Education Committee - Senate
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Bills discussed (2)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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SB400
Act 933
· 9 mentions in transcript
Matched: “of you represent. The only year that Senate Bill 400 from the 23 session could have come into place was the 2425…”
|
TO AMEND THE FAIR-FUNDING PROGRAM. | Irvin | Notification that SB400 is now Act 933 |
|
HB1633
Act 475
· 7 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…avis Sen. Jim Dotson REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle HB1633 Brooks TO AMEND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATING…”
|
TO AMEND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATING IN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES FOR CERTAIN STUDENTS WHO TRANSFER SCHOOLS; … | Brooks | Notification that HB1633 is now Act 475 |
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Senator Jane English
Unverified
0:22
That'd be fine. You'd identify yourselves, please, for the record.
Speaker 5
0:31
State Senator Bart Hester. Uh, Lance Taylor, executive director
Speaker 9
0:34
of the Arkansas High School Activities Association. Thank you. You may proceed. Thank
Representative Keith Brooks
Unverified
0:39
you, Madam Chair. House Bill 1633, passed out of the house unanimously last week, and I bring it to the Senate today for your consideration. It is a very simple bill in that it simply just equalizes the transfer rules relative to athletics in both public and
non-public schools, so the bill simply states that uh if an athlete should transfer, they can transfer all the way up until June 1st of their 10th grade year, so the June 1st. into the 10th grade uh transfer as many times as you want to with no impacts, uh, from an athletic standpoint, which is not the way that it is right now, uh, but after that, they would have to sit out 365 days, again, whether you're transferring from a public to public, public to private, private to private, private to public, uh, no matter where you go, it's, it's consistency across the board. The goal of the bill is simply to bring, uh,
an equitable, uh, process for transferring because we do not want a transfer portal in high school athletics. Everyone is very familiar with the challenges that we have in. College athletics, uh, it is not being a, a, a smooth process in any way and it's obviously garnered a lot of attention. Uh, we're trying to do our best to prevent that from the standpoint of high school athletics, and with that, I'll be happy to take any questions and I believe that, uh, Director Taylor has some things to say as well. Thank you.
Senator Dan Sullivan
Unverified
2:04
Senator Sullivan. Yep, there we go, um, why do we restrict this just to athletics if it's important for the students and
we have an equitable system. Why is this just referring to athletics. Senator Sullivan, we, we've had a lot
Speaker 9
2:25
of moving, OK, across the state, uh do you have the data on that? I can get the data, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you sir.
um, we did a spring survey. We go out in April every year and we meet with the superintendent and principals who are the voting representatives
Senator Dan Sullivan
Unverified
2:43
of our schools. I'm asking a very narrow question. I don't wanna hold this too long, so the narrow question is why do we not include, uh, other activities in this. Why is it strictly related to athletics because that's the problem
Speaker 9
2:55
that we're seeing right now is the transfer of athletics just like the transport portals in college, the same and you do that. through
Senator Dan Sullivan
Unverified
3:01
an informal survey. No, it's formal. We're there
Representative Keith Brooks
Unverified
3:06
with all the superintendents and principals in a room. OK, so part of their survey just to provide context for it, I think is good, uh, when they looked at both uh both the public and non-public schools, 84.1% of their schools were in favor of this, uh, of this bill, yes, the idea, yes, sir, um, another good anecdote I think it's probably good to share that, uh, Director Taylor gave me, um, several weeks ago was, again, everybody's familiar with, with transferring with, with moving relative to athletics, uh, the Hootons, Arkansas. Magazine a couple of years ago out of 150 athletes profiled the
next school year, 100 of them were at different schools or within two school years, 100 of those kids were at different schools and so that's part of what prompted the conversations with, with the school admins about how to address it, which is what they came up with, which is so we
Senator Dan Sullivan
Unverified
3:53
we are. We are essentially saying that the free market doesn't work and that in this uh situation that we need to regulate it, student transfers. Let me ask you another question, so you know there are a
lot of reasons for kids to transfer. Some of them are having trouble in school.
Some of them are struggling with peers. Some of them are struggling with grades. There's a lot of reasons kids schools kids transfer. So what happens to the student that transfers, wants to transfer a second time because they're struggling in. school in a lot of different ways, uh, what happens to that and they're not a star athlete, they're just a kid and is, you know, we're athletics is for the student, they're for
the kids. So what happens to that student if he trapped and sitting out of here?
Speaker 9
4:41
Are they 1st 1st of all, we govern. Kind of where I went when I started we govern in 7 to 12th grade. Senator Sullivan, and so that means this rule allows them to move 4 out of those 6 years. OK? So if they, if they're having any kind of issues, what you're saying, for athletics, whatever the reason may be, they can transfer before June 1st, entering the seventh grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, or 10th grade. So out of their 6 years, they can transfer 4 times, sir. OK, so let me ask a question again.
Senator Dan Sullivan
Unverified
5:14
What happens to the student that is transferring because they're having, they're struggling in school and just having a hard time. What happens to that kid if he's the exception to your rule, we have 8
Speaker 9
5:25
hardships that the kids can apply for, uh, that, that the schools apply for those kids if they're having issues and as long as it follows those guidelines in our, in our handbook, then they can transfer and we grant those hardships, so they have a waiver
Senator Dan Sullivan
Unverified
5:38
of sorts? Yes sir. 48 have you denied in the past? year or so I, I can't tell you
Speaker 9
5:45
I've improved more than I've denied, I can tell you that because again, hardships are only, only thing they are documentation. And as long as they can provide the documentation and a lot of that, Senator Sullivan is from DHS. They'll take a young person from a family is probably abrogated their responsibility as parents and place them somewhere else, and we can make those kids eligible in one day. Can
Senator Dan Sullivan
Unverified
6:06
you give me the data that shows how many waivers you've denied my, my position would be if you're not denying waivers, why do we have waivers? But I'll wait till we get the
data on that. um. Could I read
Representative Keith Brooks
Unverified
6:20
from the AAA handbook with your, uh, permission, Senator Sullivan, just there, there are 8 different, uh, exceptions or waivers that Director Taylor mentioned, the 8th 1 is probably the one that's the most relevant, uh, so an extreme and unusual circumstance exists that has no fault of the student or parents, examples of conditions that warrant extreme unuals and circumstance, extreme medical or psychiatric conditions, sexual abuse or assault, physical abuse, assault, must have supporting documentation. Those are just some examples, but, uh,
a lot of those fall within what Director Taylor does in terms of. of the waivers
Speaker 27
6:49
or exemptions that are granted. Right, that's all the questions I have at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Are
Senator Jane English
Unverified
6:55
there other questions from the committee? So let's see, we have some folks to speak against the bill, um.
If you will identify yourself, you'll be recognized. And
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
7:56
my own. Yes. May I proceed? Um, my name is Dusty Standridge. I am an attorney used to be from Fort Smith, now from Fayetteville. Um, I have represented more than 1000 parents and child welfare cases that this body has approved my contract. Um, I have represented more than 1000 families in domestic relations practice. And I'm also a parent. So that is
the That is, um, where I'm coming from today. I also have two pending lawsuits, one against AAA, one against a school district. I have a couple of handouts
Speaker 43
8:29
for the committee that I'm gonna be referencing with the Madam Chair, allow me to hand those out or how do you want to, uh, so that you can follow along. I'm an
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
8:41
activities learner, and so just hearing something, I don't, I don't reciprocate that well. You might have seen that earlier today, um, at the Senate Education
Speaker 44
8:51
Committee, so I'm a, I'm a reader. OK. And I
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
9:01
think I have 4. But you can take another one, and I can use it on my phone. I also have two other handouts, um, if you want to go ahead and take those as well.
Unknown speaker
9:41
I'm so sorry. I should be all about.
Speaker 39
10:24
Thanks. OK, if you'd go ahead, please. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
10:45
So the first handout, um, you're going to see a certain number of school districts, and as you know, as the members of the Senate committee, you'll
recognize those are your districts. They are not mine. Um, they are, The 1st 9, which are the 9 committee members, I know some of the committee members are not here. So what I did, if I'm gonna, if I may, um, the first column is your school district, the, the, the non
Speaker 43
11:14
of you represent. The only year that Senate Bill 400 from the 23 session could have come into place was the 2425 academic year. The reason I
say that is because the schools the school choice transfers had to be done by May 1st of 2020. 3 to adhere
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
11:33
to the 23, 24 year. Which means that
Speaker 55
11:36
the only year that Senate Bill 400 could have been effective or had data collated, data
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
11:42
collected, I'm sorry, etc. would have been the 24, 25 year. If you will look at the, if you look at the
Speaker 43
11:49
spreadsheet that I prepared for you. You'll see the first column was the 2324 year.
That was before Senate Bill 400. Senate Bill 400 of the 23 session,
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
12:04
which was allowing athletic transfers without penalty, subject to recruiting or subject to for the sole purpose of athletic play. At that point, you couldn't transfer. So that's the old AAA rule, and that's what I'm gonna call it. I know this committee's heard a lot about this, um, before, but that's, that's the data. Then I have the 2425. Years
And those years or after you could
Speaker 43
12:32
have transferred for the purpose of athletic play without penalty. Now then, the, the last number I did not go into the minutia more than that. It means
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
12:45
the total student enrollment. So what you'll see is, for example, Russellville. Russellville in 2324, had 238 public school choice transfers. It went up to 252 and 2425. But the total enrollment was lower.
But then you go to Jonesboro. Went from 479 to 460. So lower school choice transfers, and then the student body enrollment was likewise lower. And you can go on and on and on down the list for your own representative districts if you're, if that, that's your Senate district, that's your home base. I thought that might be the one you're most familiar with, which is why I ran those 9. These are all from the Arkansas Department of Education website. They are not my numbers, they are your numbers or they're the government, the governor's
numbers. The last two were Greenwood and Bryant. Now, there are some people in the committee, or there might be some people behind me or some people watching online.
Speaker 43
13:41
The second hand I I gave you was how well some of those schools are doing in football. Bryant has won a lot of state titles. Greenwood has won a lot of state titles. The reason they're winning state titles.
Is not because of Senator Clark's Senate Bill 400 that most of you voted in in the 23 session. That's not why they're winning. That's not why they're winning football. They're winning football because people are choosing to live there that just happened to be phenomenal athletes. Yes, there may be one or two that transfer. But that's not the majority. The majority are people who choose to live there very early on. And that's why you see Greenwood and Bryant
as the higher level schools, that's why you see them performing so well. People are choosing to live there very early on, long before school choice, long before the Senate
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
14:44
Bill 400 from the 23 session that allowed kids to play
Speaker 58
14:48
for the first time since 2009, if they transferred. So the point of this bill
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
14:57
is to limit recruiting and to limit transfers, and it's to limit all of, all of that, but the data.
Speaker 43
15:08
Does not support their findings. The data supports that if there's good football programs. I'm referencing some with the House committee. I see Representative Walker here and some of the other
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
15:21
representatives because the joint session is gonna follow this. They had questions and so I was, I was able to follow their questions in preparation for my testimony today, and the reality is the numbers of public school choice first. Following Senate Bill 400
from 2023 does not support that there are more transfers. Due to athletics, there are actually not more transfers at all, period. Now, I will, I will disclaim those are this total transfers for the student body or for the schools themselves. I, I cannot. Get those numbers as just a private citizen off the websites as far as how many of those are 9 through 12. I can't tell you how many of those are for athletes only. What I can tell
Speaker 43
16:11
you is if the, if the premises, we changed the law two years ago, and the
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
16:18
law is not supporting. More transfers because of student athletes, then, um, that's because that's what the numbers are not showing. The numbers are not supportive of the AAA data or, um, The numbers are just not supportive. I mean, they're the same. Um, so,
Speaker 43
16:37
That's where I am on the high school protocol, who's winning state championships.
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
16:44
They're the same because students and parents are choosing to live there. It's not because of Senate Bill 400, and we need House Bill 1633 to undo Senate Bill 400 from the 23 session. This, now I'm gonna go into my representation of parents, my representation of parents as it relates to their students, and I'm going to speak as to what I see in the courtroom on a day to day basis for children in either
a DHS case, offense case, or domestic relations case. I am a private citizen, but I do not speak for any of those groups, and so I don't want to make sure, I want to make sure that I'm not speaking for them, um, and so, but I will. tell you
Speaker 43
17:29
what I've seen. I know of 6 children. Right now in the Fort Smith School District. Fort Smith was the sole school district in the state of Arkansas that would not adhere to Senate Bill 400, and there is a pending lawsuit in the Arkansas Supreme Court about
that. The basis of that lawsuit is twofold. The first is, does the public school Choice Act apply to a kid who transfers from one school to another in the same school district. There are 6 school districts in Arkansas that have multiple high schools. 5 of the 6 said, we're gonna follow Senate Bill 400. One said we will not, that one would be Fort Smith.
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
18:07
There's pending litigation about that. I do not want to speak to that because I do not want to invalidate the integrity of the
judicial process. I'm the attorney of record, and I'm not going to speak to that, uh, well, I will answer specific questions that can be answered in public record. I have no problem with that. The second. Part of that is equal protection. Now, for my African American friends are my, my female friends or my LGBTQ friends in the room. There is equal protection. In our US Constitution for Anything that is a suspect
class. We even have, we have, we have federal law to make sure we do not infringe on such classes, strict scrutiny, and that's our, our race-based issues. But our state constitution, the state of Arkansas is actually better than our federal because it says you cannot treat people differently without a good reason, and I think that is the basis for why school choice says
you can change schools. If you look at the very first paragraph of the school choice bill. I'm gonna read it to you. Give me a minute,
Speaker 43
19:34
just let me pull it up. I've got a lot of screenshots. Hold on. The General Assembly finds that this was from 2015. The students in Arkansas's public schools and their parents will become more informed about and involved in the public educational system. If students and their parents are provided
greater freedom to determine the most effective school for meeting their individual educational needs. There's Go ahead. Oh,
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
20:01
yes. Point of order, Madam Chair, I'm. Well. Oh, I'm sorry. This We're talking about
a bill that passed a couple of years ago,
not, not this specific bill. I. You
Senator Jane English
Unverified
20:21
need to remain on talk on this bill.
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
20:24
Yes, ma'am. The, this, this senate, this House bill, um, HB 1633 is amending the public School Choice
Speaker 48
20:29
Act. OK. I just heard Senate Bill 400 multiple times, and
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
20:36
that's not what we're talking about here, I understand. So that's for my clarity more so
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
20:43
than maybe yours. It's to keep it all, uh, to keep it all in, in, intact.
So let me, let me go back. May I proceed, Senator Dodds I don't want to mean to infringe on if I'm, if I've lost you, then I don't, I definitely don't want to continue. So, Oh, am I afraid? All right. So, HB 1633. I'm sorry, I'll refer to that bill from now on, Senator Dodson, thank you. It indicates there is no right school for every student and permitting students to choose from among different schools with different assets and so in
Speaker 43
21:21
2015, this body adopted school choice. And so there are many reasons for school choice because his body said so in 2015. So with brevity, I'll attempt to
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
21:31
tell you why the, the students I know of transfer schools. It's one of two reasons for the most part, and this is from my experience in the courtroom, representing families in both child welfare cases and in domestic relations cases or in guardianship cases. Things are going really well.
Or they want something much better going forward. It is very difficult to be a parent. Whose child is flailing. And so it's, it's people, places, things. I'm going back to my, you know, substance abuse training. It's people, places, things. Let me move this kid from this district. I can drive them 20 minutes away to Mansfield, 20
Speaker 43
22:13
minutes away to West Fork. Now I'm speaking River Valley, Northwest Arkansas cause that's what I'm familiar with.
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
22:21
And just get them away from the bad boyfriend. Um, we have situations where parents get, there's
Speaker 43
22:27
infidelity. There's remarriage and so the, the teenage child is mad at their, their mom or dad who cheated on their other parent, and they don't want to go to school with the stepkids. They don't want to go to school, um, with, with that, that stigma we
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
22:45
have, we have bad boyfriends, bad girlfriends, we have. We, I could substance abuse,
vaping, I mean, I could go on and on, but I'm not going to because I know you
Speaker 43
22:59
have another committee hearing behind me. But what I'll tell you is under the old rule, Parents would choose to sacrifice sports. Because it was in their children's best interest. I can speak to that as an attorney watching it happen, and I can also speak to it as a parent who had to watch it happen. I'm fortunate that I made the decision to send my child to a different school 6 years ago, and absolutely that child set
out, that child is now a registered nurse in ICU and a paramedic, and I could not be more proud of that child as an adult. But it's because I made the choice to, to move the school because I thought that was in that child's best interest. I don't know if I would have had this success today had I not done that in that child did sit out of sports for a year. We are telling parents, you can't move your kids under, under HB 1633 today. We're telling them you cannot move your kids unless you
suffer a penalty. The case of standards versus Fort Smith, that's pending in the Supreme Court. The one of the last parting words of the judge was, well, the child didn't have
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
24:07
to transfer. The child can just transfer where the child is. Yes. He can play where he is or he cannot transfer. It was an
Speaker 43
24:15
either or. It wasn't a what is best for the child and Sanders versus Swartsmouth, which is pending in the Supreme Court. That case was academic advancement. It was not
For disciplinary issues, but other cases are for disciplinary issues. I want to go just for a minute before I lose you to domestic relations and juvenile delinquency and child welfare cases. Those circuit judges have a huge And the DHS workers. We, they have a lot on their plate. And one of the number one reasons they wait to transfer a child to from DHS foster care to the home, or they, they leave it open is because the school can monitor.
What is happening with that child, you have an objective set of eyes. You have an additional set of eyes on that child. So when you have a parent who is doing everything they can to parent that child, and I'm not talking about a middle class parent who can move. I'm talking about the single mom who's doing everything she can and she is asking for help, and she's willing to take that help. And she takes that help and just there's a second set of eyes. There's a 2nd set of ears.
There's a babysitter in place, and I don't mean to say sports as a babysitter that instead of her trying to leave work to pick up a kid at 3:30. She knows that kid's going to after school practice. She knows that kid's gonna go to a game on a bus and not get home till 10:00 p.m. Now she can't make the game. She can't be there because she's working. But at least she knows she has the school district's eyes and ears on that child. And the only, what you're doing now, I mean, respectfully, what you're doing is you're saying,
well, if she has to transfer schools to, to avoid an abusive relationship or because of one reason or another, I don't know why she's transferring, but I promise you she's not transferring for academic recruitment. She's not transferring to be better. She's just transferring because that's what it takes. For her top. And we're telling her when you try to advance your child to a better program or to avoid a bad situation in their current school. Get away from the drugs, get away from the abuse, the bad
boyfriend, the bad girlfriend, the vaping, the pot. It doesn't matter what it is. We're telling her you get to make a choice. Either stay there with the pot, you stay there with the bad friends to play sports, or you transfer, but the kid you're trying to save from themselves and from their peer group. We're saying you can't play sports, but that's like 4 hours a day. That's 4 hours a day that they have a positive influence. And we're saying, but you can't
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
27:04
play. Because 6% of our athletes might get college recruiting. Those are the numbers in Arkansas. 43% of our students play sports. Only 6%. Got a higher education sports and, and that those statistics are taken from the, the statistics on sports. I do not remember the agency, I'm sure Mr. Taylor could tell me what it is. 43% of our kids play sports.
Speaker 58
27:35
Only 6% go to college and that's any level of college. That's
Speaker 43
27:40
youco, D3, D1, D2. With regard to the haves and the have-nots. The kids who are phenomenal athletes. Their parents are gonna move. They're gonna follow the AAA guidelines and relocate to avoid a transfer under school choice. They're going to move so far away. Or they're gonna establish a residency. This bill does not address the majority of students.
So 94% of 43%. Is the number of kids at this hearts that play sports. And they're. I do not know of a single transfer. That was for athletic purposes. I know a lot of transfers. And you know what happened to those kids? They sat out a year because when your
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
28:29
child is faced with a bad boyfriend or your child is faced with going down the wrong path. You're a lot more worried about
that than you are about if they can play sports for a year. And most parents will choose sit out here. But the question is, why should they?
Speaker 80
28:45
Thank you very much. I'm, I'm open to questions if I do not answer them because I'm from the committee.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
28:51
Thank you very much for your. Let me see, we have, um,
Gary Newton
Unverified
29:18
Thank you, Madam Chairman, members of the committee, I'm Gary Newton with Arkansas Learns. We believe in our champions of and defend school choice. I, I recognize that this bill makes an unfair situation. Better But I would submit that it is still an unfair. And playing field. Uh, we've heard that, uh, and I'm.
I see the support for the bill. I understand that it's unlikely to have an amendment at this point. But We've also had reference to the AAA. Guidebook and 8. Categories that that would warrant hardship. I would submit that at the very least students that qualify for opportunity school choice, meaning if they are assigned to an F school. Or a level 5 intensive support school district.
Be added as the 9th category. It's nothing that this body has control over, but since it was referenced as a reassurance for our. Thwarting athletes school choice. It would be Good if that could be a public commitment to add opportunity school choice qualification as a reason for hardship. Thank you for your consideration. There are questions from the committee. Yes.
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
30:55
Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, Gary.
Looking through the bill and I got in here. 2 minutes late so I didn't get to ask this question. The bill sponsors, um, but, uh, maybe they can, if you can't answer it, they can answer it in their closing, um, do you know, it seems to be we're adding 365 days. In several sections into the code.
And I don't see where we're. I is that already in the code
Speaker 92
31:28
somewhere. And a AAA rule for about 3 years to that. I, I, I don't
Speaker 85
31:33
know. OK. Oh, I, I did hear that we're trying to avoid it
Gary Newton
Unverified
31:39
and NIL situation, I would point out that in regard to NIL. Comparing a 365 day layout in
high school, uh, high schoolers lose that year of eligibility, uh, NIL you do not lose eligibility. So that it's an apples to orange
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
31:59
comparison in that regard. I hadn't heard anything about the NIL before, but, but, um, no, I was just a, a question here. trying to find where it's already in the statute, um, but I may not have the entire statute in front of me in this bill, so I'll uh. Probably let the bill sponsors answer that and close.
Senator Dan Sullivan
Unverified
32:30
OK. So should a student not be. Should a student not be allowed to transfer to. I'd say they're going to. See school or a D school and they wanna transfer to an F school. Should we deny that? No. We believe
Choice is choice. Thank you. Thank you. Any further questions from
Senator Jane English
Unverified
32:51
the committee. Thank you very much. Let me see now, Senator Clark.
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
33:14
Speaking against the bill. Madam Chair, colleagues. Um Uh, state Central Allen Clark District
7. The I do not question the motives. of my colleagues in the legislature that they want to do a good thing. Uh, they're not aware as I am,
uh, that there's been a move within coaches and superintendents uh within AAA to do away with SB 400 for close to a year. Uh And so this is being sold. Under standardization and recruiting and I think the sponsors believe that. So let's talk about standardization. When we ran SB 400. It said we shouldn't discriminate against anyone.
And we shouldn't punish anyone for using school choice. We don't punish. Ban students, we don't punish FFA. We don't punish Roy. We don't punish the chess club. Only student athletes and if they truly. If AAA. And the coaches truly wanted standardization that would have been simple. We didn't address private schools because I tend
to be hands off on private schools. Ah, but the, the AAA could have simply changed their rules. To make the rules the same for private schools. as SB 400. Uh, that students didn't have to set up in private schools. The only reason the students had to set up private schools and I actually thought private schools were doing that on their own and then I found out in this last week that no the AAA was forcing you if you went to a private school to sit out for a year. Well, AAA could have changed it.
They could have come to us and we could have changed it. I would have if I'd had any idea that's what was happening, I would have already had that bill. So Uh, you don't have to do away with school choice to have standardization. I mean we had standardization back when I got here in the Senate and we didn't have school choice and we had standardization when we discriminated against kids over school choice, but that's not the standardization we want. We want school choice and we want standardization there.
The second argument is recruiting. It's Already been pointed out. That, you know, I've been told multiple times since this bill's been out there that we've had students transfer 2 years in a row. Will this bill became law in August of 2023 did not affect the 2023, 2024 school year. So it's hard to transfer twice. In this school year because it's
the only time that this law has been in place so that didn't happen. Uh, but nevertheless, The way we fix that I offered a solution this morning, uh, and I've made it better since this morning. is if you transfer 2 years in a row. Then you they can make you sit out. I also been told that, and I don't know why anybody would allow this, uh, because it's more to more transfers in the school they're leaving has to allow it, but that that students
are going going one place to play football and then switching schools to play basketball and switching schools to play soccer. I'd love to see the numbers on that. Uh, I was talking to the governor's office who, who relay they'd love to see the governors, the numbers on that too, uh, if that's. over 5 people and why anyone allowed it to start with, but in my bill, it'll say if you June 1st deadline. You don't have to sit out any other time during the year, you have to set out and that we solve that problem.
Quickly and easily. The Uh, beyond that, This only affects poor kids. Rich kids well to do kids have all and well to do families have always had school choice. Because they can move. If they don't even choose to move they can rent a house and and show that they've moved.
Uh, so we're not affecting them, but what we're doing if we pass this bill as we're going back and saying 10s of thousands of. Kids that are student athletes in the 10th grade and the 11th grade do not have school choice. They argue, well, they do have school choice, you know, East Germany would have argued that you could, you could leave the country, but you couldn't take your family, uh, so therefore you had a right to leave. No, you don't, uh, this absolutely does away with school choice for
those students and I wouldn't be for it, but I would respect it if it did the same for other extracurricular activities if it. Did that for band and said, You just can't participate in extracurricular activities, but of course we would then clearly see that what it did is kill school's choice, uh. For Uh, everyone that does anything outside so uh I think the sponsors had good intentions I think they standardization is something they want to do and I don't disagree with them. I
think stopping recruiting is something that they want to do and I do not disagree with them, uh, and you'll notice, of course, you heard my bill this morning, you'll notice that there's nothing in here to do anything about those who are actually doing the recruiting this punishes the kids. But not those who are recruiting and I would appreciate it if you'd vote no on this bill. Um, let me
Senator Jane English
Unverified
39:28
see, we have one more against and that's Antonio Moore.
Antonio Moore
Unverified
39:48
Fuel identify yourself, you'll be recognized. Antonio Moore. To distinguished members of the Senate Education Committee. My name is Antonio Moore. And I'm grateful for you and humbled by the opportunity to speak to you today on behalf of the children of Arkansas against House Bill 1633. I'm a proud graduate of Little Rock Hall High School. Um, I attended the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff where I
lettered in men's basketball for 4 years. Professionally, I have 20 years of cardiac electric physiology s cells and sales management. And I'm probably the only person in this room that has had to sit out for 365 days because of a non-compete. Um, I gained about 20 pounds during that process. Um, it was extremely excruciating mentally. And physically to not be able to do what I love to do for 365
days, uh, since then. In my industry, of course you may know, um, they've done away with, um, 365 day non competes and so if you want to change to another job, you have the opportunity to do so. Without penalty. Um My community give back is coaching travel basketball. I am the executive director of Mr. Joe Johnson, former
Razorback, and NBA great. He has a youth program called Team Iso Joe that participates in the Nike basketball circuit. Um, because of this, we have exposure to student athletes from all over the state. Our program touches athletes from every corner of the state. Over the past 6 years, we've heard gut-wrenching stories of student athletes who who've been subjected to bad experiences at school with extracurricular activities which uh affected them emotionally, physically and mentally.
Um, one of which I can speak on is my son. Um, he attended a school in PCSSD. Um, he loves basketball. He wanted the opportunity to transfer to uh a private school, um, because his mother is a better um education ambassador than I am and attended an Ivy League um law school. But upon knowing that if he
wanted to transfer to this particular school. And leave the school where he had uh grown up with uh friends since the time he was in the first grade, inclusive of his twin brother, he would have to sit out for 365 days. Um, he loved his coach at the school that he was at. He did not Feel that the type of. Um, basketball that they played would allow him the opportunity to be recruited.
Um, so his choices became um use the Learns Act to be able to attend another school in another school district. Um, which he did. He found a school in the Little Rock School District, which may not have met the academic standards that he had become accustomed to or grown up with because of choices, his mother and I made to uh give him opportunities, um, but he found success. And uh since then he's had the opportunity to be recruited.
I know another young man. Who's a senior who was arrested at a Little Rock School District school. And was unable to participate in athletics, um, because of the type of kids that he was around, he was subjected to peer pressure in his neighborhood school. He transferred to a non-neighborhood school and the coach at that school was able to use basketball to influence the young man to continue to attend school and what that looks like
is the coach says, hey, you wanna play basketball? I'm gonna monitor you and your school attendance over the next year, your behavior over the next semester, and if you meet these standards, I will indeed let you play basketball. That young man may have participated in 5 basketball games this year, but he's on track. to graduate and I do believe that that would not have happened if he would not have had the opportunity to transfer. Um, my next door neighbor, um, husband and wife are both
physicians. Um, they have a child that graduated, however, as a high school senior, um, transferred high schools from one private school to another. Because of bullying that she endured. The bullying led to psychological, medical treatment documented um this young lady had babysit my children. She had helped teach my kids how to swim and um was just a very, very
good child and it was troublesome to see her hurt the way that she was. She was able to transfer. And Um, she was able to transfer, and she was allowed to participate in basketball, which gave her a sense of normalcy to complete her high school education. She is not on an athletic scholarship, um, at the school that in in college currently.
Um, I do, I am completely understand the AAA concerns of recruiting, the, the concerns of how the transfers affects budgeting for the next school cycle. I have not witnessed over 20 years of being involved in extracurricular activities, mass transfers of student athletes beyond normal ranges that would impact the budget. Has written the bill is completely out of line with what the Learns Act intended to
achieve, which was to give families and parents and kids the opportunity to choose a school that they want to attend, um. Our great governor Sarah Sanders got it right. Our kids' parents do deserve this opportunity. It's not fair and downright discriminatory to say that every student. Um, does not have the right to freely choose their school without restrictions. With the exception. Of athletes
I mentioned that my son is a basketball player. His twin brother is in the band and is not interested in playing basketball at all. If the band member wanted to transfer. He could pick up his saxophone and play anywhere. His twin brother cannot. And as a 16 year old young man that does not make sense. That adults would make those decisions that knowingly punish them.
This bill punishes children. There has to be another way to fix the problem, um, that the Learns Act, um, was intended to clean up. Maybe some examples might include a blanket one-time transfer rule that allows every student the opportunity and just the chance to get it right, um, the way that the bill is written that says you can't transfer your 11th grade and 12th grade year, uh, we speak on the
transfer portal in college, um, I have significant experience with that those colleges aren't even looking at 9th graders, 10th graders, and then some. 11th graders because they're heavily recruiting junior college, postgraduate situations as well as other colleges before they begin to look at high school kids, the way that this is written, this would completely eliminate some young
people opportunity to be recruited at all. The way that the bill is written, it will do more harm than good. It creates extra stress on families to pick the right school, um. 7th, 8th, 9th grade or suffer unnecessary consequences. I, I had the opportunity to sit in on the um education committee meeting earlier today and I saw
um beautiful babies have the opportunity to speak on another bill about robotics and some of those kids went to school and Cersei and some of those children went to school in Harding Academy. Those kids from Cersei could pick up their robot. And go to Hardin Academy and not sit out and this is an extracurricular activity. The kids from Harding Academy could pick up their robot, cross the street and go to school at Cersei the next year without any penalty.
It makes no sense to punish young people and force them to sit out. In extracurricular activities for 365 days. I struggled to find any other examples of um Any other situation with kids and struggle with. It as adults as well where not compete so 365 days punishments are still in existence, and I, I appreciate the opportunity to speak here today. Thank you very much. Other
Senator Jane English
Unverified
49:46
questions from the committee? Thank you very
much. So the uh Sponsor the bill sponsor. You can
Representative Keith Brooks
Unverified
50:20
Thank you, Madam Chair. I I appreciate everyone's perspective and input certainly valuable to have, uh, the questions and answers. I wanted just to address just a couple things, um, Relative to the 365, so it's, it's, uh, up to, uh, currently, uh, so it's not a requirement. It has to be that long, so it's up to you based upon what the AAA does and, and as I said, uh, prior, uh, to as we're talking about this, this is starting just to establish an equity across the board in terms of how we approach athletics related to, to our students, uh, because it's currently not an equitable,
um, standard when it comes to public and non-public and so this is working to establish that. I appreciate, uh, uh, the gentleman mentioning, um, uh, The robotics competition early on to that, I was pretty proud of, uh, of, of that uh conversation because my niece is the one who started and led that conversation, uh, also proud of both of those schools because I have a very uh strong knowledge of both those schools and, and I'm thankful that both those schools are in, uh, uh, support of this bill based upon, uh, based upon their experiences and so I think we have broad support and I think probably one of the most important things to, to
note is that it's very rare that we'd have both public and non-public schools come to the table and be, uh, in lockstep on. a bill such as this relative to education, uh, but as Director Taylor mentioned earlier on, our, our public and our non-public schools are both very, very strongly in support of this bill as it is written. So with that, uh, I'll be closed for the bill, and I would appreciate a motion to pass. They're questions from the committee. What is the will of the committee?
Senator Jane English
Unverified
52:01
We have motion. Do we have a second? We do not have a second. Thank you. Thank you very much. So that
ends our oh wait a minute 00 no, you're, you're not, it's for the
whole this. You're coming next. Yes. So that Senate Education
Agenda
Call to Order
HB1633 Brooks TO AMEND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATING IN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES FOR CERTAIN STUDENTS WHO TRANSFER SCHOOLS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
Adjourn
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE AND HOUSE MEETING JOINTLY WITH ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, Mar 17, 2025 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Senator Jane English
Unverified
Speaker 5
Speaker 9
Representative Keith Brooks
Unverified
Senator Dan Sullivan
Unverified
Speaker 27
Dusty Standridge
Unverified
Speaker 43
Speaker 44
Speaker 39
Speaker 55
Speaker 58
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
Speaker 48
Speaker 80
Speaker 85
Gary Newton
Unverified
Speaker 14
Speaker 92
Senator Alan Clark
Unverified
Antonio Moore
Unverified