What’s Coming This Week in the Legislature

Busy week ahead, folks.

Tuesday, the Senate Education Policy Committee meeting will hold a public hearing in Room 304 at 12:30 p.m. on the PREP Act, Sen. Del Marsh’s (R-Anniston) teacher evaluation reform bill.

Planning to Periscope the hearing if at all possible. Look for a link on Twitter (my Twitter feed is on the right-hand side of this page). Periscope recordings are deleted after 24 hours, so if you don’t plan to watch it live, chances are you won’t get the chance to do so.

Marsh released a frequently-asked-questions document on the PREP Act on Monday evening.

On Monday afternoon, the Alabama Council of Teachers of Mathematics released the results of a survey they conducted March 3-7 asking members their thoughts on the PREP Act. While portions of the bill were considered independently, members clearly did not approve of the the bill in its entirety. Here’s the full statement with survey results.

In the Senate chamber, which convenes at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, two education bills are expected to be considered, including Rep. Terri Collins’ (R-Decatur) bill creating a Longitudinal Data System. A Senate committee amended the version passed by the full House, and the House would have to concur with those changes…though it’s unclear what the changes are as one of the amendments is still not available online as of Monday night.

Here’s the link to video of the Senate chamber.

HB218 details.

The House convenes at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Education Trust Fund Budget should hit the floor of the House some time this week. Here’s what the House committee gave them to consider. The House chamber is wired for audio. Here’s the link. [It doesn’t work in Chrome.]

On Wednesday, the House Education Policy Committee will consider a couple of bills, including a bill to require students to learn to write in cursive prior to the end of the third grade year and a bill exempting records related to school safety from public disclosure through the Alabama Open Records Act.

The Alabama Ahead Act hit a snag last week. Though the bill passed unanimously (just as it did in the House), an amendment was added removing a reference to the Alabama Educational Technology Association’s “standards-based funding model”, requiring the bill to head back to the House for concurrence.

The House did not consider the bill again before it adjourned on Thursday. It will likely be moving again this week.

Improving wireless infrastructure in schools is part of the Alabama House Republicans “Right for Alabama” legislative agenda.

No word yet on next steps for Rep. Ken Johnson’s (R-Moulton) Education Savings Account bill, HB84, which would allow parents of students with disabilities to utilize 90% of the state education per pupil funding amount to educate their child somewhere other than a public school. It is not on the Education Policy committee list as of the time this was published.