STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1526

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 135

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 135 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO STUDY THE AIR COOLING NEEDS OF EACH SCHOOL COMPLEX AND TO REVIEW THE FEASIBILITY OF USING ALTERNATIVE AIR COOLING METHODS SUCH AS FANS, HEAT REDUCTION, INSULATION, AND ENERGY EFFICIENT INDIVIDUAL AIR CONDITIONING WALL UNITS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request the Department of Education to conduct a study on the air cooling needs of each school complex and to review the feasibility of providing alternative air cooling methods in the public schools.

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

     Your Committee finds that although Hawaii's tropical climate is ideal for outdoor recreational activities, it is not necessarily conducive to learning for public school students.  Many of Hawaii's public schools are not equipped with air conditioning or other temperature reduction measures, which can make the classroom environments uncomfortable and even unbearable for students and teachers alike.  Your Committee further finds that the Department of Education maintains a lengthy priority list of schools which need to be equipped with air conditioning systems, which will require costs of approximately $1,000,000,000 over approximately a five-year period.  Additionally, testimony provided indicated that it would cost an estimated $50,000 to $75,000 merely to conduct a study of temperature-reducing measures that could be implemented for all public schools. 

     Your Committee understands that providing air conditioning for all public schools is a costly endeavor that may also take a long period of time to accomplish.  However, your Committee remains committed to ensuring that efforts are made to provide healthful and comfortable surroundings for our students and teachers.  Given the increased responsibility and autonomy at the complex level, your Committee believes that this measure should allow the complexes to provide information on developing alternative methods for reducing the temperature of classrooms in order to provide public school students with suitable learning environments.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended the title and text of this measure by:

     (1)  Specifying that each school complex is requested to study the air cooling needs of the schools within the complex and review the feasibility of using alternative cooling methods through changes made to the measure's title and body;

     (2)  Specifying that each school complex report also include information on:

          (A)  Prioritization of the needs for cooling that differentiates the needs of buildings and classrooms within each school; and

          (B)  Mitigation measures that address solutions spanning from one classroom, one floor, or one building to several buildings that does not assume mitigation for the entire school; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 135, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 135, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair