STAND. COM. REP. NO.762
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2003
RE: S.B. No. 396
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. 396 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHARTER SCHOOLS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to establish a residency requirement for students enrolled in e-charter schools.
Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Education. The Hawaii State Teachers Association submitted testimony in support of the intent of the measure.
Your Committee finds that the use of distance learning through electronic technology is an innovative way to teach content knowledge and computer literacy to children of all ages. Your Committee further finds that the establishment of an e-charter school to provide distance learning services is an appropriate alternative learning structure as was intended for charter schools. Your Committee agrees that students of e-charter schools should, at the time of their enrollment, be residents of the State or share resident status with their parents. However, your Committee further believes that students who may need to be temporarily absent from the State should be able to continue to participate in the e-charter school, provided that they intend to return to the State prior to completion of their educational program.
Thus, based on these findings, your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Providing that a student be age 18 years or younger to be eligible to enroll in an e-charter school;
(2) Deleting the provision authorizing the Department of Education to adopt rules to define "resident of the State" and instead requiring that the student or the student's parents or guardians physically reside in the State, or the student's parents or guardians reside in the State while serving in the armed forces, in order to enroll in an e-charter school;
(3) Allowing a student to remain enrolled in an e-charter school while temporarily absent from the State if the student intends to return to the State to complete the student's educational program; 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. 396, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 396, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,
____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair |
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