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Committee debates statewide school hearing‑screening plan, lays bill over for more review
Summary
Representative Blancet presented a multi‑year plan to expand hearing screening in schools (House Bill 2188). Members questioned costs, screening protocols and implementation; the committee agreed to lay the bill over to continue stakeholder discussions and seek logistics details.
Representative Blancet presented House Bill 2188, a multi‑year plan to require hearing screening at multiple grade levels and to phase in more advanced protocols over three years. Blancet said the proposal was patterned after existing vision‑screening programs and noted a June 1 start date for the earliest phase and a final implementation stage in the 2028–29 school year.
The sponsor described the rationale as improving phonemic awareness and early reading by identifying children with undiagnosed hearing problems. "If you do not have phonemic awareness, you cannot learn to read," Blancet said, arguing that hearing screening is a missing element of current school health practice. The bill would specify minimum equipment and procedures and allow for a ramped rollout to limit disruption.
Members and the sponsor discussed fiscal impact and logistics. The sponsor said the Department of Education had recently surveyed special‑education directors about current screening practices and calibration of equipment but that precise statewide costs were not yet known. Representatives asked whether the testing tool is a specific machine and how long it takes to screen students; the sponsor said screening has been done efficiently in pilot sites with audiology students and staff and offered to provide further details.
Representatives asked whether Hearts for Hearing or similar groups had been consulted; the sponsor said Hearts for Hearing had been involved in earlier conversations and that additional stakeholder outreach was needed. Representative Ford gave personal testimony about two grandchildren whose hearing problems were not recognized by schools, saying he had to pursue outside services and file a complaint with the State Department of Education to get the district to acknowledge an audiology report.
Because several committee members needed to leave and staff availability was limited, the chair proposed and the sponsor agreed to lay the measure over to next week so stakeholders could answer members’ technical questions and the committee would have a quorum to continue. The meeting adjourned with multiple bills carried over to the next week for further consideration.
