STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1161

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 961

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 961, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a two-year Librarian Pilot Program to serve one school complex on Oahu and one school complex on an island other than Oahu; and

(2) Appropriate funds.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System, Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, Bess Press, Hawaiʻi Library Association, Hawaiʻi Association of School Librarians, and twenty-four individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Education.

Your Committee finds that school librarians are an invaluable resource for educational communities, serving students, faculty, and staff with a safe place to develop literacy skills, achieve reading fluency, and conduct research. Presently, only thirty percent of public schools statewide have a full-time or part-time librarian position to support educational programs in the 2024-2025 school year. As most schools do not have a librarian to support educational programs, establishing a pilot program providing rotating support will allow more students to learn about the library and the services provided. Therefore, this measure offers crucial support to schools without a librarian while maintaining existing library operations to help students achieve their academic goals.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment 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 H.B. No. 961, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 961, H.D. 1, 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