STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3192

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.R. No. 26

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Education and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.R. No. 26 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO SUPPORT EDUCATION IN THE FINE ARTS AND HAWAIIAN STUDIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Education to support an increased emphasis on education in fine arts and Hawaiian studies, including visual arts, music, theatre, dance, Hawaiian and Polynesian studies, Hawaiian language, Native Hawaiian culture, Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices, and physical education.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Aha Moku Advisory Committee, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Kamehameha Schools, IMUAlliance, and two individuals.

     Your Committees find that the adoption of high-stakes standards in Hawaii's schools has emphasized testing and testable subjects such as mathematics and language arts in classrooms throughout the State.  As a result, students' opportunities to study arts and cultural studies are often minimized.  Recent research indicates that education in music, drama, and the visual arts contributes to increases in reasoning skills.

     Your Committees further find that the student population in Hawaii's public schools are ethnically and culturally diverse.  Additionally, fifty-two percent of the State's public school students come from economically disadvantaged households.  A whole child approach to education, which broadens the curriculum to place greater emphasis on visual arts, music, theater, dance, and culturally relevant subject matter, is an investment in the future of Hawaii's students.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 26 and recommend its adoption.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Hawaiian Affairs,

________________________________ MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair