Report Title:

Education; Student-and-Faculty Exchange Program with Philippines

Description:

Directs the Department of Education, in consultation with a variety of other organizations, to develop and implement a Student-and-Faculty Exchange Program between Hawaii and the Philippines. (HB3258 HD2)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

3258

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

H.D. 2

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 student exchange programs involving students in Hawaii's schools provide the opportunity to learn first-hand the cultures of other countries of the world. These exchanges foster and sustain good relationships and cultural interaction between foreign countries and the State of Hawaii. The State's current student exchange program with Japan's Okinawa prefecture is an example that demonstrates the benefits and cost-effectiveness of these programs over its fifteen-year existence.

Implementing a similar student-and-faculty exchange program between the State and its sister provinces in the Republic of the Philippines would provide a more concrete and viable connection between the State and those provinces than a mere relationship on paper. Officials in the Republic of the Philippines have expressed a strong interest in developing student exchange programs. The establishment of such a program at this time would be particularly appropriate since this year marks the Filipino Centennial Celebration, the one-hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Filipinos to Hawaii that honors the achievements and contributions Filipinos have made to the state. Hawaii and the Philippines have a long history of close relations and connections. A student-and-faculty exchange program between Hawaii and the Philippines would strengthen an already close cultural, social, and economic relationship between the state and the Philippines.

SECTION 2. The department of education, in consultation with the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools and the University of Hawaii, shall develop a student-and-faculty exchange program with the State's sister provinces in the Republic of the Philippines involving public and private schools in Hawaii and students and faculty in schools in the Philippines. The department shall also consult with the various Filipino communities and organizations in the planning and implementation of the exchange program. The program shall be implemented by the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.

SECTION 3. The department shall submit a report to the legislature of its findings and recommendations on the creation, implementation, and maintenance of a student-and-faculty exchange program between Hawaii and the State's sister provinces in the Republic of the Philippines no later then twenty days prior to the convening of the regular sessions of 2007 and, if necessary, 2008, to update the legislature on the status of the program's intended implementation.

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $      or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007 to develop and implement a student-and-faculty exchange program with the State's sister provinces in the Republic of the Philippines involving public and private schools in Hawaii and students and faculty in schools in the Philippines.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020.