HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

THE THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2026

 

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Rep. Justin H. Woodson, Chair

Rep. Trish La Chica, Vice Chair

 

Rep. Terez Amato

Rep. Darius K. Kila

Rep. Luke A. Evslin

Rep. Ikaika Olds

Rep. Andrew Takuya Garrett

Rep. Christopher L. Muraoka

Rep. Jeanne Kapela

Rep. Kanani Souza

 

 

NOTICE OF HEARING

 

DATE:

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

TIME:

2:00p.m.

PLACE:

VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE

Conference Room

309

State Capitol

415 South Beretania Street

 

 

 

Click here to submit testimony and to testify remotely or in person.

 

A live stream link of all House Standing Committee meetings will be available online

shortly before the scheduled start time.

 

Click here for the live stream of this meeting via YouTube.

 

 

 

A G E N D A

 

HB 1895

Status

RELATING TO EDUCATIONAL WORKERS.

Includes the disruption or interference with the administration or functions of any school, school administration office, or school board in the offense of harassment.  Elevates the penalty for harassment to a misdemeanor when the recipient is an educational worker.

 

EDN, JHA

HB 1592

Status

RELATING TO ASSAULT.

Elevates criminal penalties for assaults committed against educational workers and sports officials, while preserving appropriate judicial discretion at sentencing.

 

EDN, JHA

HB 1888

Status

RELATING TO THE SAFETY OF EDUCATIONAL WORKERS.

Requires the Department of Education and public charter schools to take certain steps to report incidents of harassment and implement procedures for handling harassment of educational workers.

 

EDN, LAB, JHA

HB 1825

Status

RELATING TO THE HAWAII TEACHER STANDARDS BOARD.

Permits the Department of Education and charter schools to hire unlicensed individuals as teachers on an emergency basis for five, rather than three, years.  Requires the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to adopt rules.

 

EDN, LAB, CPC

HB 1893

Status

RELATING TO EDUCATION.

Clarifies that public charter school teachers are eligible for incentives under the Teacher National Board Certification Incentive Program.  Increases the bonus per year for each public school teacher and public charter school teacher who maintains current national board certification from $5,000 to $10,000.

 

EDN, LAB, FIN

HB 1890

Status

RELATING TO EDUCATION.

Pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement negotiated for Bargaining Unit (5) and subject to the availability of funds, provides annual salary step increases for public school teachers who have completed one year's satisfactory service and comply with specified requirements.

 

EDN, LAB, FIN

HB 2012

Status

RELATING TO COMMUNITY LITERACY LABS.

Establishes and appropriates funds for the Department of Education to establish and implement a two-year Community Literacy Labs Pilot Program.

 

EDN, HSH, FIN

HB 1887

Status

RELATING TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LITERACY EDUCATION.

Requires the Department of Education to develop and implement a statewide Artificial Intelligence Literacy Curricula Plan for students in eleventh and twelfth grades, beginning with the 2027-2028 school year as a condition for graduation.  Establishes the Advisory Council for Artificial Intelligence Education.  Establishes a three-year Artificial Intelligence Education Grant Pilot Program within the Department of Education.  Requires reports to the Legislature.  Appropriates funds.

 

EDN, ECD, FIN

HB 1770

Status

RELATING TO SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS.

Requires the Department of Education to establish a School Bus Driver Recruitment Grant Program.  Establishes a School Bus Driver Recruitment Special Fund.  Establishes a Repayment Signing Bonus Program.  Establishes a School Bus Driver Outreach and Pathway Program.  Requires a report to the Legislature.  Appropriates funds.

 

EDN, LAB, FIN

HB 2122

Status

RELATING TO TEACHER HOUSING.

Establishes the Teacher Housing Assistance Program to provide housing vouchers to certain eligible teachers.  Appropriates funds out of the Teachers' Housing Revolving Fund.

 

EDN, HSG, FIN

HB 1892

Status

RELATING TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Requires the exclusive representative for bargaining unit (5) to appoint to the Board of Education a nonvoting public school teacher representative.  Authorizes the nonvoting public school teacher representative to participate in all Board of Education meetings and enter into executive sessions, except in certain matters related to collective bargaining negotiations or personnel matters that may pose a conflict of interest.

 

EDN, LAB, JHA

 

 

 

 

DECISION MAKING TO FOLLOW

 

Persons wishing to offer comments should submit testimony at least 24 hours prior to the hearing.  Testimony received after this time will be stamped late and left to the discretion of the chair to consider.  While every effort will be made to incorporate all testimony received, materials received on the day of the hearing or improperly identified or directed, may not be processed.

 

Testimony submitted will be placed on the legislative website.  This public posting of testimony on the website should be considered when including personal information in your testimony.

 

The chair may institute a per-testifier time limit.

 

Committees meeting in the morning must adjourn prior to the day's Floor Session.  Therefore, due to time constraints, not all testifiers may be provided an opportunity to offer verbal comments.  However, written submissions will be considered by the committee.

 

Please refrain from profanity or uncivil behavior.  Violations may result in ejection from the hearing without the ability to rejoin.

 

For remote testifiers, the House will not be responsible for bad connections on the testifier's end.

 

For general help navigating the committee hearing process, please contact the Public Access Room at (808) 587-0478 or par@capitol.hawaii.gov.

 

The livestream and/or cable TV broadcast of this meeting will include closed captioning.  If you need an auxiliary aid/service or other accommodation (including oral, written, or ASL interpretive services) or are unable to submit testimony via the website due to a disability, please contact the committee clerk at (808)586-6345. Requests made as early as possible have a greater likelihood of being fulfilled.

 

Click here for a complete list of House Guidelines for remote testimony.

 

FOR AMENDED NOTICES:  Measures that have been deleted are stricken through and measures that have been added are bolded.

 

For more information, please contact the Committee Clerk at (808) 586-6345.

 

 

 

 

 

________________________________________

Rep. Justin H. Woodson

Chair