Good afternoon, everyone. I call this meaning of the Senate Education Committee to order. It is 3 31 p.m.
Here on Wednesday, January 28th.
We are meeting in the belts committee room here in
the beautiful state Capitol building located in downtown Juneau.
As to our mind folks who are here on the realm,
if they could please mute their cell phones.
Documents for today's meetings are available on basis.
There are also additional copies right there by the door.
Members present today is Vice Chair,
President Stephen, Senator Keel,
Senator Yunt, and myself,
Senator Lukigail Tobin, please let the record reflect.
We do have a quorum to conduct business.
I want to thank Chloe from the Gino LAO for moderating today's meeting and Mary Gwen from
Senate Records for documenting in prosperity today is meeting.
First hearing of Senate Bill 204 is on the agenda for today.
It is related to substitute teaching and relating to the qualifications of school board members.
I would like the public to know we will be taking public testimony for those who would
These are the following phone numbers from the locations in which you are calling from.
If you're located in Anchorage, please call 907-563-9085.
If your calling is from Juneau, the phone number is 901-586-9085.
From all other locales, call this toll free number at 1-844-586-90085
You can also go to your local legislative information office to testify.
Or you can email your public testimony to senate.education at akaleg.gov.
That's senate dot education at AKLEG.GOV.
Please let the record reflect here at 3.32 p.m.
We were joined by Senator Bjorkman.
All right, let's start.
Today to introduce Senate Bill 204, we are joined
by senator Mike Cronk and his staffer Paul Menke.
Please come before us, put yourselves on the
Begin at your leisure
All right, thank you madam chair members of the education committee senator Mike Crunk with my staff
Go ahead. Thank you chair Tobin for the record Paul Menke staff to senator mike Cronk
Well, thank you for having us today for this kind of warm up and a first bill hearing or actually second bill
Hearing we've had so I'm just going to read the sponsor statement
This is a Senate bill 204 is an act relating to substitute teaching and relating
to the qualification of school board members
The number one priority in education should always be our children and our families in the conversation about how to improve our state's education system
Simple yet meaningful reforms need to be thoroughly examined in a legislature
Senate Bill 204 accomplishes two things first this bill allows for
members of regional and municipal school boards to substitute teach in their
schools. Second it prevents anyone convicted of a felony under both state
and federal law from serving as a member of the school board. Our students
deserve to be surrounded by the best individuals Alaska has to offer. In
Alaska it is nearly impossible for a convicted felon to
be hired as the teacher and parity should be the minimum standard for
a schoolboard member. SB 204 would deem all convicted felons ineligible from
shortages SB 204 would provide a common sense provision to make our schools more adaptable
by allowing school board members to substitute teach in the schools they oversee.
And with that I'll have my staff go through the sectional.
Thank you for the record, Paul Mankie, staff to Senator Mike Crock.
A brief sectional analysis for SB 204, so section one would amend AS14.08.041 to allow regional school board members to substitute teacher to school.
Section 2 would amend AS14.12.08O to add a statutory
ineligible for convicted felons to serve as a member
of a school board and Section 3 amends AS 14.14
.140 to allow school Board members to substitute
teachers schools.
Thank you.
Do we have any questions from committee members?
President Stevens.
Thank You Madam Chair and I appreciate the bill.
I just had a chance to read through it.
And, you know, I do know that the older I get, the less things I know for sure.
But I don't know my own experience.
And I served as president of my school board in Kodiak the last century.
We think it was the 80s when Sheffield was governor.
But during that time, Governor Carter budgeted in half and we had to struggle to try to find
a way to fund schools.
labor negotiations with the teachers but also on the superintendent and that's
what bothers me is that there is a conflict of interest there here you know
I was totally independent of the administration and I could do my best
job to to the best president or as a member of of
the board but I just question whether that is the case
if you are an employee of
You know, nothing I got from them,
nothing they got for me,
we were able to all do our job properly.
So I just think that this is not the place
to allow members of a school board
to become dependent on the administration
who want to be on your side.
They want make sure you're happy
and they may offer you a job to make you happy.
So that's just my concerns, Senator Crock,
and I don't think I like that idea too much.
Through the chair I appreciate that senator stevens and I just want to use an example why I brought this first so back in
2017 I retired and you know my goal was hey, you
Know I could be a bomb and like I can substitute teach for you
Know a couple weeks out of every month, You know I'm making up, ya know, y'know, enough for ever,
You Know money to sustain being a bum and any kind of thing but um
Then I was talking to, you know,
running for the regional school board,
and I said, well, I ran for school boards,
but as soon as I run, they said
you can no longer,
you cannot substitute.
And at that time,
I mean, we have a regional
schoolboard of seven members.
Two of us were retired teachers
in a small district, small community.
And sometimes we we
have teachers that have medical issues
that are,
they're going to be out for three or four months
and you need a long-term sub.
So instead of
allowing one of us to fill that gap in that situation.
We had to hire somebody as a sub that had no, you know,
qualifications as the teacher where they,
you basically relied on those sub plans to teach,
you now, well, try to teaching and do their thing
versus one us could have stepped in there
and just took over and finished teaching that class.
So I realize, I understand your point,
but in small or districts and stuff,
it could be a regional school board,
where there's one member or two members or three members
and that really is a disservice to our kids
because if you're gone for three months,
you know how hard that is as a teacher
to write sub plans and stuff versus having a sort of,
we are both lifetime certified teachers also,
and we couldn't substitute each, so.
Oh.
No, I just think there's a conflict of interest that you would want to avoid.
I hear what you're saying.
I mean, in my district, there were a lot more folks who could substitute teachers.
Some people who had absolutely no experience in teachers were substitute teaching.
But I would think as a member of the board, you'd want someone saying, ah, we're listening
making the best decisions you possibly can.
That's my concern.
Thank you.
Thank You President Stevens.
We have next up Senator Borkman and then Senator Arendt.
Thankyou, Madam Chair.
To the sponsor or members of the committee, I'm wondering if somehow
a local school district like this, or that is an REAA,
or deed itself could set up a separate fund that would pay for
substitute teachers in a situation like this.
So it would be a set amount that could be set by the state board, for instance.
But that school districts could opt into such a fund where they would put aside a certain amount of money that
could then pay out to substitute teacher in the situation, like, this, that
From the year-to-year fiduciary
Responsibilities and budgetary process that school board members have but then deed could pay out those substitute teachers through that fund
So that way you have a layer you
have A layer of separation between
Those schoolboard members who are substitute
Teachers with with someone in the middle to make sure that people are not directly appropriating themselves funds
I wonder if we could set up a structure like that
Through the share. So I I guess
I was looking at it so if you were a school board member and you did get the substitute
teacher I would hope that any sort of vote on a salary for substitute teaching what you
would exempt yourself from that vote obviously that could be a fair way to do that something
similar to that but I'm willing for any suggestions I just know in our smaller school districts it
Certified teachers living you know, we we want to be part of the system
We want make sure we're making good decisions, but we weren't allowed to go and substitute and
Sometimes it's very hard to find substitute teachers obviously in some other communities
Senator yumpt. Thank you to part question through the chair to the bill sponsor, so
Could you please you no while we are on the subject of this one here?
Let us know how big your district was maybe I mean if if I think
I definitely understand, you know, Senator Stevens concerns, but I was almost wondering if maybe
there's a happy medium in there in a really small community where, and could we do that?
Or we amended it to where we only would allow that in the small area? So, what type of,
what size district were you in? How big was the school, how many?
Students you know show through the chair
I was in Alaska Gateway school district seven schools
I think took so big a school had possibly like 180 kids K through 12 the rest of the schools were under 50
And, you know, spread out small schools, right, and very difficult to find subs in the smaller, smaller community, especially if they needed a long-term sub that almost required the district to go search for another teacher, basically, to fill that.
And that was extreme cost of money to do that, but if you were out for two or three months, they were willing to that because that's what the kids deserve.
that would be possible and then absolutely that have to be
conflicted off of any. I would say actually not just financial
negotiations to negotiations pertaining to subs, but I
would see all financial negotiations. The school board
member does a lot of things besides negotiate contracts. They
do a lotta amazing things outside of that, right? So they
could still be involved in that. But I, I wouldn't definitely
want to see them forced to recuse pertaining the any sort
negotiations if if this were to move forward so um second part i was hoping you guys could speak
to a little bit um which i can tell you i'm fully on board with but i don't think we should have
convicted felons on the school board either but I want to know if you just want me to speak to that
Through the chair, thank you for the first part.
We're willing to, you know,
definitely work through you on the sub-singing.
You know if you wanted to go smaller school districts
or rural school district,
however you want to do that, that would be fine.
It's just, it's impactful.
And the fella thing,
we're gonna distribute a letter to all of you.
I don't think they'll have that right.
Not yet, we just got it.
And it is a
Basically, the fella part was brought up from students.
And it was through the Alaska Association of Student
Governments.
It's resolution number eight.
You guys will all get that until you get
that I'd rather not just talk about it.
But the students brought this idea up.
And they were very concerned about fellas being on the school
board.
And then they probably have real-life examples for you
to share.
And I'm not sure.
I hope they do.
And you can hear from them firsthand.
I think you thank you Senator Cronk and folks are able to access this resolution it is on the
Association of Student Government's website. We will make sure that we get a copy on basis so
folks can also access it there. It is from their 2025 spring conference in Sitka where they pass
the resolution in support of the language that's included in section two. Any other follow-up,
Senator Keel. Well, sir. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm glad the conversation went this way because I I was going to bring this up
I
Guess I had some questions about the felon exclusion and I
I may have my head in the wrong place
Can a felon serve in a legislature or on a counselor assembly?
Through the chair, I would hope not but I don't know the exact answer to that
I don't know if a member of the committee knows, but my recollection is that you can,
and that it's the voters who get to decide whether you're disqualified or not, based
on what you did.
So that, I guess, a total exclusion gives me a little bit of pause there.
It wouldn't wrinkle my eyebrows at all, right, the things that would keep you from having
contact with children or setting foot on school grounds might make sense to exclude you
from the school board.
Guiding without a proper license, should that exclude different school boards?
You know, we have a lot of felonies.
And it's not that they aren't serious things, I guess the question is should they prevent
Voters make their decisions based on all manner of factors.
So I'll be interested to read the resolution from the students.
But I'd like to give a little thought, maybe,
to whether a total exclusion is the way to go,
or if we might want to fine-tune that.
Thank you.
Thank You Senator Keel.
Senator Cronk.
Through the chair.
Senator Kiel, thank you for that.
We could definitely narrow that down to any crime
against children or soldiers, per se, something like that,
that are willing to work with the committee
on what they think is best.
Thank Thankyou.
ThankYou, Senator Kronk, and I do
want to know, under Alaska law, individuals who
are marked with permanent barrier fences such as sex offense or certain barrier crimes are not
allowed to work on school grounds. They're not able to be after after hours maintenance workers,
but they can still serve on our school boards. And so there there that's what I believe the
resolution speaks to and that will hopefully provide us additional guidance. Any other additional
questions concerns from committee members before we move on to invited or excuse me into public
Excellent, and we will not be setting an amendment deadline today.
However, if members have language that they might be interested in working with Senator Cronk.
With to produce a committee substitute, we are happy to help draft that and produce that
information so that we can continue to move forward and progress with this piece of legislation
if we feel that is appropriate for the committee.
With that, We will move on to invited testimony.
We'll move onto public testimony, unfortunately our invited testifier had a conflict at this
point so we will bring the bill up at a later date to ensure that that individual is able
to provide their insight into why this legislation is needed.
We will now move on to opening public testimony.
I now open public test for Senate Bill 204.
Once again for folks who do want to testify the following teleconference numbers are available for you to call in from Anchorage
It is 907-563-9085 from Juno. It Is 901-586-9085 from all other locales
Please call this toll-free number 1-844-586-90085 you can also email your public testimony to
at kleg.gov. First on, we have from the off-net calling from TOCE is Holly Beeman. Miss Beaman,
if you could please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony when you are ready.
Hello, Madam Chair and members of the committee. My name is
Holly Deeman, I'm from Tokalaska, and I am representing myself and as I
I will be speaking as a recently graduated student who has a personal connection to this topic
and full support on the Senate bill but I would not be directly stating my previous school district
or referencing outside organizations that have shown support. I'm a recent high school graduate
who deeply cares about the safety of students in our schools. In 2022 my school districts I was
who was elected to the school board, that person was legally barred from working inside of a school,
but not holding a position on the School Board. Their actions, while on-the-board,
led to legal action and community damage before they were eventually removed.
As a young high schooler at the time, it was challenging to hear that there were no laws
from being allowed to hold a school board position and make decisions about student safety.
It felt like Alaska state laws and regulations didn't have student
safety as a priority. In April 2025, my friends and I presented a resolution at a
statewide student government conference to advocate for this exact change and it passed
school, all the schools in Alaska.
Every time I've mentioned this to friends who graduated from larger school districts,
where school board elections are much more competitive, they were shocked,
and they couldn't believe that people with violent criminal histories,
including crimes against children, can run for a school for musicians and whole power,
even if they are forbidden from stepping on school grounds.
It means a lot to me personally to see this issue
being taken seriously at the legislative level.
And I'm so grateful to the members
of the Senate Education Committee working together
to ensure the safety of students across all schools
in the state.
To any House or Senate members,
I am sure about how they want to vote for this.
Can you take a moment to remember
that if we want the best chance of success
for students in our school?
We have to show them that their legislatures have their safety and
well being as a cop priority.
Thank you and I look forward to seeing how Senate Bill 204 moves forward.
Thank You Miss Beeman.
We will now move to Arizona where we have Jeffrey Allsoop.
All soop, I apologize if I said that name incorrectly.
If you could please identify yourself with a record and
begin your testimony when you are ready.
Hello, Madam Chair, members of the committee.
My name is Jeffrey Alsop and I'm from Tokyo, Alaska.
I am calling into support to voice my support for SB 204
and am representing myself
as a former student school board representative.
In 2022, my first year serving as
a student representative to my district school Board,
a community member with multiple felonies
was voted into position on the schoolboard.
But without going into too many details,
This person was problematic while serving on the board and
resulting in our district getting food and his early removal from his position.
As I researched this issue more, there is something that I realized.
Someone with a criminal history like this, sorry, like
this former school board member would never be allowed to be employed within a
school. So why would we let someone who cannot work inside of a school run and
make critical decisions regarding multiple schools within the district?
As of now, the only qualification of a school board member is that they must maintain their
municipal voting status.
In Alaska, after you start time or pay bail, you regain your voting
status as the language currently stands, a sex offender with crimes against children could
be elected to a School Board.
That is why my friend and I created a resolution to bring this need to change to our state.
It was presented to the General Assembly of Statewide Student Council Conference.
and with passive dynamic support from students representing schools across Alaska.
There is also currently a statewide issue regarding teacher attention staffing.
This bill would allow school board members to substitute teach in our schools.
This Bill is important because it not only helps with the statewide staffing shortage
but also gives our school Board members involved and into our Schools.
That is why I call today to voice my support for this bill.
It is time that Alaskans prioritize our students and children's safety.
as well as providing the best educational experience
that we can offer.
Thank you for your time.
And I look forward to seeing how this bill moves forward.
Thank You Jeffrey.
Seeing no one else online will move here to the room.
Seeing No one Else here on room and No One Else online.
I'll now close public testimony.
Any closing comments that you'd like to make.
Thank your madam chair.
No, just think the committee's time and in the suggestions that we have.
We think those are very productive suggestions and we're willing to work with the Committee on doing the best job to make this bill a good bill.
Thank you. Thank You Senator Krank.
Seeing any other comments from committee members, I'm going to hold Senate Bill 204 to a future meeting.
If you would like again to make any amendments or changes, please work with our office and the bill's sponsor, and we will continue to move forward.
This concludes our agenda for today.
An exciting turn of events, Senate education will not be meeting this Friday, January 30th.
Our next meeting for the Senate Education Committee will be on Monday, February 2nd at 3.30 PM.
Seeing that there is no other business before us today I will now adjourn us at 3.54 p.m.