House Education Committee Part 2
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (9)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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SB352
· 5 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “…ele, you were first. Excuse me. Mr. Steele, you want to run Senate Bill 352? I don't want to look at my main man down there. We've got…”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1743
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB1743”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB2004
· 3 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “…see Mr. Nichols, sir, but I'm Mr. Hammer. Okay. And that's House Bill 2004. Committee,”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB303
· 2 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “Alright Okay Mr. Summers you're going to run Senate Bill 303 Committee All right, are you ready? I'm ready. Good.”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB353
· 2 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “SB353”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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HB1838
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1838”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB321
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB321”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB737
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB737”
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Pre-2017 bill | ||
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SB766
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB766”
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Pre-2017 bill |
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Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
0:00
We've got to 2.30. We're going to try to do as many as we can. First, Mr. Ingram has House Bill 1743. Mr. Ingram, would you come to the table, please? Thank you, Mr.
Representative Keith M. Ingram
Unverified
0:21
Chairman. May proceed. Mr. Chairman, committee, appreciate you hearing the bill today. Seated to my right is B.J. Mack, who is president of the Arkansas Trainers Association.
The bill that you have before you is a culmination of about a year and a half's worth of work. It was a legislative task force that was charged to study health care issues concerning secondary school student-athletes, evaluate the current athletic training curriculum, and recommended changes to the athletic training curriculum. for student athletes and, four, explore funding opportunities for potential pilot programs.
This committee has come up with some recommendations that were drafted in the form of the bill. I think we found we took a lot of testimony, some we started a little earlier today and I'd ask a family to be here that testified that lost a son to heat stroke. I think we came away from, to summarize the committee, we found that there is a wide varying
of care for student athletes in high school. We recognize the inherent problems and the cost of trainers associated with high school programs. I think that one of the things that we found out was that we have different problems health related in football and in basketball. In football, concussion and heat related incidents are two of the primary problems for our student athletes. And in basketball, it's more heart related, heart enlargement that has created problems.
So we bring you today about a year and a half's worth of work, and it's in the form of House Bill 1743. If the chairman would allow, I'd like to recognize or have you recognize B.J. Mack with the Trainers Association. Sure. Would you
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
2:28
identify yourself with the record, please,
Speaker 9
2:31
and you may proceed? Yes. B.J. Mack, president of the Arkansas Athletic Trainers Association, respected committee chair and
committee members. I appreciate the opportunity. This is, like he said, a culmination of a lot of effort. Our goal with this is to increase the health care standards for our students who participate in extracurricular activities in the state. Currently there are no set of minimum standards for concussion, for heat, for any variance of athletic emergency situations. What we'd like to see with this bill is assisting every school in their district to come up
with a policy that best fits their district so that there are policies in place to deal with heat illnesses, to deal with concussions, to deal with how to get the ambulance to the practice field at 4 o'clock in the afternoon when practices are going on. It's just turning the school's attention to these issues that do need to be addressed. We've lost several young men over the last 10 years to various issues that frankly are are preventable if certain standards were in place.
And so that's all we're hoping to accomplish is to raise the health care standards, and I'll be happy to answer any questions
Speaker 8
4:00
that we need to be done. MR. Committee questions? Anyone? MR. One of
Representative Keith M. Ingram
Unverified
4:05
the questions. Let me touch on I've got a question just thrown at me. The answer to the question of Representative Summershead, why no 7A? Well, basically 7A schools, for the most part, have trainers. It's 6A and below.
I think the summary of what we're asking in this bill, there's no mandates. There's no mandates in this, but we're asking the schools to plan a policy or a procedure at every school to deal with athletic health care issues for both practices and games. We're establishing a two-year pilot program to place one or more athletic trainers in school districts without consistent access to an athletic trainer, and I think in that
we have specified that one shall at least be at an electric, at a co-op, at an educational co-op. That's the key in this. We want to try to study this, set a benchmark, and see if there's savings involved with trainers at schools. The 7A schools that testified before the committee talked about that those trainers were used for maybe teachers or people that were employed by the school system that came by and maybe
kept them from having to go make a call to a doctor. So we're going to create a benchmark and try to see what the savings that could be associated with this. And then the ancillary benefit, I think, of this is, you know, not every kid can swing a bat, throw a ball, but they like to participate in sports, and we see this as a career pathway for student managers that become student trainers that could pursue that in college and come
back and work in the state of Arkansas. So we see this as a real win-win opportunity in the school system. Again, there is no mandates whatsoever in this. And as far as I know, there is no opposition. We work very closely with AAA. We work very closely with the Department of Education. And I think everybody is comfortable with what we're trying to do. MR. Thank you, Mr. Ingram.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
6:25
We have a couple of questions. Mr. McLean, I believe you had a
Speaker 13
6:30
question. MR. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ingram answered my question.
I like the concept of the trainer being available outside the purview of just the athletic department. So I think this is a great bill. I fully support it. Thank you, Representative Ingram. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Speaker 20
6:51
Dale, do you have a question? A couple of questions here. My first question would be the Rural Education Service Corporatives, what will they do with their
Representative Robert E. Dale
Unverified
6:59
grant? I'm trying to understand. Does this have to do with the studies?
Representative Keith M. Ingram
Unverified
7:06
Well, they will share a trainer. The cooperative will share a trainer at the various schools that cover that cooperative. The operative word that you just mentioned on the front end, that funding
part, I think that's going to be the obviously most difficult thing. Well, that
Representative Robert E. Dale
Unverified
7:23
was where my next question was. You referred to some grants here, are these federal grants? Because I noticed we don't have a revenue
Speaker 24
7:32
impact. Well, for about 24 hours, the land commissioner was going to make a grant to fund this program,
so we're going to have to be on the lookout for some additional grant money. Committee, additional questions? Seeing none,
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
7:47
anyone want to speak against this bill, for this bill? Committee, Mr.
Summers? Motion do pass. Motion to do pass. Committee, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say no. I believe the ayes have it. Mr. Ingham, you passed your bill. Mr. Chairman, committee, we appreciate the vote.
Speaker 29
8:11
I don't see Mr. Nichols, sir, but I'm Mr. Hammer. Okay. And that's House Bill 2004. Committee,
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
8:19
at this time, we're going to look at House Bill 2004 by Representative Hammer. There's an amendment. And
Speaker 35
8:25
there's an amendment that we'll pass out. 2004. This
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
8:42
amendment you're receiving is his amendment, his bill.
I have a motion on the amendment, Mr. Dale. Motion to do pass on amendment committee. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? I believe the
ayes have it. Mr. Hammer, you may proceed with presenting your bill.
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
9:16
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, committee members. Let me explain what the bill does and why I added the amendment into one package.
Be glad to answer any questions. The unbring of this bill is a request of a former principal who was a longtime principal at Merrick and Benton, and also at the request of a couple of superintendents that are in my district, one specifically, Danny Henley down at Harmony Grove in Haskell. And what this bill is intended to do is to create some flexibility within the 60 hours of professional development that is required. It does not raise the hours, does not reduce the hours, does not change the parameters of the hours. What it would do is create flexibility for individual school districts to have a little
bit of discretion. It does specifically address and create the flexibility within the 60 hours in the area of parental involvement, Arkansas history and administration. And what the amendment does is, as was processing and talking with various entities that would have influence or would have input into this bill, the reason it created the amendment was is because in the event that a new teacher comes on board in a school district, this amendment would require that they get the full complement of the 60 hours of professional development.
Or if a teacher changes disciplines within, say, a period of time at their school and becomes a teacher in a different area, they would be required to take the full complement of hours. And so that's why the amendment is added on there, to make sure that anybody who comes in new or anybody that changes would have the full complement. But the intent of the bill is to create flexibility within the 60 hours by giving individual school districts the opportunity to say, well, we want to use some of these hours here to have more time to work in this area
or they're using the three within the structure. And that's pretty well it in a nutshell, and I'll be glad to answer any questions.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
11:16
Committee questions? Ms. Clemmer, you have a question? You have that look on your
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
11:23
face. You know it so well. Yeah, I do. I guess I just want to make sure, and I really am apologizing that I'm
Speaker 46
11:30
not more attentive. This room is creating obvious soporific effects.
Okay, is this just for new teachers? No, ma'am. Play that
Speaker 49
11:40
part of it again. Sure. That's the part I
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
11:43
got a little bit lost on. Yes, ma'am. The reason I added the amendment was to guarantee that if a new teacher, say, came on this next year and, say, the individual school district said, well, we know all we need to know at this particular time about scholarships and we want to flex those hours over because we want more parental involvement, but, too, in the area of parental involvement, too, is all that's built in.
This would allow them to shift those hours for that particular year to do that. However, if you were a new teacher coming in, you would want your teachers to have the full range and not have to go, say, two years before they would get something in the area of, say, parental involvement. It just, without creating any more hours, reducing any hours, it just provides individual school districts a little bit of flexibility so
Speaker 48
12:30
they can address what may be an issue in their district that isn't necessarily at that time in their history a prevalent area in another district.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
12:39
Thank you very much. Thank you. Committee, any additional questions? Seeing none, we'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this
Speaker 32
12:49
bill, for this bill? Mr. Abernathy, you want to speak for this bill? Okay. Thank you.
Speaker 53
12:59
Richard Abernathy, Executive Director of the Administrator's Association, and we have been asking for some flexibility in professional development for several years, and we think Representative Hammer has hit a home run on this particular bill,
So we appreciate his effort, and we appreciate a good
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
13:15
vote. Okay. Thank you, sir. Mr. Wren, you have a motion. Motion to pass as amended. Committee, we have a motion to pass as amended. All those in favor say aye. Opposed,
like signed. Mr. Hammer, I believe you passed your bill. Thank you for coming. Thank you, sir. On behalf of my wife, who is a teacher, I
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
13:33
can go home to a happy home, and I appreciate that very much. That means a lot nowadays.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
13:41
We're at Senate Bills, and we had people signed up to Mr. Summers. Let's see. Mr. Steele, you were first. Excuse me. Mr. Steele, you want to run Senate Bill 352? I don't want to look at my main man down there. We've got him, sir. We've
Speaker 58
14:06
Mr. Summers, you're next. Mr. Chairman I will yield to Mr. Summers Is that because you can't find the bill there?
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
14:17
Alright Okay Mr. Summers you're going to run Senate Bill 303 Committee All right, are you ready? I'm ready. Good.
Representative Tim Summers
Unverified
14:57
I'll ask my witness to introduce himself and to give you the content of this, if that's allowable. MR. Identify yourself
Speaker 67
15:08
with the record, please. MR. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I'm Luke Gordy, Executive Director of Arkansans for Better Schools. I appreciate the opportunity to visit with you today on this bill. As most of you do know, Act 35 is the single most important piece of accountability legislation this state has ever had, and it's actually been a model for the rest of the country as
far as holding the system accountable for the results it's producing. It was passed as a result of the Lakeview case to address the adequacy and equity issues of Lakeview, and it's been a terribly important piece to improve our educational outcomes for all our kids, and it's done a great job of that. One of the primary components of Act 35 is the choice provision where if a child is in a situation where he's being underserved for multiple years, he has the right now to choice
out of that school to a district that is a higher-performing school district. But it has a race provision on it in the current legislation. The Supreme Court has ruled that a race provision is unconstitutional, and what this bill does is simply remove the race provision from Act 35 choice so it will remain constitutional, and that's what it changes, basically. And I'm available for any questions. Okay. The first question
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
16:31
I have on the back page, you've got some language
marked out there, line 2 through line 5.
Can you explain the reason for taking that out
Speaker 67
16:44
of the... Yes, sir. It's redundant. It's in another part of the law and another part of Act 35, and it's just a redundancy. That's still a requirement in Act 35. You stand on that
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
16:55
statement. Yes, sir. Okay. I want to make sure we're testing our students. No,
absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Any other questions,
committee? Seeing none, go to the audience.
Anyone want to speak against this bill? For this bill? Seeing none, we'll come back. Have a motion. Do pass. From Mr. Dale, all those in favor
say aye. Aye. Opposed? I believe the ayes have it. Thank you, Mr. Summers. Thank you, sir. Committee, we've called about the air. Mr. Hudson fussed up
Speaker 73
17:33
so bad about it being so cold in here, making sure he gets his air heated up.
Speaker 77
17:49
Mr. Steele, you have your bill now? Mr. Steele, what's the number on that bill? Senate
Speaker 58
18:12
Bill 737. 737, committee. You may proceed, Mr. Steele. Madam, Mr. Chair, if I could get Dr. Kimbrough. He's been in communication with Senator Chesterfield on these next two pieces of legislation.
I think they're just reporting legislations and should be non-controversial. In talking
Speaker 83
18:27
with Senator Chesterfield, one of the questions that she asked is, as the school performance report card continues to expand, if you remember, there
Speaker 85
18:36
were several other bills that had been presented that would expand the report card. We talked about the fiscal impact, how much that report card continues to grow. We mail it to 460,000 students.
It costs about $900,000 to do that. What we're looking for here is instead of mailing that, we make it available to the students, and we also make it available on the website of each school district. So this would be the school performance report card. It would be made available to every parent and guardian in the public schools posting the school performance reports on each school on the website of the department and the website of the school district and it has to be done no later
than March the 15th committee questions mr. climber thank
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
19:31
you mr. mr. Campbell representative steel are there provisions that allow the parent to have a hard copy report if they ask for it you know we always hear how many people don't
Speaker 85
19:50
don't believe there's anything in here that requires that it be made available I can't hardly believe that anyone at a school district
wouldn't make a copy for the parent if they wanted it it would be on the I
Speaker 88
20:02
would certainly hope so too yes I just wondered if it was a provision in there thank
Speaker 92
20:06
you this will allow us to expand that report card to be much more meaningful and easier to read i
Speaker 58
20:12
know senator chester i did talk with her about that issue and i know she was very concerned about cost felt like that the cost would be
Speaker 82
20:18
very minimum if it was just online are the schools doing anything else
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
20:22
to put the link i mean do they have to go to the your department to find the link or is it going to be on the school's link our website and
Speaker 92
20:31
on the school district's website both okay and we generate the report and we send it to the schools
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
20:39
and they have to put it on their website, and we have it on ours. Okay, thank you. Any additional questions, committee? Seeing none, we'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill, for this bill? Seeing none, committee, what is your pleasure? I have a motion do pass from Representative Carnine. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Leave the ayes. Have it. Mr. Steele, tell Ms. Chesterfield you have passed her bill.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Do you have another
Speaker 58
21:07
one also, Rep. Steele, you want to run? Yes, sir. Senate Bill 352 is a companion bill to the bill we just passed. 352, committee. You may proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members, this is, again, a companion bill. It's a reporting bill along the lines of what Representative Hutchison was talking about earlier today. It's just going to require that there be reporting of kids who have taken the ACT test and school districts that are providing remediation and college preparatory classes in high school.
It's just reporting, so we'll know where we are. Committee, any questions?
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
21:54
Seeing none, we'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill, for this bill? Committee, we'll back to you. What is
your pleasure? Mr. Summers, motion do pass. All those in favor say aye. Opposed like signed. Leave the aye's. Have it, Mr. Steele. You're doing real good. Thank you. You have any more?
Speaker 98
22:12
Or is that it? I won't chance anymore. That's a good thing. Thank you.
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
23:25
We are running Senate Bill 353, which clarifies funding for our isolated
school districts. And I have with me Mr. Chair, Commissioner Kimbrell, and I will let him make comments about this
Speaker 85
23:45
bill. Thank you, Madam Co-Chair. Mr. Chair, this bill doesn't change a lot about isolated school funding, but isolated school funding statutes were in three different sections of the code.
What we try to do is pull all of this together and not change how any school is funded, not change how any school is identified, but put it into one code section and clean up a little bit of the language. We did amend this a couple of times. It has been finally engrossed on the 10th of March, and I don't believe there's anyone who has any problems with this at this time. We've got it, I think, into a point where now the code is in one section and it will be more easily accessible and we can follow it a lot easier in isolated school situations.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
24:35
Thank you, Mr. Kimball. Committee, questions? Anything to make things simpler, we're all for, Dr. Kimball. Seeing none, we'll go to the audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill, for this
bill? Committee, what is your pleasure? Move to pass, Mr. Chair. I have a motion to do pass. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
24:58
signed, be the ayes have it. Thank you, Dr. Roebuck. That's fine. Mr. Chair, if I could, could I run Senate Bill
Speaker 111
25:04
766? 766. Yes, ma'am, you may. Okay, thank you.
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
25:21
Mr. Chair, members, and Mr. Chair, if you'll tell me, I believe we have people
that are signed up to speak for this bill, but would you tell me if you have anyone signed up to speak against this bill?
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
25:35
Not that I've seen, sir, no. I don't, and if
they're going to speak for this bill, I'll just let them come sit at the table and look good, and I think
Speaker 64
25:42
you and your sidekick there will be enough. Thank you. About a thumbs up. Mr. Chair,
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
25:46
if I could just have a point of personal privilege, just stand up if you're for this bill.
Okay, y'all got it? Thank you, Dr. Roebuck. So you can take their names off the list. This bill is a wonderful bill. It has been months in the making, and the people you just saw stand up have been at the table every step of the way, and we appreciate their patience. When we started out, I believe we had three bills, and this is the final result of our work. And so I bring you Senate Bill 766 on behalf of Senators Baker and Key, and I'm carrying it in the House.
What this does, as you've read in the paper, it promotes accountability and efficiency at our state-supported institutions of higher education. But more importantly, it clarifies our funding formula calculations and starts us down the road on productivity funding. And that is something that we certainly have talked about. If you remember, I sponsored a bill two years ago that started us that way. This clarifies and kind of cements that process. So what you see is an outcome-centered component, and it can include, on page three, end of course enrollment,
student retention, student progression toward credential completion, number of credentials awarded, and we do emphasize that high-demand credential that we are so interested in, and the student transfer activity you've already passed out and is now law, our new transfer bill and research activity. So this has been a long time coming. I appreciate Director Broadway who has facilitated all the meetings and all the work, and I appreciate my friends in higher ed for their work and their collaboration.
With that, we'll be glad to take questions, and Director Broadway
Speaker 10
27:38
may also have comments. Committee, any questions? Mr. Broadway, you want to make any comments before
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
27:42
we go to the committee? Okay. 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 to you. What is your
pleasure, Mr. Summers? Motion to do pass. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Leave the ayes have it, Ms. Roebuck. You passed
the bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee.
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
28:08
Since I'm on a roll, Mr. Chair, could I continue? You
can try. You can try. I'll try. Now we get into my senator's bills. So I bring you this bill on behalf. It's not about monkeys, is it? It could be. If you like monkeys, it could be. I'm going to bring you Senate Bill 321 first. You might not want to sit here for that.
I didn't think he wanted to sit
by me on this one. Members, this is a bill that authorizes parental monitors on our school buses. It is permissive legislation. It does not require parental monitors on our school buses, but it is in an effort to protect children from abusive behavior while riding a school bus. It says that our district boards, our board of directors, and our local school boards may,
and I emphasize the word may, create and implement a program to authorize a parent of a child enrolled in the school district to act as a monitor on a school bus. These are not strangers. These are parents of a child enrolled in the school district. And it does say that the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation shall adopt rules to implement this section. And we understand that this parental monitor is a qualified volunteer under the Arkansas Volunteer Immunity Act.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
29:46
I'll be glad to take questions. Committee, any questions? Ms. Roebuck, the Arkansas Volunteer Immunity Act, I don't know a lot about that, but are these parents, is there any liability out there for the
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
30:07
school through them? They would be immune under the Arkansas Volunteer Immunity Act, sir. They are strictly on the bus at the request of the board. They've gone through the board.
The board has actually approved these people to be on these school buses. This is permissive. Okay.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
30:23
Mr. Dale, you have a question. Will those parents
Representative Robert E. Dale
Unverified
30:27
have to go through background checks? Is that part of that act, too? Sir, the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
30:36
Facilities and Transportation will adopt those rules, and I'm not speaking for them, but I would assume that they would want to do that, but they will be in charge of the rules.
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
30:51
Mr. Hutchison, do you have a question? Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Representative Roebuck. Does this person have to be a parent, or can it be a
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
31:07
grandparent, or just a helpful neighbor? No, ma'am. It says parent of a child enrolled in the school district. And going back, Mr. Dale, my good friend, Representative Hobbs, pointed out to me that already existing in the statute covers that for background checks.
So it has to be a parent? It has to be a parent of a child enrolled in the school district, not a grandparent, a parent.
Speaker 88
31:37
Thank you. Ms. Klemmer, you have a question? Is that? Thank you, Ms. Chair. Is that district or that particular school anywhere in the school district? Anywhere in
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
31:48
the school district. Okay. Thank you. Any additional questions, committee? If not, we'll go to the audience.
Mr. McLean, were you reaching for the... I'm just going to make a motion to proper time, Mr. Schrodinger. All right, I got you. Anyone want to speak against this bill? Yes, school board station. Ms. Gou, you may... Ms. Gou, we have about five minutes
left, and I'd love to get Senator Laverty in and hit the bill in before we
Speaker 139
32:18
have to go back in at 2.30. But you may proceed. I'll be really
Speaker 141
32:21
quick. Y'all may have some questions you want to ask. We don't usually testify against permissive legislation, but this bill worries us because if it exists, people might think that it's a good idea,
and they might not understand that there are some pretty serious unintended consequences. Yes, the volunteer would be immune for tort liability, okay? No one could sue the volunteer for negligence based on something that happened on the bus on her watch, for instance. But there's a lot of other exposure to liability that having this adult on the bus could represent. He or she could be injured.
This could result in a claim under the school district's auto insurance policy. We are concerned that because this volunteer would be considered an agent of the school, if the volunteer made certain kinds of mistakes, the school district could be sued, mistakes that a school district is not protected against in terms of tort. For instance, if the volunteer committed a civil rights violation or did something like that,
that could result in a claim for which there would be no immunity for which the school district would have to mount a defense. One of the other things I'd like to point out is although we are very, very interested and concerned about student safety and security on buses, state law requires every passenger on a bus to remain seated at all times, and we really question how effective anybody could be if they could not monitor and patrol up and down the aisles
Speaker 143
34:04
of the bus while it was
moving. If anyone has any questions, I'd be glad
Speaker 14
34:10
to interview you. Any questions for Ms. Skoo? Seeing none,
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
34:15
we'll go to the audience again. Anyone want to speak for this bill? Okay. We have someone speak for this bill. Identify yourself for the
Speaker 144
34:23
record, please. Mr. Chairman, Danny Knight, Arkansas Administrative Association. We think this, I think this bill has a lot of merit to it. It is permissive legislation. We're going to have monitors on these buses. We already use a lot of monitors on the special needs buses, so we think this is tying it in.
You'll have training on this, and all this can be developed, and we think it's a good
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
34:47
bill. Thank you. Great question to anyone. Anyone that always wants to speak against this bill or for this bill, seeing none, we'll come back to the committee. We have a motion due passed somewhere. Okay, Mr. McLean, you? The motion do pass, Mr. Chair. Do pass,
thank you. Committee, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, like signed. I believe the ayes have it. Ms. Roebuck? Yes, sir. May I do one more for my
Speaker 88
35:09
Senate bill? Is it a Senate bill or a House bill?
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
35:13
It's a Senate bill. No, ma'am. We're going to move back to Mr. Mickels and Senator Laverty. I'm going to have to apologize. We have to get House bills out today. So, Senator Laverty, we may meet again
upon adjournment. Do you want us to call you? If you'll give Mark your number,
Speaker 146
35:29
we'll be sure we get up with you. Mr. Nickles, what bill are you going to run? The concurrent
Speaker 17
35:35
enrollment bill. I don't know the number. 1838. Would you like to copy that bill? That would be helpful. Got one more.
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
35:52
Mr. Abnath, you can come on up here. I'll save you. I'm just a tie. I know. I just tried to save you. Your age, I want to save you some time.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
36:09
Thank you. That's right. We have about nine minutes left, but take your time
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
36:15
and be in a hurry. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The reasoning behind this bill is participating in the fall budget hearings
and hearing the different ways that the institutions of higher education are treating concurrent enrollment. I think it's a problem because, in effect, the state ends up paying twice. We pay for the high school student through that funding formula, and then through the funding formula for higher education, we also pay. And it's the one class, but we're paying twice. I think it's not just limited to two-year institutions, four-year institutions are also
doing this. And I just want to see some clarity in this issue because I think some of the institutions are in essence buying students. And so they put them in their base numbers And so we end up paying year after year after year. I have spoken with the interim director of the Department of Higher Education. He has assured me that they are going to take a look at this issue and come back with something
through their coordinating board. But I think it's important for us to keep this issue in front of us and for us policymakers to realize that we have an issue here. have, our state tax dollars are being doubled up. Now I'm not questioning the value of concurrent enrollment, but I do think the funding of it needs to be equitable, and one institution should not be able to scholarship or waive
tuition than others do not, and it gets in the formula. And I'd be happy to entertain the questions from the committee on the hurry-up side of my presentation.
Speaker 146
38:18
All right. Committee, questions, anyone? Mr. Nichols? Seeing none, we'll go to the
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
38:25
audience. Anyone want to speak against this bill? Mr. Abernathy, you may approach the at the table there.
Speaker 153
38:41
Bill Abernathy. This amends the bill that I've authored the second term I was here. We work work on current education. And this bill we the bill that he's amending here has the highest standards in the nation for concurrent education. We put in law that a teacher has to have a master's plus 18 hours.
They have to have training by the institution. These students have to have advising for financial aid. And if they have a common test, these students have to take that same test. We have the high standards in the nation for concurrent education and the Department of Education after that adopted that as a standard. Since this was introduced here, I've had co-ops, high schools, career education.
They have built into their programs for students to take concurrent credit classes. This issue of double dipping, talking about, some students take it at night. not paid for that. Colleges are funded about 70%, so I'm sure all these students are going to be in that 30% that's not funded there. So the funding issue is not there. It's the cheapest way a student can get a college credit. It's the cheapest on the parent. They take
college English. They don't have to take it a second time, so it's the cheapest way. It's a bridge for these students to enter college. Other states are promoting concurrent credit instead of trying to deny students about it. And we have a good concurrent credit program in many schools and places in Arkansas. So I would hope that at least if you have a concern, we let the Department of Education work through that and come back with some systematic.
Because this bill says no institutional funds can be used. What are those funds? If I have a pie supper for this and turn it over to the institution, that's their money. If we have a grant, turn it over to the institution, it's their money. So none of that can be used. So it goes further, I'm afraid, than what we think it does. So I would appreciate you not bothering concurrent education. Thank you. Thank you. Committee, any questions?
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
41:21
Mr. Neer, do you have a question? Yes, a couple of them. That was one of my questions is there is no definition of non-institutional
Speaker 130
41:34
funds. So do we know exactly what that is? I think the general
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
41:38
definition, I think that is the tuition income that the university receives because what happens, you know, there are fixed costs to a college education. So say for a two-year school, what is their target population they're wanting to really
serve? A lot of times it's the single parent that's trying to improve their job skills, and they go to this two-year school or maybe a four-year school, but yet the tuition they pay out of pocket is higher because they're having to cover the cost that the university has with a concurrent. Now, I believe Mid-South over in West Memphis, they have a fund over there that is endowed,
I think, and they pay the tuition. I think that's a great system. I think Henderson State has a similar type of system where the tuition is paid not from institutional funds but from some other fund. So, you know, I'm in probably 90 percent agreement with what former Representative Abernathy has said about the value of concurrent, but if the system results in the regular college students having to pay more in their tuition in order to fund the concurrent students,
then I think that's the issue that I'm trying to address. But I was glad to hear Representative Abernathy say that they are willing to talk about a solution with this, and Interim Director Broadway has said the same thing. And so unless there are some more questions, what I would like, go ahead. I just got one more, and
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
43:23
it's if I could. It says on paragraph B, they must meet all the prerequisites, including the entrance requirements
of the institution. I think most of the entrance requirements require high school graduation.
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
43:37
Well, what I was wanting to get at was if there is a grade
point average or an ACT type of score that requires for regular admittance, then I think if you are in that concurrent class you should have the same standard. Each institution
has their own interest requirements, and they would make a call on that. I
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
43:58
think some of them do require a high school diploma, so then you would not have
of my 11th graders going to the Kostot Community College at night to get
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
44:08
these college courses. Now, Kostot does not fund the concurrent role. They're another school that I think does it right. I think Henderson does it right. Kostot does it right. And that way, the regular students are not
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
44:22
indirectly funding the concurrent students. It could preclude somebody from going if they did construe that to be a high school graduation
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
44:31
certificate. Yes, but Perry, that hasn't stopped them so far.
Speaker 154
44:35
No, but that's new in the bill. Yeah. That's new, so I think that might need to
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
44:43
be clarified. Thank you. Mr. Nichols, were you going to make a statement before that question? Yes, since Mr. Abernathy, I think, who represents the two-year schools now, and Mr. Broadway, who represents all of higher education, have indicated that they have noticed, at least Mr. Broadway, that there is an issue here because it's across the board how the
higher education institutions approach this problem, then I'm willing to pull this and send it to interim study.
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
45:06
Okay. That will be good. Thank you very much. Committee, we will meet upon adjournment for a short time probably.
Agenda
Call to Order
HB1743
HB2004
SB352
SB303
SB737
SB352
SB353
SB766
SB321
HB1838
Adjournment
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Representative Eddie L. Cheatham
Unverified
Representative Keith M. Ingram
Unverified
Speaker 9
Speaker 8
Speaker 13
Speaker 20
Representative Robert E. Dale
Unverified
Speaker 24
Speaker 29
Speaker 35
Representative Kim Hammer
Unverified
Representative Ann V. Clemmer
Unverified
Speaker 46
Speaker 49
Speaker 48
Speaker 32
Speaker 53
Speaker 57
Speaker 58
Representative Tim Summers
Unverified
Speaker 67
Speaker 73
Speaker 77
Speaker 83
Speaker 85
Speaker 88
Speaker 92
Speaker 82
Speaker 98
Speaker 100
Representative Johnnie J. Roebuck
Unverified
Speaker 111
Speaker 64
Speaker 10
Representative Donna Hutchinson
Unverified
Speaker 139
Speaker 141
Speaker 143
Speaker 14
Speaker 144
Speaker 146
Speaker 17
Representative Jim Nickels
Unverified
Speaker 153
Representative Randy Stewart
Unverified
Speaker 130
Speaker 154