STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2252

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2728

       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 Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2728 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE IMMERSION PROGRAM,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Education for the establishment of off-ratio teacher positions at schools with Hawaiian Language Immersion Programs in need of additional supplemental teaching positions.

     Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Department of Education, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and thirty-three individuals.

     Your Committees find that Hawaiian Language Immersion Programs in the public schools help to fulfill the State's constitutional mandate to promote the study of Hawaiian language, culture, and history.  These programs provide students with an invaluable opportunity to excel in general content areas while learning Hawaiian, which is an official language of the State.  This measure provides funding for necessary off-ratio positions in schools with Hawaiian Language Immersion Programs that are not receiving adequate funding under the weighted student formula as a result of lower student enrollment and a lack of justification for regular position allocations.  Your Committees believe that this funding is essential to the preservation and perpetuation of the Hawaiian language and culture for present and future generations.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2728, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2728, 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 Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________ JILL TOKUDA, Chair

____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair