Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Date:02/26/2009
ATTENDANCE
Time:01:35 PM to 05:50 PM
Groff
*
Heath
X
Place:SCR 354
Hudak
*
King K.
X
This Meeting was called to order by
Scheffel
X
Senator Bacon
Spence
X
Romer
*
This Report was prepared by
Bacon
X
Jennifer Thomsen
X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call
Bills Addressed: Action Taken:
Conf 09-Colorado Commission on Higher Education
Conf 09-Read to Achieve
Conf 09-Charter School Institute Board
HB09-1046
HB09-1082
SB09-230
SB09-176
Favorably Refer to the Full Senate
Favorably Refer to the Full Senate
Favorably Refer to the Full Senate
Referred to the Committee of the Whole
Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole
Amended, Referred to Appropriations
Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only

01:36 PM -- Confirmation of Appointee to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education

Barbara J. Scott, appointee to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, introduced herself and described her background and reasons for wanting to serve on the commission. The letter appointing Ms. Scott in contained in Attachment A. Her resume and application may be viewed at the State Archives.

090226AttachA.pdf

Ms. Scott responded to committee comments and questions.
BILL:Conf 09-Colorado Commission on Higher Education
TIME: 01:42:15 PM
MOVED:Romer
MOTION:Refer the confirmation of Barbara J. Scott to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation. The motion passed on an 8-0 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
Yes
Heath
Yes
Hudak
Yes
King K.
Yes
Scheffel
Yes
Spence
Yes
Romer
Yes
Bacon
Yes
Final YES: 8 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

01:43 PM -- Confirmation of Appointee to the Read-to-Achieve Board

Joanne Scanlan, appointee to the Read-to-Achieve Board, introduced herself and described her background and reasons for wanting to serve on the board. The letter appointing Ms. Scanlan is contained in Attachment B. Her resume and application may be viewed at the State Archives.

090226AttachB.pdf

Ms. Scanlan responded to committee comments and questions.
BILL:Conf 09-Read to Achieve
TIME: 01:44:57 PM
MOVED:Romer
MOTION:Refer the confirmation of Joanne Scanlan to the Read-to-Achieve Board to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation. The motion passed on an 8-0 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
Yes
Heath
Yes
Hudak
Yes
King K.
Yes
Scheffel
Yes
Spence
Yes
Romer
Yes
Bacon
Yes
Final YES: 8 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

01:45 PM -- Confirmation of Appointees to the Charter School Institute Board

Dean Titterington, Wayne Eckerling, and Patrick Grippe, appointees to the Charter School Institute Board, introduced themselves and described their backgrounds and reasons for wanting to serve on the board. The letters appointing them are contained in Attachment C. Their applications and resumes may be viewed at the State Archives.

090226AttachC.pdf

The appointees responded to committee comments and questions.
BILL:Conf 09-Charter School Institute Board
TIME: 01:50:39 PM
MOVED:Heath
MOTION:Refer the confirmations of Dean Titterington, Wayne Eckerling, and Patrick Grippe to the Charter School Institute Board to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation. The motion passed on a 7-0-1 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
Yes
Heath
Yes
Hudak
Yes
King K.
Yes
Scheffel
Yes
Spence
Yes
Romer
Excused
Bacon
Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

01:51 PM -- House Bill 09-1046

Senator Penry, sponsor of House Bill 09-1046, presented the bill. The bill makes changes to assessments under the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Assessments Pilot Program as follows: it provides that assessments are no longer required to be given in only the spring semester and it allows districts to require the assessment vendor to provide assessment results directly to the Colorado Department of Education (CDE).

Senator Penry explained that the bill was brought to him by the CDE to provide more flexibility.

He responded to committee questions.

01:58 PM

The following persons testified:

01:58 PM --
Holly Baker, CDE, testified in support of the bill. She said the bill is a clean-up, making a couple of technical changes that will allow the CDE to meet the spirit and intent of Senate Bill 08-212.

Ms. Baker responded to committee questions.

02:06 PM --
Jane Urschel, representing the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB), testified in support of the bill.
BILL:HB09-1046
TIME: 02:07:29 PM
MOVED:King K.
MOTION:Refer House Bill 09-1046 to the Committee of the Whole with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. The motion passed on an 8-0 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
Yes
Heath
Yes
Hudak
Yes
King K.
Yes
Scheffel
Yes
Spence
Yes
Romer
Yes
Bacon
Yes
Final YES: 8 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:09 PM -- House Bill 09-1082

Senator Tochtrop, sponsor of House Bill 09-1082, presented the bill. The bill requires school district boards of education to make a recording of the their meetings and make the recordings available to the public. She said transparency is the goal of the bill.

Senator Tochtrop responded to questions from the committee.

02:14 PM

The following persons testified:

02:14 PM --
Jane Urschel, representing the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB), testified in opposition to the bill. Dr. Urschel said the problem addressed in the bill is a local problem, and a statewide solution is not needed. She suggested that another option would be to prohibit boards from making policies prohibiting the recording of board meetings. Dr. Urschel said the official record of the meeting is the minutes, the rest is deliberation and said the outcome, which is the vote, is what the light needs to shine on.

Dr. Urschel responded to committee questions.

02:24 PM

Senator Tochtrop responded to committee questions, and committee questions for Dr. Urschel continued as well.


02:25 PM --
Bruce Caughey, representing the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE), testified in opposition to the bill. He said the bill could obfuscate the ability for the public to get information easily. Mr. Caughey talked about the technology available to school districts, and said some districts would have to purchase equipment. He also noted that the bill does not apply to charter school boards or the charter school institute.

02:29 PM --
Pat Steadman, representing Coalition School Districts, testified in support of the bill if it is amended. He said he would like to see an amendment changing the length of time records must be retained to 90 days.

02:32 PM -- Dino Valente, representing himself, testified in support of the bill. He described the situation that lead to the bill. Mr. Valente talked about the options for school districts in recording meetings. He advocated a statewide floor, not a ceiling. Mr. Valente spoke to earlier questions from Senator King about what current law provides in this area. He also spoke to the 90-day retention issue raised by Mr. Steadman.

02:39 PM

Mr. Valente responded to committee questions.

02:43 PM --
Marilyn Flockman, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Flockman said she is a member of her local school board, and her board does not require audio taping of meetings. She said the lack of an audio recording causes ambiguity. She spoke to earlier discussion of how long the recordings would be retained.

Ms. Flockman responded to committee questions.

02:47 PM --
Bill Christopher, representing himself, testified in support of the bill. He said the bill is a good government bill. Mr. Christopher said he serves on the RTD Board, and commented that all of that board's meetings are recorded, as are the meetings of other local and county boards and commissions. He spoke to earlier discussion around meeting minutes, saying they do not illuminate legislative intent. Mr. Christopher talked about the different practices of school districts around recording meetings.

Senator Spence made comments to the testimony.

02:54 PM --
Greg Romberg, representing the Colorado Press Association and Colorado Broadcasters Association, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Romberg responded to earlier testimony and committee questions about what current law provides. He also spoke to the issue of what "best technology available," a term in the introduced bill, meant. Mr. Romberg said the Sunshine Act applies uniformly across the state.

Mr. Romberg responded to committee questions.

02:59 PM --
Vicki Newell, representing Colorado PTA, testified in support of the bill. She said written minutes from school district board meetings are often very brief, and do not reflect everything that happens at a board meeting. She said it sends a strange message to the public if a school board does not want its meetings to be recorded.

Ms. Newell responded to questions from the committee.
BILL:HB09-1082
TIME: 03:02:46 PM
MOVED:King K.
MOTION:Moved an amendment to page 2, line 21. Strike "one year" and substitute "90 days". The motion passed on a 6-1-1 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
No
Heath
Yes
Hudak
Yes
King K.
Yes
Scheffel
Yes
Spence
Yes
Romer
Absent
Bacon
Yes
Not Final YES: 6 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION: PASS
BILL:HB09-1082
TIME: 03:03:31 PM
MOVED:Hudak
MOTION:Moved a conceptual amendment that would change bill to provide that school boards may not prohibit the recording of meetings. The motion failed on a 1-7 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
No
Heath
No
Hudak
Yes
King K.
No
Scheffel
No
Spence
No
Romer
No
Bacon
No
Not Final YES: 1 NO: 7 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:HB09-1082
TIME: 03:06:58 PM
MOVED:Spence
MOTION:Moved a substitute motion to the Hudak amendment to amend the bill to provide that, upon majority vote of a board of education, regular and special meetings will be recorded. The motion failed on a 3-5 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
No
Heath
No
Hudak
No
King K.
Yes
Scheffel
Yes
Spence
Yes
Romer
No
Bacon
No
Not Final YES: 3 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL
BILL:HB09-1082
TIME: 03:17:24 PM
MOVED:Bacon
MOTION:Moved an amendment to page 2, line 12 of the bill, after "board", insert "at which votes are taken and recorded". The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
Heath
Hudak
King K.
Scheffel
Spence
Romer
Bacon
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:HB09-1082
TIME: 03:17:37 PM
MOVED:Heath
MOTION:Refer House Bill 09-1082, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 7-1 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
Yes
Heath
Yes
Hudak
Yes
King K.
Yes
Scheffel
Yes
Spence
No
Romer
Yes
Bacon
Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:19 PM -- Senate Bill 09-230

Senator Spence, sponsor of Senate Bill 09-230 with President Groff, presented the bill to the committee. The bill allows charter schools to offer meals to students by allowing them to become school food authorities or contract with a school food authority. Senator Spence said a "school food authority" is defined in amendment L.001. She said the bill will allow charter schools that are designated as school food authorities, or who contract with a school food authority, to participate in the federal School Lunch Program.

03:26 PM

Senator Spence responded to committee questions.

03:33 PM

Committee discussion of the bill continued, with further questions for Senator Spence.

03:35 PM

Vody Herrmann, Colorado Department of Education (CDE), came to the table to speak to the bill. Ms. Herrmann explained that the intent of the bill is to provide options to charter schools in providing meals, and to give school districts first right of refusal in providing food service.

Ms. Herrmann responded to committee questions. She said the bill provides a one-year start-up, and through rules of the State Board of Education, CDE would identify a few charter schools who could manage school food authorities. She said there is federal money for one FTE for the start-up year, if the program expands in future years, another FTE would be needed.


03:42 PM

Senator Spence asked Ms. Herrmann to speak to the issue of identifying students who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch in charter schools. Committee discussion on this issue ensued.

03:45 PM

The following persons testified:

03:45 PM --
Christina Burton, representing Global Village Academy in the Aurora Public Schools, testified in support of the bill. She provided information about her school, and said it is unable to provide meals because the district requires a full-service kitchen, which the school does not have. She said many states are making charter schools school food authorities. Ms. Burton said the school currently has no options for providing food for her students, and the bill will provide options.

03:49 PM --
Randy DeHoff, representing the Charter School Institute, testified in support of the bill. He described the genesis of the bill. Mr. DeHoff said the bill allows charter schools to approach school districts about food, and if an agreement cannot be reached, it allows the charter school other options. He said charters are in a catch-22 situation in that they want to serve more at-risk students, but cannot feed those students lunch.

Mr. DeHoff responded to committee questions.

03:54 PM --
Scott Groginsky, representing the Colorado Children's Campaign, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Groginsky said the Children's Campaign has participated in policy-making proposals for charter school meals, and described that work. He said the bill is consistent with work on the issue in other states.


03:57 PM

The committee discussed an amendment proposed by Senator Heath (see vote sheet below).

Richard Sweetman, Office of Legislative Legal Services, came to the table to speak to the amendment. Mr. Sweetman explained that the bill gives the district the choice to do (a) or (b), and the proposed amendment changes the meaning of that provision. The committee discussion continued. Mr. Sweetman said he could draft an amendment for second reading to address Senator Heath's issue.
BILL:SB09-230
TIME: 04:10:08 PM
MOVED:Heath
MOTION:Moved to amend the bill, page 4, line 2, after "school", insert "or those mutually agreed upon". The amendment was WITHDRAWN.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
Heath
Hudak
King K.
Scheffel
Spence
Romer
Bacon
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: TIE
BILL:SB09-230
TIME: 04:11:49 PM
MOVED:Groff
MOTION:Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment D). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
Heath
Hudak
King K.
Scheffel
Spence
Romer
Bacon
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

090226AttachD.pdf





BILL:SB09-230
TIME: 04:12:41 PM
MOVED:Groff
MOTION:Refer Senate Bill 09-230, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on an 8-0 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Groff
Yes
Heath
Yes
Hudak
Yes
King K.
Yes
Scheffel
Yes
Spence
Yes
Romer
Yes
Bacon
Yes
Final YES: 8 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

04:14 PM -- Senate Bill 09-176

Senator Spence, sponsor of Senate Bill 09-176, presented the bill. The bill requires school districts considering a bond election to finance capital construction to invite district charter schools to take part in discussions for the election no later than June 1 of the election year. She talked about issues facing charter schools around financing capital construction. She talked about the negotiations around the bill.

04:20 PM

Carleen Clark, representing Jefferson Academy, testified in support of the bill. She spoke first to the bill generally, and then to amendment L.001.

04:25 PM

Ms. Clark responded to committee questions about the amendment, and then continued with her description of the provisions contained in amendment L.001.

04:31 PM

The following persons testified:

04:31 PM --
Bruce Caughey, representing the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE), testified in opposition to the bill. Mr. Caughey said CASE recognizes that charter school capital construction is an issue that needs to be addressed. He spoke to changes made by the amendment, highlighting those with which CASE still has issues. He said charter bonds should not count against a school district's bond cap.


04:37 PM

Mr. Caughey responded to committee questions and comments.

04:45 PM --
Jane Urschel, representing the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB), testified in opposition to the bill. She said CASB recognizes the need to address capital facilities for charter schools, and recognizes that different districts have different needs. Dr. Urschel noted that she cannot commit CASB's support for the amendments. Dr. Urschel said CASB has many of the same concerns as CASE around the bill. Ms. Urschel discussed concerns with the bill. She spoke to the provisions for notice and a response to a submission by a charter school. She expressed hope that the stakeholders could continue to work on the bill.

04:52 PM

Ms. Urschel responded to questions from committee members and engaged in a dialogue about how ballot questions are determined and posed for voters.

05:00 PM --
David Hart, representing Douglas County School District, testified in opposition to the bill.

He responded to committee questions.

05:08 PM --
Teri Aplin, representing Parker Core Knowledge Charter School, testified in support of the bill. She expressed concern with one aspect of amendment L.001. Ms. Aplin talked about how per pupil revenues are spent at her school. She said she likes the idea of charter schools and school districts working together, and said she has suggested this in her district.

She responded to committee questions and comments.

05:20 PM --
Richard Barrett, representing KIPP Colorado, testified in support of the bill. He talked about the population of students served by his school and about the challenges faced around facilities in KIPP schools.

Mr. Barrett responded to committee questions and comments.

05:26 PM --
Erin Kane, representing American Academy Charter School, testified in support of the bill. She described her school's facilities. Ms. Kane said facilities costs have increased dramatically in the past five years, but the funding model has not changed. She described her attempts to work with the school district on facilities. Ms. Kane talked about her school's debt payment, and the amount of their per pupil revenue it consumes.

Ms. Kane responded to committee questions and comments.

05:37 PM --
Donnell Rosenberg, representing herself, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Rosenberg said she is the mother of children who attend a charter school, and described her advocacy work for charter schools. She talked about the amount of time the administrators at her school spend on these issues, and said she feels those hours would be better spent helping the children in the school. She said the bill makes it easier for districts to say yes to charter schools and allows charter administrators to spend more time in the school.

Ms. Rosenberg responded to committee questions and comments.


05:43 PM --
Sandra Weckerly, representing the Flagstaff Academy, testified in support of the bill. She talked about the challenges faced by her school in getting capital funding, and she talked about the amount of per pupil revenue spent on debt repayment. She said her school pays for its facility at the expense of other children, especially at-risk children, who could be served at the school. Ms. Weckerly said charter schools could help get bond issues passed.

05:50 PM

Senator Bacon announced that the bill would be heard for action only on March 12.

The committee adjourned.