STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2197

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2239

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2239 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COLLEGE PLACEMENT EXAMINATION FEES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the payment of SAT or ACT standardized test examination fees for those public high school students who are in the eleventh or twelfth grade and are eligible for the free and reduced price lunch program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Education.

Your Committee finds that the cost for the SAT exam for the 2017-2018 academic year is $46 for the basic exam and $60 for the SAT with essay. Additionally, other services and fees associated with standardized test examinations, such as score reports and registration fees, can cost college applicants hundreds of dollars. Your Committee further finds that the Department of Education currently covers the cost of all eleventh grade public school students to take a nationally-recognized college admissions test as part of the college and career readiness curriculum. However, it is critical to ensure that other students who were not able to take the exam in the eleventh grade and students at charter schools are given the opportunity to take a nationally-recognized college admissions test in hopes of attending an institution of higher education.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that an eligible student for the payment of SAT or ACT standardized test examination fees includes public school students in the twelfth grade who have not previously taken the SAT or ACT standardized test examination and public charter school students in the eleventh or twelfth grade who have not taken the SAT or ACT standardized test examination; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

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. 2239, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2239, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair