STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2750

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2780

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2780, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHARTER SCHOOLS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to strengthen the public charter schools law.

Specifically, the measure:

     (1)  Prohibits the State Public Charter School Commission from providing technical support to prospective charter schools regarding charter applications to the same extent that the Commission is prohibited from providing such support to existing charter schools in its oversight role;

(2)  Specifies the contents of the written minutes of public meetings and adjusting their availability dates;

(3)  Provides that a nonprofit organization that seeks to manage and operate a conversion charter school shall have the same protections that are afforded to all other governing boards;

(4)  Specifies that an authorizer's revocation and nonrenewal processes shall not be subject to the Administrative Procedure Act (chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes);

(5)  Authorizes charter schools to assess and collect special fees and charges from students for co-curricular activities;

(6)  Subjects a conversion charter school to the same requirements as a start-up charter school for enrolling students to fill leftover seats; and

(7)  Exempts from the open meetings law (chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes) certain adjudicatory functions exercised by the State Public Charter School Commission with regard to matters on which the Commission already made a decision in a public meeting.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission.

     Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Board of Education, the Hawaii Educational Policy Center, and Connections PCS.

     Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Office of Information Practices and the Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network.

     Your Committee finds that this measure makes important refinements to the statutory framework regarding Hawaii's public charter school governance and administration that are aligned with recent changes that have been made.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2780, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair