WHEREAS, many school districts including Hawaii are undertaking major development to build new, and renovate existing, educational facilities to accommodate new population growth, aging facilities, and population displacement; and

WHEREAS, the need for capital improvement projects must compete with other necessities for limited state resources; and

WHEREAS, the determination by which projects receive funding is presently based on the Department of Education's Hawaii Capital Improvement Project Priority System matrix which, for the most part, assigns the highest priority to projects based first on serious health and safety concerns, then classroom construction and support facilities projects, and finally, to state and district facilities projects; and

WHEREAS, the aging of facilities, as well as the current and proposed educational programs the facilities are designed to meet, are important indicators for assessing and reassessing the priority needs of the students, schools, and the Department; and

WHEREAS, educational programs continue to evolve over time to meet the changing needs of society, but many of the Department's physical facilities have not been updated to meet the requirements of current educational programs due to the paucity of funds; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that the Department of Education is urged to take into account, when determining priorities, the state of the school facilities, including the need to renovate aging classroom spaces that were originally designed for an educational program that is no longer appropriate, and other changing educational needs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department's Matrix shall accommodate these needs when prioritizing projects; and

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

Report Title:

DOE; CIP Prioritization Lists