STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3014

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1551

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Education and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1551 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Instructional Office of Hawaiian Studies within the Department of Education for the purpose of providing instruction of public school students on Hawaiian history, culture, arts, and language.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Education, Department of Education, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaiian Affairs Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, ‘Aha Kauleo Statewide Hawaiian Immersion Advisory Council, Ka Lei Pāpahi‘o Kākuhihewa, and sixteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission.

     Your Committees find that article X, section 4, of the Hawaii State Constitution requires the State to promote the study of Hawaiian culture, history, and language and provide for a Hawaiian education program consisting of language, culture, and history in the State's public schools.  Over the years, there have been concerns that Hawaiian education programs in the public schools are disjointed, lack appropriate oversight, and are not adequately resourced to meet the purpose and intent of article X, section 4, of the Hawaii State Constitution.

     Your Committees further find that in February of 2014, the Board of Education revised Board of Education Policies 2104 and 2105, which, among other things, established the Office of Hawaiian Education within the Office of the Superintendent of Education and requires the Department of Education to allocate resources, including personnel and fiscal resources, to create and implement appropriate curricula, standards, performance assessment tools, professional development, and strategies for community engagement throughout the Department of Education.

     This measure complements the Board of Education's policies and reaffirms the Legislature's commitment to ensuring the requirements of article X, section 4, of the Hawaii State Constitution are met.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Renaming the "Instructional Office of Hawaiian Studies" as the "Office of Hawaiian Education";

     (2)  Placing the establishment of the Office of Hawaiian Education in Session Law rather than in chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS);

     (3)  Adding language to require the Office of Hawaiian Education to be placed within the Office of the Superintendent of Education and to require the head of the Office of Hawaiian Education to be part of the Superintendent of Education's leadership team;

     (4)  Requiring the Department of Education to allocate resources, including personnel and fiscal support, to the Office of Hawaiian Education to create and implement appropriate curricula, standards, performance assessment tools, professional development, and strategies for community engagement throughout the Department of Education, rather than requiring the Office of Hawaiian Education and Hawaiian language medium education program to have a separate line item in the budget;

     (5)  Requiring the Department of Education to report to the Legislature annually on its compliance with the requirements of this measure and Board of Education Policies 2104 and 2105;

     (6)  Requiring the Department of Education's report to the Legislature twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2015 to include a statutory audit of chapter 302H, HRS, and a determination, including any proposed legislation, as to whether the Office of Hawaiian Education should be codified in chapter 302A, HRS, or chapter 302H, HRS;

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

     (8)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     Your Committees have requested that the Department of Education provide an estimate of the operational costs of establishing and running the Office of Hawaiian Education should this measure be considered for passage by your Committee on Ways and Means.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1551, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1551, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________ MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair

____________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair