Report Title:

DOE; Schools Within Schools; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates funds for grants by the department of education for the establishment of schools within schools on certain high school campuses. 

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2690
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that Hawaii's high schools' average enrollment is the nation's second largest.  Evidence is now extensive, indicating that small schools have major benefits over larger schools, including higher attendance and graduation rates, higher levels of academic achievement, fewer students dropping out, a stronger sense of connectedness on the part of students and higher levels of participation in extracurricular activities, greater parental involvement, and better student behavior and fewer disciplinary incidents.

     The legislature further finds that students from minority and low-income families are particularly handicapped by large schools and greatly benefited by small schools.  Research strongly indicates the need to downsize Hawaii's high schools. However, the weighted student formula method of school financing, to which we are committed, either penalizes small schools or makes necessary supplementary funding not covered by the approach, which, ironically, seeks explicitly to aid those students who would benefit most from the smaller schools.

     The purpose of this Act is to provide funding for the establishment of smaller schools within large high schools, in the form of academies, schools within schools, or smaller learning communities.

     SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for the awarding of grants for establishing smaller schools within public high schools, in the form of schools within schools, academies, or smaller learning communities; provided that:

     (1)  Priority for funding shall be provided to high schools with total enrollment of one thousand eight hundred students or more;

     (2)  The curriculum, organization, and schedule for the smaller school are planned by its teachers;

     (3)  The plan for the smaller school contemplates establishment extending over a several-year period to allow students to graduate therefrom;

     (4)  The smaller school has a theme on the basis of which it can be chosen by students sharing similar interests; provided that the themes may represent prospective careers or interests, such as sports, drama, or writing, but not academic disciplines;

     (5)  The theme of the smaller school permeates all classes, to the greatest extent possible;

     (6)  Students and teachers of the smaller school take and teach, respectively, all of their classes within the smaller school, to the extent possible; provided that at least seventy-five per cent of the courses are taken and taught in the smaller school each semester;

     (7)  The teachers of the smaller school endeavor to meet weekly to analyze progress and necessary change;

     (8)  The smaller school be fully committed to the academic, social, emotional, physical, and moral development of each of its students;

     (9)  The smaller school provides each student with an advisor who shall meet regularly with the student in a group that may include the advisor and other advisees for the duration of the student's time at the school;

    (10)  The smaller school provides weekly school wide governance at which deliberate efforts at community building are made;

    (11)  Enrollment in the smaller school shall not exceed four hundred students;

    (12)  The smaller school shall maintain its own separate, contiguous assigned space;

    (13)  The smaller school shall select a teacher leader for a term of three to four years, who shall be responsible for staffing, calling and chairing staff meetings, and scheduling; and

    (14)  The smaller school may receive a start-up grant in an amount not to exceed $110,000 to recompense teachers for the planning time involved in designing the smaller school prior to opening and to pay for any special equipment necessary for the school's theme.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

INTRODUCED BY:

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