STAND. COM. REP. 826

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 289

H.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 289, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to enhance the performance of our schools by decentralizing certain aspects of educational governance. This bill:

(1) Decentralizes administrative authority to complex areas that encompass multiple school complexes; and

(2) Establishes advisory boards to be appointed by the Board of Education (BOE). Each board would serve a single complex area.

The Department of Education (DOE), BOE, and Hawaii Business Roundtable testified in support of this bill. The Hawaii State Teachers Association and the Hawaii Government Employees Association supported the intent of this measure.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Replacing references to advisory boards with complex area school councils (councils);

(2) Requiring rather than authorizing the Superintendent to:

(a) Organize DOE into complex areas consisting of multiple school complexes;

(b) Establish administrative units to provide administrative support to the schools; and

(c) Establish councils to serve regions to be determined by the Superintendent;

(3) Requiring that there shall be the same number of councils as complex areas;

(4) Specifying that the composition of the seven-member council shall include at least one student, one parent, and one teacher;

(5) Specifying that the rules established by BOE shall address the operation and scope of the councils and the nomination of its members;

(6) Requiring the councils to perform a variety of duties including the following:

(a) Conduct community meetings;

(b) Coordinate with and receive input from teachers, administrators, students, and other educational stakeholders;

(c) Perform informal assessments of complex area superintendents;

(d) Forward a priority list of capital improvement projects within each complex area to BOE;

(e) Prioritize repair and maintenance projects and expend aggregated discretionary funds for these projects; and

(f) Manage block grants or other funding provided for schools within each complex area;

and

(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of consistency and clarity.

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 H.B. No. 289, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 289, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

 

____________________________

DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair