CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 161

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2021

RE: H.B. No. 1362

H.D. 1

S.D. 2

C.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sirs:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate in H.B. No. 1362, H.D. 1, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ACCESS TO LEARNING,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the Hawaii Early Childhood Educator Stipend Program to address the shortage of early childhood educators;

(2) Authorize the Department of Education to directly accept private funding for the purpose of establishing public prekindergarten programs, subject to certain conditions;

(3) Provide that each early learning program and preschool program may use available classrooms for public preschool programs statewide;

(4) Give priority for entering the preschool open doors program to children who miss the cutoff date to enter kindergarten;

(5) Clarify and make adjustments to Act 46, Session Laws of Hawaii 2020, which relates to access to learning, including:

(A) Delaying the expansion of the Preschool Open Doors Program to serve three-year-old children to July 1, 2024;

(B) Extending the deadline for a service provider of the Preschool Open Doors Program to commence national accreditation by two years;

(C) Requiring the application of a uniform assessment for public school and charter school kindergarten students;

(D) Extending the effective date for the Department of Education and State Public Charter School Commission to share certain information on prior early learning program attendance to July 1, 2023; and

(E) Allowing educational data to be shared using an existing system; and

(6) Appropriate funds for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) position to coordinate, staff, and facilitate the implementation of Act 46, Session Laws of Hawaii 2020.

Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

(1) Establishing a Hawaii Early Childhood Educator Special Fund and requiring stipend payments to be deposited into the Hawaii Early Childhood Educator Special Fund, rather than the Early Learning Special Fund, to be used to support the Hawaii Early Childhood Educator Stipend Program;

(2) Providing that the Hawaii Early Childhood Educator Special Fund shall be abolished and repealed on June 30, 2023, and any unencumbered remaining balances shall lapse to the general fund;

(3) Authorizing the Executive Office on Early Learning to accept federal funds to support the Hawaii Early Childhood Educator Stipend Program;

(4) Clarifying that if the Department of Education accepts private funding for the purpose of establishing public prekindergarten programs:

(A) The Department of Education and the Executive Office on Early Learning shall sign a bilateral memorandum of agreement or understanding; and

(B) The Department of Education, the Executive Office on Early Learning, and the person or entity providing the private funding may sign a multilateral memorandum of agreement or understanding;

(5) Providing that if the private funding received by the Department of Education to establish public prekindergarten programs is insufficient to maintain classroom operations of the public prekindergarten programs, the Department of Education and Executive Office on Early Learning are prohibited from requesting additional funding from the Legislature to pay for the remaining costs;

(6) Requiring certain child care centers to be licensed by the Department of Human Services prior to accepting children into care;

(7) Delaying the implementation of the application of the uniform assessment for public school and charter school kindergarten students to July 1, 2023;

(8) Inserting an appropriation of $98,000 for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) position to coordinate, staff, and facilitate the implementation of Act 46, Session Laws of Hawaii 2020;

(9) Changing the effective date to upon approval; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1362, H.D. 1, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form att

ached hereto as H.B. No. 1362, H.D. 1, S.D. 2, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

____________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI Chair	____________________________ JUSTIN H. WOODSON Co-Chair
____________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA Co-Chair	____________________________ TY J.K. CULLEN Co-Chair
____________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE Co-Chair