STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1138

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 69

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 69, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Department of Education's Resources for Enrichment, Athletics/Academics, Culture, and Health program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hui for Excellence in Education, Hawai‘i Afterschool Alliance, Food+ Policy Internship 2023, Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, Island of Hawaii YMCA, and four individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Resources for Enrichment, Athletics/Academics, Culture, and Health (REACH) program provides critical, developmentally-aligned out-of-school time opportunities to students in middle or intermediate public and charter schools at no additional cost. REACH provides these students with opportunities to explore their interests, make positive connections with mentors, and cultivate a sense of belonging. As REACH is the only state-funded out-of-school time program for middle schools in the State, providing additional funding will allow each community to structure and design programs that meet unique needs of area students. This measure appropriates funds for the REACH program to support social and emotional growth and development outside of the classroom.

Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider the Department of Education's request for an appropriation in the amount of $2,500,000 for the expansion of REACH to provide more support to schools offering after-school programs.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

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

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

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 H.B. No. 69, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 69, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair