House Labor & Commerce Committee

Good morning. I call this meeting of the House Education Committee to order. It is Monday, May 4th, 2026, and the time is 8:04 AM. Members present this morning are Representative Dibert, Representative Schwanke, Representative Eichide, Representative Underwood, and myself, Co-Chair Himschute. We have a quorum to conduct business.

I'd like to remind members to silence their cell phones. We're in the Betty Davis Committee Room, that's Room 106 in the State Capitol Building in Juneau, Alaska. Documents for today's meeting have been distributed to members and are available on the table outside the door and on BASIS. And I'd like to thank Jordan Nicholson and moderator from the Juneau LIO, Susan Quigley, and of course our committee aides, Ella Lubin and Tammy Smith, for all they do to make our meeting successful this morning. And today's agenda, we have a few items on the agenda.

We're going to start with testimony from Joy Cogburn-Smith, the governor's appointee to the State Board of Education and Early Development. I think that's Region 2. Yep. Okay, or District 2. And then House Bill 387 and Senate Bill 187.

So our first order of business is testimony from Joy Cogburn-Smith, the governor's appointee for the State Board of Education and Early Development. I'd like to welcome you this morning, Ms. Cogburn-Smith. Please introduce yourself on the record and you can begin to tell us a little bit about you and then we'll have some questions for you. [Speaker:JOY COUGHLIN SMITH] Thank you, Madam Chair. My name is Joy Couglin Smith and I'm honored to be considered for appointment for the Alaska State Board of Education and I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today.

I currently serve as the Director of State and Federal Programs for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. Through my work, I focus on expanding educational opportunities, strengthening program funding and ensuring the resources reach students and staff who need them the most. I moved to Alaska from Oklahoma in 1997 and enjoyed each classroom that I've had the privilege of teaching in. Through those experiences in rural Alaska, I have strived to improve student outcomes within the classroom, and when I became an itinerant specialist and now a director, I have endeavored to support effective educational programs for both students and staff. Living and working in rural Alaska has given me a strong understanding of the unique challenges our districts face, from the geographic isolation to maintaining staffing, school attendance struggles, to infrastructure issues.

I am especially mindful of the importance of— excuse me— of supporting rural and Alaska Native communities in a way that honors local knowledge, Alaska Native language, while also preparing students for the wide range of future opportunities. I'm committed to expanding these opportunities for all students while advancing sound policies that will support both student and school staff success. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Very well. Thank you for that introduction, and I am prepared for questions from the committee.

Representative Aishide. Thank you, Co-Chair Himscher. Himscher. Sorry, a little more coffee. Good morning.

Monday morning. Uh, Ms. Cogburn-Smith, thank you for, uh, being here before us and putting your name in the hat. Um, the question I had through the co-chair was, you know, the State Board of Education deals with education issues, obviously, of statewide significance. Also, sometimes, uh, local issues come before the State Board of Education. So with all things being equal, uh, where— what do you give, uh, your primary focus to?

Local control or state control when those local issues come before the State Board of Education? Well, there's a nice simple first question. Um, Ms. Cogburn-Smith. Uh, well, um, local can— for me, like, I've always Living in rural Alaska, local issues have always been a forefront of things you deal with on an everyday issues, you know, whether it's school board or, you know, within the classroom, educational policies that might affect how parents interact with staff and everything.

It would depend on the actual issue there. I am not all the way one way, local control, or all the way the other. It would have to be, I would need to know the specific questions because there are issues where I am more local control. I mean, especially in rural Alaska where you have tribal authority. But there are other issues where I think, you know, the state has the authority to do what it needs to do.

Okay, follow-up. Follow-up. Just as a comment, I guess, you know, if you ask that same question of me, you know, I'm in a— I represent a district, but I also serve the state of Alaska. And I do know personally, I oftentimes look at local control. Not always is local control primacy.

I'm pretty famous here for having a financial literacy bill that had state implications. But I do know that I oftentimes try to put local interests ahead of, say, state control. Just this idea that all politics are local and local entities know best. So I just want to get that on the record. Thank you.

Thank you. I guess I'll follow up on that question, Ms. Cogburn-Smith. Could you give an example of a time when the state— when you believe it would be the state's business prerogative to take a position over the local decision-making?

Well, I think one of the most recent issues, you know, is the— was the REEDS Act. I mean, it definitely put It changed some of the ways that school districts had to operate.

And it wasn't like some school districts were doing what they needed to do, but other districts needed the little push from the legislation to get like MTSS and interventions and high-quality materials into their schools. Thank you for that example. Okay. Do we have other questions from the committee? Representative Schwanke.

Thank you. Through the co-chair, thank you, Ms. Cogburn-Smith, for being here. I noticed on your resume just a couple years ago and roughly 25 years ago, you participated in a group.

It reads Alaska Reform in the Classroom Through Technology Integration and Collaboration. And I'm very curious. A lot has happened in 25 years. We've learned a lot about technology, and I'm curious what your views are on technology in the classroom now. Miss Cogburn-Smith.

Through the chair, yeah, that was a very interesting model back in the day, 'cause that was, yeah, it was 26 years ago. We were still doing, you know, discs and things, but technology in the classroom now, I mean, Northwest Arctic is a one-to-one district, so it's very forefront in everything that we do in our district. And the more research that comes out and everything, I think it has its place. I think we can pull back on some of the things, like schools need to— might need to reduce screen time for the younger students, especially. The brain research that's coming out right now about how screen time is affecting the younger students and how it's affecting everything, like their reading ability, their ability for higher-order thinking skills, it concerns me.

But I also know that there is a place for it. Like, I used it in my classroom all the time. I had a Smartboard. I wouldn't have been able to teach without my SMART Board. I got to where it was integrated into everything I did, but I also had, you know, I'm an early childhood specialist.

They also had that play. They also, I only gave them an iPad every once in a while. It wasn't anything that I did very often in my classroom because I knew that they still needed, you know, that cognitive build they need from playing and everything else. The more research that comes out, I think we're going to find that it may change the way teachers teach, and it might. There's still a lot of research that's going on, and some of it concerns me.

Follow-up? I really appreciate that, and I do recognize, you know, that it sometimes it is difficult. We learn something professional, and it might change over time. But when I served on the local school board in a rural community, we, we spent a lot of time asking about how many minutes are our children on screens every day. And, and I saw a clash between a lot of new curriculum models that are coming out, a lot of actual curriculum pieces that districts are purchasing that's 100% online or on a screen.

And, and I saw my district walk down that pathway because it was personalized learning, and it was the way to personalize learning for each individual child. And so some kids could work ahead, some kids were a little bit further behind, and, and yet at the end of the day, we really, in my mind, felt it really seems like we had a handful of kids that were just spending too much time on screens, especially the advanced kids, because teachers spent a lot of time with interventions and trying to catch children up. So would you have— what role do you think you could play being on the state board in trying to guide some of these policies for the state going forward? Ms. Cogburn-Smith. Through the chair, well, I mean, as a school board member, I mean, we would be looking at policies that would be brought before us and making decisions on those.

There is a place or technology. I see it used very effectively in, you know, multi-age classrooms when a teacher has to teach one group of students and the other group of students, or, you know, the other grade needs to be working on it, and maybe there's not an aide in the classroom. There's got to be a balance. I think school districts are seeing some of the issues and making their own decisions. And so being on the board, I, I would hope that I would be able to guide, you know, if we needed to make statewide decisions on what technology looks like for classrooms.

Thank you very much. Okay, other questions from the committee? Um, Co-Chair Story, who did arrive at 8:06, I think I forgot to say that. Welcome. Thank you, uh, Co-Chair Himschute.

Through the chair, Welcome and thank you for your willingness to serve the children of Alaska in this capacity of being on the State School Board. I'm sure it's an honor and I'm sure you have what you hope you can bring to, to the board. And along those lines, the committee and I, we've all been very concerned about the achievement gap that we have happening, particularly with our kids who are on free and reduced lunch and our English language learners. And I am wondering if you have any thoughts that you are hoping to bring forward to the board in your role at this time about how that should— I know it's one of the 5 targeted strategic plan goals. If you have any thoughts about that.

Ms. Culver and Smith? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, as a teacher and, and as a district-level administrator We deal with the achievement gap in our students every day, and we're trying to look for ways, whether it's, you know, professional development for our teachers, whether it's strengthening our attendance, because kids cannot learn if they're not in the classroom.

The achievement gap is real. Some of it, I believe, comes down to, like, the curriculum.

Most curriculums are for the middle, they're for the majority of the students, and a lot of our school districts are not the majority of students. We have a unique population in Alaska, and, you know, guiding, helping people guide to, you know, selection of materials, strengthening the MTSS, you know, the interventions that can really help students. You know, it's those ones that are barely below, and then you can, you can put them above, and then they just take off. And I've seen it in the classroom. I've done it, you know, as a teacher, you know, trying to find that— there's no magic bullet that's going to fix everything, but that we can strive to do our best, whether it's instructional strategies or allowing you know, school districts to create their own curriculums that match their students.

It's— there's a wide range of things that can be done, and I hope I can strengthen it for the state. Follow-up, follow-up. Thank you. Through the chair, have you been to any board meetings yet, or was just recently appointed? Ms. Cogburn-Smith?

No, I just recently— I mean, I haven't been confirmed yet, so no, this is my first confirmation hearing, and I have not attended. I've attended as an outsider. I've gone to some of the board meetings, you know, as an audience, but I haven't participated yet. Follow-up? Yes, I was curious about what strategies you would be interested in serving on.

They have some subcommittees, and then also We just had an appeal to a charter school denial by a local school board. So I don't know if you observed that situation at all, but that was, I think, one of the first recent times when a local school board said that for various reasons they did not approve the charter school, and then the board did. And through a— anyways, I don't know how much you're familiar with that process that unfolded, so I just— whatever you have seen of that process, if you had any comments to add about that. Ms. Cogdron-Smith. Through the chair, that's not That's not something I have immediate knowledge of.

Like, I'm not aware of the situation that you're speaking of. I know our school district has had lots of discussions about charter schools because the AASB has put out their new policies and we're going through them as a district. And so there's been some interesting conversations around, you know, the charter schools and how those are run and things. But for an individual appeal process, I mean, I would have to be involved and know all the particulars, and because there is that local, you know, the school boards have that authority, but then the state school board also has their authority. So I would I would be serving on the board in that authority.

Follow-up. Follow-up. Thank you for that answer. I also was wondering if you knew what subcommittee of the strategic plan that you were hoping to serve on. I've looked through them.

I haven't, I haven't really thought about which committee, to be honest. Like, I know which ones are there, but I'm open to serve in whatever capacity that I think I want to. So that's going to have to be some thought on my part because I haven't really chosen, like, I want to be on this one. No, I— the first step is getting appointed, and then I will make other decisions. Okay, one more follow-up.

Thank you for that. I can understand that. I just comment on the charter school and in your role as you go forward. I think it might be appropriate for the state board to be looking at maybe some guidelines as maybe this area becomes something that happens more because I think it's got to be very difficult if you— local school board made a really tough decision and then to have the state board overturn that. And from what I know, it was, um, it just, uh, the current appeal process did not seem to have as much public transparency maybe as I would have liked to have seen.

And I think that might be something, um, if I was— that should be more transparent and really needs to be looked at. I have no idea if you agree with that statement at all, but I would like to know what you think about that statement. Yeah, yeah, through the chair. Yeah, I mean, any process that involves school boards and charter schools or schools in general, the transparency needs to be there. Parents need to understand what's going on and the implementation implications for their students.

All those involved need to understand what's going on and have clarity. Transparency is key to anything that you're doing with the school board, whether it's the budget, curriculum, you know, decisions you're making on a local level and in the school and within the classroom. Transparency is key. Okay, other committee questions? Okay, I have a couple of questions.

My first question is, is pretty basic. Why do you want to do this? Why do you want to serve on the State Board of Education? Um, well, I had thought about it before, um, and, um, when it came down to it, the— our, our district had been open for so long, uh, there had been one appointee that had been put into, uh, our district, but then, uh our local school board was very adamant that that person was not from the district, and so that person was moved to the at-large position, I believe, and it had been open, it was still open. We had encouraged local community members to apply, and our board had been working with the other schools in the district, but as far as we knew, nobody had applied, and so I, uh, I took up the challenge and said that I would apply and put in my hat back in, I believe, September.

So, uh, and I— we just, we want representation for our district, and, uh, I feel I can do that. Okay, thank you. And then another question I have is, uh, what do you see as the role for the State Board of Education and Mount Edgecomb High School? Uh, well, it is my understanding that Mount Edgecomb is under the state board, so it'd be like a same as the local school board for a school district. It would be for the— that's the role of the state board for Mount Edgecomb is to guide the overall principles of the school and look after Yeah, and look after, you know, like everything that goes along with that, including like the buildings and how things are maintained at site.

OK, thank you for that. How do you do that from your home community when Edgecumbe is so far away? Any ideas on that? Well, I mean, I have some knowledge of Metlaxcumbe because we've had, you know, students that have come down. I haven't ever gone to Mt.

Edgecomb. I've never been, I've been to down there, but I haven't visited the college. So I mean, I would have to go down there. I would have to make time.

We would have to go to, I mean, I feel like the school board would need to be there like at least part of the time. Like you could have a school board meeting from Mt. Edgecomb. You could go down there and like they, the school board's been up to Northwest Arctic. So, yeah.

Okay. Other questions from the committee?

Okay. Seeing no other questions from the committee, we are going to open public testimony. So at this time I am going to open public testimony on Joy Cogburn-Smith. Looking in the room to see if anyone would like to testify. Please identify.

I'm not seeing anyone in the room. And we have no one online. So with that, I will close public testimony.

And before we take an at ease to sign the confirmation report, I would like to remind members that in accordance with AS 39.05.080, the Education Committee held a hearing on the following appointee, Joy Cogburn-Smith. A signature on this report does not reflect an intent by any of the members to vote for or against the confirmation of the individual during any further sessions. We are going to take a quick at ease. Ms. Cogburn-Smith, thank you for being with us this morning, and thanks for your willingness to serve. We will take a quick at ease.

Thank you.

¡Hola! Okay, so we're back on the record here in House Education. The next order of business is House Bill 387 entitled An act establishing the Joint Legislative Alaska Native Languages Academic Task Force. We've previously heard invited testimony on this bill, and I'd like to invite Representative Storey to, I guess, and staff to come forward and introduce yourself on the record and provide a short recap of what this bill does, and then we'll take questions from the committee.

Thank you, Chair—. Co-chair Hemmschulte and the committee members for hearing the bill again today. I'm Representative Andy Storey, proudly representing the North Mendenhall Valley here, Fritz Cove Road, Auck Bay, out the road to Haines, Skagway, Klukwan, and Gustavus. I have a very bad cold, and so I am wearing my mask today to help prevent the spread of my cold. Tammy Smith, staff for Representative Story.

Through the chair, we are wondering if you would like to hear the sectional analysis today or—.

Sure. Yeah, let's go ahead and put that on the record. Okay. Good morning, staff— or excuse me, good morning, staff, Representative Story, and I'm just going to go over the sectional analysis. It's very brief.

Section 1 states legislative findings regarding the Alaska Native languages, the Alaska Native Language Center, and the importance of Alaska Native language teacher training, academic research documentation, and the preservation of scholarly infrastructure supporting Alaska Native languages. Section 2 establishes the Joint Legislative Alaska Native Languages Academic Task Force in Uncodified Law for the purpose of furthering the instruction and the preservation of Alaska Native languages. The task force is to review the state of academic activities related to Alaska Native languages, evaluate approaches to linguistic research, assess the risk of preservation of Alaska Native language research examine partnership opportunities, recommend statutory updates, and recommend strategies to ensure growth in language teachers, recruitment and retention of linguistic researchers, and long-term growth of the Alaska Native language academic research. And then it— in Section 3, terminates the Joint Legislative Alaska Native Language Academic Task Force on December 31st, 2027. And that completes the sectional analysis.

Okay, thank you for that. Did you want to add anything about the bill, Representative Story? Ah, yes, thank you, uh, Co-Chair Himchute and committee members.

I think what's really important is we really have a crisis in our Alaska Native languages here across the state in that we are not producing the speakers that we want to. There's a lot of good research going on. There's a lot of good efforts going on across the state. And in many ways revitalization is happening. But I think this is really timely that this task force is put together to look at just what was talked about in the sectional analysis today.

But I think this comprehensive review of the current state of the academic activities related to our languages and also relating to our teaching capacities is very important. And so I am here to answer any questions that you may have. And I just want to remind that it is in statute that we should be operating out of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the program that we have going on. And so it's been, I believe, 52 years since that was established, and I think it is a good time to have a review. So I— we Welcome your comments and questions.

Okay, thank you, Coach Herstory. We also have Brian Uwer online, who is the Vice Chancellor for Rural, Community, and Native Education, University of Alaska Fairbanks. We have Charlene Stern, the Interim Provost at UAF, and we have Tisha Simmons Dean, the College of Indigenous Studies, University of Alaska Fairbanks. So those are the folks we have online for questions and Yeah, are there committee questions? Representative Schwanke.

Thank you, Coach Osterholt. Uh, this is a question probably for the university, and I'm not sure which individual may want to answer. I would love to hear from the university on what resources and policies have been implemented by the university over the last several years to try to expand these courses to individuals that live across the state? Because my understanding, especially in my region, I know I've had several people really get interested in these different language courses, whether it's a certificate program or a degree program, but it's very expensive for them to go into Fairbanks per se, or, or into a campus class, and they do need to take these online or remote remotely, and I'm going to venture a guess that the vast majority of people who are interested in taking these courses, especially people that grew up in some of these rural communities in their villages who want to learn their own languages, are only going to be able to take these online. So I'd like to hear from the university on what has been done on that front.

Okay, so it's a 52-year history, so you're looking sort of—. Last couple years, last few years. Last few years. For growth in language courses, specifically online? Yeah, outreach opportunities.

All right, let's try, um, Tisha Simmons-Dean, the College of Indigenous Studies, University of Alaska Fairbanks. If you could unmute yourself, put your name on the record, and if you can't answer the question, please redirect us. Absolutely. And I think I'm— we're having a difficult time hearing. It's very It's very quiet, all of your voices, so I think you're asking what are the resources that we have for the rural students in Alaska to take courses in Alaska Native language?

Correct. Yes, absolutely. So we do have distance courses available. We, ever since the College of Indigenous Studies has been delivering distance courses for decades, and then after the pandemic, of course, Zoom became very popular and Almost all of our classes have gone online. In fact, we have two Yup'ik faculty members— well, we have one right now, we're in the process of bringing on another one.

One teaches strictly by distance, one teaches— and the other position teaches by distance and/or in person and by distance because our students on campus, we have a large Yup'ik student population and they really love the face-to-face interaction that they have in the classroom. So We're creating hybrid opportunities there, and then all of our other courses are available by distance as well.

Follow-up? Yeah, quick follow-up. Thank you, Ms. Simmons, for that. I'm curious, does the university feel like you don't— do you not have enough resources? Because part of this task force is addressing maybe shortages of resources to to offer these types of opportunities to really expand courses, different types of languages across the state?

You know, revitalizing— I'm a language learner myself. I have been for about 10 years. And what I will say is that language revitalization could always use more resources. It's a very large task. I was listening to the bill.

I think the bill is put together really beautifully. But as I was listening, I was thinking, wow, that's a huge agenda to go forward with. And of course, that's going to take resources. And what I will say is that, you know, we could always use more resources. That the work is a large task.

There's a lot of work to be done in order to revitalize languages. You know, I think about Susan Paskovan, who In my mind, it's fluent, but she did an immersion program with Dr. Eliza Jones, her mother, and she had to stop, you know, she actually moved, uprooted her life to Koyukuk and moved to Koyukuk to live with her mom for a year. And Susan still will say, "I'm not fluent in the language," even though she can speak with our elders. And so, when I think about, you know, the fact that what it took for Susan to go home and be immersed in her language to get to where she is. She's our youngest speaker, I would say, that is as close to fluent as, you know, an elder is.

And so, um, yes, it's going to take more resources if the languages are going to be fully revitalized, um, and we are doing the absolute best we can with what we have right now. And we do, um, we do also have courses that are low cost and no cost, um, right now. And so we're trying to create courses where Students don't have to purchase textbooks, and so, you know, really trying to reduce that cost. What I will say also is that our 100-level courses, they are very popular. We get a lot of students in there because they meet the humanities requirements.

Um, two of our faculty are actually looking at their programs right now because they're realizing that students aren't going all the way to the fourth year. Um, we don't— and so, you know, they're re-looking at things to meet the student need and demand and We're meeting with partners regularly. We've got a meeting with the Doyan Foundation on the books. We just met with the— some representatives from the Upper Tanana region and what they're doing. We just met with about 4 schools in the Bethel region.

And so there's a lot of work happening, really great work, but there's a lot of work to be done. And I guess the short answer is more resources are always welcome because it is a very large task. Thank you for that. Okay. Any other questions from the committee?

Okay. I just want to make a comment and then we'll open public testimony. And I look back to this original mission of the Alaska Native Language Center and it's to study languages native to Alaska. So there's a research part of it. Develop literacy materials.

So there's a curriculum part to it. Assist in the translation of important documents. So that's another whole thing. Provide for the development and dissemination of Alaska Native literature and train Alaska Native language speakers to work as teachers and aides in bilingual classrooms. When this was written in whatever, 70— no, I'm sorry, 52 years ago or whatever, nobody knew that Zoom was coming.

I don't think we had any idea. So, um, I think what we'll do now is go to public testimony, and I just see value in taking a look back. You know, we sunset some bills forces us to look at how effective they've been. And so this could be a really good opportunity to do a look back. Let's go ahead and open public testimony on House Bill 387.

Okay, so taking a look around the room, I don't see anyone here to testify on House Bill 387, and I'm looking online. And seeing no testimony on the bill there either, so we will close public testimony. And, uh, taking one last look to the committee for any questions or concerns on this bill. Great. Uh, so we will now set an amendment deadline for House Bill 387 for Tuesday, May 5th at 3 PM.

Please submit all amendments to my office or Rep Story's office by that time. Thank you, Co-Chair Story, for presenting this bill. And, uh, we'll take a really brief at ease to reorganize for our next bill. At ease.

Okay, so we're back on record, and our last order of business this morning is Senate Bill 187, entitled An Act Prohibiting Certain Food Additives in Public School Meals and Providing for an Effective Date. We've previously heard invited and public testimony testimony on this bill. No amendments were received. I'd like to thank Senator Wielekowski and staff for being here this morning and invite you to put yourselves on the record and provide a short recap of the bill. Hi.

For the record, Bill Wielekowski, State Senator representing East Anchorage. For the record, Phoebe Pepper, legislative intern to Senator Wielekowski.

And yeah, so I will go straight into a brief overview of what we covered last time, and we'll be more than willing to answer any questions from committee members. So Senate Bill 187 prohibits 7 synthetic food dyes from school breakfast and lunch. These 7 dyes have seen extensive research acknowledged by the FDA linking them to hyperactivity, inattentiveness, reproductive issues, rare but life-threatening allergic reactions, and cancer. Additionally, these dyes contain no nutritional value, have no flavor, and serve an increasingly substitute— substitutable purpose of making food look more appealing. These substitutes are produce-based dyes, including vegetables like red radish and beetroot, that are packed with nutrients and promote good health, unlike their synthetic counterparts.

We spoke to school districts across the state of all sizes to ensure that this would not have a negative impact on their districts, and they all noted that implementation of this change would not be a burden on their districts, citing an industry shift starting thanks to 9 other states implementing similar legislation and federal encouragement to do so. We can't rely on this shift completely, however, as bipartisan momentum can be lost at any moment. This bill is an opportunity to solidify this commitment to our students' health, ensuring the food provided to students is conducive to the learning environment. Okay, thank you for that recap. Are there any questions from the committee?

Seeing no questions, I will look to my co-chair for a motion.

I move 34.LS0846/n from committee with attached fiscal notes and individual recommendations. Are there any objections? Okay, seeing no objections, Senate Bill 187, also known as 34-LS0846/n, moves from committee with attached fiscal notes and individual recommendations. And I'm going to ask my members to stick around after we adjourn to sign the committee report. Thank you for being here this morning, Ms. Pepper and Senator Wielechowski.

Always happy to start our week with you guys. That concludes our meeting for today. Our next meeting is this Wednesday, May 6th, at 8:00 a.m. here in the Betty Davis Room, number 106. We will hear our last Celebration of Excellence from Co-Chair Story. We're saving best for last.

And we will have Senate Concurrent Resolution 17 and House Bill As a reminder, the committee's email address is [email protected]. That's A-K-L-E-G dot G-O-V. Public testimony can be sent to this address. And I also want to note— thanks for the reminder, Representative Eichide— today begins Teacher Appreciation Week. I remember being in a classroom, and I've mentioned this, I'm certain, multiple times before, but at the end of the school year, the students' energy is just skyrocketing and the educators' energy is utterly tanking. And so having a May Teacher Appreciation Week really was a pick-me-up where all kinds of wonderful things would happen to thank educators.

So, um, oh dear. And then with a reminder from Representative Underwood, I am also going to wish everyone that the Fourth may be with you. Seeing no further business before the committee, this meeting is adjourned. It is 8:47 AM.