STAND. COM. REP. NO. 119

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 290

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 S.B. No. 290 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DIRECT INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES TO STUDENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require that appropriations allocated to Department of Education programs that provide instructional services directly to students remain within the budget of the program to which they were originally allocated;

(2) Specify that the retention of an appropriation shall not be used by the Department of Education as a basis for reducing a program's future budget requirements;

(3) Authorize the Department of Education to create temporary positions under certain conditions; and

(4) Amend the requirement that the Department of Education report the creation of temporary positions to the Department of Budget and Finance and the Legislature.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Education.

Your Committee finds that the Department of Education establishes temporary positions for instructional services and critical support for students and teachers. Temporary positions help ensure that basic school operations are provided and that health and safety are adequately addressed. Temporary positions also provide support outside of the classroom at complex areas and state offices through persons such as behavioral health specialists, district resource teachers, and complex academic officers. The temporary workforce is critical to the functioning of the Department of Education, and provide necessary flexibility and support to the Department of Education to continue its mission of educating Hawaii's keiki. Additionally, your Committee finds that funds allocated to the schools and programs that provide instructional services directly to students should not be diverted to fund the Department's administration. This measure will require that appropriations allocated to programs that provide instructional services directly to students shall remain within the budget of the program for which they were originally allocated.

Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 S.B. No. 290, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 290, 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