SB2330

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the department of education provides regular bus service for qualified public school students to facilitate compliance with the State's compulsory attendance, as well as with federal law relating to the provision of a free and appropriate education. According to the department of education, there are approximately twelve thousand student riders on Oahu and thirteen thousand on the neighbor islands.

The legislature further finds that school bus service provided by the department of education is essential for getting students to and from school, particularly for students who lack other transportation options or face hardship in obtaining school transportation services due to economic difficulty. Yet, chronic bus driver shortages have led to the cancellation or consolidation of many school bus routes, reducing transportation options for families. At the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, department officials reported that they were short by roughly two hundred twenty-five drivers out of a total of nearly six hundred fifty positions, or over one-third of the total number of bus driver positions in existence statewide.

The legislature additionally finds that in July 2023, the department cancelled or suspended school bus service for fourteen schools statewide, which impacted nearly one thousand four hundred students across Oahu and Kauai. Moreover, the bus driver shortage has severely impacted Hawaii Island school communities, where county bus services do not operate as frequently as on Oahu and where many students face commutes that can exceed one and a half hours each way.

The legislature also finds that a lack of adequate school bus transportation options exacerbates chronic absenteeism. Rates of chronic absenteeism are highest in rural, remote, and socioeconomically disadvantaged school communities. In the 2021-2022 school year, more than a third of Hawaii students were chronically absent from school, meaning they missed fifteen or more days of class. That was a significant jump from the year before, when only eighteen per cent of students were counted as chronically absent. Numerous studies show that chronic absenteeism significantly worsens student achievement and lowers graduation rates.

The legislature acknowledges that Governor Josh Green announced an emergency proclamation related to the school bus shortage on August 17, 2023, which allows the department of transportation to grant exemptions for the use of vehicles other than school buses to transport students and allows commercial driver's license holders with a "P" endorsement for driving passenger vehicles to operate student transportation vehicles. More needs to be done, however, to sustain critical bus service programs for Hawaii's public school students.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to strengthen student transportation services for Hawaii's public schools.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $10,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024-2025 to strengthen student transportation services for Hawaii's public school system by:

(1) Establishing differential pay increases for student bus drivers;

(2) Purchasing alternative vehicles for schools to transport students, including but not limited to motor coaches, minibuses, and vans;

(3) Paying educational staff or eligible community members to operate vehicles for student transportation;

(4) Reimbursing schools for the cost of providing additional student transportation services; and

(5) Establishing other programs or initiatives that the department of education deems effective in improving student transportation services, especially in rural, remote, and socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. In accordance with section 9 of article VII of the Hawaii State Constitution and sections 37‑91 and 37‑93, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the legislature has determined that the appropriations contained in H.B. No. , will cause the state general fund expenditure ceiling for fiscal year 2024‑2025 to be exceeded by $ or per cent. In addition, the appropriation contained in this Act will cause the general fund expenditure ceiling for fiscal year 2024‑2025 to be further exceeded by $ or per cent. The combined total amount of general fund appropriations contained in only these two Acts will cause the state general fund expenditure ceiling for fiscal year 2024‑2025 to be exceeded by $ or per cent. The reasons for exceeding the general fund expenditure ceiling are that:

(1) The appropriation made in this Act is necessary to serve the public interest; and

(2) The appropriation made in this Act meets the needs addressed by this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2024.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2330
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII