Good Constraints & Bad Conclusions Good Constraints & Bad Conclusions February 17, 2023 Dear Friends and Neighbors, We don't take holidays—including Presidents Day—off during the Legislative session, but I hope you have a good 3-day weekend with friends and family! The first bill to pass the Senate floor and head to the House was mine! Wednesday the Senate moved along my bill to provide free trapping licenses to service-disabled veterans on a 20-0 vote. Read on for good standards, bad numbers, and events around our district! Each year we celebrate Elizabeth Peratrovich, and take inspiration from her extraordinary activism. Rep. Story, Rep. Hannan, & I were honored to present both a Legislative citation and the governor's proclamation to ANB and ANS Camp 70. Good New Constraints I introduced a new(ish) bill to prevent future PFAS pollution in Alaska last week. It’s new this session, but you might remember the pieces from last year. Here's a quick refresher class on PFAS: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a whole class of chemicals. Scads of studies show PFAS compounds are really bad for people. Worse, the effects (think low birth weight, thyroid disease, and cancers) accumulate over time. They're called "forever chemicals" because they're super-duper difficult to break down. That makes them great for firefighting because, well, they withstand the fire. Firefighting foams containing PFAS have seeped into drinking water in dozens of places across Alaska. Our Department of Environmental Conservation first declared them to be hazardous substances four years ago, but at indefensibly high levels. I’ve pushed for years to set more protective drinking water standards, including through legislation. There's some good news! DEC plans to put out lower, safer standards for PFAS in the next couple of months. With the agency setting the levels, my bill will help stop any more Alaskans from drinking toxic water. SB 67 bans the use of firefighting foams with PFAS everywhere there’s a safe alternative. It also lets people with small quantities of the foam (like volunteer fire departments in rural villages) give their concentrate back to the state so it can be disposed of safely. Every Alaskan deserves clean drinking water. That means setting limits so Alaskans with contaminated water get a clean supply. It also means preventing new spills. It’ll cost a heck of a lot less to replace the firefighting foam than it will to treat sick babies and clean up more contamination. Advocates from the Alzheimer's Awareness Association came to the Capitol last week. Bad Conclusions This week in the Senate Education Committee, we heard a presentation from the Department of Education & Early Development about statewide testing. As some Alaskans talk about "accountability" in public education it seemed like a good time to look at how we measure whether kids are making progress. We got a guide to the Alaska System of Academic Readiness (AK STAR,) a new statewide assessment. The results were... perplexing. In the two main categories—English Language Arts and Math—it was hard to find patterns in the results. So-called "proficiency" fluctuated wildly by grade. In English, for instance, the percentage of 7th graders who scored as “needs support” was nearly double that of 6th graders. The percentage "approaching proficient" in math rocketed up 60% from 5th grade to 6th, but plummeted by more than half from 7th grade to 8th. And there were wild swings like that all over the charts. There were years when a grade of kids tested as making all kinds of progress in math but losing a lot of ground in English. And vice versa. These are statewide numbers, so it's not like an extraordinary school here or a few troubled children there moved the needle up or down. A statistician would point to the "null hypothesis" here. Oversimplified, that means if we don’t find a meaningful relationship between the variables we're looking at, they don't mean anything. That's as opposed to the "alternate hypothesis," which might explain the data. When I asked the department how they explain the huge, wild swings, they assured me the test was well-designed. You don't need a statistics degree to know that's called a "non-answer." Asked to respond to the suggestion that maybe the standards we measured were off-base, they assured us the standards are right on the money. How do students statewide score nearly twice as badly one year than they did the year before? Especially while another grade of kids swung, statewide, the other way? I suspect they didn't. And that's the problem with trying to use one test, built from a nationwide database of questions, to measure children and schools as different as the North Slope and Nikiski. You can't. So what does that mean for accountability? The Alaska Constitution has a path for us to follow. Article X, Sec. 1 recommends "maximum local self-government" and requires that "A liberal construction shall be given to the powers of local government units." That's why school boards are elected locally. That in turn keeps schools accountable to Alaskans all across our state. There are lots of ways for local districts and communities to check on how our kids are doing. The AK STAR test sure doesn't look like one of them. All my best, Did someone forward you this newsletter? Did you fall into it through the series of tubes? Want more? SUBSCRIBE Events & Happenings Around District B Skagway Story Time Remember story time with Ms. Anna! It's perfect for kids up to age 3—a fun romp with songs, books, and more. Each Wednesday at the library, 10:30am. Skagway Late Night Library Friday nights at 6pm, come to the library for a different activity each week! Crafts, games, and more for ages 10-18! Gustavus Open Mic Come to the Community Center on Feb. 25th at 7 pm for an open mic event! Gustavus Cornhole Tournament Find a teammate and register by Mar. 1. The competition is at the Community Center Mar. 4! Haines Basketball Tournament Three days of basketball at Haines High School with teams from Southeast Alaska and Canada! The action starts Feb. 24 at 11 am & runs all weekend! Haines Winterfest Visit the fairgrounds and enjoy winter games, dayglow disc golf, and the Miles Klehini Ski Classic Feb. 25th at 11 am! Free fun and games for all ages. Juneau Artist Talk Visit the Juneau City Museum Feb. 25 for an Artist Talk with Lily Hope. Learn more about building community, mentoring new weavers, and curating an art exhibition! Juneau 2023 Women of Distinction Join me at the 26th annual gala honoring four Alaska women of extraordinary accomplishment in serving our communities! At the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall Mar. 4 at 5:30 pm! Haines Story Time Stories and songs for the children and young-at-heart! Every Monday and Friday in the library at 11:00 am. Haines Mosquito Lake Race Sign up at 11 am and enjoy some snowmachine racing February 19. Haines Northern Light Showcase Visit the Chilkat Center and enjoy an evening of performances by local artists Feb. 19th at 7pm! Haines First Friday Event Neighbors, galleries, museums, and artists, exhibits! First Friday is Mar. 3 starting at 5 pm! Is there an event in our district I should know about? Please call or email! Snail Mail? Alaska State Capitol Room 419 Juneau, AK 99801 Call: 800 550 4947 907 465 4947 Email Me! ‌ ‌ ‌ Contact My Staff, the people who power the work: Aurora Hauke 907 465 5051 [email protected] Caleb Yabes 907 465 4947 [email protected] Ella Adkison 907 465 6419 [email protected] Cathy Schlingheyde 907 465 6827 [email protected] Senator Jesse Kiehl | Alaska State Capitol, Rm. 419, 4th Avenue & Main Street, Juneau, AK 99801 Unsubscribe [email protected] Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected]