REPORT TITLE: 
Education; grants
DESCRIPTION:
Adds a new part to chapter 302A establishing a program to provide
grants equal to $6,865 or any other amount equal to the most
current annual cost to educate a student, to students who want to
leave the public schools system in favor of other schools.

 
HB HMIA 2000-71A
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2722
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO EDUCATION.



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


 1      SECTION 1.  The future economic survival of Hawaii is
 
 2 contingent upon the education of its people.  The State has
 
 3 failed in its commitment to public education.  Although the State
 
 4 has built 13 new schools, added more than 900 classrooms, gyms,
 
 5 cafeterias, and libraries, extended the school year by 7 days,
 
 6 and increased teachers' pay, Hawaii continues to lag far behind
 
 7 the rest of the country in providing quality education to its
 
 8 children.  Students continue to learn without school books and in
 
 9 dilapidated and unhealthful conditions.  Hawaii's students
 
10 continue to graduate from high school without the ability to read
 
11 or write.
 
12      Unless Hawaii's public education system is significantly
 
13 improved, our children will not be equipped with the tools
 
14 necessary to compete in today's world.  Until Hawaii's inferior
 
15 public education system is improved, our children must be given
 
16 the opportunity to receive the best education possible, whether
 
17 it is private, parochial, public or home school.  
 
18      Our students must be given the freedom to choose which
 
19 school he or she will attend.  
 

 
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 1      The purpose of this Act is to establish a program within the
 
 2 department of education to provide grants to students in order to
 
 3 give them school choice.  This program is not new.  Rather it is
 
 4 premised upon the federal concept which gives military veterans
 
 5 the financial opportunity to attend any college or university,
 
 6 whether private, parochial or public.
 
 7      Moreover, any student who chooses to leave the public school
 
 8 system saves the State the cost of educating that student ($6,865
 
 9 per student in fiscal year 2001).  However, the State should not
 
10 benefit from the student's absence from the system or be relieved
 
11 from its nondelegable duty to educate its children.
 
12      SECTION 2.  Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
13 amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and
 
14 to read as follows:
 
15              "PART    .  SCHOOL CHOICE GRANT PROGRAM
 
16      §302A-     Establishment of school choice grant program.
 
17 (a) There shall be established within the department of
 
18 education, a program to provide grants to students who leave the
 
19 public school system in order to enable them to attend the school
 
20 of their choice.
 
21      (b) The program shall be funded each fiscal year by
 
22 transferring ______ percent of the annual budgetary appropriation
 
23 for education to a school choice grant program special fund.
 

 
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 1      (c) Each student who leaves the public school system shall,
 
 2 upon request, receive a grant in the amount of $6,865 or other
 
 3 amount equivalent to the annual cost of educating a student.
 
 4      (d) Grants issued under this program shall be used by the
 
 5 student to attend any school, whether private, parochial, or home
 
 6 school within the State.
 
 7      §302A-     School choice grant special fund.  There is
 
 8 established a special fund for the school choice grant program in
 
 9 the department of education.  Each fiscal year, ______ percent of
 
10 the budgetary appropriation for education (EDN 100) shall be
 
11 deposited into the special fund solely for the purposes of this
 
12 part.  The department of education shall administer the fund and
 
13 shall issue a grant in the amount of $6,865 or the most current
 
14 published cost of educating a student, to each eligible student
 
15 who leaves the public school system in order to attend a private,
 
16 parochial, or home school within this State.
 
17      §302A-     Administrative rules and regulations.  The
 
18 department may adopt all necessary rules and regulations,
 
19 pursuant to chapter 91, for the implementation of this program.
 
20      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.
 
21 
 
22                         INTRODUCED BY:___________________________
 

 
HB HMIA 2000-71A