Transcript Highlights:

• the classroom.
• <00:21:12.360> they perform well inside the classroom they perform well inside the classroom
• My former students teach in high school classrooms from St. Peter to Moorhead.
• My former students teach in high school classrooms from St. Peter to Moorhead.
• My former students teach in high school classrooms from St. Peter to Moorhead.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• walk in prepared for those classrooms. walk in prepared for those classrooms.
• They don't in the classroom. classroom. classroom.
• Several classrooms.
• Several classrooms. >> The hub is what? Several classrooms.
• . classrooms. classrooms.

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• It combines on-the-job training and classroom instruction.
• It combines on-the-job training and classroom instruction.
• The tours today really focused on that classroom instruction.
• Otherwise, you know, it's 93% on the job, 7% in classroom.
• That's why the... percent in the classroom.

Summary: The work session focused first on Washington’s apprenticeship system, especially building trades programs and support services. Labor and Industries staff explained how registered apprenticeship works in the state, including the role of the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council, the requirements for paid on-the-job training and classroom instruction, and the difference between apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship. Panelists emphasized that apprenticeship is tied to actual jobs and training agents, and that many waitlists reflect a shortage of job openings and employer participation rather than a lack of interest. They also discussed youth apprenticeship, the growth of apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, and the use of Career Bridge and L&I’s database to help people find programs. Representatives asked whether the state should expand apprenticeship programs and how people can find openings. Speakers said more programs alone would not solve the backlog without more employers signing on as training agents and more apprenticeship utilization on projects. The panel also highlighted the Constructed Career Initiative, a grant-funded navigation and support program that helps people enter and stay in building trades apprenticeships through outreach, case management, and wraparound aid such as transportation, tools, and work clothes. A related nonprofit, Build Up, described similar support services, including prison-based boot and PPE programs and assistance for reentry participants. The panel said these services are especially important because apprentices often face unstable income, housing, food, and transportation barriers. The panel also discussed House Bill 2084 and the new Construction Training Pathway Oversight Committee, which is examining construction training in correctional facilities and how to create clearer pathways from prison-based training to apprenticeship, college, or work. Speakers said the committee is still in its early stages and will report to the legislature. The session ended with committee members thanking the panel and noting the importance of support services and referral networks for apprentices. The meeting then resumed at Renton Technical College, where college leaders and faculty discussed serving non-traditional students. The college reported strong enrollment growth, a median student age of 30, a diverse student body, and high job placement rates, while also noting significant budget cuts and program reductions from the prior year. Health care and early childhood education programs were highlighted, including efforts to expand access through hybrid scheduling, evening and Saturday classes, Spanish-language offerings, and in-person wraparound support for admissions, financial aid, and registration. Faculty said these changes were driven by student data and were aimed at helping working parents, English learners, and other non-traditional students complete credentials and enter family-wage careers.

Transcript Highlights:

• Following these scandals, the state imposed a moratorium on so-called non-classroom.
• Classroom-based charter schools and impacting local control.
• I have data from non-classroom based charters in my district.
• To study outside of traditional classroom and learn at a pace that works best for them.
• Non-classroom based student population.

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• mainstream setting can offer a classroom mainstream setting can offer a classroom where<00:38:01.160
• As a sixth grader, I went from the classroom to the courtroom.
• <01:22:10.679> and opportunities beyond the classroom and opportunities beyond the classroom
• bells of of the traditional classroom bells of of the traditional classroom and<01:31:15.400>
• preached from the traditional classroom preached from the traditional classroom um<01:31:20.760>

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Category A is a category which it deals with if you're in the classroom for at least 80% of the day.
• school districts because they do the right thing for kids. classroom and then and then $5,000 more classroom
• <00:34:58.960> for<00:34:59.640> 79%<00:35:00.920> 78% classroom for 79% 78% classroom
• <00:52:00.160> most Hampshire are in regular classrooms most Hampshire are in regular classrooms
• Schools need to have adequate resources to be able to put students into classrooms.

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The hearing focused on HB 563, which would revise the education funding formula for pupils receiving special education services by replacing the current single special education amount with three differentiated categories. Representative Rick Ladd, the prime sponsor, said the bill largely tracks a House-passed version from the prior session with minor figure adjustments, and explained that the proposal uses projected FY26 amounts for three categories based on time in general education versus more intensive placements. He also noted that the bill does not address catastrophic aid directly, but that special education aid, CAT aid, and proration all remain issues for later work sessions. Ladd and supporters argued that weighted categories better reflect actual costs and are more sustainable than treating all IEPs the same. Representative Margaret Drye said the approach was one of the best ideas from the education funding subcommittee and urged the committee to support differentiated aid. Representative Ames asked how the category amounts were derived, and Ladd said Category A follows the FY26 base, Category B is a higher weight, and Category C is a still higher weight for more intensive services, though he acknowledged the exact multipliers were developed earlier and could be revisited. He also said the committee would continue discussing whether the weights are appropriate and how they interact with CAT aid. Testimony from Bonnie Dunham strongly opposed the bill. She argued that funding based on placement rather than actual service need would create incentives to move students into more restrictive settings, could stigmatize children with labels such as "Category C," and would undermine the least restrictive environment requirements under federal special education law. She described her son’s experience in inclusive settings as beneficial and said the bill would have penalized the district for serving him there. In response to questions, she said schools and parents should base funding on the child’s actual needs and costs, not on placement, and urged the committee to recommend the bill inexpedient to legislate.

Transcript Highlights:

• We were so inspired when we visited that classroom. That afternoon, we filed the bill.
• Oh, it’s the classroom, never mind. Go for it. Hello, good afternoon.
• Jardis’ third-grade classroom... ...Mr. Jarden’s third-grade classroom and Ms. Wang’s classroom.
• The idea for this legislation stemmed from thoughtful classroom discussions with her students.
• Thank you for your testimony and your enthusiasm in that classroom.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight held a public hybrid hearing with several late-file bills and a large turnout. The main topics were symbolic designations and local property/lease matters: bills to designate the American lobster as the official crustacean of the Commonwealth, asparagus as the official state vegetable, and a Waltham bill concerning the Veterans Memorial Ice Rink lease and right of first refusal. Senator Howard also testified on a Lowell bill making a limited language change to facilitate redevelopment of the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor (LINK) at UMass Lowell. Testimony on the lobster bill emphasized the industry’s cultural and economic importance to coastal Massachusetts, its sustainability efforts, and its role in working waterfronts and the seafood economy. The asparagus bill drew especially enthusiastic support from Hadley Elementary students, teachers, local farmers, and legislators, who described asparagus as central to western Massachusetts agriculture, identity, and civic education. The Waltham rink bill was presented as necessary to protect a heavily used community and youth hockey facility after major city investment, while committee members noted concerns about privatization and affordability of ice time. The Lowell bill was described as a narrow technical fix to remove a reversionary clause that could impede a major redevelopment project. Committee members generally expressed support or favorable reactions to the proposals, with several lighthearted comments about lobster and asparagus. The hearing concluded after testimony ended, and a motion was made and seconded to close the hearing.

Transcript Highlights:

• We will put 25 and 30 kids in a classroom because that's what the money we have for that classroom.
• Our big belief is we want our money in the classroom, on our people in the classroom.
• It's teaching in classrooms.
• can't be supported by just paying teachers to teach in the classroom.
• Employers want to be in the room; they want to be in the classroom.

Transcript Highlights:

• with the pedagogy lessons at classroom with the pedagogy lessons at the<00:03:08.200> same<00
• <00:30:24.960> instruction practice related classroom instruction practice related classroom
• Sometimes they do, but this program is really different with 6,000 hours in the classroom.
• Sometimes they do, but this program is really different with 6,000 hours in the classroom.
• Sometimes they do, but this program is really different with 6,000 hours in the classroom.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• students as well, about the great distractions that they face every day with cell phones in the classroom
• But as many of us here, legislators, we are fortunate enough to get to see firsthand our classrooms and
• But really the centerpiece is trying to get kids to focus in classrooms.
• And in the inappropriate circumstances when it's introduced into a classroom, it can be nothing less
• And in the inappropriate circumstances when it's introduced into a classroom, it can be nothing less

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Senate first debated and advanced Senate Bill 2561, an act to promote student learning and mental health, centered on a statewide bell-to-bell restriction on student cell phone use in schools. Supporters argued the bill would reduce distraction, improve academic performance and mental health, and encourage social interaction, while preserving flexibility for districts and exceptions for emergencies, special education, health needs, and instructional uses. Several senators emphasized local control and the need for public input, and a number of amendments were considered: some were withdrawn, some were rejected, and others were adopted, including an amendment requiring consistent and necessary exceptions and another requiring public hearings and local public input. The bill was then ordered to a third reading and passed to be engrossed by a roll call vote of 38-2. The Senate also took up a conference committee report on a $259 million FY2025 supplemental appropriations bill. The report funded EMS costs, home care, the Healthy Incentives Program, DTA chip card technology, veterans benefits, the state police crime lab, the SSI state supplement, the Fair Housing Fund, and the National Guard, and included major indigent defense provisions: $40 million for 320 new CPCS staff attorneys, rate increases for private bar advocates, guardrails to reduce future work stoppages, and an independent review of the indigent defense system. Senators questioned the timing of the report, the inclusion of items not previously voted on by either branch, and the funding sources, including use of the transitional escrow fund and excess revenues. The report was accepted, the emergency preamble was adopted, and the supplemental budget was enacted. In addition, the Senate passed other measures, including a bill authorizing the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to supply water to the Linfield Center Water District and a municipal roads and bridges financing bill, both by roll call vote. The chamber also enacted a health care protections bill, and it concurred in referrals on a governor’s municipal empowerment legislation. The session included a brief memorial tribute and adjournment in memory of Harry C. Christensen.

Transcript Highlights:

• Address larger classroom sizes.
• That hurts everyone in the classroom with a hungry student, including the teacher.
• Applying them to the classroom where they are desperately needed.
• It has a direct impact on their education and behavior in the classroom.
• go to a classroom with 34 kids.

Bills: HF51, HF1161, HF2201, HF2786, HF1053

Keywords: HF51, Sibley County, State-Aid Highway 21, capital investment, bonding bill, general obligation bonds, transportation infrastructure, road improvements, sanitary sewer, water main, storm sewer, local infrastructure, county grant, Minnesota Department of Transportation, bond proceeds fund, public works, utility infrastructure, education finance, school district funding, tax base adjustment

Transcript Highlights:

• So where Classroom Site Fund is written...
• Speaker, the operational spending is much more vast than the Classroom Site Fund.
• I don’t think most people know what a Classroom Site Fund is, right? Site Fund is.
• Here to define the Classroom Site Fund where it has been offered.
• And this is specifically to add context to understand the classroom site fund.

Keywords: 1182, all

Transcript Highlights:

• . classroom. classroom.
• the classroom is is is a good thing. the classroom is is is a good thing.
• <01:08:33.839> very<01:08:34.080> first classroom teacher, uh the very first classroom
• . classrooms. classrooms.
• ,<01:25:25.760> which teachers to do in the classroom, which teachers to do in the classroom

Keywords: 958, all

Summary: The Artificial Intelligence Task Force met and adopted the prior minutes before turning to AI in education. Jeff Gagne of the Southern Regional Education Board described SREB’s Commission on AI in Education, which has organized its work into committees on policy, K-12 instruction, postsecondary instruction, and skills development. He highlighted eight commission recommendations covering statewide AI networks, targeted guidance for different user groups, professional development, standards and curricula, local capacity assessments, risk management, procurement, and AI-ready workforce skills. He also emphasized that states need more specific guidance for students, teachers, faculty, administrators, and parents, and that training is essential because many educators have not been prepared to use AI in instruction. Gagne also summarized two recent SREB reports: one on AI-ready workforce skills and one on AI use in K-12 classrooms. The workforce report recommends embedding AI across standards, strengthening computer science and digital learning standards, collaborating with industry and workforce agencies, building AI competencies into training and upskilling, providing educator professional development, and monitoring readiness. He said the report identifies three skill areas: success skills, industry baseline skills, and technical skills. The classroom guidance report promotes responsible AI adoption, with four pillars focused on increasing cognitive demand, streamlining teaching and administrative work, supporting personalized learning, and developing ethical AI users. He also noted that the report includes an AI procurement tool for school districts. Members thanked Gagne for providing outside examples and resources. One member noted JCPS has an introductory AI professional development offering for educators. Gagne said Kentucky’s David Couch serves on the SREB commission and that the commission’s member list and reports are available on SREB’s website. The committee then heard from Travis Powell of the Council on Postsecondary Education, who said CPE had surveyed campuses and found that Kentucky institutions have broadly embraced AI in teaching, research, student services, and administrative operations. He said all institutions have AI-focused degrees, minors, or courses, and many are integrating AI into general education and across disciplines. Powell also said CPE is considering an AI consortium and that campuses are using AI in research partnerships and applied work, while continuing to focus on ethical and effective use.

Transcript Highlights:

• Research consistently shows that integrated classrooms not only lead to better outcomes for children
• Research consistently shows that integrated classrooms not only lead to better outcomes for children
• I think that placing a cell phone in a backpack is what... while the students in the classroom...
• While the students are in the classroom. That’s right.
• I hope this step regarding cell phone restrictions helps bring some balance back to our classrooms.

Bills: HB126, HB121

Keywords: election laws, attorney general, prosecution, criminal offenses, voting integrity, education, property values, school districts, comptroller, funding formula

Summary: The Senate Committee on Education K-16 met to hear testimony on a full agenda of education-related bills. Several measures were laid out and left pending, including HB 322 to allow JET Grant funds to be used for subscription-based and ongoing technology costs for career and technical education; HB 3062 to require fentanyl and drug-poisoning prevention instruction for entering college students; HB 121 to update school safety laws, including TEA peace officer commissions, annual renewal of certain safety exceptions, new reporting requirements, and special education behavior threat assessment changes; HB 3627 to let the State Board of Education chair employ staff; HB 5515 to curb inflated shipping and handling charges on instructional materials; HB 2674 to prohibit new state regulation of homeschool programs; HB 2310 to require a statewide strategic plan for early learning and inclusion for young children with disabilities; HB 367 to standardize documentation for excused absences due to serious illness; HB 1178 to speed certification for out-of-state educators and military spouses; and HB 1481 to expand cell phone restrictions to the full school day. Testimony was generally supportive on most bills, with some concerns raised on HB 121 about school district police departments investigating misconduct and on HB 2674 about how it would interact with the new ESA program in SB 2. HB 5515 drew support from instructional materials coordinators who described extreme shipping invoices and argued the bill would restore transparency and fiscal responsibility. HB 2310 was supported by disability advocates and early learning groups, who said a coordinated state plan would improve access and inclusion for children with disabilities. HB 367 was presented as a simple clarification to reduce confusion for medically vulnerable students and families, and HB 1178 was described by TEA as a modest pathway that would help bring experienced out-of-state teachers into Texas schools more quickly. HB 126, updating Texas’ NIL law to align with the pending House settlement and allow direct payments and pre-enrollment NIL agreements, received extensive testimony from university counsel and committee questioning about the settlement, recruiting, and future college athletics rules. HB 1481, expanding school cell phone restrictions from instructional time to the entire school day, drew strong support from parents, students, educators, and advocates who linked phones to distraction, cyberbullying, and mental health harms; one teacher asked for flexibility so phones could still be used for limited academic tasks. No bills were voted out; each measure heard was left pending subject to the call of the chair, and the committee then recessed to attend the floor session.

Transcript Highlights:

• , in a math classroom.
• Every single one of our classrooms is currently being used for the reading clinic.
• It puts people in the classroom that where, where classrooms wouldn't have teachers otherwise, but we're
• Into classrooms and make sure, uh, good fun things are happening and that there's energy in that classroom
• And then there's days and weeks when I don't get time to go into any classroom.

Transcript Highlights:

• distributed throughout the classrooms. distributed throughout the classrooms.
• I want them in every classroom. So, we purchased a whole bundle for every classroom.
• I want them in every classroom. So, we purchased a whole bundle for every classroom.
• I want them in every classroom. So, we purchased a whole bundle for every classroom.
• So, we want them in every classroom.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• When I walk into my classroom, those flags whisper to me, you matter and you belong.
• No laws will erase the beauty of love that grows every time that I step into my classroom.
• Books are being pulled from our school libraries and classrooms, not because they promote harm or hatred
• If we're expected to learn in the classroom every day, we need holistic student care.
• If we're expected to learn in the classroom every day, we need holistic student care.

Summary: Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) held an advocacy day at the Texas Capitol with more than 300 young Texans and allies to press lawmakers on education policy. Speakers framed the event around student visibility in policymaking and criticized recent Texas actions on school vouchers, book bans, and legislation affecting LGBTQ students and classroom content. Representative Donna Howard briefly attended and voiced support for students having a seat at the table, citing a prior effort to add a student to a school board as an example of the kind of participation SEAT is seeking. Several student speakers described how voucher expansion threatens public schools and argued that public education is being underfunded and undermined rather than failing on its own. Others focused on LGBTQ inclusion, saying bills such as SB 12 and SB 13 would erase queer students’ experiences and make schools less safe and welcoming. One speaker also condemned book bans and censorship, arguing that students need access to diverse books and honest, inclusive education to think critically and feel represented. SEAT executive director Cameron Samuels closed by describing the group’s earlier organizing against book bans and internet restrictions and by connecting that work to broader demands for public schools, student rights, and safety. The event did not include any legislative vote or formal committee action; it was an advocacy press conference aimed at influencing lawmakers during the session.

Transcript Highlights:

• classroom classroom uh<00:20:07.360> and<00:20:07.679> other<00:20:08.000> type
• I agree with you. their classroom and they did a great their classroom and they did a great job.<01:58
• <02:38:39.120> built<02:38:39.520> two<02:38:39.760> classroom two classrooms
• built two classroom two classrooms built two classroom buildings<02:38:40.720> the<02:38:40.960
• reference to furniture in the classroom. reference to furniture in the classroom.

Bills: SB2003

Keywords: Mauna Kea, land management, University of Hawaii, astronomical observatories, leasable lands, natural resource management, stewardship authority, 912, senate, all

Summary: The joint committees on Water, Land, Culture, and the Arts and Education heard testimony and discussed SB 20003, which would require the auditor’s report under Act 255 to include a recommendation on whether the Monarch Stewardship and Oversight Authority is fit to continue managing Monaca lands. Testimony focused on the bill’s reversion language, the role of the auditor, and whether the measure gave the auditor too much discretion without clear criteria. The Office of the Auditor’s position, read into the record, was that it had strong reservations because the bill did not provide standards for assessing fitness and asked that the requirement be held or amended. Other testimony suggested a work group with relevant agencies and Hawaiian practitioners to manage the transition and reduce conflict. Committee members debated whether the bill should simply restore the original reversion language or also require an audit-based fitness determination. Several members questioned the need for a 2031 audit when Act 255 already provides for a performance and financial audit in 2031 and noted that the bill could shift authority away from the legislature. In response, the committee chair explained that the measure was intended to restore language removed during conference and to address the transition back to the University of Hawaii if the authority was not meeting the act’s purpose. The committees ultimately recommended SB 20003 be passed with amendments. The amendments would strike the auditor/audit section, add language addressing timelines by providing a 10-year lease extension and sublease extension, and make technical changes including a defective date. The committees voted to adopt the amended measure and send it forward as an SD1. The transcript also included a separate Education Committee hearing on SB 3286, which would require the University of Hawaii to develop a facilities and student housing master plan and report to the legislature. University of Hawaii testimony said the system supports the intent but that the bill’s requirements are a heavy lift across 10 campuses and should follow development of a broader academic strategy. Members raised concerns about deferred maintenance, shifting priorities, and the lack of a systemwide plan, while the university said it already has a six-year capital improvement plan but acknowledged it does not fully incorporate the broader academic and housing strategy the bill contemplates.

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:53:55.960> to am taking a break from the classroom to am taking a break from the classroom
• were being pushed out of classrooms were being pushed out of classrooms instead<00:54:48.839>
• special education teacher in a classroom special education teacher in a classroom right<01:04:30.680
• <01:04:55.680> terms<01:04:56.119> at vulnerable classroom terms at vulnerable classroom
• It's going to drain resources from classrooms.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:11:06.160> teaching<00:11:06.480> in<00:11:06.640> the<00:11:06.800> classroom
• <00:11:07.839> versus are teaching in the classroom versus are teaching in the classroom versus
• >> Or if they're not successful in the classroom once they finish?
• Thank you. >> Or if they're not successful in the classroom once they finish?
• <00:15:06.959> is from the classroom is from the classroom is >> sometimes<00:15:08.480

Keywords: 1136, house, all