STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1545-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   S.B. No. 2768

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 2

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 2768, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO KINDERGARTEN,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to improve early childhood education in Hawaii by:

     (1)  Requiring school attendance for five-year-old children, making kindergarten attendance mandatory;

     (2)  Requiring the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Executive Office on Early Learning, to develop a statewide individualized kindergarten readiness process to collect information and data available through individualized kindergarten readiness assessments;

     (3)  Establishing within the Department of Education an individualized kindergarten readiness assessment system; and

     (4)  Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, requiring all Department of Education and charter-school kindergarten classes to adopt the individualized kindergarten readiness assessment system; provided that parents may exempt their children from the system.

The Department of Education; Executive Office on Early Learning; Hawaii P-20; Good Beginnings Alliance; Chamber of Commerce Hawaii; Hui for Excellence in Education; Aha Punana Leo; and an individual testified in support of this measure.  An individual testified in opposition to this measure.  The Department of Human Services, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawai‘i Association for the Education of Young Children, and numerous individuals commented on this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2030, to facilitate further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2768, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2768, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair