Call to Order and Roll Call
A special meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Education was held on Monday, January 30, 2017, at 1:04 p.m., in Room 154 of the Capitol Annex. Senator Mike Wilson, Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the roll.
Present were:
Members: Senator Mike Wilson, Co-Chair; Representative John Carney, Co-Chair; Senators Danny Carroll, David P. Givens, Jimmy Higdon, Alice Forgy Kerr, Stephen Meredith, Gerald A. Neal, Reginald Thomas, Johnny Ray Turner, Stephen West, and Max Wise; Representatives Danny Bentley, Regina Bunch, Mark Hart, Mary Lou Marzian, Reginald Meeks, Charles Miller, Phil Moffett, Melinda Gibbons Prunty, Jody Richards, Steve Riley, Attica Scott, James Tipton, Russell Webber, and Jill York.
LRC Staff: Jo Carole Ellis, Janet Stevens, Joshua Collins, Yvette Perry, and Maurya Allen.
Chairman Wilson welcomed new and returning members, with a special welcome to new co-chair Representative John Carney. He informed members that they had received a copy of the Annotated 2016 Kentucky School Laws published and distributed by the Kentucky Department of Education with their meeting packets.
Approval of Minutes of the November 14, 2016, Meeting
Upon a motion from Representative Meeks and second by Representative York, the minutes were approved by voice vote.
Discussion of 2017 Senate Bill 50
Senator Damon Thayer presented Senate Bill 50, pertaining to the school calendar. The bill does not contain a mandate but provides school districts with more flexibility regarding their school calendar. The bill was crafted through compromise to provide local school districts an incentive to start school later in August. Senator Thayer said this was a response to several different issues. First, many parents have expressed their dissatisfaction with school starting in early August, claiming that their summer holiday plans are held hostage by the school calendar and that summer time spent with their children has been stolen from them. Second, the tourism industry in Kentucky suffers because of early school start dates due to loss of business and loss of student workers (e.g. high school students working as municipal pool lifeguards). He cited the high heat in August that negatively impacts students on non-air-conditioned buses and in poorly air-conditioned classrooms. Energy costs for schools are drastically higher in August than September because of the strain of air-conditioning in August heat.
Senator Thayer said some of the benefits of a later school start date are higher test scores and increased economic revenues. On student test scores, the top 10 states in terms of ACT scores all have later start dates. On the economy, an estimated $432 million is lost in tourism revenue and lost pay because of an early school start date. Senate Bill 50 addresses these issues by relieving school districts of the statutory requirement of 170 instructional days, making them subject only to the requirement to have 1,062 instructional hours if they begin school the Monday after August 26. The bill creates a school calendar committee, which would provide calendar recommendations to a school superintendent who can then present those suggestions to the local school board.
Senator Thayer said that the trend toward later start dates has already begun in some school districts, and he hopes this bill will provide even more flexibility for schools. Education consultants have provided sample calendars that would begin after August 26, include all required professional development and holidays, and still allow for a release date around Memorial Day.
Responding to a question from Chairman Wilson, Senator Thayer answered that the bill is permissive and completely voluntary for school districts. If they choose to exercise the provision and determine that it is not appropriate for them, school districts can return to an earlier start date the next year with no penalty. One potential change that this bill allows is for schools to have longer school days to meet the instructional hour requirement.
Discussion of 2017 Senate Bill 1
Chairman Wilson testified regarding Senate Bill 1. With him at the table was Dr. Joe Burks, education policy expert for Senate Majority. Senator Wilson explained that the overarching purpose of the bill is to purge No Child Left Behind waiver language; mirror the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA); and restore 2009 Senate Bill 1 to its original design and intent of aligning K-12 academic standards, state assessments, and school accountability. The bill is intended to increase postsecondary readiness of Kentucky graduates, reduce bureaucratic burdens on educators, and foster state and local decision-making. This is in line with the intent of ESSA, which also returns greater control of schools to the state and local levels. Senate Bill 1 included more deletions than additions.
Senator Wilson discussed a flow chart that illustrated the Kentucky state standards and assessments review structure proposed in the bill. It would begin with public review in each of four content areas: language arts, math, science, and social studies. A Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) would be tasked with setting up an online forum for public comments to be collected by an independent third party selected by KBE. An advisory panel would be established for elementary, middle, and high school levels for each subject area. The advisory panels would consist of six Kentucky teachers of subject and grade level and one representative from Kentucky higher education. These advisory panels would make recommendations to the appropriate Standards & Assessments Review and Development (SARD) committee regarding changes in standards or alignment adjustments for assessments.
A SARD committee will be established for each of the content areas comprised of six Kentucky teachers in the subject area and two representatives of Kentucky higher education, one of whom must be from a public institution. The purpose of the SARD committees will be to review the advisory panels’ findings and make recommendations to revise or replace existing standards and any needed alignment adjustments for assessments. Each committee will then send these recommendations to the Standards & Assessments Recommendation committee comprised of three gubernatorial appointees, three senators (appointed by the Senate President), three representatives (appointed by the House Speaker), and the Commissioner of Education. The purpose of this committee is to present the recommendations to the House and Senate Education Committees, review processes to ensure all feedback has been heard, and forward recommendations to KBE.
The KBE would have final review of the recommendations before adopting the Kentucky academic standards and assessments and be responsible for implementation. New state standards and corresponding aligned assessments shall be implemented in Kentucky public schools no later than the second academic year following the review process. Senator Wilson said that the intent is to reduce the amount of testing required of students and to ensure that the tests align exclusively with Kentucky standards. It was never his intent to negatively impact arts education and some areas where this is implied in the bill will be addressed in a forthcoming committee substitute. Senator Wilson said that he had emailed every certified Kentucky educator asking for feedback on the bill in May 2016 and received over 500 responses, largely positive. Teachers expressed feeling burdened by the current bureaucracy and looked forward to the changes proposed by the bill to alleviate that burden. He credited Senator Kerr with coining the nickname “the teachers can teach” bill for Senate Bill 1 in a previous session.
Regarding state testing, Senator Wilson said that the tests will still be done on the existing schedule in reading, writing, math, social studies, and science. The testing reports will additionally include an operational subset of actual items from each administered test. This will provide teachers and schools a more accurate understanding of what is tested. And the school accountability measures will be more accurate reflections of “productivity” rather than “activity.” All schools will be held accountable for growth by student subgroup in tested content areas and for progress in proficiency for English language learners. Currently, school districts with very high populations of English language learners are negatively impacted by the requirement to count their scores after only one year. To address this, Senate Bill 1 provides that the scores of English language learners are not incorporated until after three years. All schools are also ranked on school safety and climate while high schools only are ranked based on graduation rate and genuine measures of postsecondary readiness. The accountability measures will allow for KDE to annually evaluate school performance and academic growth based on a variety of measures to avoid oversimplification based on a single score. It also introduces the option to allow competency and performance-based assessments.
Senator Wilson addressed some of the changes that are the result of ESSA. Postsecondary readiness replaces the term “college and career readiness” in the language of the bill and can be measured by credentials, rather than by an assortment of additional tests. Program reviews that are costly, time-consuming, and ineffective will be removed. However, language in this section of the bill which could be construed as damaging to visual and performing arts will be removed or modified. Changes will be made to the assistance provided to lower performing schools. The bill removes the previous federal turnaround model and “Focus and Priority Schools” nomenclature will be replaced with Targeted Support and Improvement and Comprehensive Support and Improvement nomenclature. A Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) school will be identified by KDE as having a consistently underperforming subgroup of students and a Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) school will be identified by KDE for one of the following: lowest performing 5 percent in its level across the state, graduation rate below 80 percent, or failure to exit TSI status. Schools in these categories will have the opportunity to pursue local decision-making opportunities for turnaround innovation before being subject to state audits, sanctions, or prescriptive interventions. Options include: choosing KDE as a turnaround agent, reorganizing internal resources and structures, or contracting with an external turnaround agent. The turnaround plan must be approved and monitored by KDE and failure to exit CSI status within three years will result in more rigorous and prescriptive intervention by KDE.
Senator Wilson addressed teacher growth and effectiveness. KDE will continue to establish a statewide framework for teaching, but school districts will develop, customize, and implement a personnel evaluation system aligned with that framework. Staff evaluations will be performed at the local level and will not include student growth data nor be counted as a component of school accountability.
Chairman Carney thanked Senator Wilson for his collaboration and efforts to make this bill satisfactory to all parties and opened the floor for questions.
Responding to a question from Senator Higdon, Senator Wilson said that the identification of schools in the lowest 5 percent as CSI schools is a federal requirement, and there is not a waiver to allow a state to disregard a bottom five percent ranking if a school meets a certain benchmark. He agrees that it is unfortunate that whenever one school advances out of the lowest 5 percent, another school will invariably take its place because of the nature of the requirement. Senator Wilson said further work will need to be done to address this issue.
Responding to a comment from Representative Moffett that graduation rates seem to be an inaccurate measure of postsecondary readiness considering so many students graduate without attaining proficiency at math or reading level, Senator Wilson agreed there are other measures that are incorporated into school success aside from graduation rate.
Representative Bunch commented that teachers will be very grateful for this bill, but that many arts teachers still seemed concerned. She suggested that the legislators needed to be better at communicating what the bill actually does. She also complimented the provision of the bill which allows for individualization of postsecondary readiness measures based on local workforce needs.
Responding to a question from Senator West, Senator Wilson said that the comprehensive profile reports which are replacing program reviews will be designed by KDE per content area and will be filed annually.
Responding to a question from Representative Tipton, Senator Wilson explained that there are agencies which specialize in turnaround of failing or underperforming schools. He added that the University of Detroit Mercy has a degree program which specifically trains individuals to turnaround schools. Some strategies for school turnaround can include strengthening leadership which experts can identify or provide. He added that the hiring of an external turnaround entity would still have to be vetted and approved by KDE.
Responding to another question from Representative Tipton, Senator Wilson said that the same provisions which applied to “focus and priority schools” remain for CSI schools, in that site based decision making councils are removed when a school enters CSI status. However, they can be reinstated when a school exits CSI status. This allows for a shift of decision making to the administration during turnaround.
Representative Meeks asked the chair if concerned citizens from Jefferson County could be allowed to speak regarding the bill and pose questions. Chairman Carney answered that there was not an opportunity in this meeting, however in future meetings of the Senate and House Standing Committees on Education, members of the public would be allowed time. He encouraged concerned citizens to speak with their representatives or with Chairman Wilson or himself at any time.
Senator Wise commented that he had held a town hall style meeting to receive constituent feedback on education bills in the current session and had heard no negative comments about Senate Bill 1. He asked whether the provision to allow a foreign language course, career and technical course, or a computer technology or programming course to count for a humanities credit was still in the bill. Senator Wilson assured him that that provision is being removed in a proposed committee substitute.
In response to comments and questions regarding kindergarten readiness from Representative Marzian, Senator Wilson said that he agreed that reading and early childhood education set the tone for later school success, however, this bill only addresses K-12 education. He suggested that another bill would need to address early childhood education, specifically funding for early childhood reading programs.
Responding to a question from Representative Scott, Senator Wilson said that the SARD committee does not serve any other purpose than reviewing the recommendations from the advisory panels. However, he feels it is a necessary step to prevent “cut-and-paste” standards similar to past practices.
Senator Higdon commented that the Kentucky School Laws publication seemed a large expense that might be saved if it was not required to be published and distributed to members. Representative Richards agreed that many print publications are unnecessary when the information can be made available online and suggested the committee look into the possibility of transitioning to an all-electronic method to save costs.
Senator Givens complimented and thanked all those who had worked on Senate Bill 1. He said the dialogue had been very constructive and significant. He understood that for something of this nature there had to be a great deal of compromise but it had been well done and the bill was vitally important work.
Chairman Carney announced that the first meeting of the House Standing Committee on Education will be Tuesday, February 14, 2017, at 8:00 a.m.
Review of Administrative Regulations
Mr. Travis Powell, General Counsel, Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), presented administrative regulation 13 KAR 4:010 & E State authorization reciprocity agreement. This regulation arose from 2016 Senate Bill 140 to allow Kentucky to join a state authorization reciprocity agreement, which currently includes 47 states. It allows institutions to operate in other states and offer distance education as long as they meet the nationwide standards. This regulation allows Kentucky institutions to join and sets forth the process by which they can start offering distance education in the 46 other states. Currently, there are 32 Kentucky institutions which have joined the over 1,000 institutions nationally. This agreement also allows all participating institutions to operate in Kentucky without having to go through the regular regulation process and includes the ability to advertise and have limited clinical placements in the state. The emergency regulation allows CPE to begin accepting applications more quickly.
There being no questions, Mr. Powell continued, presenting 13 KAR 2:060 Degree program approval; equal opportunity goals. This regulation is an amendment to the equal opportunity goals regulation and has a provision that CPE will postpone the approval of any new academic programs unless the institution meets its equal opportunity goals. Five years ago, a new process was implemented when Kentucky was removed from the federal desegregation plan. This regulation reflects the revised process and incorporates a more holistic approach which takes into consideration campus diversity, campus climate, student success, and retention and graduation rates of minority and low income students. If institutions can meet their goals in these areas they can introduce new academic programs with the approval of CPE. There were no questions on this regulation.
Mr. Kevin Brown, Associate Commissioner and General Counsel, KDE, and Ms. Leslie Slaughter, Executive Advisor, KBE, presented three administrative regulations. The first was 702 KAR 3:171, a repeal of 702 KAR 3:170 Educational television equipment purchases. This regulation originally pertained to early models of educational televisions which were large and heavy. It established minimum safety requirements for the carts used to hold and move the televisions and ensured that the televisions were compatible with Kentucky Educational Television (KET) broadcast signal. Today’s television models are significantly lighter and more compact so the regulation is obsolete. KDE worked with KET and together they agreed this regulation could be repealed. It is one of approximately seven or eight regulations that KBE voted to repeal.
Ms. Slaughter presented 705 KAR 4:231 General program standards for secondary career and technical education and 780 KAR 4:012, repeal of 780 KAR 4:010 which established the broad, general standards for all career and technical education programs to qualify for federal funding. She told members that these resulted from 2013 House Bill 217, which merged the two secondary career and technical systems into a single system under the purview of KDE. Since that time, they have worked to simplify the regulatory scheme for career and technical education programs. In many cases there were identical, duplicate regulations that can now be combined into a single comprehensive regulatory framework for secondary career and technical education programs. These are not curriculum or assessment standards, but rather program standards that focus on things such as the incorporation of work-based learning and facility requirements. Any pertinent information in the repealed regulation is going to be incorporated into the proposed regulation 705 KAR 4:231. A chart is available to members and the public that highlights the changes, most of which are technical updates. There were no questions on these regulations.
Senator Givens commented about the vital role that regulations serve and the responsibility that members have to ensure the regulations go through the proper procedures. There cannot be a motion to accept a regulation, but rather to find it deficient, and the motion would require a majority vote. He informed members that, before a regulation comes before the committee, it has already been before the Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee.
Chairman Wilson thanked Senator Givens for his comment and added that regulations can also be amended by the committee or deferred for later consideration. Both of these actions would also require agreement from the regulations’ originating agency. He announced that the Senate Standing Committee on Education will be meeting on Thursday, February 9, 2017, at 11:30 a.m.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:26 p.m.