HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1272 |
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to school choice scholarship program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1.
The legislature finds that the Department of
Education provides education to a diverse population in the State of Hawaii.
The Department of Education has met many of their goals in helping students to
become productive and successful students in the state. Many parents have
desires and hopes for their children that sometimes differ from what the
Department of Education currently provides for children in public school.
The legislature
finds that a voucher system should be provided to parents who desire their
children to be in a school system other than public school. Parents should be
able to receive funding from the Department of Education to have their children
in the school of their choice: to include private school and home school. If
parents are being taxed by the state for an education system that is not
providing for their children, they should reap the benefit of those taxes paid.
Therefore, parents should be able to apply that tax allotment to the school of
the parents' choice: to include private and home school.
The qualifications
and decision process of the parent to choose to pull a voucher for their
child is the parents’ right. The parents get to choose what education
system their child is in. The parents get to choose whether the child is in public
school or an alternative school format: to include private school and home
school.
Accordingly, the purpose of this
Act is to offer families an educational choice through the provision of funds
for nonpublic school tuition and fees. This program will assist
students in their endeavors to become well-educated and productive members of
society. The provisions of this Act are in the public interest, for
the public benefit, and serve a secular public purpose.
SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"Part .School
choice scholarship
§302A-A Definitions. For
the purposes of this section:
"Board" means the board of
education.
"Department" means the department
of education.
"Elementary school" means an institutional day or residential school, including a public
elementary charter school, or private school, of secular or non—secular nature,
that provides elementary education, including kindergarten, as determined under
State law.
"Eligible entity" or "entity" means any of the
following:
(A) An educational
entity of the State.
(B) A nonprofit
organization.
(C) A consortium of
nonprofit organizations.
"Eligible student" means a student who:
(A) is a resident of
the State; and
(B) comes from a
household whose income does not exceed an amount that is four times the federal
poverty line.
"Grantee" means an
eligible entity that receives a grant.
"Parent" means biological or adoptive mother or father,
or a legal guardian or other person standing in loco parentis, such as a
grandparent or stepparent with whom the child lives, or a person who is legally
responsible for the child’s welfare.
"Poverty line" means the poverty line as defined by the
U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and revised annually in accordance with
42 U.S.C. § 9902(2).
"Secondary school" means an institutional day or residential school, including a public secondary charter school or private school, of secular or non-secular nature, as determined under State law, except that the term does not include any education beyond grade twelve.
§302A-B General
authority. (a)
Funds shall be appropriated to the department to carry out this part. From
those funds, the board shall award grants on a competitive basis to eligible
entities with approved applications under section 302A-C to carry out activities to provide
eligible students with expanded school choice opportunities. The board may award a single grant or multiple grants, depending
on the quality of applications submitted and the priorities of this part.
(b) The board may make grants under this section for a period of
not more than 5 years.
(c) The board and the governor shall enter into a memorandum of
understanding regarding the design of, selection of eligible entities to receive
grants under, and implementation of, a program assisted under this part.
§302A-C Priorities.
In awarding
grants under this part, the board
shall give priority to applications from eligible entities that will most
effectively:
(1) Give priority to
eligible students who, in the school year preceding the school year for which
the eligible student is seeking a scholarship, attended an elementary school or
secondary school identified for improvement, corrective action, or
restructuring under section 1116 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. § 6316);
(2) Target resources
to students and families that lack the financial resources to take advantage of
available educational options; and
(3) Provide students
and families with the widest range of educational options.
§302A-D Use of funds.
(a) Subject to subsections (b) and (c), a grantee shall use the grant funds to
provide eligible students with scholarships to pay the tuition, fees, and
transportation expenses, if any, to enable them to attend the nonpublic
elementary school or secondary school of their choice. Each grantee shall
ensure that the amount of any tuition or fees charged by a school participating
in the grantee's program under this part to an eligible student participating
in the program does not exceed the amount of tuition or fees that the school
customarily charges to students who do not participate in the program.
(b) A grantee shall make scholarship payments under
this part to the parent of the eligible student participating in the program,
in a manner which ensures that such payments will be used for the payment of
tuition, fees, and transportation expenses (if any), in accordance with this
part.
(c) The amount of assistance shall be as follows:
(1) Subject to the
other requirements of this section, a grantee may award scholarships in larger
amounts to those eligible students with the greatest need.
(2) The amount of
assistance provided to any eligible student by a grantee under this part may
not exceed the per student calculation, based upon the weighted student
formula set forth in section 302A-1303.6, for any academic year.
§302A-E Nondiscrimination. (a) An entity or a school
participating in any program under this part shall not discriminate against
program participants or applicants on the basis of race, color, national
origin, religion, or sex.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
prohibition of sex discrimination in subsection (a) shall not apply to a
participating school that is operated by, supervised by, controlled by, or
connected to a religious organization to the extent that the application of
subsection (a) is inconsistent with the religious tenets of the school.
(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a) or any other
provision of law, a parent may choose and a school may offer a single sex
school, class, or activity.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
school participating in any program under this part that is operated by,
supervised by, controlled by, or connected to, a religious organization may
exercise its discretion in matters of employment consistent with title VII of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-1 et seq., including the
exemptions in such title.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds
made available under this part to eligible students that are received by a
participating school, as a result of their parents' choice, shall not,
consistent with the first amendment of the United States Constitution,
necessitate any change in the participating school's teaching mission, require
any participating school to remove religious art, icons, scriptures, or other
symbols, or preclude any participating school from retaining religious terms in
its name, selecting its board members on a religious basis, or including
religious references in its mission statements and other chartering or
governing documents.
(f) A scholarship, or any other form of support
provided to parents of eligible students, under this part shall be considered
assistance to the student and shall not be considered assistance to the school
that enrolls the eligible student. The amount of any scholarship, or other form
of support provided to parents of an eligible student, under this part shall
not be treated as income of the parents for purposes of State tax laws or for
determining eligibility for any other State program.
§302A-F Evaluations.
(a) The board, directly or by grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, shall:
(1) Conduct an
evaluation using the strongest possible research design for determining the
effectiveness of the programs funded under this part that addresses the issues
described in subsection (b); and
(2) Disseminate
information on the impact of the programs in increasing the student academic
achievement of participating students, as well as other appropriate measures of
student success, and on the impact of the programs on students and schools in
the State.
(b) The issues set forth in subsection (a) shall
include the following:
(1) A comparison of
the academic achievement of students who participate in the programs funded
under this part with the academic achievement of students of similar
backgrounds who do not participate in such programs, including a consideration
of school factors that may contribute to any differences in their academic
achievement;
(2) The success of
the programs in expanding choice options for parents;
(3) The reasons
parents choose for their children to participate in the programs;
(4) A comparison of
the retention rates, dropout rates, and, if appropriate, graduation and college
admission rates of students who participate in the programs funded under this
part with the retention rates, dropout rates, and, if appropriate, graduation
and college admission rates of students of similar backgrounds who do not
participate in such programs.
(5) The impact of
the program on public elementary schools and secondary schools in the State.
(6) A comparison of
the safety of the schools attended by students who participate in the programs
and the schools attended by students who do not participate in the programs.
(7) Such other
issues as the board considers appropriate
for inclusion in the evaluation.
(c) The board shall submit the following to the
legislature:
(1) Annual interim reports
not later than December 1 of each year for which a grant is made under this
part on the progress and preliminary results of the evaluation of the programs
funded under this part; and
(2) A final report
not later than one year after the final year for which a grant is made under
this part on the results of the evaluation of the programs funded under this
part.
(d) All reports and underlying data gathered pursuant
to this section shall be made available to the public upon request, in a timely
manner following submission of the applicable report under subsection (c),
except that personally identifiable information shall not be disclosed or made
available to the public.
(e) The amount expended by the board to carry out this
section for any fiscal year may not exceed three percent of the total amount
appropriated to carry out this part for the year.
§302A-G Reporting requirements. (a) Each grantee receiving funds under
this part during a year shall submit a report to the board not later than July
30 of the following year regarding the activities carried out with the funds
during the preceding year.
(b) In addition to the reports required under
subsection (a), each grantee shall, not later than September 1 of the year
during which the second academic year of the grantee's program is completed and
each of the next two years thereafter, submit a report to the board regarding
the data collected in the previous two academic years concerning:
(1) The academic
achievement of students participating in the program;
(2) The graduation
and college admission rates of students who participate in the program, where
appropriate; and
(3) Parental
satisfaction with the program.
No report under this subsection may contain any personally
identifiable information.
(c) Each grantee shall ensure that each school
participating in the grantee's program under this part during a year reports at
least once during the year to the parents of each of the school's students who
are participating in the program on the following matters:
(1) The student's
academic achievement, as measured by a comparison with the aggregate academic
achievement of other participating students at the student's school in the same
grade or level, as appropriate, and the aggregate academic achievement of the
student's peers at the student's school in the same grade or level, as
appropriate; and
(2) The safety of
the school, including the incidence of school violence, student suspensions,
and student expulsions.
No report under this subsection may contain any personally
identifiable information, except as to the student who is the subject of the
report to that student's parent.
(d) The board shall submit to the legislature an annual
report on the findings of the reports submitted under this section.
§302A-H Other requirements for participating
schools. (a) Each school
participating in a program funded under this part shall comply with all
requests for data and information regarding evaluations conducted under section
§302A-G.
(b) A participating school may require eligible
students to abide by any rules of conduct and other requirements applicable to
all other students at the school.
(c) Each participating school shall:
(1) Ensure that
participating eligible students receive comparable academic assessments in the
same grade levels as those provided to State public school students, and
ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that the assessment results are capable
of being compared to determine the relative achievement levels between
participating eligible students and State public school students in the same
grades; and
(2) Ensure academic
assessment results containing any personally identifiable information shall be
disclosed only to the parents of the student taking the assessment."
SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Relating to school choice scholarship program
Description:
Provides students access to nonpublic schools through school choice scholarship program, which provides grants to eligible entities to allocate funds to eligible students for enrollment in nonpublic schools based upon financial need.
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not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.