CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 93-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: S.B. No. 17
S.D. 1
H.D. 1
C.D. 2
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 17, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"
having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.
The purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Advance the cutoff age for kindergarten to children who are five years old by August 1 beginning with the 2005-2006 school year;
(2) Require the Department of Education to offer appropriate educational services for those children born August 2 to December 31 of the same school year ("the gap group"); and
(3) Request the Department of Education to conduct a study and report on programmatic and fiscal impacts of providing gap group programs.
Your Committee finds that the children of the gap group have a need for educational services to facilitate their development and educational success, although this must be developmentally-appropriate and may not necessarily include participation in a kindergarten program. Since assessments for school readiness are still being developed, the age of the student will be used as the initial assessment for entry to junior kindergarten or kindergarten.
Your Committee further finds that there are a variety of school and community situations throughout the public schools of Hawaii which call for a variety of approaches to this issue.
As these are students the Department of Education currently serves, the establishment of a two-tier junior kindergarten and kindergarten program would better serve them. For this reason, your Committee anticipates that, except for the appropriation of $100,000 for the pilot program, this program will be essentially budget-neutral into the foreseeable future.
Your Committee has amended this measure by requiring the Department of Education to establish a two-tier junior kindergarten and kindergarten program to support the range of developmental abilities of children in junior kindergarten and kindergarten which shall include any or all of the following models:
(1) Classrooms composed exclusively of either junior kindergarten or kindergarten students;
(2) Coordination with public, private, or public-private entities to address the needs of junior kindergarten-eligible students within the school's community; and
(3) The blending of junior kindergarten and kindergarten students in a single classroom.
Your Committee has further amended the measure by:
(1) Amending the purpose section to clearly reflect and explain the above-mentioned changes;
(2) Excluding new century charter schools and new century conversion charter schools from mandatory participation in the two-tier junior kindergarten and kindergarten program;
(3) Authorizing schools to move students between junior kindergartens and kindergartens as schools deem appropriate;
(4) Allowing junior kindergarten students to graduate directly to grade one;
(5) Allowing the Department of Education to accept gifts to establish and maintain junior kindergartens;
(6) Clarifying that the two-tier junior kindergarten and kindergarten program shall be a pilot program during the 2005-2006 school year and required of all public elementary schools by the 2006-2007 school year;
(7) Requiring the Department of Education to submit findings and recommendations to the Legislature regarding the implementation of the two-tier junior kindergarten and kindergarten program prior to the Regular Sessions of 2005, 2006, and 2007;
(8) Requiring the Department of Education to develop assessments to aid in the placement of students in the appropriate classroom; and
(9) Adding an appropriation to be effective on July 1, 2004, in the amount of $100,000 for planning, piloting, curriculum development, assessment, and reporting, including longitudinal data.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 17, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 17, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:
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ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE |
ON THE PART OF THE SENATE |
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____________________________ ROY TAKUMI, Co-Chair |
____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair |
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____________________________ JON RIKI KARAMATSU, Co-Chair |
____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Co-Chair |
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