Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 961 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Good Beginnings Alliance.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Good Beginnings Alliance; the Immediate Past President of the Good Beginnings Alliance Board of Directors; Good Beginnings Oahu Council; Hawaii Association of Independent Schools; Hawaii Business Roundtable; Waianae Coast Early Childhood Services, Inc.; Hawaii Association for the Education of Young Children; and six concerned citizens. Testimony opposing this measure was submitted by the Department of Human Services and the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that the Good Beginnings Alliance, established in response to Act 77, Session Laws of Hawaii 1997, is a public-private partnership charged with the responsibility for improving early childhood outcomes through the development of quality early childhood education and care and related family support services. Specifically, the Good Beginnings Alliance develops policy recommendations concerning all aspects of a coordinated early childhood education and care system, including coordination strategies, resource development, and advocacy.

Your Committees further find that the Good Beginnings Alliance is charged with ensuring forward and strategic movement with families, communities, providers, policymakers, and other partners who share a commitment to the goal, adopted by the 1998 Legislature in House Concurrent Resolution No. 38, S.D. 1, of all children in Hawaii starting school safe, healthy, and ready to succeed.

Hawaii recognizes the importance of early childhood development on future learning so children will be ready to succeed in school. There is increasing national and local focus on the need for quality early childhood programs and experiences in preparing children for kindergarten and beyond. The Legislature, by enacting Act 13, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, which added a definition of "school readiness" to Act 77, Session Laws of Hawaii 1997, recognized the importance of positive interactions among family, school, community, and the child, and reaffirmed the critical role of the Good Beginnings Alliance as the focal point for policy development and the development and coordination of quality early childhood services.

Your Committees note that the Department of Human Services' inability to support this measure, despite its strong support of the Good Beginnings Alliance and its various initiatives to improve the quality of early childhood education in Hawaii, was due to its concerns about the funding mechanism. Your Committees accordingly have requested an opinion from the Attorney General as to the legality of the funding mechanism proposed in this measure, which should be provided by February 25, 2003. Your Committees defer to the Committee on Ways and Means as to the most appropriate means by which to ensure continued annual funding for the public-private partnership established in response to Act 77, Session Laws of Hawaii 1997, that is integral to policy development and the implementation of a coordinated early childhood education and care system for the children of Hawaii.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 961 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.