Report Title:
Families For R.E.A.L; Appropriation
Description:
Appropriates funds to the Department of Education for four Families for Resources for Early Access to Learning sites.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
2367 |
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TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
Making an appropriation for families for resources for early access to learning.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that parents are a child's first and most important teachers. Brain research has revealed that the formation of neural patterns that promote or inhibit learning and healthy development throughout life are dependent on a person's experiences as a very young child. One of the best ways to ensure the successful development and education of children is to empower parents to teach their young children at home, from infancy to age five.
Families for R.E.A.L. (Resources for Early Access to Learning), which is based on Minnesota's Family Education Model, has been proven to positively affect child achievement. The emphasis of this program is to empower parents to be their young children's best teachers, without relying on public school instruction which will not begin until a child is five or six years old.
Families for R.E.A.L. is open to families from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Parents attend classes with their children once a week for nine weeks. Parents learn and share critical parenting and teaching skills, are allowed to network with each other, learn about community resources, and become aware of the many things that help their children succeed.
Currently there are three Families for R.E.A.L. sites in Hawaii, located at Pearl City Highlands elementary school in the leeward Oahu district, Kapunahala elementary school in the windward Oahu district, and Wailuku elementary school in the Maui district. Each site serves three hundred fifty to five hundred families per year. Teachers in grades K-6 consistently report that children who attend Families for R.E.A.L. are more ready to learn than other students. It comes as no surprise that each site has a waiting list of one hundred to five hundred families.
Family support services and parent/community networking centers of the department of education plan to eventually establish the Families for R.E.A.L program at fourteen school sites in conjunction with each adult and community education school service area, with modified models for Molokai, Lanai, and Hana, Maui.
The purpose of this Act is to:
(1) Make an appropriation for Families for R.E.A.L to establish the program in at least each of four school districts that currently do not have the program: Honolulu, Central Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii; and
(2) Appropriate funds for a local longitudinal study of the effects of the program on student achievement.
SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $364,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2002-2003 to establish four Families for Resources for Early Access to Learning sites. Each site shall be allocated moneys as follows:
One full-time parent educator $36,000
One full-time early childhood educator $36,000
One part-time temporary teacher $15,000
Supplies, equipment, and other costs $ 4,000
Total for each site $91,000
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $25,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2002-2003 for research and development of the Families for Resources for Early Access to Learning program.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2002.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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