22210E11A35B065487258385007120CE Hearing Summary

Representatives McLachlan and Wilson, co-prime sponsors, presented House Bill 19-1002, concerning professional development in leadership for public school principals. The bill creates the School Leadership Pilot Program in the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) to provide training for school principals. The program must include the identification of a cohort of high-quality school principals and allow other principals from across the state to observe and interact with this group. The CDE is required to design the program during FY 2019-20 and implement the program no later than July 2020. No later than March 15, 2020, the CDE is required to report to the state legislature on the program's design, evaluation methods, and plans for full implementation in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, including an estimate of the anticipated number of participants. The bill also creates the School Leadership Pilot Program Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the CDE. The program is repealed July 1, 2022.  Representative McLachlan distributed a fact sheet on the bill (Attachment A).

Representatives McLachlan and Wilson responded to questions regarding how the bill would support principals in rural districts; how participating candidates would be identified; and the funding for the program.

The following persons testified on the bill:

Amie Baca Oehlert, Colorado Education Association, testified in support of the bill.

Mark Sass, representing himself, testified in support of the bill and responded to questions from the committee.

Mary Duran, Aurora Public Schools and Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC), testified in support of the bill.

Courtney Goertz, Aurora Public Schools and PEBC, testified in support of the bill.

Ms. Duran and Ms. Goertz responded to questions from the committee.  Representative Wilson also responded to questions from the committee.

Ms. Goertz responded to questions from the committee regarding PEBC.  PEBC is a training program that provides mentoring support and guidance for teachers, administrators, and school leaders.  Ms. Goertz and Ms. Duran continued to answer questions from the committee regarding mentor programs and professional development available to school principals.

Prateek Dutta, Education Reform Now, testified in support of the bill.

Representative Baisley moved Amendment L.002 (Attachment B), which would allow the department to work with either a for-profit or nonprofit entity in developing the program.  Committee discussion ensued.

Jennifer Mello, Colorado Department of Education and State Board of Education, responded to questions from the committee regarding CDE's process of hiring contracted workers.  Committee discussion ensued.

Representative McLachlan moved Amendment L.001 (Attachment C), which limits the decision making regarding the program to the Colorado Department of Education.  Representative McLachlan responded to questions from the committee.

Representatives McLachlan and Wilson made concluding comments on the bill. Members of the committee also made comments regarding the bill.

Committee discussion regarding the bill continued.