STAND. COM. REP. NO.1076

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 631

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 631 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE HAWAIIAN IMMERSION PROGRAM,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program.

The Department of Education, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamehameha Schools, and Ka Lahui Hawai`i submitted written testimony in support of this measure.

Your Committees find that the preservation of the Hawaiian language and culture is important in revitalizing the Hawaiian language and assisting people of Hawaiian ancestry to regain and maintain their language. Learning the Hawaiian language and cultural values significantly and positively impacts a student's education and self-esteem. The Department of Education's immersion program has grown and flourished since its inception. However, your Committees determine that Hawaiian immersion education requires specialized educational materials, which necessitates the appropriation of adequate funding in order to ensure that the quality of education received by the students within the immersion program continues to match the content and quality of a regular public school curriculum.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 631, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

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COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair

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NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair