Senate education staff back call for legislative task force to study out‑of‑school barriers

Bureau of Legislative Research staff told the Senate Education Committee that a 2020 APA report recommends forming a legislative task force to study out‑of‑school factors that inhibit performance for high‑needs students and to draft legislative fixes.

"They recommend that the task force would be led by members of [the] education committee, but also include other participants," Julie Holt, Bureau of Legislative Research, said while summarizing Recommendation 3 and pointing members to the full APA executive report in their binders.

The report lists possible areas for the task force to examine: access to before‑ and after‑school enrichment, mental‑health services in high‑needs or remote schools, internet and technology access in low‑income communities, and services for families such as adult education and health‑care referrals. The bureau said the task force would be tasked with recommending legislative solutions to identified gaps.

Committee chairs agreed to convene a small group of committee leaders and subcommittee chairs before the next meeting to develop a plan for moving the recommendation forward.