STAND. COM. REP. NO.2570

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 2512

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2512, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHARTER SCHOOLS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to place new century charter schools and their teachers on a more level playing field with public schools and their teachers.

Specifically, this measure:

(1) Requires new century charter school teachers to receive probationary and tenure status, and to acquire seniority if they meet the requirements set forth for public school teachers;

(2) Requires charter schools to receive a per pupil allocation of state funds based on the total Department of Education appropriation and projected per pupil allocation for the current fiscal year, excluding EDN 150 (comprehensive school support services), EDN 407 (public libraries), and AGS 807 (physical plant operations & maintenance—AGS);

(3) Requires the Department of Education to determine and provide the appropriate level of special education staff and services necessary to ensure that a charter school student's educational needs, as indicated in the individualized educational plan, are met;

(4) Limits reimbursements to the Department of Education for administrative services related to federal grants and subsidies to six and one-half per cent of a charter school's federal grants and subsidies, rather than six and one-half per cent of a charter school's allocation;

(5) Requires the Department of Education to:

(A) Provide fifty per cent of a charter school's per pupil allocation based on the charter school's projected student enrollment no later than August 1 of each year; and

(B) Provide the remaining per pupil allocation of a charter school based on the charter school's verified student enrollment no later than October 15 of each year;

(6) Repeals the law capping the per pupil allocation for self-contained special education students and for other special education students in charter schools to the increment available to all other public schools;

(7) Repeals the law capping the per pupil allocation for charter schools to the Department of Education's average per pupil expenditure based upon the inclusion of similar cost items, in the previous fiscal year; and

(8) Repeals the law requiring the Auditor to explicitly consider the advice of the Superintendent and representatives of local school boards when determining the per pupil allocation for charter schools.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Reinserting the word "general" (as in "state [general] funds") into section 2 of this measure (at page 1, line 12) as the text of section 302A-1185(a), Hawaii Revised Statutes, differs from the printed version of the Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

(2) Making a technical nonsubstantive change for purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2512, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2512, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair