HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2628
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

Relating to Schools.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Act 167, Session Laws of Hawaii 2010, created mandatory instructional hour requirements for public schools in response to instructional time lost due to staff furloughs.

The legislature acknowledges that while Act 167 was well-intentioned, its mandate inhibited the autonomy of public schools to create bell schedules that worked best for each school's individual circumstances. The legislature believes that each public school has a unique student body and a unique community that creates different challenges and opportunities for each school. The legislature further finds that each public school should have the autonomy and flexibility to determine its own school hours to meet these unique challenges. The legislature notes that public charter schools already have this authority and are exempt from the mandatory student hour requirement of Act 167.

The purpose of this Act is to give each public school principal the authority to determine student hour requirements for their own school, based on each school's individual needs, beginning with the 2018-2019 school year.

SECTION 2. Section 302A-251, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§302A-251 School year[; student hours]. (a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, beginning with the 2011-2013 school years, all public schools, excluding charter schools and multi-track public schools, shall implement a school year of one hundred eighty days, excluding professional development days and other non-instructional days negotiated pursuant to chapter 89.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary:

(1) For the 2011-2012 school year, fifty per cent of all public elementary schools in the State, excluding charter schools and multi-track public schools, shall implement a school year that includes nine hundred fifteen student hours; and

(2) Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, all public elementary schools in the State, excluding charter schools and multi-track public schools, shall implement a school year that includes nine hundred fifteen student hours.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, for the 2015-2016 school year, all public secondary schools, excluding charter schools and multi-track public schools, shall implement a school year that includes nine hundred ninety student hours.

(d) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, all public schools, excluding charter schools and multi-track public schools, shall implement a school year of one hundred eighty days, excluding professional development days and other non-instructional days negotiated pursuant to chapter 89, that shall include one thousand eighty student hours for both elementary and secondary school grades.

(e) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, all public schools, excluding charter schools and multi-track public schools, shall implement a school year of one hundred eighty days, excluding professional development days and other non-instructional days negotiated pursuant to chapter 89. The principal of each school shall determine that school's total number of student hours required for each school year for both elementary and secondary school grades.

[(e)] (f) The board, in its discretion, may grant a waiver to any individual school subject to the student hours or one hundred eighty day school year requirements in this section. The board shall adopt policies and procedures to grant a waiver under this subsection.

[(f)] (g) For purposes of this section, "student hours" shall be inclusive of the full school day in alignment with the State's general learner outcomes.

[(g)] (h) The department of education, with the board of education and office of the governor, and in consultation with representatives of the affected collective bargaining units, shall submit to the legislature, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular sessions of 2013, 2014, 2015, [and] 2016, and 2019, a report on its progress and efforts to meet the requirements of subsections (a)[, (b), (c), and (d).] through (e)."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

DOE; Education; Mandatory Student Hours

Description:

Removes mandatory student hour requirements for public schools, beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. Requires principals to determine the total number of student hours required for their school.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.