STAND. COM. REP. NO.502
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2003
RE: S.B. No. 995
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 S.B. No. 995 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 change the minimum age requirement for entrance into kindergarten within the public school system.
Your Committee scheduled for public hearing a proposed Senate Draft 1 that deleted the contents of this measure and substituted therefor provisions that:
(1) Provide for a statewide consolidated textbook and instructional materials list to be developed by the department and from which not more than three textbooks may be used for any course of study and which shall be used consistently within each school complex;
(2) Authorize the Department of Education to participate in cooperative purchasing agreements to achieve economies of scale and thereby lower price per unit costs;
(3) Authorize the schools to purchase textbooks for parents who will reimburse the schools for such textbooks; and
(4) Authorize the Department of Education to assess and collect a textbook and instructional materials fee from each student the beginning of each term, unless they are unable to pay such fee.
The Department of Education submitted testimony supporting the intent but expressing concerns about portions of the proposed Senate Draft 1.
Your Committee finds that many of our public school students do not have adequate supplies of textbooks nor instructional materials, and this problem seems to be exacerbated by the lack of a coherent textbook selection and purchasing policy within our public school system. Your Committee further acknowledges that in some situations, sufficient textbooks may not be available due to lost books and lack of sufficient resources for their replacement. Thus, your Committee believes that a multi-prong response to this problem is necessary, and thus is supporting the provisions as articulated in the proposed Senate Draft 1.
After further discussion regarding this issue, your Committee is recommending further amendments to the proposed Senate Draft 1 as follows:
(1) Allowing the complexes to select six, rather than three, textbooks for use in a course of study within a school complex;
(2) Assessing an unspecified amount as a textbook deposit fee upon entering students that will be retained by the school and returned to the student when they leave the school provided that all textbooks have been returned in usable condition;
(3) Assessing up to a $20 per student annual textbook and instructional materials fee on students unless they are unable to pay such fee; and
(4) 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 S.B. No. 995, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 995, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,
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____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair |
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