STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2144

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2349

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Education and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2349 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to allow home-schooled students to participate on an equal basis in extracurricular activities offered at the public school they would otherwise be required to attend.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by one state agency and one individual.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by one private organization and one individual.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee recognizes the concerns of the Athletic Directors and Coaches Association of Hawaii (ADCA) relating to funding; eligibility requirements; monitoring of Department of Education standards, rules, and policies; transfer rules; the potential for illegal recruitment; and liability and other issues.  Your Committee finds that this measure presents a potentially beneficial situation for both home-schooled students and the Department of Education and recommends that the Department of Education consult the ADCA through a rule-making process to effectuate this measure.  Your Committee also notes that home‑schooled students are required under existing law to provide the principal of the public school that the student would otherwise be required to attend with a notification of intent to home school.  Inserting this language into the measure as a prerequisite for any home-schooled student to participate in extracurricular activities at a public school may alleviate concerns such as transfer rules.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring that the parent or guardian of a home-schooled child who wishes to participate in an extracurricular activity pursuant to this measure shall provide the principal of the public school that the child would otherwise be required to attend with a notification of intent to home school by the first day of each school year for which the child intends to home school;

     (2)  Requiring the Department of Education to consult the Athletic Directors and Coaches Association of Hawaii (ADCA) during its rule-making process to effectuate this measure;

     (3)  Requiring that rules adopted by the Department of Education relating to the participation of home-schooled children in athletics at public schools be consistent with the Department's rules relating to the participation of transfer students in athletics at public schools; and

     (4)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to ensure further discussion of the issues raised by the ADCA and other concerns.

     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. 2349, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2349, 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