Report Title:
Families for REAL; Appropriation
Description:
Appropriates funds for four additional Families for REAL sites and for research on the effects of the program.
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2018 |
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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 r.e.a.l. (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 reveals that the formation of neural patterns that promote or inhibit learning and healthy development throughout life are dependent on the person’s experiences as a very young child. Therefore, one of the best approaches to a child’s education is to empower parents in their roles of parenting and teaching their children, ages zero-to-five, at home.
Families for R.E.A.L. (Resources for Early Access to Learning), based on Minnesota’s Family Education Model, has proven to positively affect children’s achievement. The emphasis is on empowering parents as their young children’s first teachers, rather than relying upon school instruction when the child is age five or six.
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, network with one another, learn about community resources, and become aware of what makes a child succeed.
Currently there are three program sites in each of the following schools and districts: Pearl City Highlands Elementary School, Leeward District; Kapunahala Elementary School, Windward District; and Wailuku Elementary School, Maui District. Each Families for R.E.A.L. site serves three hundred fifty to five hundred families per year. Teachers of grades K-6 consistently report that children who attended Families for R.E.A.L. are more ready to learn than others who do not have the experience. Each site has a waiting list of one hundred to five hundred families.
The department of education family support services/parent-community networking centers plan to establish fourteen Families for R.E.A.L. programs at school sites contiguous with each adult and community education school service area, plus modified models for Molokai, Lanai, and Hana, Maui.
The purposes of this Act are to appropriate funds for Families for R.E.A.L. for fiscal year 2002-2003, to research the effects of the program and to establish the program in each of four school district sites that currently do not have this program: Honolulu and Central on Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii. Schools in each district have already stated that this program is critical in preparing families and their children at their earliest years for success in school and life, itself.
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, for Families for R.E.A.L. programs at four additional sites as follows:
One full-time parent educator $36,000
One full-time early childhood educator $36,000
One part time temporary (PTT) teacher $15,000
Supplies, equipment, and other costs 4,000
Total for each site $91,000
SECTION 3. The legislature also finds that the future of local early childhood family education programs is dependent upon research and development of this program and that a local longitudinal study of the effects of Families for R.E.A.L. on student achievement is highly desirable for accountability purposes.
SECTION 4. 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 the R.E.A.L. program.
SECTION 5. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2002.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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