MINUTES OF THE

SENATE Committee on Human Resources and Facilities

 

Seventy-First Session

February 7, 2001

 

 

The Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilitieswas called to order by Chairman Raymond D. Rawson, at 1:42 p.m., on Wednesday, February 7, 2001, in Room 2135 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada.  Exhibit A is the Agenda.  Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster.  All exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Senator Raymond D. Rawson, Chairman

Senator Maurice Washington, Vice Chairman

Senator Mark Amodei

Senator Michael Schneider

Senator Valerie Wiener

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

 

Senator Randolph J. Townsend (Excused)

Senator Bernice Mathews (Excused)

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

H. Pepper Sturm, Committee Policy Analyst

Susan E. Scholley, Committee Policy Analyst

Patricia Di Domenico, Committee Secretary

 

Chairman Rawson stated that there were no new members on the Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities.

 

Chairman Rawson presented the committee with a copy of Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities, Standing Rules, Seventy-first Session-2001 (Exhibit C).  He said minor changes have been made to the Standing Rules from the Seventieth Session-1999.  Chairman Rawson explained item 11 of the standing rules addresses the new technology of audio and video availability within 1 day after a hearing, and the committee minutes, when transcribed by the secretary and signed by the Chairman, would be available in the Legislative Counsel Bureau Research Library.

 

Senator Wiener suggested a requirement be established to prohibit cell phones from being audible during a committee meeting.  Chairman Rawson asked for a motion to adopt the standing rules with the new addition.

 

            SENATOR WASHINGTON MOVED TO ADOPT THE COMMITTEE             STANDING RULES AS AMENDED.

 

SENATOR WIENER SECONDED THE MOTION. 

 

            THE MOTION CARRIED. (SENATORS SCHNEIDER, TOWNSEND, AND   MATHEWS WERE ABSENT FOR THE VOTE.)

 

*****

 

 

Chairman Rawson introduced H. Pepper Sturm, Committee Policy Analyst, Research Division, Legislative Counsel Bureau, to present the policy brief, Committee Policy Brief, Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities (Exhibit D. Original is on file in the Research Library.).  Mr. Sturm said the committee brief provides background information and summarizes major education and health and human services issues that are pertinent to the Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities.  He defined the six sections of the policy brief.  Mr. Sturm noted page 3 gives an overview of bills processed during the Seventieth Legislative Session by the Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities.  He said at the bottom of page 3 there were a number of issues brought before the Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities.  Mr. Sturm pointed out pages 4 through 7 outline some significant bills of the Seventieth Legislative Session.  He mentioned Assembly Bill (A.B.) 332 of the Seventieth Session, on page 7, is a vetoed bill. 

 

ASSEMBLY BILL 332 OF THE SEVENTIETH SESSION: Makes various changes       regarding evaluation and admonition of educational personnel. (BDR 34-    1217)

 

Mr. Sturm said the Assembly voted today, February 7, 2001, to sustain that veto.  Continuing, Mr. Sturm noted on page 8 there were a number of higher education issues considered by the 1999 Legislature.  Referring to pages 9 through 13, he highlighted various bills concerning health and human services- related topics because they would be significant during the Seventy-first Legislative Session.

 

Mr. Sturm said section III of the policy report summarized the reports to the Legislature regarding education, health and human services, and other entities required by Nevada law.  Chairman Rawson asked Mr. Sturm to prepare a checklist to verify the committee is receiving the required reports.  Mr. Sturm affirmed such a list would be prepared.

 

Mr. Sturm explained pages 16 and 17 outlined the recommendations of the four legislative committees that considered education matters during the 1999-2000 interims.  Pages 17 and 18 listed the availability of health and human services reports at the Legislative Counsel Bureau’s Research Library.  He said page 18 also lists the legislative recommendations of the Task Force on the Policy of the State of Nevada Concerning Access to Public Health Services and the Task Force for the Fund for a Healthy Nevada. 

 

Mr. Sturm, calling attention to section IV of the policy brief, enumerated on the number of significant education, health and human services issues and federal developments concerning the Legislature during the 2001 session.  He said Nevada has developed core academic standards in math, science, English language arts, and social studies.  The Legislature will likely consider bills related to the implementation of these standards by the school districts and the schedules for administering the proficiency tests. 

 

Mr. Sturm said the new federal proposals encouraging or requiring the disaggregation of data is presented in accountability reports by ethnicity or race for the purpose of monitoring the achievement gap of minority students.  Depending on Congress, Nevada may be asked to consider changes to the current accountability system.

 

Senator Washington questioned how soon this would happen.  Mr. Sturm replied, President Bush is pushing to get his first education package passed quickly, therefore, we should know by mid-spring.  Senator Washington inquired whether Nevada would need to make adjustments based on the President’s proposed package in determining whether schools are adequate or inadequate.  Mr. Sturm replied there was no specific formula in place at this time and he opined the President’s plan is conceptual.

 

Mr. Sturm enumerated other educational issues such as, charter schools, class-size reduction, and distance education.  He mentioned the newspapers have recently published numerous articles about class-size reduction and there are questions about the cost-effectiveness of the class-size reduction program. 

 

Chairman Rawson asked Mr. Sturm if he had reviewed the Tennessee Star Study.  Mr. Sturm responded in the affirmative.  Chairman Rawson suggested an executive summary on class size be presented to the committee. 

 

Mr. Sturm stated that during the interim the use of technology and the Internet was discussed at length.  He said there would be at least one bill on the issue this session and the Legislature will also be considering statutory changes to facilitate distance education.  Senator Washington questioned the source of the bill.  Mr. Sturm responded he was only aware of one bill submitted by the committee on education. 

 

Mr. Sturm touched on issues that the Legislature will be addressing this session such as: governance, higher education, teacher salaries, testing, teacher quality, professional development, proficiency and assessment, reading and remedial programs, voucher and school choice bills.  He noted the President’s proposal for federal education reform entitled “No Child Left Behind” and a number of the components were listed on page 21 and 22.       

 

Mr. Sturm enumerated a number of health and human services issues that the Legislature would be debating such as: the prevention of needle-stick injuries; creating a county organized health system; programs and services for senior citizens; newborn hearing screening; mental health and welfare provisions.  He also included issues concerning diabetes, foster care, prescription drugs as well as legislation to revise existing laws.  He noted there are two plans from which eligible seniors may choose based on the state-subsidized “Senior Prescription Drug Program” outlined on page 23 (Exhibit D). 

 

Mr. Sturm said pages 24 through 27 provide information about issues the Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities might expect to hear about the disabled population; and page 28 lists the Governor’s priorities for persons who are disabled.  Also on page 28 are key issues in other states.  He said federal issues could be found on pages 29, 30 and 31.

 

Mr. Sturm called attention to section V of the policy brief as providing information on various Web sites, and section VI contains a contact list of state, county, and other agencies.

 

Mr. Sturm provided the committee with a publication entitled 2001, Data Bookfor Nevada, K-12 Education, (Exhibit E. Original is on file in the Research Library.),and explained it was prepared by the staff of the Research Division and Fiscal Analysis Division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau at the request of several legislators. 

 

Senator Washington asked if the data book contained a statewide comparison of teachers’ salaries and benefits.  Mr. Sturm replied there was an entire section on teachers’ salaries and state comparison data charts in section 3, beginning on page 25. 

 

Mr. Sturm noted the major sections of the data book with the most data were: school finance, teachers’ salaries, and statewide student assessments.  He said the sections contained information about the state as a whole, its districts, and comparisons with the ten western states. 

 

Continuing, Mr. Sturm began a Microsoft PowerPoint slide show presentation highlighting parts of Exhibit E beginning with page 13, the Nevada Plan for School Finance and Education Expenditures.  He called attention to page 16 and pointed out Utah was at the bottom of the per-pupil expenditure for school year 1998-1999.

 

Mr. Sturm called attention to page 25, section 3, Teacher Salary-Benefit Comparison Data, stating the data is from the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.  He said page 30 was a state comparison of teacher salaries to annual earnings in the private sector during 1998-1999.  Chairman Rawson requested that Mr. Sturm interpret the chart for the committee.  Mr. Sturm explained the column that referred to the average teachers’ salaries was compared to the salaries in the private sector listed in the next column.  He said the highlighted area depicted Oregon as ranking higher than Nevada and explained the pay ratio was based on the private sector figure.

 

Senator Schneider questioned the high figure for teacher salaries in Nevada.  Mr. Sturm opined the American Federation of Teachers used an average between the bottom and top figures, but he would check their methodology.  Chairman Rawson expressed interest in knowing if those figures included teachers’ full-compensation package, including retirement, or just salary.  Mr. Sturm said he believed the American Federation of Teachers data includes the full-benefits package, but he would check. 

 

Presenting the next slide, Mr. Sturm called attention to page 38 (Exhibit E), and a chart on special education and funding.  He said the shaded boxes on page 39 showed percentages in states that were higher than Nevada, of children (ages 6-17) served under the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  Mr. Sturm noted the total dollars spent on remedial education funding for the last 3 years could be found on page 47.  He stated the next slide represented the total pupil-teacher ratio for Grades Pre-kindergarten through 12, for the school year 1998-1999.  Mr. Sturm mentioned the data book has preliminary data concerning the Elko Pilot Program on pages 66 and 67. 

 

Mr. Sturm’s next two slides: the first, of page 76, represented the significant problems Clark County and the State of Nevada have been facing regarding the population growth during the past 30 years; and the second, of pages 77 and 78, represented student enrollment projections.

 

Mr. Sturm highlighted section 8, of the data book, Nevada Statewide Education Proficiency Program with a slide of page 143.  He said the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) for the states could be found on page 144.  Senator Washington commented on the high figures of Utah’s math and verbal scores compared to its low per-pupil expenditure. Mr. Sturm explained the scores represented college-bound students and other factors, not just their Grades K-12 education.  Mr. Sturm pointed out, on page 155, Nevada students were below the proficiency level of eighth grade writing in 1998.

 

Mr. Sturm said the Legislature established four regional professional development programs focusing on standards, assessment techniques, and effective instructional methods.  Section 9, starting on page 157, provides an overview of the training provided during the last school year.  He noted page 167 depicts accountability grades for the states and stressed Nevada had a grade of D minus in 1997 but has improved the grade to B minus for the year 2001. 

 

Mr. Sturm explained the last section of the report contained data for pre-schools, charter schools, adult and alternative education, and a number of different programs. He concluded with a slide about the millennium scholarship program because of the current focus on it in the newspapers.

 

Chairman Rawson said the 2001, Data Book for Nevada, K-12 Education (Exhibit E) will be a very useful document.  Senator Schneider requested a comparison of the immigrant population between the states.  Mr. Sturm noted pages 94 and 95 provide a profile of ethnic groups of high school graduates in the western states.  Chairman Rawson commented on the rapid growth of the minority population in Nevada.  Senator Schneider agreed and opined how the minority population growth would affect the number of high school graduates in the future. 

 

Chairman Rawson adjourned the meeting at 2:40 p.m.

 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

 

                          

Patricia Di Domenico,

Committee Secretary

 

 

APPROVED BY:

 

 

 

                                                                                         

Senator Raymond D. Rawson, Chairman

 

 

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