Link to Zipped WordPerfect Minutes 9K bytes

MINUTES OF HOUSE EDUCATION
STANDING COMMITTEE

February 13, 2008
Room 445C, State Capitol Building

MEMBERS PRESENT:    Rep. Gregory H. Hughes, Chair
        Rep. Patrick Painter, Vice Chair
        Rep. Sylvia S. Andersen
        Rep. Brad Dee        
        Rep. Craig A. Frank
        Rep. James R. Gowans
        Rep. Kory M. Holdaway
        Rep. Bradley G. Last
        Rep. Rebecca D. Lockhart        
        Rep. Carol Spackman Moss
        Rep. Merlynn T. Newbold
        Rep. LaWanna "Lou" Shurtliff
        Rep. Kenneth W. Sumsion    
        Rep. Stephen Urquhart
        Rep. Mark A. Wheatley        
            
STAFF PRESENT:    Constance C. Steffen, Policy Analyst
        Linda Service, Committee Secretary
        Dee S Larsen, Associate General Counsel

Note: List of visitors and copy of handouts are filed with committee minutes.


Rep. Painter, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:16 a.m.

MOTION: Rep. Frank moved to approve the minutes of February 8, 2008. The motion passed unanimously. Rep. Last, Rep. Lockhart, Rep. Shurtliff, Rep. Urquhart, and Rep. Hiughes were absent for the vote.

H.B. 163    School Fee Amendments (Rep. C. Frank)

Rep. Frank introduced the bill which prohibits certain school fees.

MOTION: Rep. Frank moved to amend the bill as follows:


1.    Page 1, Line 15 :    

             15          .    allows extracurricular fees under certain conditions;
{   and   }

    
  . links an appropriation item to the value of the weighted pupil unit; and      


2.    Page 8, Line 215 :    



             215          (hh) School Fee Replacement Program, $13,100,000
  (5,211 WPUs)       .


The motion passed unanimously. Rep. Lockhart, Rep. Shurtliff, Rep. Urquhart, and Rep. Hughes were absent for the vote.

Steve Peterson, Utah School Boards Association, spoke in support of the bill.

MOTION: Rep. Anderson moved to pass the bill out with a favorable recommendation. The motion passed with Rep. Gowans, Rep. Last, Rep. Moss, and Rep. Shurtliff voting in opposition.

H.B. 160    Charter School Law Revisions (Rep. R. Lockhart)

Rep. Lockhart introduced the bill which modifies provisions relating to charter schools.

MOTION: Rep. Lockhart moved to amend the bill as follows:

1.    Page 3, Lines 76 through 84 :    

             76      after consultation with the State Charter School Board, the State Board of Education shall
             77      make rules that:
             78          (1) require a charter school to develop an accountability plan, approved by the State
             79      Charter School Board, during its first year of operation;
             80          (2) require a charter school authorizer to:
             81          (a)
{   conduct periodic visits to its charter schools   }        visit a charter school at least once during:

    (i) its first year of operation; and
    (ii) the review period described under Subsection (3)  
; and

             82          (b) provide written reports to its charter schools after the visits; and
             83          (3) establish a review process that is required of a charter school once every five years
             84      by its authorizer.
The motion passed unanimously. Rep. Dee was absent for the vote.

Julie Adamic, State Charter School Board, spoke in support of the bill

Larry Shumway, State Board of Education, spoke in opposition to the provision modifying the appointment procedures for the staff director of the State Charter School Board.


MOTION: Rep. Frank moved to pass the bill out with a favorable recommendation.

SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Rep. Holdaway moved to delete lines 12, 13, 24, and 31-47 and renumber accordingly. The motion failed with Rep. Gowans, Rep. Holdaway, Rep. Moss, Rep. Shurtliff, and Rep. Wheatley voting in support of motion. Rep. Dee was absent for the vote.

A vote was taken on Rep. Frank's motion. The motion passed with Rep. Holdaway and Rep. Gowans voting in opposition. Rep. Dee was absent for the vote.

H.B. 325    Bullying and Hazing (Rep. C. Moss)

MOTION: Rep. Moss moved to amend the bill as follows:

1.    Page 1, Lines 18 through 19 :    

             18          .    requires local school boards and local charter boards to adopt a policy, on or before
             19      September 1,
{   2008   }        2009       , for reporting and responding to bullying, hazing, or retaliation;


2.    Page 1, Lines 22 through 23 :    

             22          .    requires the State Board of Education to develop, on or before
{   July   }        September       1, 2008, a model

             23      policy on bullying, hazing, or retaliation; and

3.    Page 5, Lines 142 through 144 :    

             142          A school employee, student, or parent who reports an incident of, or information
             143      relating to, bullying, hazing, or retaliation, is immune from any
  civil       liability      {   , civil or criminal,   } that

             144      otherwise might result by reason of making the report, if the report is made:

4.    Page 6, Lines 152 through 153 :    

             152          (1) On or before September 1,
{   2008   }        2009       , each school board shall adopt a bullying and

             153      hazing policy.

5.    Page 7, Line 213 :    

             213          On or before
{   July   }        September       1, 2008, the State Board of Education

shall:



The motion passed unanimously. Rep. Dee was absent for the vote.

Rep. Moss introduced the bill which enacts provisions relating to bullying and hazing.

MOTION: Rep. Shurtliff moved to move to the next item on the agenda. The motion passed with Rep. Frank voting in opposition. Rep. Dee, Rep. Lockhart, and Rep. Urquhart were absent for the vote.

H.B. 363    Public Education - Arts Enhanced Learning Program (Rep. G. Hughes)

MOTION: Rep. Hughes moved to delete in title and body H.B. 363 and adopt 1st Substitute H.B. 363. The motion passed unanimously. Rep. Dee, Rep. Lockhart, Rep. Moss, Rep. Newbold, and Rep. Urquhart were absent for the vote.

MOTION: Rep. Hughes moved to amend the bill as follows:

1.    Page 1, Lines 17 through 18 :    

             17          .    requires the State Board of Education to:
             18              .    establish a grant program for school and school district arts
  specialists and       coordinators; and


2.    Page 2, Lines 49 through 52 :    

             49          (a) establish a grant program to allow school districts and charter schools to hire 100
             50      highly qualified, full-time arts
{   coordinators   }        specialists       to be based at 100 schools;

             51          (b) provide up to $10,000 in one-time funds for each school arts
{   coordinator   }        specialist       described

             52      under Subsection (3)(a) to purchase supplies and equipment;

The motion passed unanimously. Rep. Dee. Rep. Lockhart, Rep. Moss, Rep. Newbold, and Rep. Urquhart were absent for the vote.

Rep. Hughes introduced the bill which creates a program that provides grants to integrate arts teaching and learning into selected schools. Jim Sorenson assisted in presenting the bill.

MOTION: Rep. Shurtliff moved to pass out the substitute bill as amended with a favorable recommendation. The motion passed unanimously. Rep. Dee, Rep. Lockhart, Rep. Moss, Rep.

Newbold, and Rep. Urquhart were absent for the vote.

Due to time constraints the following bills were not heard:

H.B. 194    Class Size Reduction in Kindergarten Through Grade Three (Rep. K. Morgan)

S.B. 61    Financial and Economic Literacy Education (Sen. P. Jones)

Rep. Anderson moved to adjourn at 9:59 a.m. The motion passed unanimously.





        _________________________________________
         Rep. Gregory H. Hughes, Chair