Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Labor and Public Employment and Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2332 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to reform the State's public education system by statutorily eliminating the Department of Education (DOE) and Board of Education (BOE) and replacing them with an appointed state Education Standards and Accountability Commission and at least seven local boards of education.

The Office of the Governor, Department of Human Resources Development, Department of Budget and Finance, and a number of concerned individuals submitted testimony in support of this bill. BOE, DOE, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Government Employees Association, ILWU Local 142, and numerous individuals submitted testimony in opposition to this bill. The Hawaii Educational Policy Center, Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, Office of Information Practices, Hawaii Charter Schools Network, and an individual submitted comments.

Your Committees have amended this bill by inserting the substantive provisions of H.B. No. 2331, which proposes a constitutional amendment to eliminate DOE and BOE and replace them with an appointed state Education Standards and Accountability Commission and at least seven local boards of education. To facilitate further discussion, your Committees have further amended this bill by:

(2) Deleting effective dates.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Labor and Public Employment and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2332, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2332, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.