Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 528 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to hire additional career counselors for each public high school based on school enrollment.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association.

Your Committee finds that additional counselors are needed to address the transition of students in high schools to post-secondary institutions. The additional staffing in this measure will be beneficial to students who currently are unable to see a counselor due to the counselor's heavy workload. Furthermore, although student enrollment at a school may be small, the demands on the counselors are just as great as in the larger schools.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by removing the enrollment standard and replacing it with language to assist the department in meeting the American School Counselor Association standards.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 528, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 528, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.