STAND. COM. REP. NO.  455

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2021

 

RE:   H.B. No. 609

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Education and Higher Education & Technology, to which was referred H.B. No. 609 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Authorize remote schools to receive supplemental categorical funding, subject to legislative appropriations, to support instructional and support staff; and

 

     (2)  Appropriate funds for remote schools categorical funding.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hawaii State Teachers Association, and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that the Reinventing Education Act of 2004 (Act 51, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004) established a weighted student formula to allocate monies to schools according to the different costs of educating students with varying needs with the intention of equitable distribution of funds.  However, the weighted student formula has placed small, remote schools at a disadvantage.  Your Committees further find that in the case of Hana High and Elementary School, the budgetary shortfall has resulted in the loss of several well-qualified teachers and has threatened the school's ability to offer minimum course requirements for students.  For students to take the requisite courses for graduation, those students will have to endure a nearly forty-mile, two-hour drive to the next closest public high school, King Kekaulike High School.  This measure ensures that remote schools are funded to retain the minimal personnel and resources necessary to graduate students.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2050; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Higher Education & Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 609, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 609, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Higher Education & Technology,

 

 

____________________________

GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair

 

____________________________

JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair