STAND. COM. REP. NO. 108

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1278

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Education and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1278 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to:

     (1)  Prohibit movement of junior kindergarten and kindergarten students between tiers, except under certain circumstances;

     (2)  Prohibit a junior kindergartener from directly graduating to the first grade;

     (3)  Establish a separate curriculum for the junior kindergarten program;

     (4)  Require the Department of Education to staff junior kindergartens with qualified preschool teachers and teacher aides; and

     (5)  Appropriate funds for the implementation of a junior kindergarten program with a certain student-teacher ratio.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by one private organization and six individuals.  Testimony in opposition was submitted by two state agencies, one private organization, and one school.  Copies of written testimony are available for review on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee understands that the nature of the developmental learning sequence of young children is very dynamic.  Young students who appear to be behind their peers at the beginning of the year may in fact catch up and be fully prepared for entrance into the first grade by the end of the school year.  Your Committee has heard a number of concerns by the Department of Education regarding this measure, in particular the prohibition to advance a junior kindergartener to grade one in a year.

Your Committee notes that the Department is committed to developing appropriate assessment protocols that may be used to screen a child for areas of readiness, as well as areas of skill and knowledge development.

     Your Committee has amended this measure accordingly, by:

     (1)  Allowing a junior kindergarten student to graduate directly to the first grade under certain circumstances;

     (2)  Removing references to preschool teacher aides, as these are not preschool programs;

     (3)  Clarifying the minimum standards for teachers and teacher aides; and

     (4)  Adding appropriations for teacher professional development to address curricular, instructional, and assessment practices in a two-tiered kindergarten, with a focus on junior kindergarten.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1278, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1278, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair