STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2148

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2288

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2288 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend or repeal various sections of chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), that:

     (1)  Have already been accomplished and are no longer necessary to be codified in statute;

     (2)  Impede rather than assist the Department of Education in meeting its core mission;

     (3)  Fall under the purview of the Board of Education, such as policy and programmatic decisions;

     (4)  Are already mandated by federal law and do not require codification in state statute; or

     (5)  Are covered by another section of the HRS, Hawaii Administrative Rules, or Board of Education policy.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education and League of Women Voters Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that in 2012, the Legislature passed Act 133, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012 (Act 133), which sought to clarify or resolve conflicting or inconsistent language in different sections of law and to amend or repeal various sections of chapter 302A, HRS.  This measure continues to amend or repeal various sections of chapter 302A, HRS, for housekeeping or other purposes.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adding language to require the Department of Education to post certain information annually on its website rather than repealing the requirement that the Department submit various reports to the Legislature, Governor, and Board of Education;

     (2)  Removing language that made the selection of a student representative to each school community council from the elementary and middle school levels optional rather than mandatory; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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 S.B. No. 2288, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2288, 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,

____________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair