STAND. COM. REP. NO. 120

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 126

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 126 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to change the composition of the Board of Education to ensure that the Board returns to acting as the local school board and reconnects to communities and to hold the Governor accountable for the Governor's nominations.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Special Education Advisory Council, Community Children's Council of Hawaii, and Hawaii State Teachers Association.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the Board of Education requires restructuring to address concerns of accountability, experience, and transition.  In the absence of an elected board, the Governor must be held accountable for the Governor's appointments to the Board of Education.  At least some board members must have experience in the field of education with the specific knowledge that only comes from having experience at the school level.  The ability to transition the Board is also important to ensure continuity for unfinished business.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring that at least one at-large member be a resident of the County of Kauai, County of Maui, or County of Hawaii;

     (2)  Expanding the scope with which board members possess experience in educational leadership by requiring one member to have experience either as a principal or vice principal;

     (3)  Removing the requirement that the members, rather than the Governor, choose the board chair;

     (4)  Staggering board members' terms to ensure that board members' terms run more closely with the terms of their appointing Governors by:

          (A)  Terminating the terms of four existing members, to be chosen by the Governor, on June 30, 2015;

          (B)  Requiring the Governor to appoint successor members to those terminated pursuant to subparagraph (A), the newly established at-large member, and the newly established City and County of Honolulu member, whose terms shall commence on July 1, 2015, and terminate on December 31, 2018;

          (C)  Requiring the terms of the five existing members who were not terminated pursuant to subparagraph (A) to terminate on June 30, 2016; and

          (D)  Requiring the Governor to appoint successor members to those members terminated pursuant to subparagraph (C), whose terms shall commence on July 1, 2016, and terminate on December 31, 2019; and

     (5)  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. 126, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 126, 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,

____________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair