Report Title:

Education; Information Technology; Website Operations

Description:

Appropriates funds to support the department of education's website operations.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1860

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to education.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the department of education's website serves a varied and ever-increasing audience that includes parents, educators, policy makers, employees, and the public who rely on the information and data on the website. Website users review over eleven thousand pages each day. As data needs continue to grow, it becomes imperative that greater resources be dedicated to support the functions of the department of education in order to provide enhanced accessibility to its website users and meet the demands of a data-driven education system.

The Reinventing Education Act of 2004 articulates the importance of a data-driven system to support educational achievement. Accessibility to web-based information is paramount to data-driven decision making by policy makers, school community councils, and other educational stakeholders in supporting educational accountability and student achievement. The department of education's website is a necessary tool in communicating information to the public. In addition, teachers, principals, and other department of education employees are increasingly using the website to access information, records, forms, and reports to perform their daily functions.

The legislature further finds that dedicated funding has never been allocated to maintain and service the department of education's website. Currently, only one employee is dedicated, on a part-time basis, to maintain and service the website. The growing demand for data, desire for greater accessibility to public education information, and increased usage of the website requires additional positions and resources to maintain the website and to address the needs of its users. The appropriation of funds dedicated to the website will enable the department of education to improve its information infrastructure to accommodate evolving education data needs.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to support the functions of the department of education website to support data-driven decision making, make public school information more accessible to users, reach wider audiences, and increase the efficiency of department of education operations.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii, the following sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007:

    1. $45,840 for the establishment of one full-time equivalent (1.00 FTE) permanent data processing system analyst V position in the department of education to support the functions of the department of education's website;
    2. $40,716 for the establishment of one full-time equivalent (1.00 FTE) permanent data processing system analyst IV in the department of education to support the functions of the department of education's website and to provide common web assistance to schools;
    3. $103,200 for contracted advisory and technical services in site design and information retrieval optimization to support the functions of the department of education's website;
    4. $12,500 for department of education computer hardware upgrades and maintenance;
    5. $2,500 for department of education's website development tools; and
    6. $750 for transportation, supplies, and other expenses to support the functions of the department of education's website.

SECTION 3. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2006.

INTRODUCED BY:

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