STAND. COM. REP. NO. 147

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1093

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Education and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1093 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOL READINESS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a school readiness program as a major component of the early learning system established pursuant to section 302L-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Governor; Department of Education; Department of Human Services; Department of the Attorney General; Department of Health; University of Hawaii System; Hawaii Teacher Standards Board; KCAA Preschools of Hawaii; Imua Family Services; Child & Family Service; Hawaii Baptist Early Education Association; Good Beginnings Alliance; Community Children's Council of Hawaii; Hawaii State Parent Teacher Student Association; Protecting Hawaii's Ohana, Children, Under Served, Elderly and Disabled; Hawaii Business Roundtable, Inc.; Kamehameha Schools; Hawaii Association for the Education of Young Children; Westside Service Provider Network; Special Education Advisory Council; Hui for Excellence in Education; Hawaii Association of Independent Schools; Chaminade University of Honolulu; and twenty-nine individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from four individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from Kamaaina Kids.

 

     Your Committees find that high quality early learning programs that are affordable and accessible for all children are critically important for ensuring the success of Hawaii's keiki.  In addition, the significant, long-term benefits realized through investments in high-quality, early learning systems have been established through decades of research.

 

     In 2012, the Legislature passed Act 178, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, which, in part, established the Executive Office on Early Learning.  This measure will reaffirm the Legislature's commitment to early learning by establishing a statewide school readiness program administered by the Executive Office on Early Learning and delivered through contracts with Department of Human Services-licensed child care providers and the Department of Education.

 

     This measure will also provide services to a gap group of children who will no longer be eligible for kindergarten beginning in 2014 due to the change in the minimum kindergarten entry age.  This measure will help ensure that this cohort of children will be ready for school by providing them with a developmentally appropriate experience to prepare them physically, cognitively, linguistically, socially, and emotionally prior to beginning the public education provided by the Department of Education.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1093, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1093, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Human Services,

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

 

____________________________

JILL TOKUDA, Chair