110
THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO AUDIT THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ON
    ITS PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY IN LUMP SUM BUDGETING AND
    BASIC CLASSROOM NEEDS.


 1        WHEREAS, in 1994, the legislature approved Act 272,
 2   Session Laws of Hawaii 1994 (Act 272), its landmark legislation
 3   to begin the system reform of public education in Hawaii.  The
 4   intent of Act 272 was to give individual schools flexibility
 5   and autonomy, empowering them to be directly accountable for
 6   student achievement and to "put students first"; and
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, in Act 272, the legislature declared that ". . .
 9   [u]nder this structure, the division of funds among the schools
10   has been an administrative process, outside of public view and
11   beyond public control.  Funds are dissipated in a burgeoning
12   administrative bureaucracy, and there is no clear accounting of
13   how much money actually reaches the schools for instruction and
14   activities that directly affect students and learning"; and
15   
16        WHEREAS, Act 272 directed the Department of Education to
17   implement school-based budget flexibility, using an operating
18   process that provides maximum flexibility to individual schools
19   in the preparation and execution of their operating budgets;
20   and
21   
22        WHEREAS, although lump sum budgeting currently allows the
23   Department of Education to allocate funds on a school-by-school
24   basis and gives the school some flexibility in expending these
25   funds, schools have difficulty in exercising this flexibility
26   in expenditures because the schools are not provided with their
27   budget allocations in a timely manner; and
28   
29        WHEREAS, there have been complaints by students, parents,
30   school level educators, and administrators that funding
31   provided to the Department of Education in the approved state
32   budget is not being distributed to the classroom level in order
33   to provide for the basic needs of the students and teachers;
34   now, therefore,
35   
36        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature

 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        


 1   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2000, the House of
 2   Representatives concurring, that the Auditor is requested to do
 3   the following:
 4   
 5        (1)  Conduct an audit of the Department of Education on
 6             its productivity and efficiency in delivering the
 7             required services to educate the children of Hawaii;
 8   
 9        (2)  Determine whether the Department of Education's
10             budget provides for basic student needs in the
11             classroom, such as books, supplies, reference
12             materials, and computers; and
13   
14        (3)  Determine whether the school based budgeting program
15             in EDN 100, section 302A-1302, Hawaii Revised
16             Statutes, or a lump sum budget proposed in S.B.
17             No. 982, Regular Session of 1999, would provide
18             greater flexibility and efficiency in addressing the
19             needs of Hawaii students;
20   and
21   
22        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to
23   report findings and recommendations to the Legislature twenty
24   days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2001; and
25   
26        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this
27   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and the
28   Department of Education.
29 
30 
31 
32                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________