RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, student exchange programs involving students in Hawaii's schools provide the opportunity to learn first-hand the diverse cultures of other countries of the world; and

WHEREAS, these exchanges also foster and sustain good relationships and cultural exchange between foreign countries and the State of Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the student exchange program between the State of Hawaii and the educational system in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture, now in its fifteenth year, has demonstrated the benefits and cost-effectiveness of these programs; and

WHEREAS, implementing similar student exchange programs between Hawaii and the sister provinces in the Republic of the Philippines and other international provinces and prefectures with which the State has state-province-prefecture relationships would provide a more concrete and viable connection between the State and those provinces and prefectures than a mere paper relationship; and

WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii has established sister state-province-prefecture relationships with the Azores Islands in Portugal; Jeju Island in Korea; Fukuoka Prefecture, Hiroshima Prefecture, and Okinawa Prefecture in Japan; Guangdong Province, Hainan Province, and Tianjin City in the Republic of China; Taiwan Province; and Cebu Province, Ilocos Norte Province, Ilocos Sur Province, and Pangasinan Province in the Philippines; and

WHEREAS, the Governors of the sister provinces and prefectures internationally and in the Republic of the Philippines, with which the State with which the state has state-province-prefecture relationships, have expressed a strong interest in developing student exchange programs; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii-based ethnic and community organizations that promote sister state-province-prefecture relationships are recognized as the key participants who will determine the success or failure of such exchange programs; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature requests the Department of Education, the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, and the University of Hawaii to assist and support the various Hawaii ethnic communities and organizations in the planning and implementation of student, faculty, and administrative staff exchange programs to involve students, faculty, and administrative staff in the public and private schools in Hawaii and students, faculty, and administrative staff in schools in the provinces and prefectures with which the state has state-province-prefecture relationships; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature expresses, on behalf of itself, the Filipino community of Hawaii, and other ethnic communities involved in sister state-province-prefecture relationships, strong support for the planning and implementation of such exchange programs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education, the President of the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, the President of the University of Hawaii, the Chancellor of the University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus, and the respective Chancellors of the Community Colleges, the University of Hawaii Center on Philippine Studies, and the Governor, who, in turn, is requested to transmit copies to the Governors of the provinces and prefectures with which Hawaii has sister state-province-prefecture relationships, and the respective community and ethnic organizations supporting the sister provinces and prefectures of the State of Hawaii.

Report Title:

Student Exchange Programs