Education Committee- House

Chezorm how said we'll come to order and we recognize uh former chair and Representative Cozart is sitting with me today in the absence of Vice Chairman McKenzie and recognized Representative Cozart to starts in prayer. please please. The heavenly father would come to you today, Lord. We are thankful for the many blessings that you give us, Lord. We thank you for this day, the business of this state, Lord, we just ask that you watch over each and every one, protect us, keep us and help us to help us. Thank you. Members, uh, First, just a small point of personal privilege I'm gonna recognize Representative McGruder, uh, to, uh, welcome some guests. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to recognize the two students who are actually in education. They're from Falander Smith College, where my daughter actually started school. They are tailor Metcalf and uh Trinity Wright. We thank you all for attending today. Welcome. Thank you guys for being here. Thank you for your passion for education. We're, we're appreciative that you joined us, uh, if you are here to speak for or against the bill, there is a signup sheet out in the lobby. I'm not sure that we've picked it up as of yet. I want to clarify, we have picked it up, so, um, thank you so much for that. So, uh, this morning we are, uh, have a several bills on the agenda, uh, there are a couple of bills that have garnered a little bit of attention, so I just want to uh establish uh a little bit of of ground rules when it comes to um testimony in, in uh the audience speaking for or against the bill, the expectation of this committee is that we will be respectful in everything that we do, that we be respectful to members who have brought legislation that will be respectful in comments that will stick to the facts on the facts. of a bill, the merits of that piece of legislation, uh, which will help us move along and and stay between, between the guardrails and what we're doing. So first, this morning I'm gonna recognize Representative Holliwell to present SB 46, Representative Holliwell, if you'd introduce yourself and present your bill. Uh, Representative Steve Holliwell, District 37. And I have a guest with me also, Doctor Klein from Community College. If you please introduce yourself. Kathy Klein, Chancellor, uh, University of Arkansas, East Arkansas Community College. OK, thank you, Chairman. Thank you committee. Uh, this is a real simple bill, and, uh, this is an act concerning East Arkansas Community College to reflect a merger between the University of Arkansas and East Arkansas Community College, but changing the name of East Arkansas Community College to the University of Arkansas, East Arkansas Community College, and that pretty much sums up the bill and that's all it does is change the name of the college since the merger. So I'm closed and I appreciate a good vote. versus Hollwell has presented his bill are there questions on the bill from the committee. See no questions. Is there anyone signed up to speak for or against the bill? So you know questions, scripts of Hollwell's clothes forsville. We have a motion on the table for represent Meeks do pass. What's the will of committee all in favor of CI all opposed. Congratulations, Representative Holliwell, your bill is. Thank you very much. All right, moving on. Sorry, I should have clarified this. You're not running either one of your bills this morning. Representative Barker. He recognized to present HB 1199. No Maybe. Just trying to create a little bit of mood lighting for you, so it's all good. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sonia Barker, State Representative District 96, um, committee House Bill 1199 is just what it looks like it's a bill that strikes language doesn't add anything back because the language that's there, even though it's been there a while, is unnecessary burdensome and problematic. Um, if you look at this section of code, it's talking about prohibited transfers for schools that are under a DSEG order. This bill does not change or touch or alter or have really any effect on that DSEG order, obviously, it can't, um, but it's unnecessary to remind a school that they're under a DSEG order. It's unnecessary to remind our school to follow their DSEG order. Obviously, it's important. That's why it's court ordered. That's why it's there, but it's also a bit of an overreach because in the wording says boards of directors of local school districts are prohibited from granting legal transfers when Either the resident district or the receiving district is under a DSEG related court order. Well, That's, that's broad because DSEG orders, we kind of by default assume that they all deal with student population, but DE orders can be issued that have nothing to do with student population. They can be issued for fact uh facilities for faculty, for transportation. So first of all, it's, it's really not great wording even as it exists, but it's unnecessary. But the real problematic part is as it goes forward, where it requires both boards. Both members, all members of both boards receiving releasing. To after a board has voted. To approve a transfer. You got to get all the signatures on an affidavit from both boards. OK, and so basically, we've asked them to sign that they're doing things that they're supposed to already be doing. But the problem is, That causes or I guess at minimum, it gives even just one board member. Whether they voted for or against gives one board member, the power to stall. At minimum, that transfer if they refuse to give their signature completely. And they've just basically gotten a veto power. In that committee, it would be as if we had that if that were in our language in this committee. 20 to 0 or 19 to 1. Voted a bill out, but if we had that extra step where now somebody has to come and get all of our signatures saying that's exactly what we were doing, we knew what we were doing, and someone changes their mind and decides not to sign. That bill can't go anywhere. Well that's what's happening to our board to board transfers, not in all cases, obviously only under these that apply and only with bad actors, but it's not even necessary to be there to give that a loophole to be able to happen. problematic, it's unnecessary. Uh, it doesn't the Um, department is a department's already looking at this language. Um, and they are OK with the bill. I've had no one reach out to me, not saying there is an opposition, but no one has reached out to me in opposition. I have had, um, former board members had one person, not from my district. I've been a board member for 30 years and said, I can't believe we, it took so long for us to get here. This language was put in in the 80s, um, and this bill actually came from a school administrator. Again, not in my district. I'll be happy to try and answer any questions through the department and others are here that could. probably speak to more intricacies of board to board transfers. This does not change the board's ability to vote. Again, it doesn't change the DSEG order. Actually it upholds the integrity of the board. And their decision by not allowing something to happen after their vote. I take any questions. Thank you, Representative Barker. Are there questions from the committee? Seeing those questions is anyone signed up to speak for or against the bill? We have no one signed up. We have a motion on the table to pass. All in favor say aye, all poses. Congratulations Res. Barker, your bill is passed. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you committee. was I Trying to keep it easy. Thank you Barker, we're going to move now to HB 1236 representative Joey Carr, you recognized if you would introduce yourself, please. Good morning, Joey Carr, District 34, uh, House Bill 1236. What this does, it creates a statewide process. In dealing with personnel and contracts. for public school employees by setting the date for all to follow, uh, right now they're all kind of out on their own. The date that is set in the collaboration with the superintendents. It's after the end of year testing and it's before PD so it's kind of the best time in the school calendar for teachers that look to change school districts, whether it may be shortening their commute. Or if you're like an aspiring administrator. And there's openings at other schools when the administrator that you're working under. Uh, you know, they're, they're gonna be there for several more years and it just creates an opportunity for them to change. change districts even though those contracts have already been issued and it kind of goes back to the way, uh, personnel had operated prior to that. I started working with Doctor Hernandez. And the AAEA and so I started with those superintendents and kind of worked my way back the other direction. Uh, through the collaboration, uh. They had input on the legal language. And then, uh, as recent as last Thursday. We tweak the date, uh, they asked me if I could back it up one more week earlier and so I said no problem, so uh that's when I did a member's own amendment and then I sent the final product back to Them and uh it was the legislative. Uh, the legislative committee in the AEA that I had talked the most with and uh they uh They were in agreement, uh, sent it to. The governor's office, they, they said they could get behind it and Also, uh, Doctor, or sorry, Secretary Lia as well, so. Anybody have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Other questions from the committee. Sorry, I ran over here from transportation committee. Well done. So I'm still a little winded. You're in better shape than most of us. Say no questions, is there anyone signed? Oh, sorry, Representative Duke, here we go. We recognize for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a quick question. So it's from the end of the testing window is May 15th. If the 15th falls on a weekend, it goes to the previous Friday. Uh, I had originally put it on the Friday prior to Memorial Day, uh, and the reason, uh, that's the best time is testing is over with, and makeup test and all that stuff right up to May the 1st. Um, I didn't want To do it earlier in May because that would be when interviews would be occurring. And I didn't want those building administrators that last part of April to have to be finding uh assessment proctors that has to be they have to be certified teacher to administer those tests, so I didn't want to put a hardship on them. Uh, so that's why I kind of went to the latter part, uh. Um, some of the superintendents that I spoke with just this last week was uh superintendent from Bryant, Cersei, Jonesboro, West Side, White County Central, and Pine Bluff. And when I went back that week earlier, uh, they're, you know, they, they were immediately, they were immediately pleased and so. That's kind of why we uh ended up with that date. So the actual date is May 15th. So So at that point, up until that point, they can rescind it without the board or come May 15th or that Friday prior, that contract goes into effect and, you know, it's It's a little bit earlier in the year than what had been prior because typically, I think the, the policy stated that uh when contracts were handed out. The employee had 30 days and then it went into effect, so. When I talked to superintendents, I was kind of like doing a little window like that and they said, how about if we just do a definite deadline date that way we can do our contracts when we want to with the understanding that they go into effect May 15th. I said that, that's fine because I, I wanted to work in a way. Because The, the procedure itself is going to benefit the public school employee, but I want to do it in a way where it would be superintendent. Friendly, I guess you could say that way it's not going to tie their hands and they, they, they were, they were happy about the idea more than what I realized they would be because they said, this puts us all on the same page and we're not competing against each other on earlier dates. So they were, they were pleased with that, so. Are there additional questions from the committee? Yes, sir. Representative McGregor recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I love the spirit of the bill, my question is, uh, when will contracts actually be going out to teachers since we have a date that they automatically roll over, but when will contracts actually go that the superintendent said. They said, we love it that we have the freedom to do it whenever. So they could do it, you know, typically, um, Superintendents are approved in January administrators are approved in February and then teachers are usually approved by the board in March or April at the latest, so, uh, they can start doing contracts whenever, and that's what they liked about this is they had the freedom to do them whenever with the understanding that May 15th is is when it goes into effect and that's the deadline. So there's no date that contracts have to go out. That way it's, it's their choice of, of doing that whenever. Follow up, uh, on page 2, we have a march date on here is that same when they need to start preparing uh contracts or disan when contracts need to. Are you talking, now you're talking about in the emergency clause, Section 2, when I, when I put that on there for the emergency clause, uh, for me to justify why to do the emergency clause. I, I said, well, we needed to do that now, have it in effect because schools start as early as of of getting those ready. So the reason, the reason that statement is in there is to justify the reason to make it go into effect immediately. That way, that way it's going to go into effect. Once it's approved in all the steps here. Thank Other additional questions by members. See no additional questions. Has anyone signed up to speak for or against, see none. Representative Carr, are you ready to close for your bill? Yes sir, I'm closed, and thank you for your time and I'd appreciate a good vote. This will benefit, uh, superintendents in dealing with personnel, but it also provides that opportunity for the the public school employees, so everything I've seen, it's a win-win situation. Thank you, clothes for his bill. What's the will of the committee? I have a motion to pass. Is there any discussion on the motion? See no discussion, all in favor of CI all opposed. Congratulations, Representative Carr, your bill is passed. Thank you committee and thank you, Mr. Chair. The members, we will now move to down the calendar just a little bit to represent uh Scott Richardson, HB 1060 represent Richardson, you're recognized. My apologies, members, we do have uh an amendment that we have to expunge uh with a new memo that's been engrossed in the bill, so I do make a motion to expunge Representative Richardson's prior amendment. Is there any discussion on the motion? All in favor, say I. I oppose. The amendment has been expunged. Representative Richardson, now you're recognized to present HB 1060. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, uh, uh, committee. So, uh, you'll, uh, you'll recognize this bill is one that I presented a couple of weeks ago, uh, based on a number of recommendations from the committee, made some adjustments and grossed that, uh, that amendment into the bill, um, so, uh. Just to run through these, uh, the, the takeaways from that previous uh discussion was that he had concerns. The committee had concerns about the time frame being adequate for the department to address the changes. I did sit with the department, uh, the secretary and staff and they feel very confident that they're gonna be able to accomplish this in time frame that's uh provided in the bill, um, next was to address the concerns over improper use of the term curriculum versus standards, uh, you guys remember there was. Back and forth on that that uh that's been addressed. You can see that in page, on page 2, line one, next, um, To address concerns over the general negative approach to other types of government in favor of a more comparison approach between constitutional republic and the failures of these other um government types. Uh we did address that throughout the bill. You'll see that on page 2 through the remainder of the bill, um, item B and following, um, and then last was to address um that the bill is not intended to restrict the curriculum can include other types of examples. Beyond the ones that are listed in the bill, um, and to, uh, uh, address the last 25 years, uh, so you'll see that we took that language out and we used the language without limitation, uh, to provide that as examples that those are not restrictive in any way for, so, um, that's, uh, the changes that the committee requested and we got those all engrossed in the, in the amendments, so um I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. I didn't do that. Want to be clear, it's becoming a theme this morning. Yeah. So I'm happy to address any questions. Thank you, Representative Richardson. Are there questions for the representative on the bill. Representative Brown, you recognized. Well, this is just a picky thing. You've got um. An added issue on line 2. On page 2 You say the updated standards under subsection A of this section shall include address, so is it included or is it addressed? I think if somebody failed to decide which word was best. I'm sorry, could you tell me where that's at, it begins on line one, but the actual. Two words that are. It says include address. Well, are we gonna include it or are we going to address it? She's she's referring to just a grammar issue yeah, just a grammar thing. Oh, OK, um, it's not a substantive issue, it's just somebody forgot to pick which word they wanted to use. I will confess my grammar and editing skills sometimes uh leave a lot to, to be desired, so, uh, my apologies, um, I, I'm not sure from a substance perspective that that that that really negates it's not substantive. I just thought maybe you should choose a word and stick with it. I would completely agree with that statement. Thank you. You're welcome. I'll just go ahead and, and follow up on that and just uh ask if you'd be willing to correct that on the Senate end as it moves through. Absolutely. Represented Nazarenko, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, and this is just to reiterate, I appreciate your, uh, your, your bill and appreciate what it's trying to do. I just did want to uh bring it up again, I still see in the fiscal impact it says district would incur the cost to purchase and adoption of the curricula. So again, just in, in from my district, uh, hearing from my superintendents, they just are very concerned about anything that comes up that's a mandate that that's not included in any kind of funding that they'd be responsible for coming up with that funding. So I just wanted to, to voice that, and I appreciate that question. The end result is that we're not adding any additional curriculum uh to to the requirements. We're simply stipulating that, uh, that they do address um in the standards, the comparison of these, the curriculum is already there and available for them, um, it's readily available in in text already. It's just a matter of leveraging that in a format that uh that does compare and contrast the resiliency of the constitutional republic versus these other types of governments that continue to fail over and over. OK. Thank you. Thank you Representative Everson Garner with a light on down there. Person Carter, you're recognized. I just have a quick Issue question I just I still have an issue with communism and authoritarianism. Being defined as the same, they are not the same, so. Communism is is economic. It's not a system of government. And in this bill, you're using them as the same thing. So are we just adding uh and, and authoritarian authoritarian and is is in the standards already, so we are just specifically Adding a political and economic ideology under Autocracy But it's not a system of government. But it looks like in the bill that we're calling them the same thing. Wouldn't you agree? I, I would, I would actually not agree with that. So the idea is not just to approach the autocratic governments as the style, but also their economic impacts, and we do address that through through economic um through the economic statements within the bill itself. We have several um examples of the economic Downfall of communism across, across the board. So we want to make sure that we've included economic format in in the conversation because it is relevant to the conversation of the uh of the style of government. follow up. So I guess my question is, are we gonna add all economic and political ide ideologies into every system of government that we talk about, and if so, how long is that going to take to work on that curriculum? We're, we're not adding every single one that this bill is limited to just the communism approach. OK, thank you. Grips and Gonzalez Worthy, you recognize. Yes, Representative, uh, Richardson, um. I was wondering about, I'm hearing from constituents about social studies teachers, um. Related to the basically creating a law we brought attention, which is great. You've brought attention to this, uh, to this part of social studies standards, um, and Secretary Oliva did say that. best way of addressing this would be to bring together all of the Social studies teachers, you know, bring together a group of social studies teachers that teach this on a daily basis, understand it, um, but it would take a while with in a year or so, um, to be able to do this and, and currently, You have the um. Prior to the 25, 26 school year, um, for all of that to be completed, it's gonna take longer and I'm just a little concerned about, um, Having a a law that that really. Maybe should go to the um Arkansas Department of Education, and this is what they do, but at the same time, you're bill does address. A gap That you would like to see filled. So I guess my question is, um. The 25, 26 school year. I don't think all of this could be. implement it and also, um, Um, so I just wanted to ask you about that and then also the, um, the standards keeping those standards aligned with how, how will we ensure that those standards are aligned and can we actually, um, continue to place um. Legislation to promote that in the standards. In other words, to, to keep those two aligned, working together, and I think that's what you're trying to do is to work together, but I have um a concern with the time frame and then also. How we would be able to do this. efficiently, effectively in working together. Certainly, and I, I appreciate that uh question. Uh, it was a concern that was originally addressed by this committee and, and, uh, when I sit down with the secretary and the staff, they assured me that completing that during that time frame wouldn't be a problem, and I remember distinctly the secretary here at the table actually in the seat I'm in now, um, addressing those concerns and stating that it is a normal process when they dress standards to bring these people together, uh, and social studies teachers, those stakeholders, bring those together, those experts to have that conversation to update that standard and that he felt like that that wouldn't take much time, maybe a month or two, to be able to accomplish that, um, as I recall, he was very specific about that in addressing that concern. So from that, I can, I can, uh, I can feel fairly confident that the requirements, the minor requirements that this bill has can easily be implemented in the time frame. That we've we've addressed and it was agreed upon by the by the department that they could accomplish this in that short order of time. So I, I don't think that's that's a concern for them. Uh, they definitely didn't relay that to me and so I feel confident that we're plenty of time to get this taken care of. Representative Garner, you recognize. I'm sorry. representing fault, you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is Secretary Aliva here where he can answer that question because I also remember him talking about not being able to believe the secrets here, but there are representatives from the department. Is there someone who would like to answer that question. Thank you, sir. If you would please introduce yourself for the record and then proceed to answer the question. Good morning, Courtney Salisford, chief of staff for the Department of Education, um, we will work within whatever timeline you all set forth for us. Obviously, the longer that we have to bring stakeholders together to meet and have input and review that, um, it just allows for a more thorough process, but, um, we can make whatever timeline work. Follow up. Um I, I I don't really necessarily have a problem with the bill. I do have an issue with the timeline because I know things, how things around here work. And they tend to not be very fast, and it is a process in which if we're going to implement it, I think it needs to be done correctly, but my question. is what is the difference in this and what we do now? Like what is, what do we do now with this category of subjects. That changes in this piece of legislation. What is this? I understand your question. I mean, what does this change? Um, I mean, many of these items are already addressed in some of the standards. I think this would have committees and groups go through to make sure that all of them are included and covered and that there's anything specific that needs to be added, so it would almost be a review of the standards, um, to make any corrections and revisions to comply with the bill language. Um, so I don't think it's anything different per se. We would still go through the standard, standard setting. process, um, I think it's just, again, bringing it to attention and making sure that we are including all of the specified items. And I agree with bringing attention to it. I'm good with that. I do worry about though the process and how long it'll take, um, there's still rules that we don't have for learns. And I know how that the process is. It's a long process to get things like you want it to be. So my issue and the reason I'll be voting no is because I think the timeline is, is wrong for doing it and doing it correctly. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Representative, additional questions from the committee. First Gonzalsworth recognize, yes, you had mentioned, um, excuse me, you, you had mentioned that these are already addressed in the standards, but maybe they just need to be make sure that, you know, where they're addressed specifically to, uh, at the request, um, related to what this bill is saying, is that correct? Some of them, yes, you know, some of them may not all be as specified as to the particular item or event, um, and so it's just gonna be a a very thorough review process for us to compare what is in the standards, does it address these and do, do we need to be more specific? So I can't say that for sure, all of them are addressed, um, but that would be part of the review process. And then, and then additionally one of the concerns from a social studies teacher was ensuring that some of this is aimed at, you know, that's developmentally appropriate, um, with some of what is in the bill. It may not be appropriate for the, for the 7th graders, for example, um, or 8th graders, um, as we move up along the line, right, and that's all part of the standard review setting process when they are looking at the, the content that we want to teach and then how do we make that appropriate for a particular grade level. So as you said, um, teaching a particular concept to a 12th grade class as opposed to a 7th grade class, you're gonna, um, highlight and focus on different aspects and so that is again all part of that process. making sure that it is aging content appropriate. OK. And then my final question, so When you're reviewing the standards, if you were to do a really thorough, thorough. alignment and and seeing if everything that is contained in this bill is part of the standards and you're bringing the social studies teachers to the table, all levels to ensure it's in there ideally, what would you say to really ensure that all of these aspects are in. In the standards at the particular grade level. To be able to really do that and do it well. What would the timeline? What's the typical timeline? Typically for um a very thorough expansive review process can take uh between 1 and 2 years. Thank you. Or some duke you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and maybe both of you can address this question if you feel like it is needed. Um, so, My understanding is oftentimes our school districts and our teachers go through and they collaborate and they pick out essential standards that the ones that they particularly want to focus on. So with this bill ensure, I mean, I, I'm thinking this is maybe we're trying to ensuring that these topics are included in the essential standards that are focused on in the classroom and maybe not ones that are put on the 2nd tier of if we get through these topics in our textbook or in our instruction time, we'll come back and get this. Is that part of what we're trying to do here is. To ensure that these are standards that are focused on and maybe elaborated a little bit more on, and I will add to that, um. I'm a former social studies teacher, long time ago, but I feel pretty confident most of our teachers are pretty well equipped. I would hope so, with the knowledge on some of these topic areas to be able to enrich it, if that's what's needed to be done along with the standards because I don't think we're looking at revamping. We're looking at maybe enriching and, and so if you all could speak to that as far as if That's kind of maybe what generated this is making sure it's an essential standard, which in my opinion that their standards are all essential, um, but sometimes. We Great tears of them in our academic systems. Um, so the way I read the bill, yes, it's ensuring that all of these concepts and ideas are part of the core academic standards that would be taught in a course and so it wouldn't be an option. It would be however a teacher chooses to incorporate it, that these standards are taught are met and that students are meeting the expectations that are set forth in those standards. And, and that's the intent of the bill is to ensure that the standards are updated to require That we address these concerns. It's very important that we have a clear understanding of uh uh that we are teaching a clear understanding of what a constitutional republic is and why we have that, um, and why we've seen so many problems with other types of government so that our, our students can, can grow to a point that they are positioned well to improve on our constitutional republic and improve the environment that we have and that they are active and you'll see in the bill itself, um, how important. We want to stress how important it is that we have a very active um uh population in our um in our constitutional republic. That's how we remain strong. this diversity of ideas and and the ability to come together and, and, and choose the uh collective best, if you will, for, for our, our um our citizenry. So that, that's the intent of the bill to make sure that these things are uh being uh presented in a regular format so that our, our students do grow uh and and to understand the value that they can put into our government as active participants. Gonzalez worthy recognized. Yes. Um, So how what. If this is placed, um, and we move forward. How are we gonna know that our students are. Mastering what's in the bill. So that would, once the academic, once it's included in the academic standards, obviously that starts to be included in instruction and then is is part of the assessment process. Students will start to be assessed on, on the information that is tied to the standards. That's part of our new, um, Atlas system, you know, we might have to look at test questions to make sure that they also address that, um, but that was why it was so important for us to have a new assessment that was tied to our standards so that we can very accurately and specifically measure our students' meeting. Our expected outcomes. OK, follow up question. Chair So do we already have evidence that this is not being taught at the level that it needs to be this particular topic or not quite yet, but that's not something that we have specifically looked at. We could do that for you we don't really have any evidence that this is. At this time, that's not something we've looked for, yeah, OK, thank you. And, and I'd like to answer that question as well. I, I think that's the that's the importance of the bill is that we don't, we haven't placed a high level of importance to these these subjects, so we wanna make sure that that we are addressing those and that we are drawing attention to them. Um, I think that's the, the, the purpose and the point of the bill. the group. My apologies to recognize. Thank you. Um, so, So then we, we would buy placing this, this would be our first set of baseline data. for this so we can do a pre and post because right now that doesn't exist, is that? to answer that, I guess if it doesn't exist, you wouldn't be able to do a pre, um, but you certainly could do a post, um, reinforcement. OK. Thank you Representative McGregor recognized. Uh, my question is in regard to, uh, professional development as an educator, I know. Everything is pretty much planned out and again, I love the spirit of the bill, but it's the timing, uh, professional development for this summer is probably already prepared. How are we going to implement this in such a quick manner, uh, through professional development. I, I think as an educator, you'd agree that they are great at adapting and so if necessary to comply with a timeline, um, I mean, changes could be made. Again, obviously, the longer that we have, the more thorough we can be in adapting professional development and making sure that it's taught, um, but again, as part of the, the standard review process, we would also be looking at the professional development. Do we need to, um, focus more on particular subjects or topics to make sure that teachers are aware of those standards, um, I, I think. Could it be done by the summer? Yes. Could it be done more thoroughly if we had longer, yes. Thank you Representative Barnett, you're recognized. Yes, I had a question for Representative Richardson. Is there a particular reason why this bill does not include emphasizing the ways in which the US has aired in being a democratic government and how this country has worked to correct those past failures. And and I think that's you kind of line out the exact challenge, um, that I'm trying to present and bring to light, um, the, the US government is not a democracy. We, we are a constitutional republic, and it's extremely important that we're presenting that to, to our students on a regular basis to reinforce why we're a constitutional republic and not a democracy because democracies continue to fail all across the world and, and they, they create all kinds of problems for their own citizenry. This bill in no way suggests that the constitutional republic is perfect. It does suggest that we make it more perfect by being an active citizenry that we are all active and participating with the government style in democracies and autocratic governments, we don't have those, those individuals have significantly less ability to influence, if any ability to influence that government, which is why the Constitutional republic. Has worked for the as long as it has and has empowered our citizens the way it has. Our constitutional republic is subservient to us. We have the ability to change its direction. We have the ability to influence how it impacts us and we do that on a regular basis and I think that's the, that's the exact point of this bill, making sure that we're reinforcing that too our citizenry, especially at the at the student level. Seeing no additional questions. There is no one to sign up, signed up to speak for or against the bill. Represent Richardson, are you ready to close for your bill? I am ready to close for my bill. It's, it's evident that the committee has some concerns about the amount of time that the uh the department would have to implement this. So it's my request if the committee will allow it, that I'll once again pull this bill back. We'll address the uh time frame. I, I, I. I'm happy to do that. We can also address the my grammar challenges in the bill text itself. I'd be happy to address those and get this cleaned up so the committee can feel very confident that we can move forward with a solid bill, as we as we go forward. So if the, if it is the will of the committee, I would love to be able to do that. Thank you, Representative Richardson. So just to uh put a bow on that, you're gonna pull the bill down, go back and amend it one more time relative to time frames and a little bit of grammar and then bring it back to the committee and hopefully we've had most of our discussion at this point, uh, and then we can, uh, can knock it out next time and, and I will say, uh, to your credit and I think the whole committee would be appreciative that, that virtually everything that the committee has, has brought to your attention. You've been gracious to go back and, and adjust and correct and so I think that speaks well to us getting to a great place on legislation, so thank you. for being willing to do that. Well, I appreciate that committee, and that's uh that's what I consider this to be a process. I want to make sure that we're all comfortable with it moving forward, and I appreciate the, the comments the committee has made and we'll get this amend amended and hopefully we can get some buy in and get it moving forward. So thank you. Thank you, Representative. Members, we will now move to HB 1215 representative Bentley. We do have an amendment on this bill. Representative Bentley, you're recognized to present your amendment. Thank you, Chairman. Colleagues, uh, pleasure to come to the Education Committee, one of my favorite committees, uh, and thank you all for having me here this morning. The amendment, the staff will bring the amendment around. This amendment is on the request of my superintendents, a number of superintendents that I heard from across the state. So on their behalf I'm adjusting this bill with a slight amendment to allow it to be 2 adults that are of opposite sex of the students that they will be addressing in the locker room. So if you guys will uh take a minute to, I'll let that come around, but at the request of my superintendents, which the whole uh amendment was 4. We're going to go ahead and uh, I think there was just some cross communication on there, so this amendment will make sure there's 2 adults always, but the adults can be of the opposite sex of the students, student athletes. Person Bentley has presented the amendment. Everyone's getting a copy of an hour of questions on the amendment. See no questions. I have a motion on the table to adopt the amendments. All in favor say or is there any discussion on the motion? I apologize. Just kidding. No discussion on the motion. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Congratulations, your amendment is adopted. Represent Billy, you're now recognized to present HB 1215 as amended. Thank you, Chairman. Well, some of you, uh, folks were not here last session when I brought forth the bill to make sure that we kept our young girls safe in the bathroom to make sure that we had, um, those of the same sex in the bathroom and so we passed that bill this uh, this committee was gracious to move it forward. And when we get to the real process of realize, and I had brought this bill before our superintendents and our education association and all those folks and everybody was on board in AAA and I thought we had crossed all our T's and dotted our I's and we get to the real process and realized we had not, so I'm bringing forth an amendment to realize that we're all uh I'm always willing to make a good bill better, so that's what we're doing today. We're allowing, um, with proper precautions, um, at halftime for the coaches to come into the locker room and to visit with their, uh, students as long as there has been a student to come out there and say all the girls are dressed, everybody's appropriately dressed and there are 2 adults at all times in the in the locker room to to speak to our students. Some of our schools have gone to great expense to put uh televisions in there to have replays of what the other team has done, and I did not want to disrupt that at all. Um, again, I thought we had addressed this in original Bill and to kind of find out we did not address it, so this bill goes forward, um, I did send it through AAA and I thought everybody was happy, and then once I filed the bill, I started getting emails and phone calls from my superintendents asked me, please, with our smaller school districts, sometimes it's tough for us to get uh to a member of the opposite sex to go in there can we sure just make sure it's two adults always present, and I said, sure, I want to, the whole bill is to make things better for our schools and our superintendents and make sure we have good teams, uh, playing out there they can have halftime as they have in the past, so with that. I'll be happy to take any questions. I think Representative Bentley, are there questions on HB 1215. McGruder do you recognize? Uh, my question is the physical impact of this bill being a coach myself, um, and I've coached at smaller schools. Sometimes you only have one coach on staff, uh, physical impact, are we going to And funding for an additional coach does not have to be an employee of the school, it can be another adult that's present, a parent or or a volunteer does not have to be another coach. It can be someone that's has to be another adult. I don't think in this day and age, um, it'd be appropriate for any opposite sex coach to go on a locker room by themselves, just what we have going on, I think it'd be very unwise for a coach of the opposite sex to go in the locker room without another adult present, so it doesn't have to be a staff member. There is no fiscal impact, the fiscal impact is zero, as you can see, uh, from there, so. There is no fiscal impact. For the additional questions about the committee. person bought you recognize. Thank you, Representative Bentley, I appreciate all your work on this. I know that we had some issues come up about this exact thing. I understand why you're trying to fix it and I appreciate your work on this, because I know it's been like a year, or maybe a little bit longer than that, as trying to fix this, uh, for all the schools. So I appreciate your work. I would agree. Thank you. Again, it does take a little time sometimes for rules to come out with the Lawrence Act. It was a big, uh, lag, so it wasn't quite a while before we realized that we had. Inadvertently left that part out of the bill. So thank you, Representative, I do agree. See no additional questions by the committee. There's no one signed up to speak for or against Representative Billy, would you like to close for your bill? Again, I'm just trying to make a good bill better and I appreciate your support. Representative Bentley is closed for a bill. We have a motion on the table of do pass. Is there any discussion on the motion as amended, I'm sorry, do pass as amended. Is there any discussion on the motion? See no discussion on the motion. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Congratulations, Representative Bentley, you have passed your bill as amended. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you committee. I appreciate it. Committee now we will move to Representative Bentley again with HB 1180, 1st, there is an amendment to be adopted uh staff is passing out the amendments on this, so Representative Bentley, you are recognized to present your amendment to HB 1180. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you committee. Um, I have been waiting 2 years to run this bill. I'm really excited about presenting the Baby Olivia bill today, the, the amendment that we have, I thought I had addressed again, um, when I sent it to staff, but, um, when I looked at it again, I realized the amendment did not cover everything I wanted to, so we're happy to, uh, do that here in committee today. All this, all this amendment simply does is to remove the the uh civil cause of the cause of action that we had in there with the Attorney general completely removes that and so this bill will be, uh, we'll make sure our superintendents do that through their assurances at the end of the year, so we'll no longer have a cause of action in this bill. So it completely removes that with the Attorney General. And that's what the amendment does. I'm gonna be happy to take any questions. uh Are there any questions on the amendment? I have a motion to adopt by Representative Meeks during any discussion on the motion. The discussion all in favor say aye, all opposed. Congratulations, your amendment has been adopted. Representative Bentley, you are now recognized to present HB 1180 as amended. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you committee. Uh, I want to start at this, this bill today with one of my favorite scriptures in Psalms 139:13 through 5, and, uh, the whole Bible I love to read, but this, this part is really uh very special to me. You form my innermost being shaping my delicate inside and my intricate outside. You wove them all together in my mother's womb. I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex. Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it. How thoroughly you know me, Lord. You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place carefully, skilfully you shaped me from nothing to something. Um, as a young child, I have always been in awe of the human bodies just fascinates me, um, all that God did in our human bodies and even how our eyeball works, it just fascinated me to study about the eyeball, and I think that we should bring some more awe and wonder into our classrooms. I think our students should be in amazement in awe of the human body and how fascinating how it works and how all of our universe fits together. I love what our representative Steven Meeks is doing with his planetarium around the students in Arkansas. Many of my students have been able to enjoy his planetarium and see how the orbits, the uh, the planets orbit around the Earth and just how fascinating it all is. So I think our school should be again a place of of awe and wonder. When I was a, uh, a nurse when my first job was at CVICU at Children's Hospital when we were first there, anyway, early 1980s, a little, little time ago. But anyway, when we first started doing ultrasounds there, they were just a little pixly things on the screen. It was just amaze me how the surgeons could see the valves of the heart and how they were all working cause I just saw little dots on there, but the longer I was there, the more I saw the ultrasounds and I saw how um intricate they were. Now we have goodness 3Ds and 40s and we can see our precious. grandchildren before they ever get here. So it just amazes me how it has been, uh, gotten better, better in times those little blurry dots that we used to see back in the 1980s or not is crystal clear and just uh ultrasounds are fascinating things. We use them in so many areas with uh, even with our, uh, mammograms and all that, we're using ultrasounds all over the place. So with that, we're able to see things we were never able to see before things uh in the human body that we weren't able to see before, so now we see a details that were never available before and that's why I want to bring this forth this bill. Um, so what is, what is the baby Olivia bill and I'm gonna give you a little bit about what it is before we talk about the exact details, so. Baby Libby is a medically accurate animated glimpse of human life from the moment of fertilization. This story is a growth of Olivia as she progresses from one developmental stage to the next in preparation for her continued life outside of the womb. Baby Oliy was created by live action and collaboration with a panel of medical doctors, including experts in embryonic and fetal development. Doctor David Bollinger, Doctor Donna Harriston, Doctor Terrace Sandler Lee, Doctor Katrina Firth, Michelle Crettell MD and Jefferson Barrows, Doctor of, uh, medical science. These have each endorsed this when it was done. I want you to know that was developed by panel of doctors. Every single word, every image has been gone over thoroughly gone over by these physicians to make sure it's completely accurate and it's truthful. It is important to note that the gestational markers in this are calculated by fertilization or conception, not the last menstrual period. So lots of times when a woman goes to the doctor, the baby's growth is determined by the last menstrual period. This is a biological, uh, Video. It's based on the uh relative when the conception occurred, not the last menstrual period. Many of the developmental facts shared in Baby Olivia are sourced from the endowment for human development, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health, science, education, and public health. It's website states that it's committed to neutrality regarding all controversial bioethical issues adding our board of directors, our board of advisors, our staff and our volunteers include accomplished educators, researchers, authors, programmers, and clinicians from a variety of scientific and business disciplines who share the common goal of approving lifelong Health through prenatal development based education. Science educators across the United States have endorsed the organization's award-winning content and National Geographic also distributes their material. Olivia draws back the curtain on the womb, giving us a realistic glimpse of the baby that's within like we use with our ultrasounds. Each and every word and every image in this short video had the backing of experts in embryonic and fetal development, and I want you guys to be sure that's why, um. I'm gonna go over a little bit of this with uh some of the words that are spoken. It's the very first words that are spoken a baby Olivia is this is the moment that life begins. The endowment for Human Development states biological speaking, fertilization or conception is the beginning of human development. The Journal of Nature stated in its 2020 issue the life cycle of mammals begins when the sperm enters an egg. The textbook pattern foundations of embryology likewise states the time of fertilization represents the starting point in life history or the ontogeny of the individual. So we can again say the very first words have been proven scientifically that for mammals, the black human development begins when the sperm enters the egg in its conception occurs. We also know that fertilization hurts gender and ethnicity, hair color, eye color, and countless traits are already determined. The endowment of Human Development states that zygote contains 46 unique chromosomes with the entire genetic blueprint of an individual. Science Daily knows that the sex of a baby is determined by its chromosome makeup at conception. An embryo with with two X chromosomes will produce a girl, an embryo with an ex-wife chromosome combination results in a boy. WebMD also states at the moment of fertilization, the baby's genetic makeup is complete, including whether it's a boy or a girl. So I can go on and on with each single word, each single image in this video, which takes a little while, so I won't go through each one, but I watched this video and just a amazement to see how beautiful it is, and I know that it's such a perfect way for kids to learn because they can see an image. We could talk forever and we could just have a boring topic up there on the uh on the whiteboard and talk about each stage and what happens at each stage, and I remember those discussions in nursing school going over human development, but how much easier it is to see a beautiful little 3 minute video, and it all just comes to life and so you can see how the how each stage develops and how that beautiful embryo develops, uh, into a fetus and how the fetus becomes an infant baby, so, um, that's what happens with that. So I'm gonna go now that we've got a little bit about the details of the video, let me go to the bill itself, so we will simply be adding a 3 minute video and uh Ander learns in the 5th grade we started teaching a health class. So, um, in health class, we'll have a 3 minute video. Every year Uh, from 5th grade moving forward, which again, lines up with Lawrence. I went to see Secretary Olivia on this, and I showed this to the governor. Both, both are neutral on the bill and showing no problems moving forward with the bill actually, uh, some of the amendments I brought forth were from Secretary of Labor that I put in here. So, there's absolutely no cost to the school, um, for this. To take place. It's a 3 minute video that they can download, um. Live action has granted a non-exclusive license to use this resource for educational purposes and perpetuity and at no cost. Live action has also provided the resource unbranded for educational purposes. So when the kids see it, they aren't gonna see live action or know anywhere where it came from. It just be an anonymous or whatever video that they've downloaded like they do many other things that they see in school, but there'll be no mention of live action on the video there. So with that, I think I've said enough. I think I'm, it's a pretty simple bill that I'm really excited about. I think um. It should be great for again for our kids to see what I have always been fascinated by our human body and how beautiful it is and how the development of the human body and how we just have billions of cells and a few in a short time and how the heart is developed in just 21 days. It really is a fascinating thing. So with that committee, I'll be happy to take any questions. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Bentley for presenting the bill. Representative Meek she recognized for a question. Thank you, uh, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Representative for, for bringing this bill. I, I guess the, the, the only question that I have is, um, if you currently have it as beginning in in 5th grade. Um, I'm wondering if that is maybe too soon for this topic? Is it the right time? What other states do? So can you kind of address that issue, uh, at, you know, what grade is the appropriate grade to begin having these discussions. I think it's the perfect time because young girls are about to start, uh, their menstrual cycle during that time. I think it's the perfect time for us to start it, so I really think the top the perfect time for us to start with a very, I have shown this video to my 4 and 5 year old grandkids who absolutely love it. um, it's just a really fascinating thing. So this not show the procreative act at all. It just is a bio simply um biology for the beginning of conception forward so parents can discuss when they want to, but again, we're having, girls are about to start their period shortly, um, and some of during that time period in the 5th grade, so I think it's the perfect time for us to start. And that's the same as I said, it's been passed in other states, and that's the timeframe that they use. Are there questions about the committee? have garner you recognize. I just would like to know what ACOG thinks and what. The American College of Obstetrics and gynecology. What I mean they are kind of the I don't, I don't agree with a lot of what AOG says, so I'm, I don't see ACOG as anything an expert. I want to, um, our secretary leave here and ACOG has something, some things that I don't agree with them on, so I'm not trying to be this political. This is just really a, a, I, I don't know if you've watched it or not, the video, so which is uh stri again embryonic. Experts and fetal experts says I've given you exact backups for every word is accurate, so I've not reached out to ACOG didn't see any reason to reach out to ACOG when experts have already proved it's been scientific and it's been through a lawsuits in other states, so it's already been through the wringer. It's been completely accurate, so. Representative Duke, you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Representative Bentley. I have one quick question. My understanding when my kids went through school in 5th grade, they had videos or classes that dealt with puberty and different things, and parents have the ability to. Um Exempt them or to sign them out so that they didn't, they didn't feel comfortable with the content and stuff and and that I assume would still be the case with this video or this class if the parent wanted to, yeah, thank you. There's nothing that bill thats a parent from saying I don't think my my kids are quite ready to watch it, so absolutely nothing in here precludes a parent from saying not ready for my child to see the video. Thank you. Represented just as a follow up on that is there language within the bill relative to an opt out? There is not, but that for any parent, we have, um, other statutes where parents can preclude their kids from anything, so there's nothing here precludes that from happening or the school making it their policy. Thank you. As we do with other health things, so. Are there additional questions about the committee garner, your light is on. Seeing no additional questions, we do have uh some audience members that are signed up to speak on the bill. We will take these in order. Uh, our first one is, uh, hope I suppose, pronounce the first name correct, Tian, T in Estel. You're recognized to speak against the bill. Please introduce yourself for the record, then you're recognized. Thank you. Hello everybody, if you would please, if you would please hit your microphone. Oh the button. Thank you for that. Oh, that's much better. Good morning. Hello. Um, I am Tian Estelle and I'm here today because I strongly oppose HB 1180, otherwise known as the Baby Olivia Act, requiring or as we're just finding out, parents could opt out, so the suggestion of um and the mandate but also maybe you can opt out but requiring children to view a medically inaccurate video, um, created and promoted. By an extremist group is unethical, unfair, and dangerous. Um, the video was created by live action and they are an anti-abortion extremist group known for their heavily edited videos, fraudulent claims of malpractice and deceptive schemes to trick providers of reproductive care. Their goal is not education. They create and distribute propaganda and their mission is to advance their own ideology. Our students deserve facts. accurate information about their bodies and reproductive health and, and, and science that doesn't. That's not just an attempt to push an agenda. So I attended K through 12 in Arkansas and I remember the very limited sex education we had in school, right? It was very limited. My classmates and I weren't offered much, and I recall the conversations we had in classrooms, uh, being rushed, taboo, and uh less than elaborate, less than elaborate. It was unfair then and it still remains true. Youth need preparation for making big decisions, and this preparation requires complex inquiry and unbiased information. I repeat, unbiased information which you cannot get from an extremist group pushing an agenda. And I'm going to quote now from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families website. Arkansas ranks forty-fifth in child well-being, according to the 2024 Kids Count data book, which is a 50 state report, um, compiled of, uh, like analyzing how kids are faring in a post-pandemic America. The data shows that Arkansas leaders must do more to protect children and prepare them to learn so they can flourish in adulthood. HB 1180 does not prepare children to flourish. This same study shows Arkansas as 36th out of 50 in education. Our youth are already at an academic disadvantage. Please do not allow the baby Olivia. AI video. To act to become yet another barrier to education in Arkansas public and charter schools. Um, and thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for your comments or questions about the committee. Representative Beck, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, my question is, you made a reference that, that there was some information that was wrong in the video. Now I've watched the video and I I didn't see any, but elaborate on that for me the part where they're showing, um, they're giving this AI image of what aygo and an embryo and into a fetus looks like. It's inaccurate if you take it frame by frame and you look and see, and then also the um concept of saying that as soon as an egg is fertilized, there's only two options, X, X and XY. that is genetically inaccurate. That is an inaccurate genetic analysis and then the actual images of this AI baby are inaccurate. The forming the stages, each stage of development, they are trying to show this very like, um, you know, like after uh when a baby is born and there's actually a child born, the way that a child looks, then they're replicating that. stages of development that are medically inaccurate and I watched it and I've talked to other people and I've done my research on it, so, um, but yeah, the genetic, um, the genetic assumption is incorrect. The images are incorrect and the thing that gets me the most in addition to this is that the people who are pushing this are known for their extremist anti-abortion agenda and they go to Planned Parenthoods and they trick people and they have um had Fraudulent, like medical uh fraudulent claims of uh malpractice, their history as an organization started because of their extremist anti-abortion idea, so you're already starting a video going into a school created by an extremist group that already has stated their agenda are known for their extremist views and have been harassing health providers of reproductive healthcare for many years. It's not fair for kids to see that. It's not fair. So, so I'm, I'm, I'm gonna try and I appreciate you coming and testify, but so you, the inaccuracies that you're talking about, um, are, are your, your considerations, are they with the people who developed it or the the media, let me finish. Or are they, I think you made reference to the point that maybe the images of the, the, the baby were inaccurate, inaccurate, yes. If if you could elaborate on that point I don't think I need to because I watched it. I did my research and anyone that watches it and looks at it from a scientific frame can see it and the people who created it, as I said, are extremists with one agenda so they have portrayed that in their video. That's all I would like to speak on you for a question. I believe she's already left. Yeah, I'm not Thank you for your time. I'd like to recognize our next uh citizen, Mr. Jimmy Cavin, you recognized speak for the bill. If you would please introduce yourself and then you're recognized. Yes, sir, Jimmy Cam, I'm with Arkansas First News, but I'm here to represent myself as a personal citizen. You know, it's no secret, uh, me and Representative Bentley, we don't agree on everything, but I am in lock step with her on this. This is a great bill. Yeah, like so many others. Like so many others in this room, as a matter of fact, I have thought against indoctrination in schools and to put education back in schools. This bill does that. There are those that claim. That this bill is misleading or this legislation is misleading. And that it's indoctrination. Let me read you the definition of biology. A branch of knowledge that deals with living organisms and vital processes. This bill Requires discussion. An instruction into the biological process. Of a human development inside the womb. It's not indoctrination. It's biology. And how is education into a biological process indoctrination. It, it, that, that dumbfounds me that anybody would even make that argument. Now I want to tell you, I watched this video and I'm, I'm sure everybody on this committee has, and I hope everybody in this room has because I will tell you, I'm, I'm about to turn 63, but I learned a lot. I learned some exciting things from this. I didn't know it fertilization that gender, hair color and eye color and more determined. I had no idea. I didn't know it 3 weeks, a heartbeat can be detected. I didn't know it 4 weeks. Arms and legs here. Uh, I didn't know that between 5 and 6 weeks, That babies in the womb start to have reactive movements. I didn't know it's 6 weeks that brain activity. And a baby can be recorded and born and bone formation begins. I didn't know it between 11 and 12 weeks that a baby playfully. playfully moves about in the in the womb and has taste buds. That amazed me. At 18 weeks, ultrasound showed speaking movements in the voice box. At 27 weeks, a baby in the womb can respond to light. Did the baby in the womb can recognize voices. Recognize lullabies and recognize stories. This is science. This is education, and this is what we need to put back in schools. Now, to the, to the point that the young lady made about the AI generated image. I think Miss Baley takes care of that because also in the bill is I, I understand that it's AI generated. I understand that. But I think it also takes care of itself because there's also requirements, uh, to watch the, um, Ultrasound. Which gives, which is not AI generated. OK, so I think that takes care of that. So, I'm excited to see this bill. I wish I would have had this when I was in high school. All I got was a dead cat we dissected in a frog. OK. Which serve no purpose to me whatsoever. But it almost 63 ages, years of age, I watched a three-minute video. That taught me something when we talk about age appropriateness. If you watch that video, I can't imagine the age that's not appropriate for. Where there's 3 years old or 90 years old. You're going to get something out of this and I'm excited. I'm excited to see this legislation, and I'll be glad to take any questions. Thank you, Mr. Caverau. The question for Mr. Kavin. No questions. Thank you for your testimony. Except speaking against the bill, Ms. Kristen Stewart, you're recognized, if you would please introduce yourself to the committee and then you're recognized. Hello, my name is Kristen Stewart, and I am here as a mom of two kids in the Little Rock School District. Um, I'm here today to speak about um the Baby Olivia Act, um, and how it mandates the inclusion of specific fetal development materials in public school curricula. While its proponents argue that the bill provides scientific education on prenatal development, the legislation is ultimately a misleading and politically motivated effort to influence students. Um, views on abortion, rather than a neutral position of scientific facts. Um, as a mom, I strongly oppose this bill. Due to its biased nature, its potential to undermine comprehensive sex education and it's disregard. For medical and scientific consensus. First, the bill is not a neutral education tool, but rather a targeted effort to shape students' beliefs about abortion. The inclusion of the baby Olivia video, a product created by an anti-organization, anti-abortion organization demonstrates a clear ideological motive rather than an impartial approach to fetal development. Education should be based on medically accurate, peer reviewed information, not politically charged materials designed to manipulate students' emotions. This bill sets a dangerous precedent for allowing partisan propaganda in school curriculum under the guise of education. Um, as a parent, I want my children to receive fact-based, age-appropriate education that empowers them to make informed decisions about their health. Studies consistently show that medically accurate, evidence-based sex education, including information on contraceptive, consent and reproductive health leads to better outcomes for students. By focusing on fetal development in a way that serves an anti-abortion agenda, the bill risks undermining efforts to provide students with the full spectrum of knowledge needed to make responsible choices. The bill disregards the medical and scientific communities nuanced understanding of fetal development. While it is true that fetal development can be observed at different stages. The bill presents a simplified and emotionally charged narrative that does not reflect the complexities of pregnancy, viability, or maternal health considerations. Science education should be rooted in established medical consensus rather than ideological messaging designed to sway public opinion on a contentious political issue. Again, as a parent, I want my children to learn an environment free from political interference where they are given accurate information rather than propaganda. House Bill 1180 is not about providing students with unbiased scientific education, but rather about advancing a political agenda. Legislators um should reject this bill in favor of policies that support medically accurate reproductive health education. Instead of imposing ideological narratives on students, Arkansas should focus on equipping them with the knowledge they need to make informed and autonomous decisions about their bodies and their futures. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. Stewart. Would you be willing to take some questions? Sure. Representative Brown, you recognize? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, She Did the uh video. Say anything about sex or Um Or reproductive health or any of those. Concerns that you expressed as being political, did, did the video say anything about that or was it not? Simply a video of human growth and development inside the wood it's medically inaccurate descriptions I have talked to several, um, doctors, um, Several like OBGYNs that state this is categorically false. I am not a medical professional, but everyone that I've talked to, um, also believes that this is propaganda, not medically accurate. Well, I, I, I don't see what the basis of that claim is, uh, it doesn't really talk about. sex or um any of that it just it's designed to try to give a different narrative of fetal development. To be emotionally charged. Thank you for sharing your opinion. Represent a painter, you're recognized for a question. Can you give us examples? Of what how it's medically inaccurate, so the different stages are not entirely. ac cur ate um, I would, I wrote it down, but I can't remember which. OK, and then you said emotionally charged. Can you Kinda going a little bit more elaboration in that. Yeah, so it um just Has the fetal development, um, at an accurate stages, um, as kicking and um It's just not medically accurate from everything that I have read and talked to other physicians. I, I get it According to you and and folks that you may have talked to said it's medically inaccurate, but you said it was emotionally charging. Can you? Yeah, so it's It's trying to I don't know how to put this. Um, It's trying to just kind of glorify. Um Having babies and the fetal development as being earlier than maybe it actually is. OK I See no additional questions. Thank you for your comments. Thank you. Recognize Crystal Maynard to speak for. Bill. Chris, if you would please introduce yourself for the record, then you recognize. Good afternoon or good morning. Crystal Maynard, me and my husband are pastors at Tag Church here in Little Rock, and I am for the bill. Um, I have a daughter who is in um Public school and I think this is a wonderful bill. I trust, um, Miss Bentley here, I trust her, her videos, we have seen those and I'm thankful that this bill is put forth for our public schools. Thank you for your comments or questions by the committee. See no questions we appreciate your time. I'd like to recognize Carol Egan to speak against the bill. If you would please introduce yourself for the record, then you're recognized. Is it on? OK. Hi, I'm Carol Egan. I'm just a citizen of Arkansas and um I, uh, first want to thank the committee for hearing me and also thank, um, Representative Bentley for trying to introduce human growth and development back into the Arkansas public schools because it's a very important thing we have a very high rate of teenage pregnancies, so anything we can do to educate children. About sex is, is very important and I, I know that isn't the intent of this particular video. I want to share with you a brief story when Um I Worked with Hall High and my church, uh, we had volunteers, retired people at my church who were willing to go to Hull High when it was still a regular public school, um, and help the students, um, you know, with their, with whatever needs they had math, reading, English, and when I met with this school before we started our program. One of the uh administrators at the school begged me to find a health. Professional who would teach. Sex education. To their mothers. To the students in the school who are already mothers because they didn't understand. How that happened to them. And I find that inexcusable, but Uh, so with regard to this particular bill, and I'm sorry for getting on my soapbox there. um. This video, I believe, is inappropriate for elementary school students. Um, and, and partially because of our lack of health of, uh, sex education, uh, to show the this video to 10 and 11 year olds, which uses terminology that they are not going to be familiar with. They have not learned what a uterus is. They do not know what fertilization is. Those little swimming fishes that are introduced at the beginning of the video are going to bring, cause more questions and concerns, then I think we, you know, anybody in the video intended, and I don't know that we're going to equip our parents. To answer those questions. If we're not going to also teach the larger subject. So I, I just concerned and now I, I didn't understand when I read the bill, and I know there's been a couple of iterations of it that they're going to have to see it every year. So, I, I, I'm not quite sure I understand what that is, um. I question why with our schools struggling as they do, we would force Our schools to show a video with questionable value in terms of educational value and whose information is considered problematic and actually inaccurate by the American College of Obstetricians and gynecologists, which then further contributes to our students' poor educational experience because we're giving them bad information. Now, you've been, I know a couple of people have asked the question of why it's inaccurate and, and Representative Bentley did explain. that, but I don't know if you understand the significance of that inaccuracy in the video they Everything, every stage of life, um, that I forgot your name, but that he referred to. is inaccurate because they're starting at a different time point. So it seems like, you know, at 3 weeks, this is happening, but, but everybody else, the, you know, the gynecologist and obstetricians have a different starting point. So when somebody tells you you're 10 weeks pregnant. That is based on when you start your last menstrual cycle, right? They're not saying 10 weeks from when the egg was fertilized. So the time frame and the inaccuracies of the video all stem from that one little difference of the starting point. So what looks like a 16 week old baby is, is not when they say you're 16 weeks pregnant. What they referred to as a six-week baby in the video is not when you're 16 weeks pregnant. And that in c y is very confusing. I don't know why they chose to do that. Right? Because they could have used the same terminology that The standard is in the industry, and I'm not sure why they chose not to do that. Unless it's as other people fear, and it's, there's a little bit of propaganda in there. So I, I think you should consider it all for introducing human growth and development into our schools. I think we need to be really cautious about what age we're doing that with. And And what the curriculum really is so that it absolutely helps our children understand and deal with their bodies, know what's happening to them and You know, it, it becomes a part of an overall strategy for Arkansans to also address, you know, teen pregnancy and other issues. So thank you very much for your time. If you have any questions, I'm happy to take them. Don't know if I'll answer it, be able to answer them. Thank you for your commentsmi Egan, are there questions from the committee? No questions, we appreciate your time. Final, uh, person signed up and recognized Debbie Goolsby to speak against the bill. If you would please introduce yourself for the record, then you're recognized. OK, I'm, I'm Debbie Goolsbee, um, and I'll make this rather short because you've heard some excellent, um, testimony about the How biased this uh baby Olivia is the fact. That it's was created by an anti-abortion. That's That should be enough to stop it right there. Um, when Representative Bentley talked about, um, 5th grade, this starts at 5th grade and, and a lot of times the 5th grade girls are starting their menstrual periods, um, This could be a little confusing to them, um. Being able to Have a baby and see in this film. I wished I had one of those, you know, that it's, it's. It's highly emotional, the soaring violin, um. Just, um Makes it very emotional, and I, I really believe one reason for this is to try to shame people who have had abortions. Um, because this, this is so lovely, this is so wonderful, and look, you had an abortion. I had an abortion. And I don't. Need to tell anybody on this committee what my situation was. Um But this, this video is meant to shame me, I think. And other women who have had abortions. I went on To have my son. And you think, OK, you had this boy you didn't have that baby. Well, I had my son, which I would trade for anything. It's just the life that I have chosen to live on this earth. And I just Um, and Very upset that that this film would be shown. To children, Uh, at 5th grade and then as seniors, you know, just it shows something and talk about something scientifically. There's a, a, a sex ed human sexuality course called our Whole Lives. There are things out there where you can teach human sexuality. I've even seen some people on the on the committee today when, when they had when they had to say the word sex, it was sex. You know, we're, we're not, we're not comfortable with it and we need to. Uh, teach our kids correctly about human sexuality. So I guess I'll take a question. Thank you for your comments, uh, Representative Brown, you're recognized for a question. Um, Miss Gilsby, I, I, I tend to disagree with you. I think that the in my opinion, the video is, is beautiful and it shows the beauty of of life developing in the womb. And it hit this this video is. Was not intended to shame anybody who has had an abortion. I believe the intention with this video, what I take from it is to accurately depict what occurs when fertilization takes place. Would you not agree that the abortion folks who, uh, in my opinion, are, are rather radical. Uh to misinform young women that the um emerging developing baby is just a glob of cells that it's nothing and but when you could see this video, you see the baby has a brain, it has a heart, it has movement, it has hearing, it has different stages. To me that is so beautiful and I think it's important for young girls to understand that they're not creating a blob that they can just get rid of. Well, you're, you're gonna get into uh. The age old uh uh argument about all this, when does life begin? a blob in the accurate description. A blob, just a blob of you you could call it that. Yeah, it's not a, it's not a human being, you know, if in the Jewish tradition, it's not till it has its first breath of life. There, there, there's a religious component to this, and um, This video is is further, I, it, it is beautiful, you, you can get teary eyed watching it, you know, oh, and, but it's meant. To be emotional. And, and if the film had been produced by Planned Parenthood, and may, may have been a different take here. It comes from a politically biased organization. So I agree that the video is, is beautiful and and beautiful things are emotional. So you, so you think that That being emotional is, is not a good thing. No, I, but that's what this is directed to, to these young girls. It's, it's a Um It just needs to be more realistic. It doesn't talk about, what about the what it took. To make that pregnancy. When are we gonna talk about that? I just think we should be teaching. Correct human sexuality and uh, uh. But, but this isn't really a human sexuality video. It's a, it's a uh human development video. Well, why not teach human sexuality, but that's not the point of this legislation. Wouldn't you agree? Well, from my standpoint, the, the point of it is to, um, Provide inaccurate uh people have spoken to that how the, uh, information is inaccurate and um to. Uh, promote the People who made the video their agenda. So Represent a painter, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Did I just want to make sure I heard you correct. Did you say, in, in your opinion that Life doesn't start until it takes its 1st 1st breath, correct? That I understand that's the Jewish tradition. It's another religious component of this whole question that not everyone has the, the right answer. OK. I, I, OK, cause I figured, you know, if my heart quits beating, then I'm probably gonna die, correct? Um, I would think so, but if my heart is beating, I'm alive, right? Yeah, and even when they talk about the heartbeat, you know, it's, it's not a heart, it's some heart cells. OK, I, I, I think we were respectfully disagree. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So no further questions. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you. So no one else has signed up to speak for or against Representative Bentley, would you like to close for your bill? You're recognized. Chairman, committee, thank you so much for your time again, um, I'm really excited to bring this bill and I pay. appreciate that. So let me just uh review a couple of things real quick. When the schools get this video, there'll be absolutely no mention of live action. There'll be nothing there, there'll be nothing on the screen. There'll be no mention of live action, so there's nothing related to or connected to live action when the children see this video. Again, it was developed by physicians. I've listed the physicians at the beginning of the video and by the human embryonic, uh, excuse me, let me get that correct. Yeah The endowment for Human Development. So it's been very scientifically proven every ward. And so again, this is not a sex ed class. This is a human development, so yes, it begins when the conception occurs again when mammals are scientifically proven a mammal begins when the sperm enters the egg. That's when it begins. So it bases the timeline based on fetal development, not based on when you go to see your gynecologist or when you're, it's not about that, it's not sex education, it's a fetal developments, part of human development, and yes, it shows every phase and it shows it beautifully so kids can see how it's developing, how an embryo develops, how we, uh, The Igo becomes an embryo. An embryo becomes a fetus and the fetus becomes a baby, just like we have when we're outside the womb, we have an infant becomes a toddler, becomes a preschool, becomes a teen, becomes an adult. It's just phases of human development. This just shows a phase of human development we haven't been able to see before because we did not have ultrasounds to be able to show it now, we can show it and our kids can see how beautiful fetal development is, pure and simple. That's what it does. So again, there's no cost to the school. Um The bill is about teaching children the basic facts about human development in an appropriate way. Children deserve unvarnished authentic truth. The resource does not talk about sex or mandate specific teaching on the procreative act, and parents can opt out. It's already in statute, if a parent does not want their child to see this. They don't think it's appropriate time, then they can opt out and they're not kids aren't going to see it every year. It's just when they have health class, and it depends on what your curriculum is when you're going to have health class that year. So when you're in health class, you're going to see a 3 minute video and an ultrasound. a great way to bring discussions and a great thing to see the truth. We want children to understand the truth, the beauty, and the wonder of human life and development in the womb, and I will admit this. This video clearly disputes the lie that it's just a clo of cells. It is a human developing from the moment of conception until birth. And with that, colleagues, I'd appreciate a good vote. Representative Bentley has closed her bill. We have a motion on the table of do pass. Is there any discussion on the motion? I'm sorry, do pass as amended. Is there any discussion on the motion? Representative Garner, you're recognized. I, I just want to make sure that everybody understands that. The American College of Obstetrics and gynecology, the group of medical professionals who deal with these aspects every day who set the standards for women's care. Say that this film is medically inaccurate. So I just It's frustrating that, um, to me that the folks that absolutely. are in charge of evidence-based peer review have said this film is medically inaccurate. And we have folks that disagree with that, the folks that set the standards for medical care for women's health. have said this bill is medically inaccurate. And so I just want you to, to realize that before we vote on it. Thank you. Representative Cozart, you recognize. I don't disagree with what she said about somebody says it's medically inaccurate, but I could guarantee you could go to another group and they would say it is very close to being medically accurate. Is it exact every birth and every pregnancy is a little bit. Of a variation it's never gonna be exactly the same. I'm no medical doctor. I don't know that for a fact, but I believe that because sometimes you're gonna have twins, so that's gonna be a little different than the last one, so I believe that you could take that to someone else and they're gonna say this is as accurate as you could show. It's your additional question or additional discussion by the committee on the motion. See no additional discussion. The motion on the table is do pass as amended on HB 1180, all in favor of CI. All opposed. Congratulations, Representative Bentley, your bill is passed. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you. I appreciate your time today before the committee, House education is adjourned. I appreciate that. I love this. And can you meet Daniella out front and we'll do OK.