STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2205

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2689

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Education and Economic Development and Taxation, to which was referred S.B. No. 2689 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN PUBLIC EDUCATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to support science and technology resource needs within the Department of Education.

     Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Department of Education; the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; and HiTech Quest.

     Your Committees find that, in what is quickly becoming the global community in which we live, the disciplines of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (STEM) have emerged as areas of great importance and need.  The Legislature is committed to growing STEM education and a STEM-skilled workforce to meet the needs of our changing world.  This commitment was solidified through the enactment of Act 111, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, which established various programs and provided funding for STEM initiatives within the State.  This measure provides necessary funding to continue to support STEM needs.

     Your Committees believe that such funding is appropriate and demonstrates the State's continued commitment to facilitating and supporting STEM education in Hawaii.  Testimony provided also indicated that the positions funded in this measure should be accountable to the State Specialist for Science Education and that the charter schools should also benefit from STEM funding.  Your Committees concur with these recommendations.

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the positions established and funding provided in this measure for STEM education support needs to be administered under the direction of the State Specialist for Science Education;

     (2)  Including a blank appropriation for science and technology initiatives in charters schools; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Economic Development and Taxation that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2689, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2689, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Economic Development and Taxation,

____________________________ CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair

____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair