STAND. COM. REP. NO 112

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 833

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. 833 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Expedite the process of school closure when a public charter school becomes financially insolvent by deeming the school to have voluntarily surrendered its charter contract;

     (2)  Require an authorizer to determine whether health and safety concerns require school closure;

     (3)  Require an authorizer to adopt a closure protocol any time a school is subject to closure; and

     (4)  Require an authorizer to determine whether to provide for a transition period in the event of a school closure.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission and the Hawaii State Teachers Association.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences and four individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the lengthy process for revocation of a school's charter is not an appropriate procedure to initiate when a school is already insolvent or insists on operating despite insolvency.  A more efficient approach is needed when circumstances are such that a school no longer has funds to operate or pay staff.  School children, families, and communities require time to transition from one school to the next, and requiring an authorizer to step in, implement a closure protocol, and a transition period, if necessary, could ease the difficult transition that occurs when a school closes.

     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. 833 and recommends that it pass Second Reading 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