STAND. COM. REP. NO. 121

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 813

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 813 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHARTER SCHOOLS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require authorizers to provide to each charter school it oversees a list of approved independent auditors.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission and Hawaii Public Charter School Network.

Your Committee finds that charter schools can only select an auditor from three auditors selected by the authorizer. There are currently not enough auditors in Hawaii to meet the required timeline to ensure charter school audits are included in the consolidated annual financial reports. Your Committee further finds that many of the auditors selected by the authorizer are based on Oahu, which makes it more difficult for charter schools on the other islands to complete their audits and forces those charter schools to incur additional expenses and delays. This measure would allow the charter schools to choose from a list of more than three independent auditors to conduct audits and provide access to auditors for the many charter schools that operate on all the islands across the State.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 813 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

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MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair