STAND. COM. REP. NO.1196

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 714

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 714, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure, as received by your Committee, is to propose various amendments to state law to allow the Department of Education to act as an autonomous political subdivision, and to establish an Educational Restructuring and Transition Advisory Committee (ERTAC).

Testimony in support of the intent of the measure was submitted by the Board of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. Comments on this measure were submitted by the Hawaii Government Employees Association Local 152 and the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that many proposals have been discussed by this and prior Legislatures regarding how to effectuate positive reform within our public school system with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement. Your Committee further finds that while there still appears to be differing views about how to accomplish systemic reform, there does appear to be a growing consensus that most administrative functions and control over resources need to be managed closer to the school-level. Your Committee acknowledges that while this conceptual agreement is an important first step, providing the proper alignment of legal authorities and responsibilities prior to the execution of decentralization is critical to its success. Therefore, your Committee believes that the Legislature must continue to move forward with proposals to make statutory changes to support decentralization of administrative functions to the extent practicable while remaining committed to seeking solutions to issues such as how to adequately fund and fairly allocate resources to our public schools as well as how to configure local governance structures that will work in concert with decentralization proposals under discussion by this Legislature.

Thus, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting all the amendments in Sections 1 to 5 of this measure, that would propose to make the Department of Education an autonomous political subdivision;

(2) Inserting a proposed constitutional amendment to authorize the Legislature to establish regional boards of education with powers as provided by law to formulate regional education policy and to appoint regional superintendents of education;

(3) Inserting a proposed ballot question to reflect the proposed constitutional amendment;

(4) Reconfiguring the composition of the ERTAC and administratively attaching the ERTAC to the Legislature;

(5) Requiring the ERTAC to request the Department of Education and the State Library System to identify state and federal mandates establishing public school structure and programs and current funding levels therefor, and make recommendations on reorganizing and consolidating such under a regional administrative structure;

(6) Requiring the ERTAC to request the Department of Education and the State Library System to project future resource needs to meet increased demand for services and to comply with state and federal mandates;

(7) Requiring the ERTAC to request the Governor to identify state mandates establishing programs to support the public school system, and make recommendations on reorganizing and consolidating such under a regional administrative structure;

(8) Requiring the ERTAC to evaluate and make recommendations on the effectiveness of school/community-based management and school complex-based management within a regional structure

(9) Requiring the ERTAC to evaluate and make recommendations on how to ensure an adequate source of state funds and an equitable allocation mechanism of funds within a regional structure;

(10) Requiring the ERTAC to evaluate and make recommendations on how to support community partnerships and community resources within a regional structure;

(11) Requiring the ERTAC to evaluate and make recommendations concerning the need for regional school boards and regional superintendents;

(12) Requiring the ERTAC to submit three reports, the first prior to the regular session of 2004, the second prior to the regular session of 2005, and the final report, including a summary of the two prior reports, prior to the regular session of 2006;

(13) Requiring the Legislative Reference Bureau to prepare legislation to reflect the recommendations of the ERTAC;

(14) Changing the effective date to include the consideration of the ratification of the constitutional amendment in this measure; and

(15) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 714, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 714, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committees on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair