REPORT TITLE:
BOE Student Member; Voting


DESCRIPTION:
Proposes amendments to article X, section 2 of the Hawaii
Constitution to provide that the public high school student
member on the board of education shall serve as a voting member,
excluding personnel matters.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           2461
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 legislature finds that under the
 
 2 Constitution of the State of Hawaii, the board of education has
 
 3 the power, as provided by law, to formulate statewide educational
 
 4 policy and appoint the superintendent of education as the chief
 
 5 executive officer of the public school system.  While the board
 
 6 dictates the students' education, however, the student member who
 
 7 serves on the board does not have the right to vote on matters
 
 8 that directly affect students.
 
 9      The board member is elected by and represents 187,395
 
10 students from two hundred fifty secondary public schools
 
11 statewide.  The student member has the same responsibilities as
 
12 the other thirteen board members, except for voting privileges.
 
13 In 1998, the role of the student member was fully utilized when
 
14 Janelle Ishida, 1997-1998 student member, chaired the student
 
15 services committee, the first time a student member has chaired a
 
16 committee.  The 1998-1999 student member, Jessica Preece, also
 
17 chaired the board's student services committee, which required a
 
18 high level of leadership and responsibility.  In the 1998 "Kids
 
19 Vote" elections as reported by the The Honolulu Advertiser
 
20 (Thursday, November 5, 1998), 26,435 students voted "yes"
 

 
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 1 (eighty-six per cent) for a voting student member.
 
 2      The legislature further finds that California has had a
 
 3 voting student member since 1983, Maryland since 1985,
 
 4 Massachusetts since 1971, and students on the boards of education
 
 5 in Tennessee, the District of Columbia, and Guam also have voting
 
 6 rights.  In the Montgomery County board of education in the State
 
 7 of Maryland, the student member has the same rights and
 
 8 privileges of an elected member except that the student member
 
 9 may not vote on matters relating to capital and operating
 
10 budgets, school closings, school reopenings and boundaries,
 
11 personnel matters governed by law, and collective bargaining.
 
12 The student member may indicate a preference, and the vote of the
 
13 student is recorded in parentheses on these issues.  If invited
 
14 to do so by a majority vote of the seven full voting members of
 
15 the board, notwithstanding the lack of a vote, the student member
 
16 may attend personnel hearings and closed sessions related to
 
17 collective bargaining.  The student member may also make motions
 
18 or second motions made by others.  However, the student's right
 
19 to vote on these motions is predicated upon whether it concerns a
 
20 matter on which the student member's vote counts.
 
21      The purpose of this Act is to propose an amendment to
 
22 article X, section 2, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii
 
23 to provide that the public high school student member on the
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           2461
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 board of education shall serve as a voting member, excluding
 
 2 personnel matters.
 
 3      SECTION 2.  Article X, section 2, of the Constitution of the
 
 4 State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:
 
 5                        "BOARD OF EDUCATION
 
 6      Section 2.  There shall be a board of education composed of
 
 7 members who shall be elected in a nonpartisan manner by qualified
 
 8 voters, as provided by law, from two at-large school board
 
 9 districts.  The first school board district shall be comprised of
 
10 the island of Oahu and all other islands not specifically
 
11 enumerated.  The second school board district shall be comprised
 
12 of the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Molokai, Kahoolawe, Kauai
 
13 and Niihau.  Each at-large school board district shall be divided
 
14 into departmental school districts, as may be provided by law.
 
15 There shall be at least one member residing in each departmental
 
16 school district.  The Hawaii State Student Council shall select a
 
17 public high school student to serve as a [nonvoting] voting
 
18 member, excluding personnel matters, on the board of education."
 
19      SECTION 3.  The question to be printed on the ballot shall
 
20 be as follows:
 
21      "Shall the public high school student member on the board of
 
22      education serve as a voting member, excluding personnel
 
23      matters?"
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           2461
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      SECTION 4.  Constitutional material to be repealed is
 
 2 bracketed.  New constitutional material is underscored.
 
 3      SECTION 5.  This amendment shall take effect upon compliance
 
 4 with article XVII, section 3, of the Constitution of the State of
 
 5 Hawaii.
 
 6 
 
 7                           INTRODUCED BY: ________________________