STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1735

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 57

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Education and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 57 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT OF 2001,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request the United States Congress to propose amendments to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Education, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, the College of Education Faculty Senate, and four individuals.

     Your Committees find that the Department of Education has been subject to several mandates that have drained resources and taken the focus away from various programs and objectives under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.  Your Committees further find that the No Child Left Behind Act requires a narrow focus on the basics, which has led to a move away from the implementation of best practices and cutting edge educational research to achieve higher test scores.  Your Committees determine that the No Child Left Behind Act also provides unfunded mandates and fails to concentrate efforts on providing a well-rounded, comprehensive education for our students.  In 2007, the United States Congress is faced with a decision as to whether to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, allow the law to lapse, or replace it with a new law.  Your Committees find that the current provisions of the law should be examined and amended to address the current needs of public schools and public school students to facilitate maximum efficiency and student achievement.

     Based on the testimony provided, your Committees believe that further clarification and specification is required and has amended this measure by requesting that, among the issues and amendments the United States Congress should address, are the following:

     (1)  Improving teacher quality, preparation, and training;

     (2)  Improving assessment measures and systems;

     (3)  Improving accountability models, indicators of performance, and consequences;

     (4)  Augmenting resources to assist states in efforts to accomplish challenging educational initiatives;

     (5)  Supporting innovation, capacity building, and flexibility to address state and local education needs; and

     (6)  Returning to original intent and purpose of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 57, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 57, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair