ballot for all elections without there being utter confusion being created, and in some cases you'll have people in a situation where they vote in one county one time and then they have to go into another county and vote on the same day on other issues
because they cannot, you cannot vote in, I'll just use, say, Rogers and Fort Smith. You cannot vote for school electors in Rogers and then have Rogers consolidated in this gross hypothetical with Fort Smith and then go and vote on other issues in Fort Smith. So you want to try to make voting simple, easy to understand, and available to all so that the objective of the right to vote will be understood and implemented.
The right to vote is to have citizen participation at an effective, meaningful level so that the ultimate objectives can be accomplished, which is in the school situation to provide people an opportunity to vote on electors. but in the political situation otherwise, to vote for mayor, governor, local officials, county officials. So in all due respect to my good friend, representative, that I must say that this is a bad bill, and I ask you all to agree on this one.
It's not a personal. Thank you, Mr. Walters. Committee,
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
33:43
questions? Okay. Anyone in the audience wants to speak for this bill, against this bill? Seeing no one else, we'll come back to the committee. Committee, what is your pleasure?
Well, we're going to give
them a chance to close. We'll get a motion, I guess. I'll give them a
Speaker 88
34:06
chance to close. Need a motion? Mr. Summers? Okay.
We have a motion to do pass. Mr. Carter,
Representative Davy Carter
Unverified
34:14
we've got a close for your bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thanks for all the comments that were made today. In the answer to your question, Representative Stewart, no, I was unaware of that. However, respectfully, I don't know that it changes my mind. I think from Senator Williams' standpoint, if you go back and look at the participation of these school board elections, I think even at Cabin, and don't quote me on this, but we're talking in the hundreds. I mean, the participation is just frankly not there.
When you additionally, when you add the cost savings that are potential there for this, you know, to have this all at the same time, you know, there's nothing wrong with giving the school districts the choice to do this. We're not mandating it. We're not telling them they have to do it or they can or they can, but they have the choice to do it. And there is undoubtedly there will be more participation if these things are held all at the same time. You know, if you're anything like me, when school board elections roll around, I mean, it's, you know, literally that day.
I'm, hey, somebody's reminding me to go down and vote. You know, the school board election is today. This brings more attention to the process. It brings more people to be involved in the process, and I think it's a good thing. I guess on behalf of Senator Williams and all the sponsors of the bill, I request a good vote, and thank you for your kindness in the committee. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Carter. Committee, we have a motion
Speaker 132
35:41
to do pass. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? No.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
35:48
Leave the no's. Have it, Mr. Carter. I'm sorry your bill's failed. Not
Representative Davy Carter
Unverified
35:53
your bill, Senator Williams' bill. Thank you for the clarification on
Speaker 88
35:58
that, and thanks, committee. Percy. Mr. Malone, you're going to run Senate Bill 323. Is that correct?
Senator Percy Malone
Unverified
36:11
Yes, sir. Don't need any help. This is going to be real fast, I hope. Now, this bill, Mr. Chairman, simply tells the school boards that if the legislature changes the law in regard to abused children,
they must change their policy to reflect what the law is. That's it. Appreciate a good vote. Committee questions? Seeing
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
36:33
none, we'll go to the audience. We won't speak against this bill. For this bill, committee, I have a motion to do pass.
All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like sign, believe the ayes have it. Senator Blanco, you need to come more often. We like your bill. I hope Senator Baker can do as well. Thank you for that.
Senator Percy Malone
Unverified
36:56
I don't know. And if that qualifies for the non-contro calendar, however you guys do it, I'd like to put it
Speaker 137
37:05
on there. It might save you some time. Next we have Senator
Speaker 138
37:32
Crumbly, Senate Bill 663. I'm going to try to have a bill that's equally as short as Senator Malone's.
Senate Bill 663 is just a bill that makes technical corrections to the existing law concerning high-priority school districts and teacher incentives. It just simply brings the old, the way the bill was written, just brings it up with the current laws of the state. That's it. And that adds no additional money, doesn't change any of the other rules and regulations, and just brings it into alignment.
Speaker 135
38:09
It's a State Department of Education bill. I'd appreciate a good vote. Questions? Mr. Carnine, do you
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
38:19
have a question? I have a motion at a proper time. Thank you. Committee, any questions? Seeing none, we'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill, for this bill? Committee, we're back. Mr. Carnine,
do you have a motion? Yes, Mr. Chairman, do pass. Committee, do pass. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? I'll have it. Senator, thank you very much.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
38:47
quick. Thank you, and thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks, committee. Committee, will you down
Speaker 120
38:52
to Senator Baker? Senate Bill 346. Thank you, Mr. Cheatham. Chairman Cheatham, if I could have Representative
Speaker 146
39:00
Clemmer down here as I present these three bills, please. That'll be fine. Thank you. Committee, thanks for hearing me out. I know
Speaker 145
39:08
we're all busy right now, a lot going on.
Speaker 146
39:11
I've got three bills I'd like to try today. The first, in order that they fall on the calendar, is Senate Bill 346, if that's okay. You may proceed,
Speaker 145
39:31
Senator. Thank you. This takes the cap off the number of charter schools allowed in Arkansas. As
Speaker 150
39:38
you know, we lost some points in our Race to the Top grant
because of the limitation that we had on the number of charter schools. I'm sure you also know that our state board has been very, very diligent in what they approve as a charter school and very swift to take charters away from schools that are not producing. And so we felt like there was a need to take the cap off. We negotiated specifically with some concerns that Representative Bobby Pierce had on your end, that we not take the cap completely off, but that we more govern the cap.
And so that's what you see in this bill is once the number of charters, which currently are at 16 in the state, once they reach within two of the max, which is 24, then the cap is extended by five. So there's somewhat of governance there as far as the number of charters. And I think, again, the State Board has shown due diligence in what they allow and what they take away in the way of charters. I'd be glad to answer any questions. Committee, questions?
Speaker 88
40:44
No questions? Mr. Carnine? This is 436,
Representative Les "Skip" Carnine
Unverified
40:49
is that correct? Nope, 346. 346. Okay, that's why I wanted to clarify. Mr. Baker, what is
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
40:54
the number of charter schools, the cap, now? Twenty-four. Twenty-four. And how many do we have in existence? Sixteen. Sixteen. Yes, sir. We
Speaker 155
41:02
lost two when these numbers were done. And
Speaker 146
41:07
Representative Sheet, one other thing, and I know even at the expense of over-explaining the bill, but the department is neutral on the bill and the governor supports the bill.
Speaker 145
41:18
That helps sometimes. Sometimes. Hey, I'm just
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
41:22
trying to give you information. Not every time. I know. Anyway. Committee, any other questions? We'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill,
for this bill? You may have come to the table. Mr. Kramer, you let him, well, he
Speaker 125
41:39
can sit right there by you. Identify yourself with
Chris Heller
Unverified
41:42
the record, please. Mr. Chairman, my name is Chris Heller. I'm a lawyer at the Friday Firm. I represent some school districts, including the Little Rock School District.
And for the context of my testimony today, we have a pending litigation against the State Board of Education concerning the way charter schools have been approved in Arkansas. And if it were true that the Department and the State Board had been very diligent in determining how to approve charter schools and which ones to approve, we wouldn't oppose this bill. What has happened, in fact, this bill talks about the annual evaluations of charter schools.
They aren't happening. They're required by law, but they are not happening. There are no individual evaluations of charter schools going on now, and there haven't been for a number of years. An organization, and I think this is changing within the Department. I think Dr. Kimbrell and members of the State Board are working to improve this, but they've had an organization come in called NACSA that reviews charter authorizers around the country. And NACSA found a number of problems with the way Arkansas approves charter schools.
So since there aren't any evaluations now, since there are concerns raised by NACSA that the Department of Education is trying to fix, and since there are only 16 charter schools now in the caps 24 this won't be an issue until at least the next session so I would urge the committee to defer consideration of this and study it for another two years and see if the bills needed in 2013 mr. hello how
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
43:26
many charter schools are within Pulaski County Little Rock School District probably
Chris Heller
Unverified
43:35
of the 16 probably about half of them not
Speaker 163
43:37
happen okay thanks I would say at least half least miss Hutchison you have a question excuse me go ahead Mr. Chairman Cheatham can I add to that when you talk about
Chris Heller
Unverified
43:48
the action the state board has taken with respect to closing charter schools that has been done only for financial reasons I'm not aware of a charter school being closed based on some evaluation of the quality of education the school's been providing Mr.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
44:02
Taylor we had not had to admit some entered some legislation introduced this
session to look at or did I just may I may have missed that but I thought I saw something a while back on charter schools evaluation did I maybe I read what you read I think part
Speaker 161
44:15
of part of mr. Baker's the accountability measures you're talking about her in the
Speaker 150
44:18
next the next film will present that's a good intro
Speaker 90
44:23
to the next bill thank you refer to Hutchinson you have a question okay thank you anyone else on committee
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
44:29
mr. Stewart just got a quick one what's the what's the highest number of charter schools we've ever had in existence at one time 18 and we've gone backwards to 16 now and how long does it take to for
the approval process to work once a person applies for a charter school so
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
44:47
we so we've got 16 now we could probably answer that if you wanted you really want to know mr. well I just I
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
44:53
just wondered about the the time frame and and is it a
need that we need right now since we only have 16 schools and we CAPS currently 24 how fast can you move to get charter
Speaker 169
45:05
schools approved identify yourself the record please mr. chairman I'm Jeremy Lasseter general counsel for
the Department of Education representative Stewart it takes a better part of a year from start to finish for the application process to go through from the process begins with a letter of intent that the applicants file with the State Department then oftentimes even fewer numbers of those who filed letters of intent often will provide applications to the board and there's a review process and all in all that process takes a little less than a year okay and there's a is
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
45:36
there a deadline when the letters are when you have to start a school does it start commensurate with the regular school school
Speaker 169
45:43
year well there is some leeway there depending on what the actual charter application says but usually if we do if if we approve or if we approve a charter school state board approves a charter school October November of
Speaker 170
45:54
one year it usually be the fall summer fall the following year before they're actually up and operational.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
46:04
Okay, thank you. Any additional questions? Mr. Laster, before you leave, let me ask you
one question. I think maybe you can answer this. When we start a charter school, normally they cover certain grades, K-3 or K-4, but
if they evolve into higher grades, different campuses, does that take that one charter school or is that multiple charter schools? The normal way
that it happens is if they're in
Speaker 169
46:27
an existing charter school, as you mentioned, maybe it's K-3 when they start. They'll come back and ask for a modification of their charter to go into higher grades. There are some charter schools out there that do have separate charters, though, for, say, elementary, middle school, and high school. Thank you. Committee,
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
46:44
any other questions? Seeing none, thank you, gentlemen.
Committee, we'll go to the audience. Any else? Let's say we have someone speak against the bill. For the bill. Mr. Smith,
Speaker 176
47:01
would you have a seat and introduce yourself, please? Mr. Chair, Scott Smith, APSRC, speaking for the bill. Just to address a couple of the issues, with regards to the charter schools that are here in Little Rock, at least three of them are covered in one charter and two of them are covered in another charter, so that consumes much of that eight that was talked about there. The other thing you should note is that charters can be consumed quite a bit.
Charters are schools, not districts. And so typically because the state doesn't provide any facility funding or anything like that, they may need to take more than one charter with regards to federal funding, so a charter for an elementary grade, a charter for a middle school grade, a charter for high school grades out there. So you can consume those charters that are missing right now pretty quickly in one or two applicants that may come into the state. Thank you, sir. Furthermore, I point out that one of the reasons we need this is in trying to recruit quality CMOs or charters into the state, many of the states around Arkansas are removing their caps,
are greatly expanding their caps. And so in order to be competitive with trying to
Speaker 178
47:55
find some of the better schools, that's one of the reasons we need to
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
48:00
look at this also. Okay. Thank you. Committee, any additional questions? That was for the bill,
against the bill. We're against the bill now. Okay. Seeing no one, we're back to the committee. Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me. You
want to speak? Oh, he doesn't want to speak. The AEA is just against the
bill. Okay. Okay. Committee, we're back to you, and we have a motion. Mr. Summers, do pass. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those against say no. Leave the ayes to have it. Mr. Baker, you're one for one so far.
Thank you, committee. Senate Bill 436, please. Senate
Speaker 146
48:45
Bill 436, committee. This is a charter cleanup bill. Actually, early on, Senator Jeffers and I wanted to bring some accountability measures to the charter school law, and this particular bill mandates that ADE review first-year open enrollment charter schools
at the end of the first semester and at the end of the school year to ascertain financial conditions, student enrollment information, and report the same to the board. It also amends the current law to require that legislative audit prepare annual financial audit of first-year open enrollment public charter schools. It also amends the current law to make sure that the number of students and replacement students are accurate.
So it's got some accountability measures there. And then some other cleanup, it simply places public charters under the same level of protection that other school entities are relating to being sued, and then it does remove some of the more cumbersome requirements under Section 5 of the current law, type size requirements for newspaper publications at public hearings and some things like that. So I think it's a good mix of accountability added in and then some cleanup,
and I believe the department supports Senate Bill 436. I would be glad to answer any questions, Mr. Chairman.
Speaker 105
50:25
Committee questions. Ms. Carnine. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Senator Baker, would
Representative Les "Skip" Carnine
Unverified
50:29
you give me a little bit of a background? I note on the financial requirements, it's $357,000, assuming for the second year. How is looking at the budget and everything, where are you putting that?
Speaker 145
50:44
Yeah, that's a great point. That's somewhat of a misnomer. If I could have Mr. Smith just quickly speak
Speaker 150
50:49
to that. It just has to do calculation with what a charter school would cost normally as far as student cost. This bill doesn't necessarily impact it, but, Scott, you'll explain that
Speaker 176
50:59
better, I'm sure. Mr. Chair, Scott Smith, APSRC again. And Representative Carnine, what the bill does is it allows charter schools, they're starting up first year in operation, or if they're adding grades, because many times when they come in, they start with just a few grades and they continue to add grades, then when they pick up kids in that year,
then they would be entitled to get funding for those kids the year they pick them up. So these categorical funds and things like that that you've heard about, this simply provides that they get funding the year they have the kid. If you remember, traditional school districts always are paid on a prior year basis, so if there's no prior year because there wasn't a grade before or school in existence before, the school still needs to be funded for the kids that they're serving out there. So the department suggested that there was a fiscal impact. The fact is that somebody, one of the public schools out there, to the extent these kids are attending public school,
would get funding that year for those kids somewhere. So that amount accounts for the funding that actually would be provided eventually for those kids. That answers
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
52:06
your question. I think it does. Committee, any additional questions? The only thing I saw, and it's not a big deal,
but anything at all really probably, but currently, Scotty or Mr. Smith, charter schools are audited now. Is that correct? But by private auditors, is that what the deal is?
Speaker 176
52:20
Currently, the law allows that the charter school can choose a private audit. What this bill would do is says if it's a startup school, they have to go through a public audit, just like, and, of course, both school districts and charter schools can choose private audits, but now we're mandating that their first year, they have to go through the legislative audit process and not use a private audit out there. Okay.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
52:42
Thank you. Committee, any other questions? Seeing none, we'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill?
For this bill, committee, what's your pleasure? I have a motion. Motion do pass. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Leave
the ayes. Have it. I know
Speaker 145
53:05
I'm pressing my luck here, Chairman Cheatham, but I'd like to try one
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
53:10
more. Mr. Baker, I'm beginning to wonder if Vanna down there,
Speaker 191
53:13
what she's doing, but I don't know. Oh, my, my. I like it. You may proceed. Yes, thank you.
Point of personal privilege there. Senate Bill 578, I think,
Speaker 146
53:23
will, well, it does with our Arkansas Governor's Scholars Bill. And if there's one regret I have for this session, we've done a lot of good work, but it's
Speaker 181
53:32
that I didn't focus early on in putting
Speaker 150
53:35
more money into our Governor's Distinguished Scholarship Program. I really, really regret that. It's too late now to do anything about it. But we have a limited amount of resources for the high-end students. And some of you don't know, but last year we had, for the first time, more students than we could actually award.
We're talking a lot of students coming in at that 32, 33, 34 ACT, and that's a good thing. But it becomes very, very competitive. And what we found was that with the criteria out there, you have grade point, you have ACT, SAT score, but then you had a very small percentage of the scoring that related to class rank and service, community service. And we found that students that were in small schools or homeschool students
only were allowed maximum to get one point out of ten, and so they were just almost arbitrarily bumped out of the running, even though they may have a 34 in the ACT and a high grade point. Last year, with the work of a lot of people, we went through and actually found additional scholarships, kind of lobbying each institution of higher learning to try to get those young people taken care of. And so the department, Senator Broadway, and others started looking at ways to try to make this process a little more equitable.
And so what we came up with was simply to have the process of, if there are more than we can fund, we will only look at grade point and ACT so that those kids in smaller schools aren't knocked out of the running. And that's what this bill does. And
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
55:13
I'd be glad to answer any questions. Committee, any questions? Representative
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
55:20
Roebuck has a question. MS. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, Senator. MR. Hey. MS.
On your eliminating the leadership in school, community, and employment, could
you talk about that a minute?
Speaker 150
55:33
What is your rationale? MR. Sure. Again, we went through the process to see what criteria impacted negatively small school and homeschool students just right out of the box. And in these two criteria cases, because of the size and the opportunity of involvement from a small school student or a homeschool student, they only got, I think in both cases it was a 10 point, 10 percent each one. And the most they could get was one point.
And it just seemed unfair. Again, not that leadership's not important. There are a lot of scholarships that have leadership components to it. And not that class rank's not important. But it just seemed that it arbitrarily negatively impacted homeschool and small school students. Any additional questions? I want to follow
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
56:21
up. Yes, ma'am. Well, I mean, I just want to, you know, take you back. When we were writing the lottery scholarship bill, we
actually considered putting a service learning requirement on that scholarship,
talked to our colleagues around the country, and some had done that. So, you know, I'm one that believes in service learning and believes that students that are taking our state dollars should have to give something back. And even if they're private schoolers or homeschoolers, there are all kinds of ways that they can give back in the community. That's my only concern, Senator, and I'm sorry
Speaker 150
56:53
I didn't talk to you about this earlier. That's okay. And again, as I've responded to that in other discussions, the fact is we still have a lot of opportunities for young people to earn scholarships based on that leadership service component.
It's just that in this very competitive, academically focused, Governor's distinguished, just to try to level the playing field, I wanted to just have the two criteria. But your point's
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
57:17
well taken. And just one more follow-up, and then I'll get off my soapbox. When I talk to counselors and they are helping students to fill out applications and they're writing those recommendation letters, counselors around the state tell me that our best colleges today look for leadership in the school and community and things that the student can prove that they've been involved
outside of the school or within the school in leadership. So I just still
Speaker 206
57:44
have a concern about that, sir, and I'm voicing that today. Thank you. Representative Roebuck,
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
57:50
if I could also respond. While I agree that I think leadership is incredibly important, I also believe there's a little bit of, I guess, for lack of a better word, economic discrimination. Because if you're a kid from a family where you need to work after school,
it's going to be harder for you to get those leadership hours. A lot of times I would see that in our schools. kids that came from wealthier families didn't have to work summers and spent their summers accumulating leadership hours. And a lot of kids were really forced to work in the summer and work after school, and it impeded their ability to do that. So in my mind, the ACT or the standardized test score, SAT, and the high school GPA would be the most critical things to look at.
Although, again, I love leadership, but I'm one of those academics that sort of resist this trend that seems to me to encourage those that are middle class or upper middle class and hurts those on the lower end of the economic spectrum.
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
58:59
Thank you. A follow-up to that, Mr. Chair, that third item did include
employment, Representative Clemmer, so it was my understanding that we were able to write letters for students and talk about their leadership within employment.
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
59:14
But even again, in some areas, if you don't have a car and you live in rural Arkansas, you're not going to be able to have after-school employment, too. I mean, there are just some limitations that you've got to be in an environment, and it may require that parent do some nurturing. Again, I like leadership. I like all of that. I just don't want to see us put too much emphasis on that because it's such an unknown variable. Mr. Stewart, question? Yes.
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
59:44
Since we're just doing the two parts, how do you give a high school grade point average to someone who's homeschooled? If I homeschool my kids, they're going
Speaker 150
59:53
to have a 5.0. Yeah. Well, the good news is that's been a factor. That's been a criteria up to now, and the documentation requirements and all of that are in place to satisfy the committee that's dealt with this. We're not changing that at all. That's always been there relating to
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
1:00:10
Governor's Distinguished. So the homeschooler does have a GPA established by his parents?
Speaker 150
1:00:14
Yes, but based on the curriculum and the criteria and the testing
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
1:00:21
that they're required to take by the state. Okay. I'm kind of like Representative Roebuck. I'm a big believer in leadership,
and I have rural schools in my district, and lots of good leaders come out there, you know, President, FCCLA, Beta Club, all the different FHA and those things. And I think that's very important, too. And the ones who are involved at the high school level tend to make better adults.
And I think, you know, not giving them credit for all of their work they do in the school and taking those leadership roles is maybe going backwards. If at the same time you're giving, you know, the grade point average to a homeschooler
Speaker 150
1:01:04
who is not competing against anyone. Well, they're competing against those norm-referenced tests, Representative Stewart. And if those tests don't equate to the grade point, then it's obviously an invalid grade point. So I think they are having those tests. And, again, we're not against leadership and service and employment here.
It's just in our high-end academic-focused scholarships. We have lots of scholarships out there that meet and relate to different strengths. The governor's distinguished, obviously, is one that you just walk in the door with a 32, I think, is our opening. My youngest son
Speaker 80
1:01:38
was a distinguished Governor Scholar. Mine was not. He's doing
Speaker 191
1:01:42
great, but he was not. Congratulations to you. Mr. Dale, did you have a question?
Speaker 37
1:01:53
I have the same question there. It's hard for me to see
Representative Robert E. Dale
Unverified
1:01:57
that the grade point wouldn't be an advantage for the homeschool student in that the grade is given by a third party, issued by a third party, and the grade point for homeschools is not, so that could kind of even out by leaving in the leadership and everything there. So my guess I should ask, do you agree?
Speaker 150
1:02:28
Again, this is an act, you know, when you have a very objective, not subjective, objective, A-C-T-S-A-T. I mean, those hit the nail on the head. And, again, any grade point that's out there, if it's going to be taken as a valid grade point in this particular setting, has to be backed up with an objective test. Any additional questions, committee? Seeing none,
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:02:53
we'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill, for this bill?
Committee, I would entertain a motion. I have a motion to do pass. Mr. Summers, all those in favor say
Speaker 150
1:03:14
aye. Aye. Opposed? No. I believe the ayes have it. Mr. Cheatham and committee, thank you so
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:03:23
much. I'm going to get down here and try to pass some house
bills. Committee, we actually have six bills left, and we'll clear our plate. But we've got a couple of, and most of them are going to be non-controversial, I think.
We have some Department of Ed bills they really want us to look at, and I have one I really want you to look at. So we're looking at 6 o'clock right now. If we get to 6, we're going to quit whether we're through or not, okay? If you all will
Speaker 116
1:04:00
bear with me. I'm going to run Senate Bill 246, and
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
1:04:07
this is simply a code revision bill. Members, we're looking at Senate Bill 2, help me mark, 246.
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
1:04:25
is, Madison. Thank you, Ms. Chairman.
Speaker 52
1:04:28
Mr. Chair, you're recognized to present your bill. Tenet
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:04:32
Bill 246 is simply a code division bill. Senator Madison, Representative Williams, and they've just cleaned
up some language, corrected some things, and basically that's all I know about the
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
1:04:46
bill. Motion. Thank you. Any questions for our chairman?
Motion. Motion do pass. Motion by Representative Stewart, do pass. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. You've passed your bill. Mr.
Speaker 226
1:05:09
Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. What's the next one? Mr. Stewart, are you ready to
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
1:05:14
run your bill? I'd like to start
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
1:05:23
with 793 if I could please.
For Senator Elliott? What professional development, what good professional development is, it lists 15 items. This one adds the 16th one, and I'd appreciate a good vote. Mr. Clemmer.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:05:59
Move do pass. Okay. Any questions, Committee? Seeing none, we'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill, for this bill? Committee,
we have a motion do pass. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Leave the ayes. Have it, Mr. Stewart.
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
1:06:17
Do you have another bill? Is that correct? Yes. bill,
and I have some help today. Basically what this bill does is take out some opposite language about transportation study that's already occurred. It clarifies what has to
be on the back of a bus. The rest of it is about facilities, and this is where I turned over
Speaker 95
1:06:45
yourself with the record, please? Terry Granderson assistant director of the school facilities
Speaker 37
1:06:50
division may proceed sir additionally this bill change it makes some clarifications in our construction laws and also changes districts master plans
Speaker 230
1:06:58
from ten years to six years and that's the primary part of it committee
Speaker 88
1:07:06
questions take questions I know we're going kind of fast but we want to be sure we don't mess up This is the Department of Bill. Is
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:07:19
that correct, Mr. Stewart? And they wouldn't mess this up, would they? They've been known to. They've been known to. No questions. We'll go
to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill, for this bill? Committee, I'll entertain a motion. Have a motion to do pass.
Speaker 50
1:07:30
All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Thank you, committee.
Speaker 235
1:07:38
Ms. Roebuck's going to do this. You're going to run those
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:07:47
two. So, look, Mr. Robust is going to run a couple of bills for some people, and Senate
Speaker 168
1:07:58
Bill bill 81 committee senate bill 81 will be first
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:08:22
representative roebuck you may identify yourself and proceed
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
1:08:25
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm presenting Senate Bill 81 for Senator Jimmy Jeffress. This is an act to improve the effectiveness of public school alternative learning environments, and I have the commissioner here with me.
Speaker 241
1:08:38
This, I think, came out of a report from the Bureau of Legislative Research on Alternative Learning Environments, and the good senator wanted to make some statutory changes, and I think he's worked with everybody, and I think everybody's on board.
Speaker 243
1:08:54
Okay. Committee, questions? Seeing none, we'll go to the audience. Anybody
Speaker 167
1:09:00
want to speak against this bill or for this bill? Ma'am, you'll come down to the other table and ask
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:09:10
or you just want to ask from there? Okay. Mr. Kimball, would you go into the, Dr. Kimball, Will you go on the changes
a little bit in depth? Yes, sir. I'll try.
Speaker 241
1:09:24
Again, this is not our bill. It's just one that we've worked with. It will define alternative learning environment in a different way than we currently have. It defines it as an alternative class or school that affords all students an environment that seeks to eliminate barriers. We'll have to define by rule the characteristics and situations that would be applicable. It has to be an environment that's not punitive in nature but educational in nature. It defines some intervention services and then has some reporting requirements
that the school districts will have to do in establishing and operating that environment. It can be created with the cooperation of one or more school districts. It can be operated in conjunction with an educational service cooperative, and there are some reporting requirements that will be required of each of these alternative learning environments that will have to be done by the schools. And then also there are intervention services specific to those students' educational needs,
and there has to be some behavioral intervention services also designed in helping with behavioral modifications within that student's educational plan. Also, it requires that in order for a school to count that student as part of the alternative learning environment student body, they will have to have attended for 20 consecutive days unless they leave for another alternative environment placed in a residential treatment center or, I believe, leave school to obtain a GED.
Mr. Chair, I think scanning this quickly, those are the things that primarily are changed here in this bill. All right.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:11:23
Thank you, sir. Any additional questions, committee? Back to the audience. Anyone against this bill, for this bill? Seeing none, committee, what's your pleasure?
So moved. Have a motion to do pass. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? I believe the ayes have it. Ms. Roebuck, you
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
1:11:45
That's cold without air, it is up here, I believe. Yes, this is Senate Bill 383. Actually, Mr. Chair, this is your bill with Senator Jeffress, but I'll be glad to continue with your permission. You'll do a much better job. I have Mr. Lasseter from the State Department, their attorney, and this is an act to amend, again, provisions of existing code and goes through about a takeover of a school district and how that happens,
and there's some corrections and clarifications there,
and I'll turn it over to Mr. Lasseter for
Speaker 169
1:12:24
his comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Jeremy Lasseter, General Counsel for the Department of Education. This is the department's cleanup bill for this session. I think we've vetted this through all the education stakeholder groups. I'm not aware of any objections to it, but I do stand ready to answer any questions any members of the committee might have. Committee, questions? Anyone in
Speaker 167
1:12:45
the audience want to speak against this bill, for this bill? Seeing none, committee, what is your pleasure?
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:12:52
Have a motion to do pass. All those in favor
say aye. Opposed? Leave the ayes of it. Thank you.
Okay, Mr. Carnine, the Senate Bill 788, and committee, this is the last one we're going to do today.
We have the amendment mark. There's the amendment committee of this bill, and we're going to pass it out.
Ms. Flemmer, you moved to adopt the amendment. You did such
a good job there on the table a while ago, I guess I'll let you do that. the motion to adopt
Representative Les "Skip" Carnine
Unverified
1:13:35
the amendment. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Be the ayes of it. Mr. Carnot, you may proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a companion piece that cleans up the bill that we ran earlier today regarding the School Choice Act of 2004, and it simply clarifies the issues about transportation and when a student comes off of the our school
comes off of their area of school improvement there's
Speaker 111
1:14:01
any questions I'll try to answer those I think
Representative Les "Skip" Carnine
Unverified
1:14:10
this is agreed upon bill committee any questions on this bill seeing none we'll
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:14:17
go to the audience you want to speak against this bill Mr. Campbell you Ron you didn't get a copy
Speaker 27
1:14:30
I'm sorry we'll give you a copy we'll even wait a minute before we adopt
Speaker 90
1:14:49
this thing Mr. Harden, are you okay with that amendment? Are you okay with that amendment? Committee?
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
1:14:58
Now, y'all are gathered up back in the back.
It makes me nervous. Three lawyers. Mr. Chair, if I might, please do not encourage them. Anyone want to speak against this bill, for this bill, seeing that we'll
come back to the committee of motion do pass as amended all in favor say aye
opposed committee thank you for your patience submitting adjourned
Agenda
SB648
Call to Order
SB740
SB894
SB323
SB663
SB346
SB436
SB578
SB246
SB793
SB786
SB81
SB383
SB788
Adjournment
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
Speaker 1
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
Speaker 11
Speaker 15
Speaker 23
Speaker 32
Speaker 34
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
Representative Tim Summers
Unverified
Speaker 54
Speaker 56
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
Speaker 66
Speaker 73
Speaker 88
Speaker 90
Representative Davy Carter
Unverified
Sherry Bell
Unverified
Speaker 98
Representative Les "Skip" Carnine
Unverified
Speaker 115
Speaker 117
Speaker 122
Representative John W. Walker
Unverified
Speaker 132
Senator Percy Malone
Unverified
Speaker 137
Speaker 138
Speaker 135
Speaker 120
Speaker 146
Speaker 145
Speaker 150
Speaker 155
Speaker 125
Chris Heller
Unverified
Speaker 163
Speaker 161
Speaker 169
Speaker 170
Speaker 176
Speaker 178
Speaker 105
Speaker 191
Speaker 181
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
Speaker 206
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
Speaker 80
Speaker 37
Representative Robert E. Dale
Unverified
Speaker 116
Speaker 52
Speaker 226
Speaker 230
Speaker 95
Speaker 50
Speaker 235
Speaker 168
Speaker 241
Speaker 243
Speaker 167
Speaker 111
Speaker 27