RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, public education is the foundation of our economy as well as a fundamental responsibility of society to its youth; and

WHEREAS, the community of Kihei is one of the fastest growing communities in Hawaii: the number of residents nearly doubled to 15,365 in the ten years ending in 1990, and its current population is estimated at 17,000; and

WHEREAS, the community of Kihei and the surrounding south Maui region is an economic engine, a visitor and economic core of Maui, with no public high school to serve its high school-aged students; and

WHEREAS, the two public high schools closest to Kihei, Baldwin High School and Maui High School, already exceed the Board of Education's design size of one high school per one thousand students, with Baldwin High School currently eleven per cent over capacity, and Maui High School currently ten per cent over capacity; and

WHEREAS, at least six hundred students from Kihei attend Maui High School, which is approximately an hour commute by school bus every school day, and at least two hundred students from Kihei attend Baldwin High School, which is also approximately an hour commute by school bus every school day, thereby adding to traffic congestion and facility overcrowding; and

WHEREAS, the distance between Kihei and both Maui High and Baldwin High schools discourages students from Kihei from participating in after-school activities at Maui High and Baldwin High schools; and

WHEREAS, a public facilities assessment update of the county of Maui reported that based on its projection, Kihei will include 1,138 high school-aged children by 2005 and taking into account the Board of Education's design size of one high school per one thousand students, the construction of a regional high school in Kihei in 2005 is essential and justified; and

WHEREAS, the Kihei/Makena Community Plan for 2004 states that one of its objectives and policies is to build a high school to serve the Kihei region when required to accommodate growth; and

WHEREAS, the Kihei/Makena Community Plan for 2004 also states that one of its implementing actions is to plan and locate a site for a high school to serve the Kihei region; and

WHEREAS, although a public charter high school opened in Kihei in 2001, it has enrollment limits of between sixty and two hundred students; and

WHEREAS, Kihei students deserve access to a larger capacity, fully equipped turn-key high school with comprehensive facilities and curriculum and a wide range of extra curricular programs and activities; and

WHEREAS, charter school officials have expressed an interest in co-locating at the new high school site thereby creating additional educational options for Kihei students; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature appropriated planning and design funds totaling $5,500,000 to develop a new public high school in Kihei and has expressed its willingness to be flexible in making future appropriations of funds for the new public high school in Kihei; and

WHEREAS, an additional appropriation of $4,250,000 would allow a developer to design and obtain a permit for a new public high school in Kihei and construction could begin when the additional funding is appropriated; and

WHEREAS, the design and permitting of a new public high school in Kihei will take approximately twenty-eight months; and

WHEREAS, due to the scarcity of funding resources, it is necessary for the State to examine various alternative means of financing a new public school in Kihei, Maui; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is requested to investigate alternate means of financing a new public high school in Kihei, Maui, excluding certificates of participation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to report findings and recommendations, including any necessary proposed legislation, to the Legislature twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2006; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Comptroller, the Superintendent of Education, and the Chair and members of the Board of Education.

Report Title:

Education; New Public High School in Kihei, Maui