Education Committee - Senate

Be taken up and we will be discussing Senate bill two ninety four Senator Breanne Davis will be presenting that bill we will have an opportunity after the presentation for everybody who is signed up. To speak for or against the bill. So before while this is all going on I do not expect to hear any conversation from anybody in this room for or against for approval or disapproval or whatever the case may be otherwise you will be asked to leave so. Senator Davis would you like to start identify yourself in your guest I would thank you madam chair good morning members thank you madam chair again thank you members for being here I'm Senator Breanne Davis Senate district twenty five. It is my honor to present to this committee the single largest investment in public schools that Arkansas has ever seen Senate bill two ninety four learns ACT. As a parent of children enrolled in Arkansas's public school system as a product of public schools myself as a former school board member as a state senator from Russellville. In a member of this committee on education I say to you today let's take this courageous step in the right direction to provide better lives in opportunities for Arkansas's children the future of our state. If you wasn't the only one thing that I say today please let it be this I have made a commitment with governor Sarah Sanders with representative Keith Brooks and the twenty four Senate co sponsors and the fifty four house co sponsors that we will no longer stand on the sideline and refused to address the undeniable and inexcusable fact that we have failed Arkansas students. As a state we haven't spent billions of dollars over many years into what results. To have Arkansas remains as one of the worst places to educate children in the country. This is wrong and there is no other way to say it. But we have the opportunity to right this wrong state leaders and the opportunity is before you today in the learns Act. Before I explain the details of this legislation to you I want to address the misinformation and to put it bluntly the flat out lies that have been circulating about the learns Act on the news on social media platforms and sent around our communities please hear me loud and clear this is a public education bill. Teachers listing on livestream teachers in my district please hear me you know me and you know my commitment to teachers in our public schools in fact as I sit here right now the most important people in my life are sitting in classrooms with public school teachers I have your back I am for you we are for you. Governor Sanders campaigned on the components of this bill for two years the day after she was elected by over sixty three percent of the electric Arkansas representative but Brooks and I started working on drafting this bill with the governor and her team. You should know that the legislative process in Arkansas does not typically work like this one has in fact this is been the most collaborative comprehensive partnership on a piece of legislation that I've ever witnessed or ever been part of. Nothing not one single aspect of this bill. What's the secret simply put there are no surprises. That being said if you care about public education then you've most likely been paying attention to the conversation over the last two years so you should not be surprised by the contents of this bill. Well there are some educational activist groups that choose to continually spread lies about this bill I want to set the record straight on what this bill does for teachers or parents and most importantly for our students. Teachers have spoken and we have been listening this bill makes a historic investment in our teachers as teachers will tell you no one goes into the teaching profession to get wealthy. They do it because they are passionate about kids and investing in their future. Right now Arkansas ranks at the bottom and starting teacher salary but with the learns Act we will be fourth in the nation let me repeat that so all of you in the media and on Twitter can accurately report what I just said because it is an incredible statistic. Currently Arkansas ranks at the bottom in starting teacher salary this legislation will make Arkansas fourth in the nation in starting teacher salary. This is a direct reflection of our commitment to the teaching profession. As it stands today thirty nine percent of districts in our state have a starting teacher salary at thirty six thousand dollars the state minimum. Sixty one percent of our districts Max out their top salary schedule for teachers with a bachelor's degree at under fifty thousand dollars sixty one percent. Ten percent of districts have zero. Zero teachers that make over fifty thousand dollars that includes places like Claritin in Palestine Wheatley in the delta Marmaduke and rest rector in northeast Arkansas and Smackover in south Arkansas this is real money that changes the lives of real Arkansas families and communities in every corner of our state. Additionally this bill includes the largest teacher raise in Arkansas history it includes bonuses of up to ten thousand dollars for highly effective teachers including mentors for teachers who commit to teaching in Arkansas public school in a subject area or geographical area we were where we are experiencing extreme critical shortage we are establishing a teacher academy scholarship program that will repay the tuition and fees for their undergraduate and graduate degrees we are doubling the amount of money that teachers can apply for in regards to repayment of federal student loans we are creating a paid maternity leave plan for up to twelve weeks that districts can opt into that the state will match fifty fifty we now the power of a mother bonding with her new child which is why we are including not only biological children but adopted children as well. This bill also includes highly trained literacy to help coaches to be deployed across the state to help support our teachers we've included a grant for high impact teetering for students to get additional support outside of the classroom and help lift the heavy load that our teachers carry every day inside their classroom. Students the private already of this legislation is straightforward and simple they are the future of our state and we believe that every child should have access to a quality education that fits their educational journey we will no longer be defenders of the status quo we have been failing our children for far too long status quo means that only thirty five percent of third graders and our state can read at grade level status quo is continuing to let a child zip code determine the type of education they received. Students will have access to high impact you during there will be an intensive intervention plan for students are falling behind in literacy and math we will create career ready pathway so students can graduate high school with a diploma aligned with a high wage high growth job we will be creating the office of early childhood to be housed under department of education and this will allow us to evaluate and fill the gaps of pre K. programs in communities across our state and work towards ensuring more children are kindergarten ready it is just one more way we are ensuring that students that we are supporting students for successful educational journey. And finally it is about time that we empower parents to choose how their children are educated and not put a one size fits all approach on every student. This bill will allow students to go to a school that meets their educational needs whether it's a public school a public charter school private school or home school. This legislation creates the educational freedom account so that every family can she is the school that serves their child best it will be a three year phase in approach to find students available for children in areas with high need first and all families will have universal choice in the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six school year. Thank you for allowing me to present the learnings Act today as you can tell I'm committed to the future of Arkansas. Which begins with our children I look forward to taking your questions into discussion and at this time I'd like to turn it over to Jake I believe that the secretary of the Arkansas department of education for his comments that will be open to questions from the committee thank you. So thank you senator Davis good morning everybody and thank you specially Tolley constituency came out to share their passion and conviction about what we can do better here in the state of Arkansas to support learning as we heard this bold vision that's being presented to to consider moving through committee as stated a lot of these ideas weren't knew when when governor Sanders ran on a platform for about the past two years she went and met with stakeholders all across the state and solicited feedback from educators from parents from students from leaders from community members business executives to say our number one priority is going to move the needle on education and take this great state of Arkansas from that's currently nationally ranked in the low forties to the top five in together we can do that by setting a bold vision which is the blueprint as described out in the learns initiative on how we're gonna get there someone we look at the playbook that's being developed or presented before you it's built on this vision that's been talked about in the solicited feedback for several years now and and I are and I can tell you it's it's somebody that's been a lifelong educator spent over two decades working in public education and public policy I am humbled and privileged to be a part of this team that is so passionate about making sure that we get this right that this is without a doubt historic monumental day for us as we move forward with improving and moving that lead all that need on those metrics when we look at the investments that we're about to make a is sending out a pathway that starts what I would like to save from. Cradle to career it's about making sure every child has an opportunity to participate in a high quality of on Terry prekindergarten early learning program that best meets the needs of that child because we know when students students come to us and K. twelve when they're ready for kindergarten they're ready to learn and we know that we need to make an investment in early learning so that we can make sure that more students come to us ready for kindergarten third grade metric when we look at this foundational years of where students are learning how to read a making those pivotal journeys from fourth grade of B. on where they're reading to learn this bill addresses in provides additional support of through literacy through coaching through intervention in making sure that every child has a safety net built around them so as they progress through the grades if there are gaps or holes in their learning we know that when there's an opportunity to fill those those holes and and make sure that every student has the ability to perform at or above grade level this one size fits approach all to all students in determining their path for their future we know is archaic in this bill actually it really expands on building pathways for students where we know that every student may not be on a path to college that might be a great place for some of our students are great pass for some residents to go to college or or university by some of our students might want to join the military they might want to go to work they might wanna earn advanced the credentials of this allows for multiple pathways and diplomas so that students can earn credentials while they're in our school system that will articulate to post secondary opportunities if they choose to pursue those those pathways to make sure that they're set up for success in life this bill supports local decision making we this is the this is a diverse robust state I've had the opportunity to travel to different parts of the state in fact I even got to go to the Delta with members on this committee and and meet with teachers and leaders and and solicit feedback and based on the conversations and some of our most fragile schools and communities we are able to take ideas from people that have. Their boots on the ground that are working in classrooms with some of our most vulnerable students and make sure that their voices were heard in this proposal. This one size fits approach all and not giving local decision making is challenging the needs of of Jonesborough is different in the needs of how now that's different than the needs here little Little Rock so by empowering local school boards of hiring administrators and school district leaders superintendents and educators and other communities and other students is a big step in the right direction when we look at moving this national rankings and ultimately it's important for everybody to remember that this bill takes the moral high ground in when we're as adults building and systems that are designed to set of students to be successful in life we have to make sure when we take that moral high ground that is focused on what's right for students in every piece of this legislation that's being presented for this committee to consider moving forward started with that foundation of how do we make sure what we are doing focuses on students in improving outcomes for for what we want to see in this state so I am honored to be a part of the team that I was able to help provide some input throughout this process in cherry I think we'd like to turn back to you to see if there's any questions from the members. Thank you very much. So do we have questions from the committee senator Chesterfield. Thank you madam chair and good morning to both senator. Davis and to Secretary legal first let me say this everybody's making speeches let maybe not I want to thank the governor. I want to thank secretary I believe the. But treating me with dignity and respect. As we work on what education would look like in the state of Arkansas. You listen to my concerns and you not only listened I think you heard both you and the governor because I see myself in parts of this legislation. When we talk about universal pre K. it is something that I have advocated for totality of my existence here in this legislature. When I visited with the governor about the the obstacles to young people taking advantage of free K. I said one of the major disadvantages is a lack of transportation she put transportation in this bill and I thank her for that. Representative Scott and I proposed legislation that would recognize the teachers need to be taught about the trauma that so often affects our children. And I see that in this bill. I see in this bill. That you care enough to increase salaries. I appreciate that. When I got to the Senate. The body of which I am a part. I was taken aback by the lack of inclusion of democratic members of this body. In fact we would treat treated profoundly discriminatory. In that members were not even people on this committee received advance copies of this bill on Friday and we received hours Monday afternoon. It makes no sense simply because the vote to here to pass. We simply wanted to our people have an opportunity to intelligently read the bill and perhaps re read the bill so that we could see what was in the bill and what was taken out of the bill we were not afforded that opportunity by the members of this body. In this process profoundly agree just I do believe to this process because everybody here should have a voice in what is the most profoundly unique approach to education that we've seen in some time. I don't agree with all parts of this bill but the governor and I talked about that we don't have to agree to respect each other. I feel totally disrespected by the way I was treated by the members of the Senate I want to say that for the record and now to my questions. I would like to know and I I have the cost here now is the first time I have seen the cost break out. The cost in Q. one would be to ninety seven point five million based on your salary increases a hundred eighty million et cetera seven that's available for the public. But I want to know first of all what the question that so many members in my community want to know what is critical race theory. And when you say that it should not be tell tell me what you're talking about. What does it stand now they do unanswered budget question it or I know I've got the budget questions answered because my life is what I'm going to the first one I was going to say is how much does it cost and people are telling me it was three hundred million but I had nothing concrete detail me how we got to this announcmenet I know currently we're spending over two billion on education and so I wanted to know what that would after that amount and this is been very helpful to me thank you secretary so I I'll go ahead and start answering the question on what is the progress or what is indoctrination what is it that we're trying to protect and and coming up with a simple definition for critical race theory is actually really challenging it is something that's debated amongst even the scholars that have different theories because it is that it's just a theory I I've I've been told examples of trying to put everybody into a room with history scholars and say defined socialism everybody has a little bit different answer of what that looks like in practice and how you come up with that definition but the language in this bill it emeritus the language that was signed by governor standards in the executive order and it's really preventive in nature and it really ensures that when we teach history it's tall and historical factual manner in that we are teaching students how to think not what to think and that's where we focus on that indoctrination we we're gonna teach sensitive topics effect that's what good teachers do each and every single day students deserve the right to be taught history the good the bad and the ugly there should be critical conversations there should be debates in the classroom but when there are points of view being presented itself to the educator to make sure that both points of view or share in that they're not putting their personal beliefs inside of a child head that's not the role of a teacher and up I hope none of that's happening in the schools here in the state of Arkansas but this is also preventive in nature as well because we want students to be able to debate we won't be able to students to be able to reflect on what they're here. And and then ultimately make their own decisions opinions about certain controversial subjects Act I I've come from another state where where we had challenges of where are there is there is educators even investigated because they were telling the students that the Holocaust didn't exist or there's some people that believe that the earth is flat there there's a lot of misinformation believe some somebody may have that's their own personal belief that we should be never telling a student that that's fair and accurate or or telling people that nobody ever landed on the moon there's some people have crazy releasing crazy theories we're gonna teach our standards and when we teach our standards they reflect accurate history and the topics of what we expect students to know and learn in this make sure we stay focused on that well I'm glad to hear you say that simply because the members of my community or thinking that as we head as has happened when I first came into this profession we were not allowed to talk about slavery as a cause of the civil war. We want to make sure that our children do understand that this is that the history of this country has been marked with racism sexism that we have discriminated against American Indian Alaska natives and I just wanna make sure that people in this audience a hearing you and saying that if we teach the trail of tears we're not gonna lose our job that if we teach about slavery and jim crow we're not going to lose a job and I think that's critically important the members of this committee to know I'll deserve the trolley oven state our record not only should we teach those topics that are factual history issue be required in if those reqs those topics are reflected in our standards and that's an opportunity for us as a state agency to ensure that every child is taught those topics when it's in the appropriate course thank you question number two Thank you first of all for the fifty thousand dollar beginning salary. The concern that has been expressed to me and that I have as well as why did you remove the salary schedule because you're going to have individuals live never made fifty thousand dollars coming into the classroom making just a tad more than folks who have just be gone so tell me how you anticipate rewarding those people who have been in the classroom and done a fantastic job in spite of the test scores their teachers who do a fantastic job every day so we want to know. As a former teacher as a teacher leader I want to know what you plan on doing to make sure that those who have labored in this field for a long period of time are rewarded and that they're not being the past site paid the same thing if somebody walks off the street and is making the same amount of money. Well yes to be honest and we're finding a lot of cases that and districts stop their salary schedule where the state's top players and so for us this is a real opportunity for districts to have local control and setting a salary schedule that works for their community and their teachers at the the thing that we've done is provided continually the fifty thousand dollar minimum pay in guaranteeing that every teacher will have a two thousand dollar raise in the state's paying for that for here on out so what's important to understand is that that all that money will be in a separate fine it will go directly to teacher pay and money from an adequacy that's in play later and schools are going to continue to get money and increases as we adopt adequacy recommendations and continue to put money and into the matrix to find all the things that we find one of those things being and teacher salary of personnel line item so they're going to continue to see increases just like they have historically in the past and which will give them the opportunity since they are paying for none of the races they'll be able to you thank and any type that step increase that they would lie for their salary schedule so we are keeping the equalization fine it's still there to support schools and and another important thing that I want to point out based on our conversation and debate in committee last week on classified staff and sat classified salaries are not law but they are part of adequacy and so we'll continue to see increases there as well as we accept these adequacy recommendations and that then superintendents and school boards can put towards raises for classified staff so I just wanna be very clear because there is a lot of misinformation about where's the money going to come from from for raises and then how will districts afforded districts will not have to afford it because the state is paying for it out of a separate fine adequacy will continue on they will continue to get increases in an attic in adequacy over the years that they can then put to their and raises. In nineteen your salary schedule and what is the cost of adequacy as we have presented it at even though I said to the whole process I can't remember what that total was this is two ninety seven. Five what was adequate sees cost. And a hundred and thirty five million two hundred thirty five million and we felt like we could do that and due to the health of the adequacy funding how we put into adequacy was one thirty five million dollars I'm sorry I thought you were saying that Howard Dean for the owner I want to know because I want to look at what the total cost is going to be to the people of state of Arkansas. That total cost in your one is two hundred ninety six ninety seven point five million dollars hundred fifty of that we need to ninety and I misunderstand your talk about total cost with adequacy I know what the cost of this deal is but we have to look at the totality of it all shall couple with this I've got this information are you aware of what we are paying currently on what we proposed to pay for the different adequacy do have those numbers if not you can give it to me later we do not have the numbers of what we're proposing we have not as yet we've gone through the different recommendations but that's a separate like that process will come later during session and we'll have that conversation and I'm happy to call Robert record somebody at to give more details like I'm just trying to figure out what. If I may mention find out what we are currently going to be paying what the current cost of adequacy has been Supposed to be. Mark. In and if I could Senator Chesterfield I'd I'd like to also talk a little bit about the salary schedule component you know I want to make sure that everybody's clear and understand that. In and I have a lot of respect and admiration for you especially some of it's been a lifelong educator. We value people with years of experience we value people with credentials I can tell you as as a former brand new teacher I remember my first day walking in the school if I wasn't assigned a seasoned mentor teacher to help guide me as I was making my transition into the class or full time job I might not be here today so having veteran teachers in the Cup in the schools is of value and it's a priority and we know the research is very clear there is no greater impact on student learning then the teacher standing in front of the students with this proposal does is it says that minimum salary so when we look at recruiting retaining and recognizing educators when we look at making this a profession that people should thrive towards and that they should door that we should be inspiring the next generation of students in our schools now to want to go into what I think is the greatest profession of all professions we got a raise that minimum salary expectations so people can have a livelihood. This is about local control the dollars that school districts receive and I'll let the real experts talking about budgets there's a gonna have those this is allow those school boards in those administrators to build out a salary schedule that best meets the needs of their individual teachers and that can be on advanced degrees it can be on years of experience they can be as flexible as they want and that's what I think is what we should be celebrating about this salary proposal because we're going from forty eighth in the nation starting salary to the top five in not only are we making that commitment we're giving school districts dollars that are flexible to build out how they want to come to see their effectivity caters as well well let me just respond because I was a part of that group to set the salary schedule into state law simply because they were a number of school districts who had not. And I do believe if we don't have it there mandating it they will not again and what is what is putting a chilling impact I think on some of these issues you're going to kill some of that collaboration is all I'm getting is two thousand more than a first year teacher and that's where I think we have somewhat missed the mark we may disagree about that I'm delighted with fifty thousand I think we will we do and I am so proud that this state will not be last we say that I am not a negative person but I do know that if I have worked for thirty years and I've never made fifty thousand and now you're talking about is giving me two thousand more. It puts a chilling effect on collaboration why should I help you you just got here and you're making as much if not more than I ever made in my whole life that's what I am concerned about the elimination of the salary schedule so we'll just to disagree on that philosophically because had they been doing it we not we would not have put it in law so then if I can respond I I would say then that's opportunity that's opportunity for staff conversations with the elected officials that represent that district that approved their local budget if those elected officials are being held accountable to make sure they recognize and reward the talent in their school district and shame on them. And that is so true but the state of Arkansas has said that education. Is a state affair. That is what we have we been told all this times as they give you that it is our responsibility and I appreciate as I say we can agree to disagree Robert would you please to excuse means to break would you please tell me the total amount that we're talking about spending with the two ninety seven point five million tell me what we're talking about spending for education in its totality with adequacy. Robert record with the Budget Office we don't know exactly because the adequacy reports have not been adopted there are were addicts report server never filed with the US Senate pro tem and the Speaker but they did they deferred this year's recall the reason. That I don't believe they're going to be any more or not much more is because if you look at the salary line on those reports where the salary increases that were in the attic is reported either from the house for the Senate it would've been more than the two hundred ninety seven million that we're looking at. The reason the reason the the salary increases are built in a way that they are was to ensure that the salary increases one hundred percent of the salary increase went to the teachers and so what I did is I ask for a listing of every teacher salary in Arkansas I didn't I didn't and I didn't want any demographics hello everyone I just one of the announcmenet and I wanted calculated what it would cost to give exactly these raises to these teachers that's why that's being removed from the from the matrix line okay increase in the matrix law okay every schools going to get exactly what they got last year plus because of what was in the attics Reports I think it's still being discussed what parts of the reports are we going to accept from the house or the Senate and how that shakes out but in both of those they that that amount was more than the two hundred ninety seven search and so whatever amount we end up on we'll be a comparable to what the addicts Reports were. In my final question madam chair is a Senator Davis your bill provides for charter school to be able to take over feeling a public school. But it does not allow the concomitant ability of a public school to take over failing charter school please tell me one a. That part of the bill if we thought schools would actually really be pleased with because it's a stat there's and heather additional status for state takeover and no one wants the state to take over the school said this provides schools to have the opportunity themselves to enter in into a contract and partner with another school to help bring them out of failing status so and to be quite honest I thought that was a really good thing to just provide one more layer for schools to handle their business locally which is what they repeatedly asked for and we're giving them that in this portion of the bill well the thing is you didn't tell us when they could get out of the contract with the charter school are they there for ever is there a time period that they stay there is not in the bill so it's of concern to us those of us who of what I'm looking at this in a visiting with me how do we get our schools from under the control of a charter school are they there until they die. So if if I could also address that as well as that would be part of the contract that the charter company or I should provide for an external operator a private entity to contract with the school to provide targeted services so it date it could run from ever from day to day operation or just saying we need help with curriculum development we might need coaching for literacy this is about giving school districts flexibility the ability to innovate on their own at the local level I go back to local decisions and design a contract that could be one year could be two years maybe three years it would be signed to determine at the local level any preventative measure so that they don't get to that state takeover we we want to get in the business of improving the local public education and giving them a model that's sustainable and if they need to contract with outside resources and they should have the ability to do that C. and that's not it's not clear to me in the bill because it does not say that there can be an exit from the contract and that's important because in state law you know we have five years supposedly that we can stay under state control but there's nothing in this bill that tells us how long that will last and it's not you have made it clear to me that this is a contract between them and they can determine the land but is not in the bill and I think that's giving great consternation just many of the school districts around here charter schools just gonna be able to take us over keeps there until we data doubt about it that I think that's important that we say that somewhere in this bill and make that clear think that's fair in and that's not the intent and as we go through the rule making process because a lot of the sections really have rule making process that will prescribe we would love to partner with you as we go through each one of those steps to make sure we we don't have any unintentional consequences and we can we can make sure that that is clearly spelled out in the role and I appreciate you once again I want to thank the governor and I want to thank you for the respect that you have shown me in this process it is truly appreciated a one last. Question I apologize madam chair and I know everybody's by tad Linda Chesterfield and I don't care of. I'm well mostly because I got a public got up and made it a few minutes and I won't have I am listening so what I want to know is One of the districts that I represent. Was under state control for almost six years. When the district one under state control they came they had six schools that were an academic distress that was sound physically. At the rest of that the other forty two schools were just fine they came out of state control in fiscal distress. And with fifteen schools in academic distress and with this coming they need to be sure when I think you're going to visit with us about it but I want to state for the record we need to be sure that those people who looked at the school board to have now taken control of those schools again we have an opportunity to bring them to the successful level that they need to and I'm hopeful that this bill will allow that to happen but I needed to say that for the record and again thank you so very much to you and the governor for the respect that you have shown me it is truly appreciated. Senator Dotson. Thank you madam chair So. One of the things I've heard not only about this bill but really any bill that comes up with expanding opportunities for parents and and students for choices and in their education is that it will be fun public schools can you speak to that does this bill to fund public schools. Nothing about this bill the funds public schools I mean I just as you read through the bill just section after section supports our public schools this is the largest investment in public schools in Arkansas history. It is unmatched we are committed to public schools we want them to thrive we are not trying to consolidate regardless of what people are saying. About this and is in opposition to our public schools we know that for most of our kids go and we appreciate our teachers and we want to support and if you read through this bill you see the number of support that we give teachers the way we're trying to encourage people getting into the teaching profession as we've heard from so many educators that said we have a teaching shortage and I'm worried about the future of the profession and I believe that we answered that in this bill so you know like a lot of that those monies separate I'm we're doing it in a measured way as far as the educational freedom accounts and and we just think it's important like we all have the same goal it doesn't matter where you're at on this bill is to support and educate kids and make sure they're successful long term throughout their life and so what we know is that giving kids an opportunity to find an educational path that meets their needs where they can learn best and meet their learning potential is the most important thing we can date so now this bill I mean this is a public school bill and if you truly read through the pages to see what it's saying you will see that. And it correct me if I'm wrong but I believe our our state constitution actually requires us to fund public schools first before anything else so we have a commitment not only. Just within this bill but an obligation that we are sworn to uphold in our constitution to fund public schools first and foremost before any other funding item in the entire budget is that correct absolutely and and that's what I told with yes speaking with many educators they said will you know the same thing this is going to be fun public schools and we've talked through that and say no we are constitutionally obligated to fund public schools and we want you and you see that reflected in the fact that this is the largest investment in public schools in Arkansas's history thank you. Senate Senator Leding. Thank you madam chair thank you senator Davis and Secretary legal I do have a long list of questions happy to take turns and these questions are intended to be hostile just trying to get answers from my superintendent principals teachers who have worked out of their own concerns and my request very hard over the last forty eight hours and forty five minutes is this legislation was filed to provide feedback and and you like me they are clear eyed about the outcome but they do have concerns about how some of these things can be put in place and how they're going to work and I think they they needed deserve answers so just going to start at the top some questions from my superintendent. Page seventeen line twelve we start talking about the transformation contracts just the way this section opened by superintendent asked if it is possible under this legislation that a an entire district could be taken over by a charter school or if this is a situation where it's only going to be You know I wanted to do to one city type contract this is not a school district board of directors. With approvals if education may enter into a contract for school transformation so could they do that for the entire school district or does it have to be school by school. Yeah that provides opportunity for either so if you like Secretary legal as saying earlier if you need and difference like specific supports on curriculum or different things and you can enter into contracts this for specific things you can enter into a contract or school or purchase her district okay thank you would it be possible under this legislation for an underperforming charter school to be taken over by a public school or public school district. Yeah I mean I quality see to that but I think there's a separate process to deal with charter schools that are failing if if if you have an under performing charter schools and they should be closed I mean that we need a whole and everybody accountable for student performance if they're if they're coming in and they're not meeting our metrics and their needs if if those conditions are in place and that's something we have a conversation or. Thank you of regarding the seventy five hours of community service that can go towards it was one hour of school credit it's on page nineteen line thirty four what about the smaller communities where there aren't necessarily ample volunteer opportunities perhaps no volunteer opportunities are not enough to meet that seventy five hour requirement this is something that's only going to be of more use to larger districts. So that the components of of that are I think later in the bill and like the new components to that community service and and here's the thing like and there are and exemptions in there and a lot of flexibility for you know kids that work and provide income for their family or have you know our homeless or have different reasons that they cannot participate in that seventy five hours but this this part is so important and he too allowing students to connect with their community like we have got to find a way to get students engaged in the community she can act I think this is a great bill and are a great section of the bill that really make sure that the most disenfranchised populations of students and maybe they don't have my mentors at home or family members that they can talk to or look up to you but this provides an opportunity for them to have a mentor develop relationships with someone in the community and know that they are seen and cared about and it really gives them a point of pride in this volunteering will and help grow and the future workforce like there there's just so much opportunity in this I think we all can you know say like the work ethic of this generation you know we really are working on his parents you know trying to and get him out there and get involved and so I think that's really important and that we focus on that and while it's a small component it's a very very important component to the future and not just about educating that making sure children are well rounded understanding what opportunities are in their community and connecting with mentors and and feeling appreciated and having a sense of pride and for themselves in the work that they do but there are exceptions to work around so we're not burdening chance and that providing an opportunity to let them continue to thrive and I appreciate that to be clear this is one of the things I do like about the legislation there are things in here I do like Senator Hester wherever you you've gone you you are right I do like probably sixty to seventy percent of it But as I've told a lot of people of the last thirty percent of the cheese burger still poison you'd still pretty lousy cheeseburger of but I I do appreciate the part about getting kids engaged in their communities I do think that's important certainly we're trying to do that with our daughter of her age I live in favor group in Springdale a lot of opportunities but I've got family it's very small communities around the states I'm glad to hear that they are going to be work arounds for that page thirty nine line twenty nine a superintendent one of the bill when it comes to the funding for paid maternity leave to all districts are all this is going to have funds to provide the paid maternity leave. Okay I'm sorry I was looking for the what is the line that is in Page thirty nine line twenty nine. Okay and then will you please repeat your question I'm sorry a they're asking about on the fifty fifty funding for paid maternity leave if all school districts are going to be provided the funds to pay for that program so that's an often and things school districts can take advantage of it if they want to you and it will be a fifty fifty split with the state we will have fifty percent of the funding they'll provide the other fifty percent but as a mother of four I have been able to work have employers that have provided paid maternity leave for me and and that's a really big deal and we know that that's the world we live in in twenty twenty three and and I hope that and superintendents and school boards will opt into that and and just provide we know like when you have employees that are happy with their work environment they want to come back to work they've been given time to stay at home with their new baby or adopted child and and not worry about paying the bills because they had to save up all their sick days and all that staff and they're just taking unpaid leave I think that's really crucial to show we value teachers as professionals and and we want them to have the time to bond with their child and so it's optional so that superintendency maybe say like we don't have the funds to do that and they don't have to and that we do have that something that they take at that they participate in you don't to sell me on paid leave of I've worked on it the entire time I've been down here would love to work on expanding it to other places if if you're interested in that I guess my concern though is since it is an often and not every dish is going to be able to do it or choose to do it for the smaller districts that may not be able to provide have the funds for that program is that going to make it harder for those districts to compete for recruiting teachers if if larger districts second for the program are able to put that in place. Sorry sorry I I went on your conversation paused okay so I'm sorry what I and so it's not just teachers and school personnel okay I would like to believe that this stance yes all right but all over P. quickly for the districts that maybe don't have the funds to do this which is not too is that going to make it easier for the larger wealthier districts to attract and recruit talent and and pull people away from the smaller districts Senator Leding if I can say that the entire program the state side of the entire program would be three million dollars. I can't imagine that across the state of all the money that's goes up to the every school district can take advantage of their pro rata share of the three it's it's a very expensive program if you if you. Three million dollars for the entire state the state share if the school district can't do the other three million with our pro rata share I think they probably need to look at some of their finances good thank you for that clarity I know that one more question and willing to let somebody else take a turn up when we get to the elimination of the fair dismissal act That's right a lot of concerns among a lot of teachers and Senator Davis we met Monday afternoon you assured us that they're still going to be a due process process in place but haven't been able to like find that if it's spelled out in the legislation so could you just a. Sure teachers what due process will remain if we eliminate the fifty to dismissal act. It's fine it yes like here's the thing that under federal labor laws you are guaranteed due process so there's a few different things I want to say about this like teachers still will have due process and if a superintendent tries to fire teacher they will still be afforded a hearing in front of the school board like there you cannot come in and just fire teacher without costs like they are entitled to due process under federal labor law so like so it's important. I just want teachers understand you can't just come in and just fire without cause they will solve the process they will still have a hearing and and and I want to say something to you and if you don't mind set and part of what you said earlier about superintendents only having forty something hours street this bill here's the thing superintendents have been part of this conversation four months we've included educators superintendents they have been giving feet in fact some of this bill including this section we are talking about right now was from feedback from superintendents they have been giving this feedback and literally for months we were meeting with then in the fall I like so. For them. To give the impression that they have not been a part of this process that they're surprised at what was in the bill. They are misleading the public they're misleading you they're misleading their teachers at best. Line at worst. They have had input in this bill in fact teacher fair dismissal was the number one thing that they requested they can that they cannot get teachers out of the classroom that should not be in the classroom because of that and here's another thing I'd like to say we have tied in this bill superintendent contracts to student outcomes so there is responsibility on and superintendents there is accountability we are not placing the burden just on teachers alone it is important that every level of administration has by an it is accountable to student outcomes so they're putting the best teachers in the classroom and working to support teachers that are begging for support and so I just want to point that out and that's another reason why they were good teachers in the classroom because they're gonna be held accountable to it but teachers will have due process they are guaranteed it and they will still be afforded a hearing from the school board I appreciate that was a a forceful point and to be clear of my superintendent didn't say whether or not he was afforded the opportunity to have been part of these conversations maybe he was but again going back to the time frame you said earlier that there were no surprises in here and I do think that's true I don't think we're surprised by anything that we see in here but again knowing what's going to be in here and how it's going to work R. two completely different things and so they have worked very hard in the short amount of time we've had to redo the actual language the details to to better understand how we're gonna try to do some of these things and so you know one reason I would love to see this hearing happened next week so we all could have the time to sit down with our superintendents and teachers back home and go through things because again maybe no surprises but how this is going to work it's going to be very important I know you You said the top this is the most collaborative piece of legislation you've been a part of we've been down here having been here ten years ago when we passed Medicaid expansion that's really the most collaborative thing I've been a part of we were in the minority that session was a democratic governor and Democrats Republicans worked together over weeks to craft that legislation together it had strong bipartisan support and to senator Chesterfield point earlier not all of us have the chance to collaborate on this and I get again that they're gonna be things in terms simply never gonna be convinced to vote for but like I said also there's a lot of stuff in here that I want to support and can support The regardless of the outcome and we are all every member of this committee every member of the Senate are under the same responsibility of trying to govern and even if there's gonna be stuff in here that I am ultimately can support that doesn't mean I don't have an interest in providing input or being a part of the conversation but I appreciate your time madam chairman happy to get back in the queue. Senator Hammer. Thank you manager and thank you senator Davis and thank you secretary leave a for your investment of time to bring is forced to day I'll dispel was anything other than getting into some specific questions about the bill that I have and first of all I will say sent a separate sheet opportunity that you've shared that if we have questions concerns you know come to you directly go to secretary a leave another's and and to the best of the time frame which we had operating we've done that but even as late as last night at eight fifteen there were still some discussions going on even as late as yesterday afternoon a couple superintendents were meeting with a member of the governor's staff to answer questions well after the bill drafters had gone home so for the purposes of amendment let's run it fixes on the house and there's no time to do that here lesser some arrangements so here's some questions I have regarding the bill on page three line twenty seven. It's a small thing but you know small things you get sued over to. on page three. Where it says concerning the power of a school district board of directors employee staff is amended to read as follows employee staff including a superintendent and an assistant parentheses or I haven't parentheses and assistant superintendent. Would this be restrictive of the school being able to hire more than one assistant superintendent if they needed to or what if they didn't need to hire a superintendent at all this will be you know codified this will be in law on this is what is going to govern things we you know changes to rules I I heard that conversation awhile ago but could you address that concern first of all yes thank you Senator Hammer for the question that is just clean up language if you look down at line thirty three it already says an existing language that superintendents and assistant superintendents may be employed under contract terms and so we put that back in above their at on line twenty seven and she that say that they can employee staff including a superintendent and assistant superintendent ten match the language farther down so it does not limit how many you hire and it does not mandate that you do higher consistency Brington it's simply technical cleanup in nature okay thank you Page five. In this is to the Dismissal discussion on line twenty one and twenty two. Each public school district superintendent public school principal shall make all employment related decisions based upon the following as I have a couple to specific and only reason reading this is somebody in the audience may not have it AS applicables to the specific position for which the public school district superintendent public school principal or hiring performance effectiveness this is effective it shall be used as a primary criteria for making personnel decisions so a couple questions on this one this in my interpretation removes the school board from having any involvement in the process of termination of an employee and puts all the responsibility on the superintendent and I miss reading they're misinterpreting that or could you give explanation please and M. S. so school districts I mean excuse me school boards have final approval authority and for hiring in for termination so this is just saying this is empowering and principles and back to the accountability measure making sure that everyone has by an and that principles are part of the hiring process for their schools which in many schools that's already how may have hi there interview system and hiring set up and that just ensuring that principals have a say in he was being hired in their buildings because they are accountable to student outcomes and ultimately we know that and those decisions lie with the superintendent and then followed by approval and of the school board so does not take any authority away from school boards they still approved everything and that is just and having another layer saying like Hey principles and are involved in this process we need to ensure that they are and and that's the purpose for that language okay the fact that a line twenty two says principal shall make all employment related decisions where in the bill or an existing language does that not a by pass the school boards. Involvement. It's saying the the way that like and the measures that you'll use to hire so it's saying that they shall make employee employment related decisions based upon the following. So it's like the important thing here is we want to hire effective teachers teachers are performing well and teachers that are qualified I think you could probably talk to any teacher who is said over the years and and really good teacher that maybe has been passed up for a position because of the buddy system somebody knew somebody and so they got the job and we want to put a stop to that that does not advance student learning so we want to make sure that we are hiring and collective teachers teachers who are qualified to and to be in that position and not having somebody's cousin or buddy get the job just because someone on school board as an so that was that's the purpose and that and ensuring that seniority and tenure not using that as a primary criteria so. I think you're I don't wanna say you're reading out of context I I just asking that you read the whole sentence like its so it's not saying there and they shall be all and made all employment related decisions period is that they shall make all employment related decisions based upon the following metrics. Okay of which I do not argue with the premise of the idea of performance and effectiveness but when it comes to defining effectiveness by which the employee may be terminated because they have not measured up to the standard of effectiveness is that going to be left up to each individual school district or what are the measures in the of an employee was fired for being ineffective what are going to be the standards that would be used for termination. So that would be done at the local level to to answer the question at the if if you look at what the system is now principles make recommendations to superintendents or however they have their own internal processes ultimately that that's superintendents making a recommendation for personal items to the board who votes on whether or not to approve the superintendent's recommendation the intent of this section is to not change that process but to make sure that the different voices are being heard throughout that process so if if a principal as putting a working with the teacher and improvement plan or has concerns about their effectiveness the district will determine the process for how they're going to measure and do that at the local level. Okay and to the to the philosophical argument that if you have one school whose idea of effectiveness is one set of standards and another school has a different set of expectations of what effectiveness is then. How does that not create a level of disparity or will the state or the board of education be assisting in determining will that be through testing results and try to understand is that are intended job too so and when the when the superintendents working on the day to day operations and training their principles on how they're going to measure and provide that delivery feedback based on classroom observation factor in student performance data however that system works that's their job this is about putting those local decisions back in the local districts. Okay and then on Page eight line six. We've added fire but I do not see where medical has been included in that or anything that would require collaboration say with your local hospital or with your you know local E. R. in the event that there's a trauma situation that involves under the safety portion could you speak to that concern please. At well I would say I think Emergency Management includes that somewhat but it but nothing in this bill precludes that. So they can still work and add communicate develop a plan with their local hospital level ER nothing precludes them from doing that in this bill okay Page ten. Line ten. Which to that point I used to be employed by a hospital no longer employed by the hospital we had a mass incident involving a bus with about fifty that was unfortunate and one of the things that was critical is that there was a point that everybody assumed everybody else knew maybe that's break down a leadership it had a fairly good response but yet there were few holes to be plugged on they would say on that point is that if we don't specifically mention that they have to be involved in the process I'd be concerned that they might inadvertently be left out of the process on page ten line ten the public school the the the school safety expert we're all focused on school safety wanted to make sure that everything is right the what are the qualifications or who is the person that is going to bear that title that is also going to bear the responsibility for the liability if it's not if something goes wrong could you give me some insight as to who who is that person and what are the requirements and qualifications that the person has to hold. There are there are people who and do you walk through and review schools and say this is how you can create for safety purposes and so that decision that's up to school boards to make sure that they've included that before and engaging in any new construction but there are plenty of groups of people out there that and that that is what they do and they are certified and so there are certifications for for that. Okay Page twelve. There was a question was raised last night and actually it it was raised you were in a meeting where it was raised so I want to I want to have an address publicly there's some there's some questions about the process between lines one and eleven that there would be an annual comprehensive school safety assessment however you go down there to work line versus sorry of lines nine through eleven of it talks about not public record not available for public inspection one of the concerns that was expressed is that we're gonna go through this this plan and the way those supporting and structured it would actually create the openness for the plan because it couldn't be done privately because the limitations on school boards and and when they can meet and that was a concern that that safety plan would be made available to the public could you address that concern please. Yeah I mean so it just says that the at the assessment is reviewed by the public school district board of directors I don't know. I've heard that point and just from another member and I don't understand I guess I don't follow because they're just reviewing there is no vote and so members can't of the school board can review and it still be and exempt from public records the review process so takes place in one environment what setting because to school board members can't be together in same setting so that's going to have to be done in a in a public format so could you not not necessarily either so it's important to note but when we talk about school safety that is our number one priority yes hands down we've got to keep students safe each and every single day parents have the right when they drop their children off at school to expect them to come home from school each and every single day. Many of the recommendations in this bill came from the review of the legislature that summoned a task force to make recommendations on how we can make our school safer so someone's affect pretty I would say the majority if not all of the recommendations in regard to mitigating threat hardening schools developing decked the conference a school safety assessment the mental health behavioral third assessment teams word for word Vadim came from expert reviews that was commissioned to do a finalized report with this section is saying is when the school district is working with their board to identify gaps or holes are opportunities to improve school safety because it may impact budget it may impact some further action items or they may need to give their leadership a different direction than those meetings and any of those documents associated with creating these plans to keep schools safer are exempt from public record. All right on page sixteen. The manager process shall have a hundred but I got a few more Page sixteen. I've noticed throughout the bill when I read it there's a lot of shells except for on page sixteen. One six the state board of education may promulgate rules to implement this section to include without limitations and I'm I'm just wondering why shall is not there and and why we are being permissive in certain areas but we're not being as restrictive than others to limit on could you will speak to that please. Because. We they're they're even rules I may be wrong on this when the first time I've been wrong but there are some rules that that didn't even get through the rule making process until like October November and. If we leave that latitude of may it It in my opinion as a senator sometimes leaves the department open to get to when they can without us having to you know do a lot of arm twisting some I'm just curious as to why we wouldn't put shall throughout the bill. Is the short answer is that's existing language so maybe not all of the existing language was updated if but I but I can assure you. When it comes to improving learning and keeping students safe our agency is going to act with urgency throughout the rule making process and we will promulgate rules as appropriate to support districts and in the implementation of this plan with fidelity if we don't do that then we're just continuing have conversations around how we're gonna prove learning and not hold people accountable for the improving learning so I think there may be some technical edits if that's something that we need to review that that can you all like that moving forward okay and an ostrich please don't take these questions as anything but not agreement with you that we want education to always be building toward the positive so please don't take these in wrong context on page sixteen also fourteen through fifteen. to provide a foundation for adult them of a student success plan a public school district shall where where the requirements for that same expectation on charter schools private schools or even home schools different place that I'm public schools that we have that same expectation and maybe it's in the bill and I've just overlooked it in the reading so if you could point that out to me please. Trump Page sixteen lines fourteen and fifteen. When when you're looking at this section and this part of the code section thirteen it's. Is ensuring that the school district does that so if they're not part of the school district is not addressed in this section of the bill shows that address somewhere else at that same expectation. If we're going to go without your route and give the money to the charters and to the private into the home schoolers which for the record I don't know that I really have a problem with that for the record I just want the same level of accountability and based on I know it's in section thirteen but where is that same standard expressed throughout the rest of the legislation. It's not explicitly address. To that level. Then. Okay I'm I'm getting clarification that again please come critical if you could please. It is an existing cattle. At. Do you want me to have an if the chair allow please. Thank you measure. Court and solace for chief counsel for the department of education and so senator this is adding in the two six fifteen twenty nine eleven which is an existing code section and so what's not in the bill is any of that existing language where it is explained that charter schools are subject to the same requirements and that they are included in the definition of a public school district for purposes of this section and so just like they are already required to have students access plans for students they would be required to do the same things as the basis for a student success plan. Okay all right. On. Page nineteen. The manager can Courtney just stay at the table please if you don't mind well as mine thank you she has all the great thank you. Page nineteen line nineteen through twenty three. Following the first two years transformation the state shall continue to evaluate and sign all performance ratings received by all public schools within a public school district to a public school district transformation campus that has entered into a contract and maybe I just need explanation understanding I'm just you know where where do we hold the charter and the a public private schools and if we're going to go home school down to the same level Sir where there's that consistency that we have this expectation on the public schools in the first two years of transformation can you show me in the bill where we have that same level of expectation and capability in the other areas as well please. So senator eight goes back to something that was mentioned earlier about kind of the different processes that we use to keep schools accountable and any time a charter school in order to open and operate they have to go before the state authorizing entity that charter authorizing panel and so they are constantly monitoring their performance and their activity and if they are not performing that charter panel can call them in at any time and can revoke or rescind or alter their charter in any way this speaks to our public school districts that are not typically closed and continue to keep operating and so to keep them from as was stated getting to a point where the state my Hatcher intervene they can call in an outside entity to come and address issues that may be occurring just at one or two public schools and so the state would be overseeing this process the state board in the division just like the charter panel is already doing for charter schools all right and so the intent then would be to keep a lot of fiscal distress or academic distress because that kind of what this is driving toward or image misreading that right whatever the issue that that particular school is having that school districts could identify they can identify the best into T. to come in there and help them make improvements in that school so that it didn't get to a level where the state had to intervene our Page thirty nine and I'm almost done I'm sure thanks for lead to. Page thirty nine. It's on the Trinity leave on line sixteen as says educational personnel means an individual employed full time by school district opener Roman Churchill drop down the line nineteen maternity leave. Currently leave means partially or fully compensated time on line sixteen gives the impression that this is just for full time employees but down the line nineteen it says partially or fully compensate time is this is this creating the latitude of each district to develop their own maternity leave policy and whether they give full of benefits to a full time employee or they decide we just want to give you partial benefits for maternity leave time can you explain that please. Yes that that's up for the district to determine and if they often how exactly they want often and if they want to do partial paid maternity leave or full paid maternity leave the state regardless will match fifty percent of whatever that and district does okay in a district where they might be side by side in one school maybe has the greater resources than the other school do you anticipate that that would create any kind of advantage disadvantage of one school over the other because of that or how would how would that resolve itself yeah I mean again that's a local decision and superintendents and school boards have the ability to decide and what's important and what's going to help them recruit and retain the best teachers and to get the best student outcomes and so there's already plenty of that going on right now school districts and make a lot of decisions and and teachers get to decide you know where they want to teach and so it's it's no different than what's already occurring within districts okay. I'm looking for him in my bill there's one on one of these pages somewhere it talks about requirement of six said education do you know where that is a bill trying to find it real quick Or maybe it was back in twenty. Get back on page twenty two thank you. Back on page twenty two. The question was asked about C. R. T. awhile ago The environment around the legislatures to try to address some of these issues because of personal opinion the detriment that it is causing to our society. And so it says on page twenty two line thirty two before great five a public school teachers shall not provide classroom instruction for the following topics and it was what those topics are so it's it's a mandate that you can't do it in fifth grade and down but what's absent in the bill is that after six grade. It almost indicates depend I guess on interpretation of from a lawyer I'm trying to look at for which we are one learn McKay when my cage it almost leaves the door open to be interpreted that after six grade the same shall be that's that's one line of thinking the other line of thinking is. I don't want to talk about the subjects taught in any grade level but because where the bill was written it leaves the possibility open for a district once they get into sixth grade to be able to teach the signs because it doesn't preclude that they can't teach the same so we could have sexually explicit materials available we could have sexual intercourse available sexual reproduction available gender identity available sexual orientation and not listed on here is anything S. T. D. can you relieved by concerns or how can you address my concerns please. So when it comes to these topics. I go back to just like when we talk about indoctrination regardless Surrey each course has standards that outline what we expect students to know and learn in each course some of these topics are starting to be introduced in biology and in health forces are on reproduction even with the reproductive systems in plants begins in in middle school this doesn't mean that once you get past fifth grade you're supposed to start talking about all these topics with this does is prohibit some of these topics are ideologies from entering in the classroom prior to middle school if some of these topics are aligned with our standards in its online with the expectation of what we want students to know and learn there would be nothing to prohibit these topics from being introduced. Who's going to control or who controls that and determines than what is allowed to go on the list that a book by a school could possibly or a individual school could possibly say you know what we want to teach about gender identity we want to teach about and sexually explicit materials is a pretty broad term I'm just. Who who's gonna be the determiner of what. Yes allowed that would be at the local level okay at the local level all right. if you don't mind me adding just to relieve some concerns there is existing language and six sixteen ten oh six that require school districts to provide parents with notice if they're going to provide any of these materials and the option to opt their student out of that instruction. That's existing or did I not see that in this bill also testing language those existing line okay one last thing And now yielding thank you ma'am chair for let's see On page eighty nine. At the top page eighty nine. The division shall create procedures to ensure that a fair process suggests to determine whether participating student is no longer eligible for participation in the program including without limitation dispensed to who's the longer eligible participation in the program due to his or her failure to demonstrate academic achievement or growth. And is that is that pertaining is set to the charter private school is that to the public school and can you give me a little bit of explanation on that one please. That applies to any student participating in the educational freedom accounts so there there are accountability metrics in this bill. And and so and that is one of them. So if I'm in a if I take the money and I'm in a school to a private school charter school home school and they are that individual and let's go to the charter just of the charter and private school a take the money I've got a student is determined that they're not that they're it they're not demonstrate academic achievement academic growth. DO eyes an institution have the ability to dismiss that student for failure to demonstrate academic achievement academic growth. so couple of clarifications a student with an educational freedom account wouldn't be using that to go to a charter school because those are already free public schools but if they were using it to attend a private school or a home school and any of their existing disciplinary measures enrollment requirements all of those are still in place and so if they have certain criteria and are permissive to dismiss a student for academic performance this doesn't change that that's still a local decision made by the school where's that student bill. They always have the right to go back to the public school. Which means which means that those kids are going to be pushed back a just. They're going to push back into the public school they they've they've demonstrated that they're failing over here so the option that there the the option is going to be no option really they're going to be there to be pushed back in to the public school to my misinterpreting or just give me clarity on that please. If if they lose one option and then there's still other options available it could be the public school it could be a virtual program it could be a private school it could be a charter school can be a magnet program there's multiple options for families if this particular somebody that's participating in a scholarship fund if they're not meeting success in that program then they need to pursue another option in a different program. Okay thank on that one a man shall yield I might wanna get back you but thank you thank you. Hi ascenders NO. Your. Thank you madam chair Senator Davis I have a question I've had numerous educators and educators reach out to me and concerned about this parental empowerment as it as to what is to what it will it will exactly look lack with home school parents and how the money will be distributed you know they have concerns are there going to be our the pair just will be given a blank check or with their old or will there be checks and balances on those players yeah I mean it that's a great question and be clear no parent will be getting a blank check or even any kind of check for any amount and directly it will not be given to the parent so and the idea behind that is that and students will be eligible for up to ninety percent of prior year statewide foundation funding per student and and there are parameters around what that money can be spent on whether it's and reimbursable or pre approved expenditures so that money will go directly to a provider it will not be going directly to a parent and there's things that that money specifically cannot be spent on and things of that money specifically can be spent on and we are also delaying implementation on that for an for a full year it will not go into effect for home school specifically in the twenty twenty three twenty four school year will be delayed until the twenty four twenty five school year so that the department has ample time to set up those accounts and ensure that they and are audited well there will be a yearly audit and I funds and if parents are found misusing funds and anyway they will be kicked out of the program also home school students along with private school students and who are part at the educational freedom accounts and they will be required to test annually and and those test scores aggregated publicly so there are accountability measures in there for students participating in the educational freedom accounts. Madam chair may have one more question. on the budget we're looking at spending the first year a hundred fifty million dollars in new money the second year in a hundred fifty million dollars into money governors also spoke about cutting taxes can we take on this level of debt and cut taxes still may remain financially solvent is a state. And that's our job here is the legislature to ensure that we're doing that well in so I I will say that and I think it's no mistake that our governor has said that she will be known as the education governor and the status quo is not working for what we have right now the state of Arkansas and I think it's no mistake that and the education reform package and that she has campaign hunting talked about for two years is the first and priority piece that we are running this session it is her priority and and based on the support of the legislature and the number of co sponsors it's our priority as well so I think as we move through education reform criminal justice reform and tax cuts and we'll be making those decisions as we go and that's up to all of us as a legislative body to ensure that and we and can pay for what we're doing that's why this is taking so long we really work through all the numbers to ensure that what we have is correct in its sustainable and we'll continue that conversation on on tax cuts in criminal justice reforms we met their session thank you thank you madam chair I yield. Senator Chesterfield thank you madam chair all these questions have been so good and thank you for indulging us madam chair this morning Senator Davis one of the things that you also eliminated from the bill is just cause as a reason for dismissal that that language was struck it is been a part of the code for very very long time. but it is in this bill struck. In you then referred to the fact that there are federal laws. You referred to the fact that there are federal laws that will kick in but this is a right to work state in a right to work state you don't have to have just cause or any calls. Or am I incorrect I'll ask counsel is that correct council of the Attorney answer okay we're an at will state you can be fired and we'll is that correct. Speaking specifically to teachers when they enter into a contract that gives them a property right to their employment and you cannot be deprived of a property right without notice and a hearing. And I don't say that you have to have a reason. You have the right to be told what the reason is for your higher at for your termination and then the right to respond to that and so if a school board when they're hearing the reason does not feel like it's an adequate and just because then they shouldn't be up holding that but that goes back to the local decision even now if the hearing goes before the school board and the just because that the superintendent is explaining they don't feel is just they have the right then not to uphold that termination so you're saying amendments five gives them that to the constitution is that what we're basing this on this right to property. I believe it's amendment five and fourteen five and fourteen so we're looking at both of those and so that is what is protected others when they have gone to work in companies and they're just fire summarily they are not applied to private employers it would only apply to public employees is that correct Is made to me also. About the fact that. Children who are not reading at their grade level you spoke to me some in private about it some people are worried the kids would be nineteen years old still sitting in the third grade. So I am trying to have a better understanding of how that will work. Thank you for that question because there has been a lot of misinformation around that and and that's that cannot happen. Based on the language in the bill so and really students will start in kindergarten taking assessments three times of the times a year and students will be notified if their parents excuse me will be notified and as to whether or not they're student is on track to pass third grade and as soon as as parents as soon as that kid that student is determined not be on track they will be given an intensive and high impact to during support they'll be support with literacy catches a teachers and there will be and and and a high intensity intervention plan for those students throughout their time in K. through three to bring them up to reading level and. I also want to say that there are many exemptions if you read throughout the bill and for reasons that students cannot be held back and if you've already been held back you can't be held back again I mean there's probably ten different exemptions I mean that we can go through it's right there in in the day okay so this is not forced retention and we want students to succeed we want them and to pass on into the fourth grade and that if they are still not on and grade reading level by third grade and qualify for an exemption to go in the fourth grade then they'll be part of an intensive summer reading literacy program and will continue getting high impact you during in the fourth grade and so it's really a safety net to have us come around students that are not reading at grade level and and help them get back up to be successful I think is one of the better parts of the bill thank quite frankly but I let's get back to the teaching of six in grades K. through what I. But at the same time you turn around you say but we will teach about sexual assault starting in K. and we will do it in K. through twelve. If you gonna teach about sexual assault. In K. through twelve. In children begin to ask very early for the babies come from but we can't teach them that because you can't teach back anything like that. According to what I'm understanding explain to me why we can teach them about sexual assault in K. through twelve but we can't teach him about anything that has to do with any of that before grades five and we have kids who are pregnant in grade four. So Hester dress when it talks about introducing lessons around the sexual assault in in human trafficking prevention program the intent within the for the state or to look at opportunities to incorporate those topics into the standards and aligned with associated offices most likely what without seeing with this plan looks like as we move forward the rules those topics may not be appropriate in kindergarten through fifth grade we we do work with experts on a but I'm not opposed to it simply because we have kids who are molested every day. And I think we need to talk about it that's why I'm concerned that there are certain things we can't talk about I think we can put an appropriate way. But children truly need to know that they need to start screaming this is not my day at this is not my mom so the people know they're being assaulted I I'm not opposed to that at all but I I think it's it's just oxymoronic to say well we can talk about that and we need to but we can't talk about. Anything else that has to do with six because we're having his pregnant very early we've read about the ten year old who was pregnant she would have been and what forces great and nobody told her. That you can start screaming and talking about somebody's hurting me or something of that sort so I'm very much concerned that in our concern to make sure that everything is appropriate action I do believe it should be age appropriate that we not have our children ignorant some of the challenges that they're going to face in a world that is not always kind to them and so that's why I'm concerned about it I think you ought to teach about sexual assault but in teaching about sexual assault you ought to be able to tell them something about people can do that thanks to you. And I'm not sure we can do that other part by saying we can't talk about it at all in grades K. through five that's my concern. Thank you. Senator Leding thank you madam chair and also thank you for the great you're showing the members today I don't jump around a little bit here because we're having this conversation to people are watching and paying attention it's it's raising some more questions so I'm glad we got back to the teacher for dismissal that have a pretty sharp Attorney text me to ask which federal law would apply there because they didn't think that was correct I guess counsel as provided some clarity I got a question about. Sorry one moment. Page one twenty eight line fifteen where we are moving the first connections program is the part C. early intervention program to the department of education and the curious to know if the department will also managed healthcare the billing for speech occupational physical therapy services for kids birth to three years of age. Okay well I'm sorry we ask that we just thank you yes sorry I know that was a lot in a short time Page one twenty eight line fifteen. They're asking about moving to be part C. early intervention also known as the first connections program the department of education and the creation of the department will also managed healthcare billing for speech occupational and physical therapy services for kids birthday to three. So I'm gonna say that further down on that page and. Starting at line twenty one it says and that office serving as the lead agency and per child care development block grants may contract with other agencies including department of health to administer the functions during transition and then M. like that and then work cooperatively and collaboratively collaboratively with the Department of Human Services department health so I'll I'm happy to go back and just like triple check on that but the the point is that we're moving at all under the Department of ad but with no break in service is what's provided it's really just not to have a house in one place a weekend you know better C. and they were serving who were missing where there's duplication of kids of funds where we can and you know pick up more funds so it's cost neutral it's just to help better organize all the services that are provided to kids and there should be no break and services okay so even though the house in the department of education department of health and Human Services might still be managing the billing that permission to work collaboratively collaboratively with them to do so yes okay Again Senator hammer Senate Chesterfield got a lot of the questions I had to like to go back to Eligibility accountability for private schools and and home schools I think we we heard earlier again from the Council about how a lot of the requirements replacing a public schools open enrollment charter schools will also be subject to those but are we going to have that same kind of accountability for private schools or home schools I think in the bill there the references Service providers. So what so what are you asking exactly as far the as far as the kind of the requirements that were they were laying out in terms of accountability and eligibility. Under this legislation or law could I. Walk across the street handed my letter of resignation drive back to fill an open the jim Dotson institute for liberal ideology with with no background in education. You're giving as senator Dotson an idea. I know you can't do that the statue of the upfront it's gonna be great that there. There is an accreditation process like there is a process to go through school can't just pop up and say Hey were taking kids come home like that is not that's not what happens right now and that is not what will be allowed to happen in the future like the process that they have in place for those schools become accredited and licensed able to serve students and that stays in place can you I'm not familiar with those requirements okay briefly walk us through what it would take to open up a private school I will not but I will let the attorney here or the secretary of education. Everybody's got something to drink up there other than the attorney and I imagine she's going to be there while she needs a a water something's different I got back at the house and and I apologize I'm trying to find the right page of the accountability portion I believe we are on page eighty five. I think the requirements will strive at schools. I know it's a it's a very large parameter. Sorry a. It may be a line nine so I'll start with will and page eighty two thirty six where we are defining a participating school and it the private school has to offer a full academic curriculum and full academic year which is also defined on page eighty two as all required core courses or equivalent as offered in traditional public schools as well as the same equivalency in terms of time wise so hundred seventy eight days or equivalent number of hours they also. Has to be accredited by a and an entity approved by the state board of education so the most common one being that non public school accrediting association. Yes page ninety four starting with line five and again they have to meet those accreditation requirements I have answer or another state board approved entity if they do not achieve accreditation or lose accreditation they become an eligible they have to down online at twenty seven it demonstrate fiscal soundness either by having been in operation for one full school year or providing documentation from a CPA that they are financially solvent and have sufficient capital to continue operating and they have to certify nondiscrimination they have to remain academically accountable going on to page ninety five employee or contract with only qualified teachers with baccalaureate degrees comply with all applicable state laws and rules and hearing to the tenants of their published disciplinary procedures any other eligibility criteria that will be set by the state board in rules and as you all know that process requires us to come back before you as a legislative body and to approve those rules and and then it goes on for a few other things completing background checks and maintaining those for audit purposes and so again the intent is that by accepting these funds they will be held to a certain level of accountability. The from the start that I've had people ask that this act is a four year window the you have to meet these standards are they misunderstanding that so under ansa and the Arkansas non public school accrediting association and their accreditation processes a four year process and so if they have already begun that they can go ahead and get approval but if at any time and they become an eligible or it's clear that they're not going to reach full accreditation within those four years and then they would lose their eligibility. Okay and. A little slow here to just to be absolutely clear I could go home open up the jim Dotson institute of liberal ideology and as long as I was demonstrating that I was on the right path to meeting accreditation after four years. I'd be I'd be fine as well as meeting for correct and I could still teach you know what one one and and a bunch of procedure to classes but as long as I also had the. The meeting the full curricula could get I could get up and going so it if in order to say you are entering the accreditation process answer will have basically certify that you are meeting their requirements and so it's not a day one that you would be eligible but once you have begun the process to the point that answer or the other Association deems you in their credit ation process you yes you would be eligible. Okay we have a letter of resignation to write thank you. And you have to be financially against all that. He finished. Okay. Hammer thank you committee chair couple questions that have a popped up cents how do we of. When it when it comes to the home schoolers and whether this is fact or fiction you mention while Goleta. Rumors are moving parts out there I've caught wind that even the home schoolers may not be in agreement with this bill and I haven't gone deep to find out why just because of the time constraints but when it comes to the home school or portion of this bill talk through or show me in the bill where it is that a person and when used for kids as an illustration would not be able to just take the money and go home and be able to teach their kids and going back to the point that was mentioned while ago as far as the option if after a period of time it is determined that they're not meeting the eligibility requirements those kids and what if I misunderstand correct me would you know end up back to public school charter school or open school couple questions within that one is how how do we know the account bill to the money that would be given to the parents or the responsible party and then to is it possible that after two three years what length of time if they're not succeeding they would end up having to go to charter open or private public school so I'll I'll take the second part referred to the I want to go to his own I want to be clear that if the families choosing a home school and they're not meeting the criteria for success there are other options to the family if they want to choose to put their town other environment but they can still choose to be in home school they would just no longer be eligible to participate in the scholarship program of the home schooled Committee talk through the details of how you're going to determine that and with that money would be any accountability for the money that they had received from day one to the day is determined that they're not making their academic success speak on that please. Yes senator Hammer so that starts at the bottom of the page eighty three and that's where it says beginning with the twenty four twenty five school year that's whenever you will open at that home schoolers okay I'll let you get there okay and it lists qualifying expenses It list through all the things that are qualifying expenses down three I'm halfway through page eighty four. And then it states what is not included in a in a qualifying and expense. Through the rest of the page and then if you turn over to page eighty five. And with the state board rules and it goes to the processing the division shall establish a process for conducting an audit of an entity receiving funds under this and subchapter M. an audit of an individual accounts participating service provider a participating school and at least one time a year the division will conduct right Random audits and and so. And and if there's a case involving the misuse of account funds than the referred to that Attorney General inspector general and and there's an online anonymous fraud reporting service but if they find that and there's a misuse of funds or there's other things going on in and there is the ability to discontinue that student from the educational freedom account at programs and so it walks through all of those things within those pages so there is a capability that the individual that would take money as a home school to educate their kids potentially could be subject to an audit. A hundred percent okay all right and there was there's a. Okay there is a or did they give a chance to answer but what I was gonna say and also there's no direct payment to families like I want to just be very clear on that and there are as I said earlier allowable expenses are reimbursable or creative and and they will be audited they shall be audited yearly. So when it comes to the financial impact of this. What what what's going to be the expense to the Department I mean this is this the sheep but what's expense to the Department where is it on the financial impact to the department to be able to perform those audit capabilities of everybody that would be taking access of this excess opportunity this. And say that if if you read it it says that and students at participating in the FAA's will be given up to ninety percent of part of prior year student funding and there's also up to five percent of that contract service fee that and that money will be used and to have this audit and so that's why we're taking an additional year for implementing to make sure we've got that set at and those audit services that that fee will come out at the ninety percent that the families and are entitled to. So we're going to re direct five percent cover the auditing because it's going to I guess through appropriations we're gonna direct that to the Department fed is it gonna be legislative audit department at the who's handling the audit. That's part of the rule promulgation process and and it's up to five percent just to be clear but that will be developed throughout the rules okay who do you anticipate having the responsibility of being in charge of auditing. We're having continuing conversations with legislative audit to see if that's within their authority and if not we might have to look at other auditing entities. German have you determine the level of personnel should be required to do that. We're we're still having those discussions as well so we we don't know we don't know the the impact although we are anticipating that by taking up to the five percent it would cover that cost is that the is that the plan. Okay. Then and I cannot remember the question that was asked me last night regarding postponing to the twenty three twenty four Forget that one of okay the last couple ones and on the financial impact statement this is DFA's figures. No. Thanks to those of the Department education figures so what have you done to verify these figures because we we were not the RSA yet we are symptoms mentioned while ago or something else hanging out there just can't remember what was financially that's all adequacy we spoke about the dollar value. Would talk about how you substantiated these numbers that we've got a member or make a decision based on that. The bill are also look at these numbers education's look at those numbers but that's all that's going to be appropriated for those for those items that I'm aware so for the forty six million for instance and in the first year for the the Freedom accounts the that's all that will be appropriated for that line. So if if it's above that then we'll have to have a discussion with that I suppose but but all those figures we did work with education on some of them but these are the Department education like they would do with any bill that those are their numbers and we. Sullivan at this point okay so and I understood you said you work with the bureau have you had discussions with the budget chairs of Senate and house yes okay one other question on here. I do not see anything that addresses the impact to the retirement system with the increased salaries that we are projecting and potential benefits or liabilities that the retirement system may experienced by the increase of salaries in any bill speak to that there is built in twenty three percent for fringe benefits of fifteen percent of believers somewhere in that. The room is for to go to the retirement system so there is a built in factor to contribute to the retirement system where where is that identified on this sheet we have it's on the impact for the salaries built into that salary line is twenty three percent for fringe benefits that that's beyond the did not include health benefits because they're already employed or are you paying health benefits it was a strict twenty three percent to pay for a social security match and retirement is that part of the hundred eighty million per year that's correct. Okay all right thank you the manager. Senator Chesterfield thank you madam chair of. Mr record you tell me what the cost will be in year three when we go to a full blown school choice it's not on here. I did look at the twenty six and twenty seven because of the chairs of the budget wanted to see those numbers so we're projecting a hundred and seventy five million views for the Freedom accounts in twenty six. Is it on here that's not on your early budget for two years but just looking forward I did look at numbers to see if this was affordable you know past the current biennium and if we did a hundred and seventy five million for the Freedom accounts of that is still for. Okay so then be a hundred and seventy five million more and that that's total so we're going to forty six forty seven to ninety seven two hundred seventy five million it's not building on top of each other that that's the amount that would be available in twenty six U. you know my commitment to writing to U.. I don't mind it's going to be up to the legislature I can't to commit anymore well I I know you can let me know I was projection we don't mind projecting I don't mind at all if we if we stick with the program the way it's laid out I don't mind at all I am happy to show thank you so much just a projection not a readout absolute projects. Thank you senator Chesterfield there's language in the bill for year three that and I'm trying to find it right now that says that and we'll and. Do that program in an efficient and effective manner so based like the language basically protects us from going over what we don't have we can afford yeah it's gonna it'll hold us accountable tunes and the money that we do have available so there are protections written within the bill because of that of these very conversations that we had with budget chairs and just insuring that nothing happens that surprises us that we can't to stay I'm so those protections are written into this language okay thank you secretarial leave a you refer to local control a number of times especially to dealt with effectiveness of teaching and you left that to the purview of each. I assume each local school principal up to determine what is an effective teacher are you going to lay out some parameters as to what that looks like because if we knew what effective teaching was we wouldn't have forty seven percent pass rate and literacy so I'm just trying to see if we're going to give more direction than just that so currently already in place there's a state highway system that districts use out I want to say it's called the test system and you don't ask me what that's an acronym for what I believe we do it builds on the first day on our annual license frameworks. So there there are there is a standard teaching tool that's out there for the districts to use to determine for the deliver the delivery practice side of affected okay and Final question on and I upon the city's manager. And those who are here. Recently a number of charter schools came before the charter what we call it renewing board or whatever it's called. Authorizing panel and they had these. How many kids do you schools or in the charter category if I may ask a man share the council the Department of it. I apologize senator I don't have that number but we can get it for you okay what is troubling to me and I have talked Secretary offline but once it publicly a number of the schools and the schools and yet they were renewed by seven years. Seven years. I don't understand that because if we're talking about making sure kids are learning we can't continue to extend the life of schools schools whether they're open enrollment conversion chart as a just regular public schools that are failing our kids so I would like to see something that says it's not in this bill I don't know what it would be pushed back if we had something that says if a public charter schools as a deterrent if they may not be renewed for more than a year two years or whatever so that we can say to them you have the same responsibility. As any other school to deliver a project I mean a product that is a good student who is learning but this I mean it's like we're namby pamby in charter schools but we're not doing the same thing for public schools and I think that there ought to be some equity there. What do you think Secretary of the Senate I don't disagree with that of it I'm I'm more than happy to sit down and see what that language looks like all right thank you so much thank you madam chair thank you senator Davis for your diligence thank you Mr Brekken thank you counsel I appreciate you. Senator Leding. Thank you madam chair I promise I'm getting close to the runway here just a few more questions coming in I start with an easy win in this one's mind one thing I noticed beginning on page seven where we start talking about the school safety plans we've struck the word audit and a bunch of places and replaced it with the word assessment and I didn't know if that's just Arkansas updating its code language disliked and maybe it's just me when I hear audit I think of a very thorough process that results in some kind of official report or is assessment sounds like a lot more informal. It is just a terminology change okay and it was not to say that it's any less formal or it comprehensive but just that the word audit which is leading people to think financial things or other things and so it was just to be more in alignment with what we are requiring school districts and and that's what I assumed was just a change of terminology not a change in the process thank you There is a place fairly early on I got a question we talk about the end of schools but also references DNF districts and my understanding is we don't necessarily assigned letter grades to entire school districts is that something we're doing new under this legislation or I'm I'm misinformed I'm sorry I'll try to find the page number. Now I know where it is and it is a type I got typographical error it should say AT or at school rating and so we will be correcting that okay we'll along those lines but one was school board members wrote to point out one of our fantastic schools in federal but it isn't a very transient has very transient student body and it's one of the poor part of town but they have the top growth rate in the district and they put together a comprehensive school wide plan to help students and it's so successful the replicating it and every school across the district but because it's a very transient population and its in a poor part of town they're always gonna be climbing a steep hill then some of the schools in the in the wealthier parts of the city and so the question was could a. just because even this is a good school top growth it could still be considered struggling and could be taken over by a charter school that's also struggling but not struggling quite as much. So what the transformation schools language does is enable a school district to bring in an entity so it's not that any entity or charter has the right to come in and take them over but if the school district felt that that was the best option for them for that school then they could contract with an entity to come in and operate yes okay thank you very much thanks maybe Leslie a week ago today we had a Senate education meeting with was legislation presented that was going to raise salaries for classified staff professional staff outside of teachers and students cafeteria workers and the like and we we table the discussion on the basis that there is going to be raises for those professionals in this legislation. By. Mr. That you and I have spoken about this that I did not communicate clearly and. Last week in committee when I met Mike within the whole package of education reform and I said education bill I watched my comments back later have apologize for that I think with you about that so what I was saying is that it's being taken care of in foundation funding and and based on the adequacy recommend recommendations that we accept and there will be additional money in those line items that school districts then can decide to give raises to classified staff so will be accepting the House recommendation of two dollars an hour and I don't know that's what we're all deciding like that's a separate process that we're going to go through the legislature and that's going to be up to us to decide that and that we are accepting we plan on saying where am good with accepting recommendation with for increased funding and in that one right and and you're also correct that are you you did have a conversation with the appreciated haven't slept a lot the last few days so the memories well and it's okay and I and because we did have a publicly like it's good to say it publicly because I did misspeak in the microphone at committee last week so thank you. Senator Hammer who made just a couple quick a quick ones first of all a made a comment while ago and somebody sent me the text on the home school comment that the impression I'm getting from this is that not all them like it but the majority do and they seem to be on board or the track or not that's what I got from somebody number two also received a Texan as you know we're sitting here get these messages and all these questions are coming in for people because this is the first public opportunity for people to come and have this kind of a discussion is says I've run the calendar freedom a run I've ran the dollars for freedom accounts and home school under president just patients will over four hundred million we know it won't be that but even if the president is two hundred million this does not include teacher salaries could you address that concern or do I need to get a little more specific no all of that is addressed in the bill in year one well it's over a three year phase in your one it caps at one point five percent of the total student enrollment for the state and your to a caps at three percent of total student student enrollment prior year of the state and then in year three I found a language and that I was speaking to Senator Chesterfield about earlier and in your three if you look at page ninety one for the twenty five twenty six schools are beginning in the twenty five twenty six school year there shall be no limitation on student pertains student participation in the educause educational freedom accounts program but in any year in which funds are insufficient to fund all applications for new accounts first priority shall be given to students are eligible and under phase one followed by students are eligible under phase two. And Then it goes on to say a little further down the line twenty two there's a little more detail there and then in line twenty two and excuse me twenty eight says the implementation of the educational freedom account program and it will be effectively and efficiently administered including without limitation and it goes to different things so there are protections within the bill that in your wanting to cap and the percentage of he can participate that's why we have the exact dollar amounts and then in year three and were able to administer the program affectively and efficiently and if we do not have the proper funds we have an order in which students will be admitted into the program to to participate so those are protections within the budget and that's why we put those in there based on the conversation earlier we've been having this conversation for a long time what happens if there was a hundred percent all they have no data indicates that the case and we put a protection in there so that cannot happen okay is that gonna be a lottery draw for the kids it would be on a waiting list or how would that work out there there is no lottery and draw and they'll be at a at and they'll pro rate and based on percentage starting if if you have based on how many kids are that it'll go down from the ninety percent there will be no lottery. Okay so. The full implementation is it going to be those numbers or or run that by me again will be we'll next year will be the full implementation of those numbers or. Tear down what hit that again yeah I'm sorry so in in year one phase one there is a select and it lists out who exactly is eligible for the program okay and so it lists several different groups but then within that it's also capped at one point five percent of the total student population based on prior year numbers in your to it expands the definition of who is eligible and but in a casket three percent of prior year numbers your three all students are eligible. And if not in the student's apply then there's no reason to pro rate but at the point that we have a more students than fines than those funds will be pro rated pursued it so maybe they get fifty percent not ninety percent of the five there is no lottery and it'll be pro rated based on the number of students that want to participate in the program okay one last thing and this was brought up in a meeting late yesterday afternoon. Kids moving they're wanting to move out of one district to another through the you know through the choice option okay and you know currently as I understand it you know you appeal if you if you don't get you get to appeal on up the rank and traditionally at the appeal level beyond the school district I think part of it I'm not sure that that they seem to override school so you're going to take these kids there there is some concern about a wave of people that would want to school choice out of one area into the other and that would put extreme disadvantage on the schools that would be forced to receive those kids given the history of the how the appeal process is turned out the safeguards to present that and if there's going to be addressed and rules okay I just like to hear the explanation publicly on record how we're going to address that situation so that schools that may be in a position to receive a large number kids because that's where they want to go. With the help you only got so many chairs in the classroom only so many teachers in the building. It to that concerns would please yeah I'm happy to answer and then let Secretary leave to give more detail that and why we've lifted the cap on public school choice if schools are at capacity they do not have to take it we're not gonna mandate that schools and take if they don't have a desk for buildings for classrooms for sale they still have the ability to say that they are Act passed he or like run the resolution say they're ninety percent capacity at the beginning of the school year and if they are at that capacity they do not have to take the kids are we going to residing here somewhere that says in an incorrect mere educating is that the state you know as a state border who is it that the parent appeals up to be on the school district is there anything in here that says that the board that the state board of education cannot override the local school district's decision or what's the remedy to deal with that because historically I'm being told that schools have said no but they are being made to take kids even though they're Act passed even though it says that they're being over ridden in the appeal process may that's misinformation but it came from a fairly good source so what what how we deal with that specifically make sure that doesn't happen so I'm not familiar with that but I I think we can address that and rule it the intent is to take an arbitrary number of three percent in moved that because if the district Mosseri's to receive students and they're at that threshold and and we don't want to limit choice options for those families but the receiving district would need that capacity would you would want to make schools unsafe for or put students in hallways because there's not enough space in a classroom at that that's not the intent of this if we need to look at what the appeal process is a I I'm not familiar of of how that would happen if maybe if it was a a child with special needs and there is a neighboring district they will offer service that that may come into play but I think I would be a little bit nuanced but I think we can address that through the rules for sure. all right in anywhere in here did we increase budget for schools because right now the federal funding on special needs kids is not adequate to meet the demands are on the schools do we have that anywhere in the in the sheet or was that subject truckstop I'm done thank you Mr. You will find it in that she because a part of this particular bill but will be addressed in the adequacy of find internet in the final addicts to report this adopted by both the house and Senate you okay thank you thank you. Senator Leding. Thank you madam chair you and I have pages of questions of people still submitting more but I'm I'm trying to be sensitive to the committee's patience and also the fact we have a lot of people who want to speak today and we have people been standing for quite sometime now but I I got a question here from an attorney about going back to the teacher for dismissal and I apologize for reading but not being an attorney I want to make sure I get this right I haven't heard anybody talk about the right to have a contract renewed if there is no notice of non renewal by may one it references page sixty one line nineteen to sue the school cut you loose for no reason at all at the end of the term but how to someone by a house and and move to a high need area of the state without some kind of security that they could have a contract beyond just one year. Announces that even when your deal could indicate that it is an at will employment contract the big deal here is the renewal and once a contract term expires you have no job anything you can say to address that concern. They don't have to give you another contractor any reason for not doing it and most of your contracts run from July one to June thirtieth so they don't give you that new contract how can you know to begin a job search. Some of that's going to go back to your local district policy and they're right most teacher contracts are from year to year and and. The provision that plaque for excuse me that provides automatic renewal and lessee or no give given notice and has been stricken school districts should I would expect and could still give that notice those words but it's much like other employment I could be terminated tomorrow and I may have made decisions based on my current employment and I'm not saying it's a great situation but. If you're performing and if you're meeting the expectations and doing all that and we would expect school districts to not terminate teachers without valid justification. Okay a. It's just a couple more questions from a superintendent represent page seventy eight seventy nine good schools under Dee said orders except choice transfers and I did not being entirely clear a page seventy eight seventy nine. Returns and their hymnals. Could you repeat the question center. A good schools under the second orders except choice transfers there like line five on page seventy nine It's referencing court approved desegregation plans it depends on the parameters of their particular desegregation order several school districts within our state are still subject to those and some of them apply only to intra district others are inter district some a specific to the county in which they live so it's very dependent on what they're particular order says okay. And I'll I'll try to end here on page eighty three and eighty four they've got. I'm trying to us why are transportation expenses covered in the first year of the program what costs of transportation will eventually be covered such as gas or public transportation what we would do for expenses to be covered and if any of the expenses are denied to parents have an appeal process. Eighty three eighty four. Okay I'm sorry Sir you're asking why did we wait until year three yes I think just to control costs and to make sure we've implemented like all the other tenants of the program correctly and I mean that's or phasing it and making sure everything runs smoothly and we just want to insure that Smith process and for families and students okay but then to follow up on that the part about if expenses are denied to parents have an appeal process or is this gonna be served like a pre approved situation. That's good that's going to take that part will be developed in rules and and as we said a lot of this and that's where we talk about time and there's months and months we develop rules where there's going to be additional input additional public comment and that's where a lot of the this is going to be in the rules promulgation process thank you thank you madam chair. Okay. Aligncenter Chesterfield I'm glad thank you madam chair. Of the the the thing and I need to know and I am concerned because as we try to. Make this more fair to everybody let's go back to the home school parents who really is poor and cannot buy stuff on the front in. How do they take advantage of this program. so that they to. are able to participate. And. And it includes and pre approved expenditures as well as reimbursable expenditures and those expenditures guests and like pre approved does go straight to the provider so would not be out of pocket for that payment. In in please clarify that the salaries compensation it is still subject to all other deductions that everybody else has may get a check right. I'm sorry I said again the fifty thousand dollars is still subject to all the deductions it any other check would have right okay because people ask me that I'm going it would make sense to me that if you get a check you know you will have to pay taxes and all that other stuff out of it but I ask you that so I'm gonna ask you that but I am. As we track the fairness peas. And Secretary alluded to the fact that they could upload data and all this stuff to In order to get what they need I would ask again publicly as idea privately that you remember their places in the state that have no access so whatever we're doing we need to be able to have more than one way to access information one more than one way to be able to apply for these programs whether I agree with them or not but I do want to be safe they don't challenge the of our citizens those who have internet access in there right outside of the city which is the capital city that don't have that access and that we have opportunities then if they want to participate that it is fair to everybody thank you very much thank you so very much for taking our questions thank you so much mention that thank you Senator Chesterfield I just want to follow up and say on page ninety two starting online for it does give allowances that the department will ensure that the standard form required is publicly available and may be submitted through various sources including without limitation the internet so it will be and providing various sources thank you. Senator Hammer thank you one question page seventy please line twenty three twenty five. And and I apologize that we didn't talk before about this but these are the kind of questions are coming to us even as we're sitting here this morning so an explanation please start at twenty three twenty five not adopt a personnel policy or corporate terms into personal contracted provide more rights to personnel than those provided under state law in effect during the term of personal personnel contract then twenty three through twenty five this subdivision shall not be interpreted as deny personal rights provided by law other laws including without limitation due process we talked about due process and when it says when it when it talks about a person rights provided by other laws including without limitation due process what definition due process are we using or using the federal standard that you referenced while ago or by what's being done in this policy is this now going to be the due process just help me understand of those five lines right there please. Yes Sir yes it is referring to the due process afforded by federal law but I'm I'm not an employment lawyer and so we didn't want to preclude any rights that anyone has under any future law that would come under state or federal and so that's why we use the include without limitation language so they are afforded the due process rights currently they are entitled to but any future rights or any existing rights we wanted to make sure that they this was not seen as denying them those rights can you take for example were up school would write into policy. enter their personnel contract something. That would be more than what's provided under state law well I would what we have that in there eight there were comments made that some school districts might incorporate a teacher for dismissal back into contracts even though it was not state law and so we wanted to ensure that that did not occur. Cashel so schools would have the individuality to write that back into the policies that in my interpreting what you said right they could have that's why we included the language that they did not so that they could not put it back you yes okay all right thank you. Okay it appears that we have taken all of the. Questions that we have from the Committee with and a good job here is there anybody on the committee who would like to speak for or against this bill. So I'll Senator Leding did you have a The Amendment. You still wanted. I'm sorry we have one more. Senator Hammer manager would you restate what you just said anybody would like to speak for or against this bill by. On the committee on the committee if you want to do is anybody else. The is probably a. Just are we gonna have that opportunity thank you for that appreciate the latitude are we gonna have that opportunity at the end where we traditionally would have that opportunity okay all right thank you will await thanks thank you. Okay. So now we will did you do want to do your imminent. Okay centred Dotson thank you madam chair I just want to publicly disclose for the record since I was mentioned that I have no no knowledge of nor intention to start any. Or was it school. Okay ideology I did. Yeah okay yeah and in nor desire to have a statue of myself just. If there's any disclosures the need to be made thank. Thank you very much appreciate that. Okay so what we have now is an opportunity for folks in the audience who have signed up to come and voice their opinion you have will have two minutes I will hope you don't repeat everything over and over again but. Yes. Senator Hammer thank you ma'am chair. Like to make a motion please. Yes I'd like to make a motion well first of all manager let me ask how many or signed up on the list to speak for and against can you give us an idea of the number please. Okay if the. I am. About twenty I mean forty maybe. Forty forty total forty on each side yeah. Okay. Man chair of if I've got it right we going to session at one o'clock what I'd like to do is make a motion that we allow each person who's going to speak for against each person be allowed up to five minutes each to be able to speak. And then I would like tests that we will revisit as we get closer to one o'clock perhaps people will be able to say what they want to say or if they've heard already said what was said in front of them that they would you know honor the fact that that statement has been made we've been at this for two hours twenty minutes I think it's only fair to the public they get as close to equal time as possible because they have driven in and so what I would make the motion is that we grant each person who signed up to speak up to five minutes each to come and to share their thoughts and we'll see where we are as we get closer when in session this motion. On hi all posed. K. past the motion. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay we have a first person to be against is mapped Gordan he would come up to the front please and identify yourself. You would identify yourself please push the button. The. You. And pull it up close to you so. Thank you my name is Matt Grandin I'm a parent my wife's a teacher both my parents are retired teachers I have two aunts that are teachers and for close cousins that are teachers so when I say I'm invested in this bill are pretty invested. there are good things about this bill that I like I think it's irresponsible to Tom altogether. And give us a hundred forty four page document. In twenty four hours to talk on and look it over. The good things I like his I like the school safety aspect of it there are still some things that need to be worked out because of the vagueness of the wording in there. I support teacher pay raises but I do not like how it's going about. I really like the tutoring program that is an amazing idea we should have an opponent and implemented it years ago I like community involvement in schools I think that one of the best things that can happen to public school or any school for that matters for committee long. Someone just city I'm address the teacher's salary first league start on page seventy three was open to it. This is the no salary schedule by deleting the salary schedule of that's a problem that's schedule exist for a reason that was implemented originally because it there was a reason for it. This needs to be addressed in this bill before it gets passed into law because it's unacceptable to do that without a prior salary schedule I. One of my cousins teacher Valley Springs Arkansas. She makes right at fifty little over fifty thousand already okay. So don't bring everybody up to fifty thousand she is a national board certified teacher been teaching for twelve years excellent teacher great stores and one House performing public schools in the state. And this does nothing to address this it's a small school eight hundred twenty eight eight hundred forty kid. This bill brings their burden of teacher pay from a forty three percent to fifty seven percent of their budget. Okay and small school say they can't handle this you know you have to have twenty five or twenty four kids per class and they provide a salary for a teacher for every twenty fourth we thought well if they have thirty kids that's going to be huge discrepancy when you'll have three teach teachers in that subject okay. It doesn't address any of that. also on the contract on days worked or hours worked. has he might on the mass on that none of that adds up hundred seventy eight days for one thousand sixty eight hours okay hundred seventy eight days on a teacher they have a five day week teacher. Is twelve hundred and one hours all right. And before my says well there's some schools to go four days a week right the mass still don't add up because. One thousand sixty eight hours only hundred thirty three days nobody's looked at this this has not properly been over. Line seventeen eighteen or somewhat contradictory leaving the state liable for legal action in some cases in this bill there's a lot to contradictory I think it looks like they just cut and paste of together to make a hundred forty four page bill honestly. Line seventeen okay did that one All right we're gonna go to page eighty one tax credit. We went from two million to six million okay now this really only applies to private schools all right. In my opinion the state has no business funding private school. All right but we're going to move on from that the freedom account our freedom scholarship funding okay that really only applies to private schools. There is not a single thing that that that is in that freedom account that a public school doesn't already provide or a public charter does not already provide so this only deals with private schools. Ninety percent foundation funding so you're providing nine percent foundation funding for it's going to be about twenty twenty six according to language in the bill going to be a hundred percent provided for to private schools so if you add up pages eighty one to eighty six the state is providing more money per student to a private entity than they are for public school students. Okay and before you say that's tax credits and donations. I mean it doesn't matter how crooked the road is to get there it still comes from the same pot of money. I'm trying to stay calm sorry to granted. Brandon yes I'm sorry your time is up your five minutes is up. Thank you very much for your testimony appreciate it. Cemex this is. Mike Fernandes. Speaking on the bill. On the bill. You have five minutes. Thank you madam chair Preciado opportunity to speak on this I had thought I two minutes so I actually wrote it down to get it through so I'll be brief On behalf of public school administrators I appreciate the opportunity to speak on Senate bill two ninety four we certainly support initiatives to that positively impacts students and help to prepare them for their futures that is our goal and I'm sure that is a goal of everyone in this room we believe the Arkansas learns ACT has great potential to impact student learning positively. There are pieces of this bill that we know will be good for students and others that we know we must have additional clarification on. With ministers read the education bill our minds immediately turned to several essential questions do we know what the rules are do we have the resources to implement the changes. Can we provide support to teachers the teachers need to succeed and help our students grow academically at this point at this point and I appreciate that the discussion during this because it did clarify a lot of the questions that that are that are out there There are some things that are still unknown I know you can all appreciate that any leader would have hesitation about bold reforms without a clear picture of financial support and sustainability especially in our small rural school districts. We hope to have the opportunity to ask questions seek clarification and be at the table during the rule making process at the end of the day we can do better we must do better. For our students regardless of what new policies adopted by this body body administrators want to partner with parents board members legislators and the department of education to make the best learning environments for all students we also have to ensure that our teachers and staff know that we support them and want to create the conditions for them to be successful. Thank you thank you very much. Okay let's see Devin toughest. You know identify yourself to be recognized. It is push a button. Push the button. Yeah I think it is my name is seven times I am a science teacher to river school district and Arkansas we are a pretty small district and not as small as the previous ones I've spent some time my career at however being a small district this bill I feel affects us more than it does any body else and our biggest issue often with this on this bill is that there's so much that goes into it it feels like it ought to be split up and handle this separate issues that there's great things in the early childhood education things like that but there's other things in it that we feel really puts public schools at risk especially the voucher program and our public dollars going to private schools and in fact John had a who is comprised data for over twenty five million students across the world has a meta analysis of two hundred and fifty different factors that contribute to school success school choice programs are number two hundred and eight on that list behind engaged fathers two parent homes and lack of stress at home from students that is often due to poverty and other issues that they see you seem this school choice programs that we have in this bill will affect small schools the most because vouchers cannot fix problems poverty Ballinger Sir private schools are not the answer to our leaders the issues studies show that poverty illiteracy go hand in hand and expanded school choice will not fix that most of Arkansas does not see students school choice around because the grass is greener on the other side we see if these kids school choice around because they couldn't pay the rent this month so they had to move to a new apartment we see kids school choice around because Graham all died that was raising them and now they have to go live with aunt Susie somewhere we see kids school choice around because a parent was arrested because the the water was turned off in their home and they had to live with a different family member we see kids school choice round because of poverty that's the fight that we are up against and this school choice program will not benefit. Our kids that are most at risk it will benefit the affluent and those that can afford the life changes that come with going in traveling to a private school and adds those funds are taken out of public schools and that and we remove signs that can pay teachers to be there not only do we lose our number of teachers that we can keep it with a loss of teachers means class sizes grow and as we've just seen talked about here the students who can't succeed at a private school will be kicked back to us and it's class sizes get larger in the number of teachers get smaller we will not be able to provide the quality of education that our students deserve and once again once again we will see the students who are most at risk that bear the most burdens in life way more than our affluent students that are able to get by much easier we will see them once more be impoverished and burdened with one more problem that they will have to live with and deal with and that will all stand from this school choice program that we see is funds leave our public schools and we lose some of our ability to provide quality education not because teachers are ineffective but because the means to make it happen are just not there so we stand here today and we ask you to make this bill a separate issue don't let it pass through as it is today make this a separate issue make these things be broken in the separate issues that have to be evaluated separately so that so that each one can be given the attention it deserves because all of it is much too important to put are most at risk students in the crosshairs once again thank you. I'm sorry I believe we cannot have that in here. You'll have to leave if I hear one more outburst. This is not that's not acceptable everybody knew that when we came in here. So please behave yourselves thank you. Okay the city hi Kevin Tipton. Speaking for the bill. No push the button on. Thank you that work yes you identify yourself to be recognized. Appreciate your having me. Secretary legal center. All these. Senator Davis thank you guys for your explanation and your details per share the work that you guys have done for this. Senator English my name is Kevin Tipton the president of germ line manufacturing Cabot Arkansas. I am honored to serve on the Arkansas Kerr Education workforce development board. In which I think that preparing students for the workforce. Is an absolute necessity. And luxury that Arkansas needs to shift. To create a positive shift in the Arkansas economy. I see need for workforce every day. I am. I see the struggles with hiring and retention. And it is a challenge for I'm going to send most companies in Arkansas. I am blessed. I am blessed to be from a successful school district. Serve on the cabin school board. I think our school district is fantastic our teachers are loving wonderful. And deserve high praise. And my hope is that students all around Arkansas will get to experience something that I've been able to experience such as this. I am for the learns Act. several reasons I think school safety is probably at the top of that list. I am a hundred percent in favor of protecting students at all costs. I look forward to seeing this bill come together I look forward to seeing superintendents be able to lead And calming guide our teachers and administration and staff. I understand that change can be intimidating. And I think the more facts and more details that get out today and over the next week I think that should produce a calming effect and an effective measure for for Kansans. So thank you for allowing me to speak and. Hello guys thank you very much. Hausen Greeks B. Sweatman. The. Am I on your help okay thank you. Thank you so much for listening to us today I'm also includes the sweat man and I am a disability advocate and a licensed social worker in central Arkansas. Before I talk about some of those things I want to talk to you about my journey as a parent. I became a mom in twenty fifteen. When I gave birth to my perfect daughter Rosie who was diagnosed with down syndrome about halfway through my pregnancy. She was also diagnosed with several other health issues within the first year of her life. After about two years her health had improved enough that we were considering growing our family we were given the opportunity to adopt her brother both who is her Big Brother and doesn't have as many health issues but also has down syndrome. He was much closer to starting kindergarten so I took it upon myself as a parent and advocate for him to learn as much as I could about what it would take for him to get a good education in Arkansas public schools. I began devouring information about the individuals with disabilities Education Act worrying about my rights and my responsibilities as a parent to a child with disabilities in Arkansas public schools. It wasn't long before I became known as the mom who could help other parents understand their rights and responsibilities and help them collaborate with their schools to get their child with the needed to thrive. It was this work that led me to study special education policy and parental mental health at the graduate level. And it was this education they gave me the philosophy through which I view my work in my parenting and the reason I am here today. And that is disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Today you're hearing plenty of people talking about what this bill contains not important. I read all one hundred and forty four pages of it and I would like to express my deep concerns and disappointment about what is not in the bill. Assurance of the rights of students with disabilities under the individuals with disabilities Education Act. The I. D. E. A. affords kids like mine and those who have worked with and advocated for protection from discrimination or exclusion from education a protection that was necessary less than fifty years ago when Congress found one million kids nationwide were being turned away from all types of schools on the basis of disability alone. I D. a law also offers our kids are right to a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment with the least restrictive environment largely being defined by time spent with their typical peers. We have known for many years that this inclusivity offers academic and social benefits for all children regardless of their ability status. I. D. E. A. also offers kids accommodations and modifications to access their education just access it not even have the best education just acts as an appropriate education. And uniquely and perhaps most importantly this law encourages parents to take part in the development of an agreed upon education plan formulated through data collection and input from a team of professionals. In Arkansas over the last five years I've watched and worked with parents teachers para professionals administrators and therapists who attempt to make these plans to meet the needs of our kids only to find again and again and again a scarcity of resources in public schools for special education. I have seen many frustrated parents pull their child from the school to attempt to home school them making sacrifices for their families financial stability and their child's academic and social progress others have had no choice but to become resigned to their child's needs being unmet buyer under resource system this instability is unsustainable and it exists not because public schools or teachers are inherently bad educating kids but because the funding resources and support for special education has been starved and ignored year after year in the State of Arkansas. Ballinger programs like this one in this bill have rarely in. Language insured IDA protections to kids like mine Arkansas has an opportunity to change that by leading the way and explicitly stating that no child in Arkansas will be without their rights no matter what school they choose regardless of their educational needs or the setting in which their parents choose to educate them. Without the protections offered by ID a law students with disabilities and their families will not have the choices of their typical peers as this bill is currently written this is this is exactly what will happen to families like mine and those that I serve many perhaps most parents of kids with disabilities in Arkansas will be choosing between number one keeping their child in and under resource poorly funded I'm sorry that your time is up I have just a few words thank you very much may I have one more minute no I'm sorry everybody only gets five minutes got a lot of people who want to talk. So I. Yes. Measure you you have you know trip now don't you yes it's just as measured like to ask if the chair would allow to let her share her notes with the staff so that they could run copies for the committee members for us to have to be able to read her thoughts in their entirety as the issue has a written out of the final finish the sentence I was thank you with that be okay. Thank you very much. Okay can you send it later they're kind of scribbled appreciate that. Thank you senator Hammer look kisha Dixon. Thank you should extend here. She outside maybe. Somebody check out there. I guess she's not here okay. C. Christine. Later. Blackman Christine Blackman. She here. Right outside. CJD Kobe. I see you here. It identify yourself you'll be recognized. I am C. JG Kobe I want to take this opportunity to thank you guys so much of a chance to speak to you guys I kind of want to focus on the teacher's salary part of it and how it really impacts our family and kind of give our life story about it my wife and I are both educators women teaching combined close to about twenty years we don't live extravagantly as you know teachers don't get that opportunity to every single month we scratch we claw we plan. to think about how we can spend our money one of the minimum payments we can make on credit cards one of the things that we can pay for bills how can we cut down on Walmart expenses just to make ends meet every month. recently we have decided and thought about. taking part time jobs or getting out of the education field altogether. and every time it comes back to why we teach we teach for the kids are in our classroom for each individual one to have a chance to succeed. and every time that we get opportunity to maybe do something else we don't do it because we love what we do and we do we do for a reason. I have been able to increase teacher salary I think will not only retain great very good teachers but I think it'll also keep teachers from going to border states of that offer higher salary increases. and I think that being able to increase the salaries whether be different for each state or each district however that may be the free to have an impact on our family to where we're not having to think about secondary jobs or third jobs or taking more time away from our family to make ends meet it'll be able to keep teachers in the classroom and be able to bring in very good educational teachers that can make an impact on our future I want to thank you so much for the time but that's what I have thank you very much appreciate your own weight so I'm sorry. Yes you might ask him or you might answer questions that's right what you don't have to name school district I don't want which on that spot what size is your school district were successful your six a school for its pretty good size school then. You might tell me what your salary is fifty thousand fifty thousand so this is going to benefit you then. it'll benefit me and my wife yes okay because we've done a before Sheridan I was anyone school district okay for that I was a Jacksonville lighthouse okay very good and the Against question would have is. The school district in the matrix we. In addition to correct me if I'm wrong but in the matrix we have. Funneled money to schools for salaries and you know with that money gets to school it kind of goes where the school district decides for to go do you what what's been the discussions around your individual schools that you've experienced as far as the the salary increases that you've given and the schools discussion with the school teachers about increasing the salaries within what the state has been sending down to you. I think I have a whole lot of special teachers on the salary part of it I've heard more about with the fair dismissal act but I know especially like I'm surrounded by younger teachers that have questions whether or not they can continue to do it because or have a different kind of bills and expenses and have families but also all of them are supported by a better teacher and it's gonna take those better teachers to to help keep your teachers are invested okay thank you thanks to the friends of the questions. Thank you very much. Caitlyn Hodges. Hi it identify yourself you'll be recognized. Yes my name is Caitlyn Hodges I teach first grade at two rivers elementary in your county there are many points and governor Sanders learns bill that I kind of serving however I have chosen to shed light on the point that is most important to me although this raise would impact me and my family at home in a very positive way I believe that beginning with the end in mind as I tell my students would be wise considering that this race could bleed public schools Dr funding as a public teacher of small children we need as many hands on deck that we can get if my district can't afford to pay the teachers we already have on staff we would lose needed professionals and it would negatively affect not only me but more importantly my sixteen first these. The unfortunate reality is that the students are serve our students that need me in many other caring adults in their lives that they don't have access to anywhere other than school a fourth of my class is in therapy for trauma or behavior most of them are from broken homes two of them have been adopted several have a parent have parents addicted to drugs and this is just one classroom. My first priority every day is making sure my students are fed and well taken care of that might mean getting them a coat from the coat closet or making a call to the DHS hotline. I am their nurse there's cheerleader there chef and their second mother and honestly teaching is sometimes the last thing that I do. And it's a job that I say that I do believe that I do well. Our first concern should be our children. Leding a school drive its teachers and staff to pay for a race that we do deserve but we cannot afford what directly negatively affect our children. It was mentioned that we are preparing kids for high quality and high growth careers teaching needs to be a high growth careers well this salary this our proposal doesn't account for that I'm glad to hear that they say there will be funding given and I would be crazy to turn down a raise but my worry lies with the impact that were making my districts and this not clearly stated what that would look like thank you thank you very much. The manager covid. Hi I just want to thank you all for allowing people to speak today my name is Amanda Kobe I think you all just heard from my husband together we're both teachers and coaches we have been committed to impacting student lives for a really long time because we love it we love the kids we are not in it to make a lot of money but as he kind of talked about a little bit and. The. Teacher salaries and has made us several times recently rethink our career we just walk and are signed last year he's ten months old and so we've had a lot of and changes in our family and. The teacher salary increase would greatly affect us in the sense of helping us potentially not live paycheck to paycheck recently I have gone to the extent of actually interviewing for a job outside of the teaching field simply because I. Didn't know what else to do for our family in that interview it was made clear that I didn't want to leave the education field I'm really not I do not believe that I am supposed to do anything else I believe that I'm supposed to be. Teaching and coaching young lives to. Help them become great people but I do know that teachers are leaving the career and her needs for a lot of different reasons but I do know that all the stress and the work that teachers put in day in and day out we do not feel like is being adequately compensated and I do feel like the part of the bill that addresses that will help a lot of families including mine and I also wanted to address the maternity leave as a recent mom I can attest to the fact that. Having districts have the opportunity to opt into a maternity leave policy would greatly affect moms I was one of the moms that had to figure out how many days I had saved a. Not take a day it type take leave while I was pregnant if I was sick simply because if I took a day I would not have that day paid whenever I did have to baby and we ended up having to have a C. section early and so we had I had days that I did not have and pay and of course there's short term disability but it does not fully compensate Mons and it adds additional stress two families and particularly to moms who need and want to be there for their newborn baby I know there's a lot of parts of this bill that have been discussed today and I have enjoyed listening to everything and I know that there are concerns of people but I wanted to make sure that. That the positives of this bill have been addressed and Have been made down that there are people and that want. This to pass And continue the conversation and the discussions of the concerns that have been present it would greatly affect my family and would reduce some stress that we have currently so I think all and I appreciate you're listening to us today thank you very much. Okay let me see Chad hall. You'll identify yourself you'll be recognized a good morning my name is Chad hall I'm originally from Salem springs right now I am I'm a licensed educator in Arkansas bless seven through twelfth grade secondary and right now I am a graduate student Arkansas tech as well as a composition instructor originally I came here with the speech planned for you guys but excuse me I'm nervous as I was driving here from Russellville I passing actions in moral ten into Conway in little rock I thought that it wasn't substantial enough and so instead I'm going to be doing what my kids call is having a real talk with you all about education in Arkansas if I could address Senator Davis specifically for a moment. I've tie in your senate district my entire career I did my observation Russellville I completed my internship at Dover high school and course right now I'm teaching at Arkansas tech developmental readers and writers at Arkansas tech. I've worked with students facing substance abuse who are parents who have been abuse or suicidal. Do not speak English fully no matter how long they've been here in Arkansas in the public school system for any school system. I love my kids dearly And they are struggling greatly. Even now in college I have students who are reading around a sixth seventh eighth grade reading level and they're college students. The right arguably at a lower level than that in my opinion. I read your this one hundred forty four page bill and I don't to be disrespectful but quite honestly you fail to do anything to help the students and that goes for everyone in here. I've taught students from every single one of your Senate districts I top from Fayetteville. I have been bill Rogers Little Rock on way I touched pine bluff Jonesborough I've taught students everywhere. are coming from everywhere and. They are struggling in ways that this bill doesn't even touch. And it comes from a misunderstanding of education and what has been done in education for years and that is putting everything on local school districts to come up with the resources and to basically figure it out for themselves and that's not enough when the training that's being provided to teachers is not substantial enough to meet the needs of every student that is gonna be coming into our classrooms I have black students who have been told and believe that there's something wrong with the way they talk because they cannot because they can only replicate their speech on paper when the writing essays and I have to sit down and back them to understand that I don't want them to change the way they talk I love the way they talk there is just a failure to properly train a teacher to separates. Speech to writing. I have six Hispanic students again never learned English during college I teach international students the resources are out there this bill doesn't address higher education almost all this bill in my opinion leaves behind secondary education students almost entirely. Because it stops about Katie to third grade and what you guys understand is that the students are suffering all the way through twelfth grade and it's not their fault. I came here today because I need someone here who cares about these kids as much as I do. And to hopefully get across to you guys that's fifty thousand dollars means nothing to me if you are not using this opportunity to appropriately meet the needs of students and meet the needs of the teachers who are teaching those students and this bill fails to do that at it again directly attacks the teaching profession and public schools. At a rate continues to just leave everything to local school districts who already don't have the resources I know school districts who do not have textbooks for the English classes I noticed schools I cannot hire the teachers they need because they don't have the resources from you guys. That is unacceptable in this bill just continues that while can't attacking teachers for indoctrination that doesn't exist. For not being able to meet the demands of every single student when you guys are giving us the tools to do so and while I appreciate this time to be able to speak to you guys about this more needs to be done. Thank you very much thank you senator Hammer determination thank you measure you might answer a couple questions of course it sounds like you've been all over the state teaching how many school districts have you taught in I do apologize I misspoke I meant to add buyer we spoke I meant to say students coming from all over the state coming to the Arkansas tech I'm a composition instructor I ate for the first three semesters of my masters I taught the composition workshop which is tied to comp one and it teaches development on developing readers and writers students who did not receive a certain score on the ACT and I read the English or the reading portion and so they've been put into a compliment and workshops to help of catch up and meet those needs have you ever called the K. twelve classroom I completed my internship as I said at the Dover high school I we've talked the entire semester three I believe sections of regular twelfth grade English so you've never taught in the K. twelve classroom outside of your higher ed requirements that's correct okay in your statement was that the system has failed to teach teachers. And as a result of that if I understood you right that's part of what you're attributing the failure rate of students to is that the teachers that have been taught by our higher ed institutions have not been taught adequately in order to go into the classroom and to teach the students that that's how I interpreted what you said did I misinterpret anything you said I think that's a part of it and you know and we have a certain amount of time if if you give me just a second I think that includes the advancements have been made in education and the need for Arkansas students we have a higher rate of students coming in from throughout the country are moving in here the coming from other countries themselves and being able to meet those students needs a consistent failure that's been around of understanding multi cultural diversity of our students as I said you know I have black students. I have lived their entire lives speaking after American English but we have not properly trained our teachers to understand that that's a hundred percent okay and we just need to find the ways that they can adapt their language to meet the formal writing needs you know I am speaking as an English teacher specifically and then just the resources in our classrooms okay I know we can teach without textbooks we get there having to do that even as we sit here and say that in the Arkansas constitution it is your responsibility to fully fund our schools the wire the underfunded still where the under resource to still okay so those are one time by training that goes into all that in my opinion. Okay all right thanks for your thank you a measure thank you very much thank you very much. Amanda issue. Hello there. Thank you for the opportunity to be here it's an honor to recognize yourself give Dan's name for me and I ask you I'm I'm from Pocahontas Arkansas and thank you senator Davis and Secretary leave after the courageous work on this bill and I began my career twenty years ago as a speech pathologist in Arkansas public schools I worked there for five years I'm also a mother to six children and have been a home school mother for thirteen years awhile after adopting my oldest child my husband and I realized that we were seeing signs of autism and her son so I want to say thank you for the maternity leave inclusion especially for adopted children and my husband and I adopted our sign on one day and I went back to work the next. Am I want to share with you that for the last six years I have had the privilege of starting a private school and home school cooperative hybrid program in northeast Arkansas called the lighthouse this is a program for children with autism and special needs we have an inclusive model where our students receive evidence based treatment programs in a socially immersive environment with peers of all abilities we currently serve over sixty students in three cities for many children this is the least restrictive environment I began when at the beginning of my husband I converted our carport into a classroom and it's been a whirlwind of grows ever sense so as to the senators previous jokes about starting a private school we have done that and it's not nearly as simple as was implied. I have experienced everything across the spectrum of what has been discussed here except charter schools I'm here today because I'm painfully aware of how our current system of education is failing large demographics of students and through the process of finding what does work I have become increasingly convinced of these four words education is an atmosphere our program doesn't exist because of affluent want more most of our parents are struggling to meet the needs of their children they come to us because our previous atmosphere did not meet their needs in some cases it did more harm than good they stay with us because our atmosphere is working to achieve their academic goals and improve their overall quality of life and to address the confusion from before this is exactly how we address poverty and many other social dilemmas before us today. I have a lot of a lot of great teachers one is my brother here in Little Rock I'm thankful for their self sacrificing work however the most excellent of school districts and the most excellent teachers cannot meet the needs of all children but we can do better than condemning children to an incompatible educational atmosphere on occasion we meet students whose needs do not fit our program we must evaluate each child to determine if the fit is right and we must be honest about that the most heartbreaking thing about those conversations is that we don't have options for referral for those families we need diversity I would be thrilled to see more educational opportunities in my community in our program we regularly say parents know best it is our desire that parents understand that we view them as primary educators I'm asking you today to make a courageous Meeks allow parents the ability to choose the optimal educational atmosphere for their children thank you thank you very much. The Bill Copsey. Nearly tripped and fell on their face and we have here so happy to be here you identify yourself for the record yes ma'am my name is bill Kaski in the Director of the Arkansas public policy panel. and I really appreciated the discussion this morning it's reshape some of what I was going to say and I appreciate the end of questions that you all of us and the answers that sponsors that have provided I might surprise some of you there are a lot of things in this bill that I really appreciate and that I've spent my career working to advance some of those elements are the focus on K. three literacy a clear pathway work the independent since the success plans enhance touring paid maternity leave my to suggest paternity leave as well. The the right to read programme minimum teacher salary and focus on teacher recruitment and development we might need to focus more on teacher retirement and the focus on pre K. quality and access. All of those things that I appreciate about the bill there are specific things that way I think it could be made better and I appreciate the opportunity to work with sponsors to make some suggestions here and there that I don't want to belabor the time now to to get into the the weeds of. Our big concern is well there's several posts the bill that we also have some large concerns with and I heard one of the everyone of you say that voucher programs do nothing to take money away from public education. our concern is and the experience of other state is that. Voucher programs over time do in fact undermine funding for public education and they have been shown to undermine education outcomes particularly for vulnerable kids. You're creating a third system of education here need a long term cost analysis and impact assessment of that not a two year one we need accountability and transparency that stronger than what's in this bill for all schools using public tax dollars. On the process of how this bills come to be. Our organization and our members have not been engaged in anyway in the making of this legislation the lawmakers who represent our members have not known who is engaged when we passed. It's such a stark contrast to the bipartisan inclusive approach to the Lake View rulings that was done through the Blue Ribbon commission on education reform that brought many stakeholders together for public hearings a lot like the one this morning where what the questions were asked we're evidence based reforms were considered where public hearings were held around the state were re writing the whole education system it's important it's important that we do it right public education luckily in Arkansas has never been partisan and it's never been particularly polarized although there have been efforts to make it so I am dates fast the polarizing in politicizing our education system would be a mistake for all of us. And we need to build consensus to make public education work we need to slow down a little bit and have the process. A few of the things that I'm particularly concerned about in the bill on it focus on. This school transformation contracts in section fourteen do not have evidence that they are effective in other places where they've been tried. The other states have records of fraud and failure using the strategy. The basing them on the school grade rating system is problematic because the grade rating system in Arkansas as a better indicator of the family income of the students attending that school then they are of the quality of that school system. They should have a maximum contract length and accountability for progress. And the way that they're designed they could be worse of because you have punishment if you don't sign up for one you get financial benefits if you do. The indoctrination section of the legislation which is in section sixteen is problematic. If the vague about what's not allowed and that vagueness is going to chill educators and dialogue. We appreciate the secretaries a knowledge meant this morning and I'm sure before I had heard of the four of the importance of black and brown history to all of us it is all of our history. What we need is the state board of education to set clear standards for curriculum K. through twelve so it's incorporated and we know clearly what is allowed and what's not not vague language that's meant to frighten and shall discussion that's what it looks like it's meant to do at any rate with the current way that is thank you so much for your testimony your time is up thank you I'll submit some further in writing at least if you will. PDS Martin is. Atenas. Hello hi my name is Lupita Martinez. thank you madam chair and committee members for the opportunity to comment on Senate bills two hundred ninety four my name is Lupita Martinez I am a tenth grade student I Ozark Catholic academy and Tontitown Arkansas. One of the best things about attending private school is the connection between teachers and students teachers are there to help us learn grow and expand our horizons. They have a genuine interest in me as a whole person. Having transition from public school several years ago I remember leaving and the firemen focused on social class and economics to a new environment of being welcomed and every activity several of my neighborhood friends often talk about how difficult it must be to a specific specific uniform every day. It actually helps to build community and helps us see the real person as set up a particular class or division on campus. Thank you for taking this bold step for the state of Arkansas you're creating a ripple effect with long lasting positive implications thank you again for this opportunity thank you very much. Hi Steve McKee. Hello I'm Steve McKee I am a little rock school district graduate a concerned parent and also a pediatrician and I think it's unfortunate that we were asked to speak or for or against such a huge bill with so many different parts there's been a lot of hard work that's gone into this and there are a lot of really awesome pieces and people have already speak spoken about a lot of those but today I'm just gonna talk briefly about the word shouldn't which came up a lot when we were talking in the hearings and then also about inequalities so I think should is interesting because I have a five year old and I mean no disrespect with this analogy but my five year old should eat his vegetables but he only does that when there's a law of the house when that happened when that law is Implemented and enforced a lot of the district the districts should use the money for this the rules should that private schools should and and I think we should parking back to trust but verify right and verification is seeing that language in the bill. The next thing that I want to talk about is inequalities and people have already spoken quite eloquently on the fact that this will take money out of public schools. That we are spending three hundred million dollars and a hundred fifty million new dollars without spending a single dollar on students that are in public schools. And. If we think that this will work if we think that vouchers will work if we think that putting public money to private school vouchers will improve outcomes for students despite the many studies in Louisiana and many other states to show that it doesn't if we think that it works and I think we should talk line by line about the inequalities that this bill and the language will perpetuate. I'm gonna paraphrase of the my coach my football coach mark Central High who said every day you can either get better or get worse. And so I think there a lot of ways here that we're just going to get worse. So the first one that I'd like to talk about where we are not working against inequalities but furthering them is. In this section. Six eighteen twenty five oh five page eighty six that the funding for these vouchers will be ninety percent of the prior year's foundation funding per student that is much less than most students would required to subsidize them to attend private schools so most students will not be able to attend private schools using this and this one step to subsidize the wealthy families who are already attending private schools. The next thing. On page eighty nine the parents have to enroll students in the Arkansas child education freedom account and beyond having a parent who can. Read who can take enough time off of work or child care or second jobs to actually apply for the account in the first year it looks like only a small amount of people who would be eligible are gonna be covered and we talked about that and links but there's no discussion about how the people who qualify are going to be prioritized when more than adequate people serve more than one point five percent of people apply how are we going to prioritize who actually gets that funding and remember this is all if we think that this works if we think that it works despite evidence that it doesn't. Again page ninety one line fifteen priority will be given to Arkansas children's freedom householders who have been in the program longest so who do you think will get in the program earliest not students who are most disadvantaged students were most advantaged and then that will be propagated every single other step of the way. Lastly there's no discussion of data to the state will be collecting about students who are declined admission to private schools no data about students who have their accounts closed to to their inability to attend schools because they have to drive too far or because they're closest public school is not a reality. Why not invest is three hundred million dollars in the public schools we already have instead of creating as another system that is inequitable. If we're saying that this is capitalism at its best. Then what we're establishing is incredibly unfair competition we're asking probing public schools to compete with less and less money with private schools who already have a bank account funded by people's tech paying full tuition and then giving them extra public money that's not a fair competition by any means. And then lastly on page forty eight line one the literacy tutoring tutoring grant great ideas however the literacy during grants are going to be prioritized on a first come first serve basis and I noticed that a lot of the language that was struck from this bill was that striking the national free lunch program student privatization and these are the land this is language that would be easy to put in this bill it for you your time is up thank you very much for your testimony. Yeah. I'd like to get a copy of this notice if you do want to share with staff so we can do the same as requested a while ago thank you. So thank you. Gust also any. DO identify yourself you'll be recognized. Hello hello. My name is Gustavo Pena. I am a tenth grade student at those are Kathy Katie me in Northwest Arkansas trying to. On. An aspect of attending a faith based school is the opportunity to combine my academics with my spiritual life. Day in and day L. I have the chance to develop a strong sense of morality and ethics throw everything I do and I believe this will help me build a strong foundation that will last me a lifetime. In today's world we hear the term bullying far too often is a reflect on the two private schools that I attended instead of focusing on our differences and how those differences can create perceived power which is boring in its truest sense we work to understand our god given talents and how they complement each other to build a stronger more unified community. I often hear that some people think private schools are way too strict and have too many rules. My experience has been different. My teachers my fellow classmates and my family they all have high expectations of me and in turn that has made me build a strong willingness to exceed these expectations. I'm not so worried about will rules and strictness but about setting responsible expectations. Thank you madam chairman and committee members for the opportunity to comment on Senate bill two ninety four thank you senator is for making a difference in Arkansas today for life to come. Thank you for your testimony. Very Jefferson. Thank you very Jefferson I am the question chair for the NAACP conference and I'm the president of the Jacksonville branch of the N. double ACP was a thank you good to see my my Senator center left in the Chesterfield Senator English chairman chair person thank you so much for this opportunity I think this is a very important bill I'm glad you're doing this because it's very important that we need to focus on education. Are we doing it the right way no. there's a lot I agree with this bill now organization agree with this bill we have never seen issues in our community. I read to kids. S. the third grade every at first grade level every week. Our organization read to kids this is important. We do agree with that. We agree with that this overview several things in this bill. But when you start taking funding. Away from school I have an issue with it. Vouches programs do not work. Research to prove it. It don't work. What to do with it may private institution richer. And I want you to think about that just think about that. Just think about it. I want to focus on what can we do to improve our children learn and by investing more into the school district. Not less but more. It's coming to be a figure out how can we make a school district better. Not. Bye take it from them. If we do that we can do a lot better. Once you start looking at those things that's how we can improve. But not teachers and our traditional schools is not the right answer. Is not. We can say we don't but we do. I'm here to from the teachers that called me I'm here for the president to call me on a regular basis as well as the in a C. P. going to do about this. Debitage for many years. We get passes to the charter schools. When they fail we still give a pass. We get the more money more opportunities but when a school district bill state take over it. They make it worse. So would you think about what you're trying to do here is not working. That just do not work. And I organization is opposing this bill thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony. I Mark. Bleaker. Letter. It is. We can't quite tell what this says. Letter. Weaker bladder. Mark. Doesn't appear to be here so Maranda Kavan is. A one. Is that mark liquor coming up here. Are read. Say what you're asking for. We already had it could be it could be it. Is about as bad as mine. Thank you feel identify yourself you'll be recognized. Push the button. Thank you Hey I'm mark Braden and you or did you are member of a distinguished list of people's got that name wrong so. my name is mark Braden after retiring from the private sector I volunteer for the last five years at a private school had the blessing to be able to drive down here this morning those two young students that you had a chance to hear from a minute ago hadn't planned on speaking but since the opportunity presented itself I just want to say I am in favor of this bill one of the things I've seen over the last five years is an opportunity for young kids who may have got lost in the shuffle of a big school to be able to be a big fish in a small pond which I think happens oftentimes the private school sector these some I've seen kids over the last five years be able going do things that they may not have been able to do if they had been in the public school system I put four kids to the public school system in fable Arkansas I'm proud of the work that they did I'm proud of the work that school district did but there are different kids in different situations. This bill will for a lot of families that opportunity that may not have been afforded it at this point. We at we offer about we have for a lot of tuition level for people keep try to keep a low to keep it affordable everybody but this is really going to enable lot of kids be able do that also want to say that all these teachers that we have in here I so appreciate the work they do it's an underappreciated profession and one that we ought to find ways to be able to improve the quality of their life as well thanks for the opportunity to speak. Thank you very much for your testimony. Tiny Williams. Now you need to push the button. Thank you thank you. Hello my name is Tanya Williams and I am a special education teacher and veteran teacher twenty four years in south Arkansas I work at a great title one school district that is also for a and I have a great superintendent with his support. First of all I want to say that all Arkansas students deserve a sustained world class education. But trying to pass a hundred and forty plus page bill to completely reform and restructure Arkansas's entire education system is. It's too quickly as reckless forty hours is not enough time to thoughtfully an adequate review and implement a bill that will completely change our education system. While some things in this bill are great it is simply too big. There are problems with some of the items while others are okay but is an all or nothing. Situation. Giving public tax money to private institutions is not okay. Repelling the Bill take fair teacher act is not okay. Implementing it eliminating the salary schedule is not okay. We as educators have worked tirelessly to build our salary schedules to have steps a built in for up to twenty eight years. I am we had a fight to get there is taken many years and a lot of hours outside the school district to work with our superintendents and our school boards and administrators to get our salary schedule where it is now. There's no way to responsibly and thoughtfully reconstruct Education in such a brief time especially without including the people around the state by holding discussions in hearings and listening to teachers and parents we should create a way to engage the people in a process that envisions an education system not keep it a secret until unveiling it right before it's time to to have a vote taken. To make sure all students and families are well served we must create and design systems that work for them not rush bills through before we had time to digest fully and have time to make it better. Thank you very much for your time and for listening to me thank you so much for your testimony. read the cavernous. The same over here. Good morning thanks for having me This Is Maranda Kavan S. I'm premier gold Arkansas and I'm here as a mother more than anything but I'll talk a little bit about my perfect profession if I have time I have a twelve year old son he is on the autism spectrum. We started in the public school system and while we have some incredible teachers in the public school system they did everything they could to help him he was not thriving he had debilitating anxiety panic attacks migraine a host of other health issues some of those health issues caused him to miss frequently. he has a disorder that causes random fevers and he's not contagious but because he has a fever is not allowed to attend public school and so we were simply unable to find access to any other services for him in the third grade his reading level was kindergarten level. And so our family had to take drastic measures my husband's stopped working full time so that he could stay home with him just because my income was was better at the time and and could support our family. It required a lot of rearranging to make home schooling work and to be flexible for us curriculum was very expensive and we had to piece together things to make it work for us we hit roadblock after roadblock block to gain access for the services that he needed we were eventually able to overcome these hurdles he is now thriving he's reading above above grade level he has known he's wanted to be an actor and a director since he was three years old he is thriving in a community theater troop of where he is very socially active sometimes Houston's five six hours a day at theater he's learning and gaining Education even in that theater system one of the theater directors a stated he has an amazing script reader and auditions he can pick up an audition script never seeing it before and put it into motion. I don't believe it be worry was today and throbbing today had we not made these tremendous sacrifices deport support his individual needs and while he is just one students I've met many students throughout our career whose parents cannot gain access to these services and we do everything that we can to help them find access to services across the state Just a little bit about my career we do own a private school at this time we did and then and wait we look outcomes day outcome measures day we do formal assessments three times a year. We work with other school districts I get calls at least weekly to come into a school district and help those districts develop behavior programs and intervention programs for those districts some of them again for the services and some of them are simply like can you just help us we do a lot of pro bono work to the best of our abilities but sometimes districts simply can't have us come in but they're just reaching out for those services. I think that this bill has some appropriations in there at least a coed at some point to be able to help those districts as well to get more services for those students who want to stay in that public education system this is not a one size fits all education for any student every student needs to be afforded an education that best fits them and I love the accountability aspect of the bill even as a private school I think that we have to have some accountability is and I can show you that our school is eighty five percent special needs and every single one of them are thriving and making gains engrossed in their own personal way. Thank you for having me. Thank you very much for testimony. I just can't. Skews me. Here yes I want everybody who can to to speak. But it is moving rapidly to one one. Being a diabetic I need food at what time are we going to cut this off I think probably in about five minutes will probably recess all right now we can come back this afternoon yes until the session okay and that was the give people a chance to yeah so everybody gets a chance to speak we'll be back here as soon as the Senate session is okay so I'd ask you to go ahead and and deliver your testimony and then we will recess and come back up after we finish our session in and thank you all for being here yeah Preciado. I appreciate you give at giving me the opportunity to in the before recess my name is Jessica Disney and while I'm here is a resident of Arkansas I am actively involved with teachers and other residents from Conway Arkansas. This legislature certainly kept me busy in my advocacy for margin marginalized youth here in Arkansas I come to you today to fight for them and the teachers on the frontline of our education in our state I want to start by saying that they're planning portions of this bill that would benefit our teachers and public schools a great deal however since this is group as an omnibus bill I am forced to focus on just two points of several that need to be addressed due to concerns from teachers in our state. I agree that our state should help provide for races to our teachers in public schools though looking on page seventy seven of this bill. In lines twenty five through thirty two it covers the eligibility of the teacher to receive a raise based on merit years ago quote value added growth model I want to be clear our schools are not and should not be businesses in our state teachers should have higher pay and raises for experience but doing it this way as a cause for concern and incentive based system like this does not work as our teachers in the state are already giving their all to our children this bill does not cover what the system should look like for teachers that works work with students that have various disabilities. Potentially preventing teachers from receiving their hard earned her hard earned raises as they continue their education can get spirits in our school districts we need to give appropriate raises to our longstanding teachers and better teacher and have better teacher retention in doing so. On page eighty nine of this bill lines one through five cover the denial venture eligibility to receive these vouchers that are being proposed to based on academic performance the standards for academic performance remain undefined and does not treat our children in Arkansas with any amount of equity. There is no provision to handle students with disabilities behavior type behavioral challenges or other occurrences that may prevent academic growth to a standard that appears to be determined by the private schools that the students would. But presumably attend under this bill. In addition to the potential loss of funding for things that can occur naturally to any individual in our state there's nothing in this bill requiring these private schools to accept any of the students that would apply or continue educating those that the team should it be. This creates a system in which only certain children are eligible for vouchers when they should support every child in Arkansas our public funding needs to stay with our public schools and our teachers in public schools of taking the precious little time they have to speak to that because of this bill already as members of our legislature you have a duty to take this into consideration and not recklessly pass any not recklessly pass harmful legislation that would drastically change or education in Arkansas I urge you all to vote No until all of these issues that have been discussed so far can be given adequate time it deserves to be looked at and not just the ones that I've spoken about. Thank you very much for your testimony appreciate. We're going to recess all the sessions that it starts at one o'clock we will convene here ten minutes after the session ends I which probably will be around two fifteen something like that. All right okay.