Senate committee debates wide-ranging amendments to education deregulation bill; several amendments fail, bill advanced

The Senate Education, Career and Development Committee spent much of its March 26 meeting debating amendments to House Bill 1002, a broad Title 20 education deregulation measure that the committee will recommit to the Appropriations Committee after passing on an 8-4 vote.

The bill’s sponsor in committee presented the measure as a cleanup and deregulation package covering dozens of code sections. Senators offered and debated more than a dozen amendments addressing topics including school facility planning, automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at practices and events, charter authorizer location, charter-board transparency, fees for non-curricular supplies, and removal of social-emotional learning (SEL) and trauma-informed-care (TIC) language.

The most prominent early amendment was offered by Senator Fadi Cadora. Amendment 20 would have required the Department of Education to conduct needs assessments on school buildings, asking the agency to collect and publish counts of students, charter, private and traditional public schools within districts before new buildings were approved. Cadora said the measure was intended to inform fiscal decisions and avoid duplicative building that raises overhead for school operations. The committee called the roll and the amendment failed (4 yes, outcome: failed). Senator Cadora spoke in favor; the bill sponsor opposed the amendment on cost grounds.

Senator Linda Rogers secured an amendment (No. 30) to require operational AEDs and site-specific action plans at…