STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2693

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 318

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 318, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize home-schooled students to participate in the extracurricular activities of the public school that the child would have otherwise attended.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from OCC Legislative Priorities and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Education and one individual.

Your Committee finds that the measure, as received by your Committee, would require a home-schooled student who wishes to participate in an extracurricular activity conducted by a public school to:

(1) Meet certain health requirements prior to participating in the extracurricular activity;

(2) Meet participation and restriction requirements, including maintaining grade point averages and paying appropriate fees;

(3) Submit a birth certificate and proof of residency; and

(4) Be registered with the school as a home-schooled student at the beginning of the school year and at least twelve months prior to participating in an extracurricular activity.

Your Committee finds that requiring home-schooled students to enroll at a school for twelve months prior to participating in an extracurricular activity would be unduly burdensome since many families who choose to home school their children do not follow a public school calendar. In addition, an early enrollment requirement would adversely impact dependents of military members since those individuals may transfer to Hawaii during the school year. Your Committee further finds that the expenses of allowing home-schooled students to participate in school extracurricular activities could be a financial burden for schools. Requiring the Department of Education to reimburse schools for these expenses will help to ensure that the amount of funds allocated to each school based upon the weighted student formula is not affected.

Although your Committee supports the participation by home-schooled students in a school's extracurricular activities, your Committee believes that, if more students want to participate in an extracurricular activity than is allowed, prioritizing the participation of school students over home-schooled students would best serve the needs of the relevant school district. To ensure a uniform and fair prioritization process, your Committee believes that a task force should be established by the Department of Education to determine precisely how the prioritization would be implemented.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Prohibiting home-schooled students from obtaining a geographic exception to participate in extracurricular activities in a public school the child would not otherwise have attended;

(2) Deleting the requirement that the home-schooled student be enrolled at the school at least twelve months prior to participating in an extracurricular activity;

(3) Authorizing dependents of a person in military service who moved to the school district within the past twelve months to be enrolled as late as the date of the extracurricular activity;

(4) Exempting enrolled home-schooled students from the school's attendance and similar records;

(5) Specifying that if the number of students who desire to participate in an extracurricular activity exceeds the number of students who may participate, priority shall be given to students attending the school over home-schooled students;

(6) Requiring the Department of Education to reimburse the school for additional expenses associated with home-schooled students' participation in extracurricular activities;

(7) Specifying that the adoption of rules by the Department of Education shall comply with chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(8) Requiring the Department of Education to establish a task force to determine the criteria to be used in prioritizing school students over home-schooled students who want to participate in the same extracurricular activity;

(9) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

(10) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style, clarity, and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 318, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 318, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair