STAND. COM. REP. NO. 288

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 943

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. 943 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Education to fund school health support staff to sustain the Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn Program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Executive Office on Early Learning, University of Hawai‘i System, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, and Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO; and Hawai‘i Primary Care Association.

Your Committee finds that the Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn Program is designed to improve access to, and the quality of, school-based health services available to Hawaii's public school students by providing direct services and coordinating care with primary and tertiary care providers. In partnership with the Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn Program provided over one hundred seventy-one schools with direct support and indirect support to all Department of Education schools, complexes, and complex areas.

Your Committee further finds that while the Department of Education envisions a future with one nurse on site at every school, the achievement of this ambitious goal requires a substantial increase in fiscal and human resources. The school health support staff was created in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic to assist Department of Education schools by having nurses available on campuses. The volume of care provided by school health support staff, along with the exacerbated COVID-19 issues, has shown a significant, ongoing need to ensure that Hawaii's keiki are healthy and ready to learn. To ensure continued support at all Department of Education schools, while also supporting student success, additional fiscal resources are needed to continue the valuable work established by the Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn Program.

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. 943 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