STAND. COM. REP. NO.  204-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   H.B. No. 2972

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 2972 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to revitalize school facilities statewide and to more effectively and efficiently use our taxpayers' investment in public education.  Specifically, this bill provides for the timely construction, expansion, consolidation, or closure of public schools in Hawaii through an objective and transparent process that:

(1)  Includes the establishment of a Facilities Alignment Commission (Commission) that will:

(A)  Establish criteria for the selection of public schools to be constructed, expanded, consolidated, or closed; and

(B)  Recommend a list of areas for new school construction, and of schools for expansion, consolidation, or closure, subject to the review of the legislature;

and

(2)  Directs the Board of Education to proceed with the process of constructing, expanding, consolidating, or closing underused schools according to the recommendations of the Commission, if the legislature does not disapprove of the recommendations in their entirety.

     The Department of Budget and Finance testified in support of this bill.  The Department of Education (DOE) opposed this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Removing the specification that the facilities plan prepared by DOE include 30-year projections; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, 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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2972, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2972, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

ROY TAKUMI, Chair