STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3221

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 13

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.C.R. No. 13 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO CONVENE A WORKING GROUP TO REVIEW AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS IN HAWAII'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND TO ESTABLISH AN AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM ADVISORY COUNCIL,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Education to convene a working group to review afterschool programs in Hawaii's public schools and to establish an afterschool program advisory council.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, American Heart Association, Hawai‘i Afterschool Alliance, Pioneering Healthier Communities of Honolulu, Hawaii Youth Services Network, HE‘E Coalition, O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and Parents and Children Together. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and Office of Youth Services.

Your Committee finds that afterschool programs are effective because they enrich students' experiences outside of school, while also improving their attendance, grades, and behavior in school and at the same time allow working parents to continue working during afterschool hours. At a time when middle- and low-income families and communities are struggling financially and students are falling behind academically, afterschool programs are needed now more than ever.

Your Committee further finds that House Concurrent Resolution No. 137, S.D. 2, Regular Session of 2016, requested the Department of Education to convene a working group with various stakeholders to review afterschool programs in Hawaii's public middle and intermediate schools and report its findings and recommendations to the 2017 Legislature. Because quality afterschool programs generate significant returns on investment for society as a whole, it is important for the working group to continue to meet to further its work.

Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 13, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 13, S.D. 1.

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

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MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair