Bill Summary for Bill Number HB06-1289

Date: 02/21/2006

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB06-1289

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment C). The motion Moved to refer HB06-1289, as amended, to the Commi	Pass Without Objection PASS

10:56 AM -- House Bill 06-1289

Representative Solano, prime sponsor, reviewed the provisions of House Bill 06-1289, concerning eliminating penalties arising from a parent's choice regarding student participation in statewide assessments. She discussed her reasons for bringing the bill.

10:59 AM

The following persons testified:

11:01 AM -- Mike Paskewicz, Superintendent of Adams 12 Five Star Schools, testified in favor of the bill. Stan Hesting, also representing Adams Five Star Schools, joined Dr. Paskewicz at the table. Dr. Hesting discussed the impact of non-student participation or absences from the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) assessments on the School Accountability Reports (SARs).

11:05 AM

Dr. Paskewicz and Dr. Hesting responded to questions about whether school districts are penalizing students for not participating in the CSAP assessments. Representative King raised his concerns with the section of the bill addressing penalties for students. There was additional discussion concerning the provisions of the bill. Representative Penry discussed his perceptions of the bill and discussed the ramifications of large numbers of students opting out of the assessments. Representative Paccione said that the bill would remove the penalties that schools incur when students do not participate in the assessments. They provided a hand-out (Attachment B).

11:13 AM

Dr. Paskewicz and Dr. Hesting responded to further questions about whether they would support imposing penalties on students. They indicated that they would not support implementing penalties on students and that they are not suggesting that they do not want to be accountable for students. They also answered questions regarding the number of students who have opted out of assessments in Adams 12 Five Star School District. There was discussion of the numeric calculation for students who do not participate in an assessment.

11:21 AM -- Christine von Lersner, representing herself as a parent with students in Denver Public Schools, testified in support of the bill. She discussed her perceptions of the CSAP assessments. Ms. von Lersner further discussed her support of self-paced learning and nontraditional models for student assessment.

11:30 AM -- Phil Fox, representing the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE), testified in support of the bill. He testified that the number of students who opt out varies among school districts and schools. He said that CASE believes that no one should be penalized for the exercise of parental choice.

11:31 AM -- Bill Bowlby, representing himself as a parent of students in Durango schools, testified in support of the bill. He distinguished between "testing to monitor" and "testing to teach." He testified that schools are confusing testing with measuring learning or instructional quality. He described his experience in deciding whether to opt his children out of CSAP assessments.

11:40 AM

Mr. Bowlby responded to questions from committee members about his opinions on assessments.

11:43 AM -- Lyndsey Barnett, representing herself as a teacher in Adams 12 Five Star School District, testified in support of the bill. She described the impact of CSAP scores on the school at which she teaches. She responded to questions about the impact of student mobility on the school.

11:46 AM -- Lisa Kramer, representing herself as a parent, testified in support of the bill. She described her son's learning disabilities and her decisions regarding testing him.

11:52 AM -- Tom Griggs, representing himself as a parent, testified in support of the bill. As a professor of education, he offered his opinions about student learning and achievement, as well as about assessment of students.

11:56 AM -- Frank Young, representing himself as a parent and a Denver Public Schools teacher and the Coalition for Better Education, testified in support of the bill. He testified to the community concerns he has heard around CSAP assessments.

12:01 PM -- Dan Daly, representing the Colorado Education Association, testified in support of the bill. He testified that penalizing schools for factors beyond the control of the school does not serve schools.

12:03 PM -- Sid O'Connell, representing herself, testified in favor of the bill. She described her experiences as a parent and her support of experiential learning.

12:09 PM -- Angela Engel, representing herself, testified in favor of the bill. She discussed the importance of parental choice in education and testified against penalizing schools for nonparticipating students. She described experiences of her acquaintances in considering opting their children out of assessments. She responded to questions about her testimony concerning school district policies.

12:19 PM -- Vicki Newell, representing the Colorado Parent-Teacher Association, testified in support of the bill. She responded to questions from committee members.

12:26 PM -- Byron Pendley, representing the Colorado Department of Education, testified on the bill and offered information on the number of tests that were categorized as "parental refusal" for the past school year, which is estimated at 1,500 tests, or about .03 percent statewide.

12:32 PM

The committee discussed statutory provisions for placing students in a category for which an "unsatisfactory" score is given.


BILL:	HB06-1289
TIME:	12:37:16 PM
MOVED:	Solano
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment C). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Paccione
		VOTE
	Benefield
	King
	Larson
	Massey
	McKinley
	Penry
	Pommer
	Rose
	Solano
	Todd
	White
	Paccione
	Merrifield
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB06-1289
TIME:	12:40:51 PM
MOVED:	Solano
MOTION:	Moved to refer HB06-1289, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 10-3 roll call vote.
SECONDED:	Paccione
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	King	No
	Larson	Yes
	Massey	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	Penry	No
	Pommer	Yes
	Rose	No
	Solano	Yes
	Todd	Yes
	White	Yes
	Paccione	Yes
	Merrifield	Yes
Final YES: 10 NO: 3 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS