STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2580

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2550

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2550 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOL MODERNIZATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the School Facilities Authority to establish a school modernization initiative through a capital improvement project planning database for school facilities statewide; and

(2) Appropriate funds.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi School Facilities Authority, Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!, and one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO.

Your Committee finds that although the State has appropriated an annual average of $454 million to the Department of Education for capital improvement projects over the past twelve years, there has been no data-based process to prioritize how and why projects are funded. Fiscally responsible, equitable management of these substantial sums of public funds requires robust data to inform decision-making and project prioritization. Informed expenditure on capital improvement projects will also support student health, safety, attendance, and academic outcomes, which are directly impacted by the physical condition of a school. This measure promotes accountability, educational equity, and safe, sustainable school environments.

Your Committee acknowledges the concerns raised in testimony by the Hawaii School Facilities Authority that requiring the rating of a school facility to be updated not less than every five years, rather than three years, would provide accurate data to inform the facilities condition index while expending fewer resources. Therefore, amendments to this measure are necessary to address this matter.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the rating of the condition of a school facility to be updated not less than every five years; 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 S.B. No. 2550, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2550, 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,

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DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair