STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2523

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2382

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 2382 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Accounting and General Services to:

(1) Conduct semi-annual surveys of all departments concerning any unused facilities that may be used by public charter schools and maintain an inventory of all such unused facilities; and

(2) Provide semi-annual reports on the inventory of unused department facilities to the State Public Charter School Commission.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; State Public Charter School Commission; Kamehameha Schools; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i; Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network; and one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services and one individual.

Your Committees find that facilities funding is the greatest financial burden upon public charter schools. Many charter schools improvise by using temporary structures for instruction. By requiring the Department of Accounting and General Services to compile and maintain an inventory of unused departmental facilities that may be used by public charter schools, these public charter schools can continue to provide quality education in facilities that help to ensure the financial, academic, and organizational health of public charter schools.

Your Committees further find that the surveys conducted by the Department of Accounting and General Services of all departments concerning unused facilities that may be used by public charter schools may be conducted through physical surveys or by other means.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that the Department of Accounting and General Services shall conduct surveys of all departments concerning any unused facilities that may be used by public charter schools on a biennial, rather than semi-annual, basis;

(2) Specifying that the Department of Accounting and General Services shall submit biennial, rather than semi-annual, reports on the inventory of unused department facilities to the State Public Charter School Commission; and

(3) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2382, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2382, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Government Operations,

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair