Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2229 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to provide bus transportation for students attending Hawaiian language immersion schools.

Testimony in support of the measure was received from the Department of Education and two private citizens.

Your Committees find that since the inception of the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program in 1987, the program has grown significantly. For the 2001-2002 school year, the total enrollment was 1,621 students, supported by 116 teachers and locations on the islands of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Hawaii.

Your Committees also find that if the Hawaiian language immersion program is to be sustained without having to build new facilities for the sole purpose of housing immersion programs, bus transportation to existing immersion programs are necessary.

Your Committees therefore believe that the measure will provide the opportunity for more students to attend a Hawaiian language immersion program school.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2229 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.