STAND. COM. REP. NO. 280

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 299

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Education and Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 299 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that the Department of Education adopt a broad framework to provide all public school students from kindergarten through twelfth grade with access to computer science curricula.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Microsoft Corporation and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Education and University of Hawaii System.

     Your Committees find that computer science skills are valuable in a wide range of career paths, including manufacturing, health care, finance, defense, and government.  As of December 2016, there were 1,343 open computing jobs in Hawaii, and the average yearly salary for a computing occupation is significantly higher than the average yearly salary of all other occupations in the State.  Your Committees further find that only fourteen schools in Hawaii offered the advanced placement computer science course in 2015-2016 and only forty percent of schools offer computer programming courses, despite significant demand for such courses among students and the parents of students.  This measure will align the computer science curricula in Hawaii's public schools more closely with the needs and interests of the State's students.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 299 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Higher Education,

________________________________ KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair