STAND. COM. REP. NO.1416
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2001
RE: S.B. No. 1567
S.D. 2
H.D. 2
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2001
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 1567, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOL COMPLEXES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to:
(1) Require the Department of Education (DOE) to provide free or subsidized bus fare to students who qualify for free or reduced school lunch and who are forced to transfer schools within a school complex based on redistricting;
(2) Require DOE to delay for one year the current redistricting plan for school complexes;
(3) Provide that all homeowners within the Mauka Lani Elementary School district, as of the effective date of this measure, are grandfathered into that district under the current redistricting plan, and all subsequent homeowners shall be assigned to appropriate schools as determined by DOE;
(4) Appropriate funds for costs associated with the subsidized bus fare; and
(5) Appropriate funds for one full-time security guard at Barbers Point Elementary School.
Several individuals submitted testimony in support of the bill. The Senator from the 20th District and several individuals submitted testimony in support of the bill with amendments. DOE and several individuals provided comments on the bill. The Principal of Mauka Lani Elementary School and several individuals testified in opposition to the bill.
After careful consideration of the various positions presented at the hearing on this bill, your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Deleting the mandate, and its supporting appropriation, to DOE to subsidize the bus fare of students forced to transfer to other schools due to the redistricting plan;
(2) Requiring DOE, in cases of student-transfers due to redistricting, to mail notices to parents of the students and hold a public hearing at least nine months prior to the date of transfer for input from the parents of the affected students;
(3) Postponing until July 1, 2002, the implementation of the current redistricting plan for the school complex that includes Mauka Lani Elementary School and Makakilo Elementary School; and
(4) Expressly providing that residents within the Mauka Lani Elementary School and Makakilo Elementary School districts, as of December 31, 2000, shall be allowed to remain as part of their respective district boundary; and residents moving into these districts after December 31, 2000, may be assigned to appropriate schools as determined by DOE.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1567, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1567, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,
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____________________________ DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair |
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