STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1303

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: S.B. No. 1586
                                     S.D. 1
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No.
1586, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to:

     (1)  Require athletics to be included in budgets for new
          public schools; and

     (2)  Authorize the Board of Education to contract with
          attorneys independent of the Attorney General to
          provide legal services to the Department of Education
          regarding children with disabilities.

     The Hawaii State Teachers Association submitted testimony in
support of the bill.

     The Department of Education and the Athletic Directors and
Coaches Association submitted testimony in support of the portion
of the bill relating to the inclusion of athletics in budgeting
for new schools.  The Department of Budget and Finance submitted
testimony in opposition to this portion of the bill.

     The Board of Education and the Department of the Attorney
General submitted testimony in opposition to the portion of the
bill relating to attorneys.


 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1303
                                 Page 2

 
     Your Committee finds that funding for athletics has been
diluted among public high schools because athletics is not
budgeted for new schools.  Portions of funds budgeted for
athletics at existing schools are directed to new schools to
create athletics programs.  As a result, athletics funding for
existing schools are reduced.

     Regarding the portion of the bill relating to attorneys,
another bill, H.B. No. 510, H.D. 1, authorizes the Board of
Education to employ its own attorneys.  H.B. No. 510, H.D. 1, is
still alive in the legislative process, having been approved
earlier by the House of Representatives and more recently by the
Senate Education Committee.  Your Committee prefers the substance
of H.B. No. 510, H.D. 1, to the portion of S.B. No. 1586, S.D. 2,
that deals with attorneys.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Deleting the portion of the bill regarding attorneys;
          and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive revisions for style
          and clarity.

     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.
1586, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1586, S.D.
1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   KEN ITO, Chair