STAND. COM. REP. NO.2922

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 1878

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1878, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to statutorily establish the Hawaii State Student Council (HSSC).

Your Committee received written testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Education (BOE) Student Member, the Chair, Central District Representative and Kauai District Representative to the Hawaii State Student Council, and two concerned students. The Department of Education testified orally in support of this measure.

Your Committee finds that the Hawaii State Student Council (HSSC) was established by the Board of Education in 1972 and has become the official voice of public school students in the State. However, the HHSC is not statutorily recognized despite the fact that it is cited in the Hawaii State Constitution as the organization empowered to select the student member of the Board of Education. Council members also provide a voice for students across the State and are asked to represent students on such task forces as "Visioning: The High School Graduate" and the "Performance Standards Review Commission." The Council also provides students with leadership and community service opportunities, such as participating in Children and Youth Day; sponsoring Gun and Violence Pledges, Reach Out and Read programs and statewide student leadership workshops; drafting legislation to address student concerns with the help of legislators; and representing Hawaii at the regional and national levels of the National Association of Student Councils.

This measure proposes to statutorily establish the HSSC and requirements for its membership and governance. Your Committee finds that formally establishing the Council will not require additional funding and staffing since both have already provided by the Department of Education through general funds since 1971. The Department of Education has assigned its Educational Specialist for Student Activities to advise both the Hawaii State Student Council and the State Student Conference as a part of his or her job description. The HSSC has always worked and will continue to work, within the allocation that it receives annually, increasing or decreasing the number of its members as it feels is appropriate to address its purposes and/or budget allocation.

Your Committee finds that formally establishing the Council will ensure that public school students continue to have a voice in matters of student concern.

Your Committee amended this measure by replacing its contents with the contents of S.B. No. 2035. The primary differences between the House and Senate versions of this measure are as follows:

(1) The House version would have provided greater discretion to HSSC to determine the manner in which the student member is selected;

(2) The House version would have specifically required HSSC to conduct an annual conference of secondary school students, would have specifically directed HSSC to determine the format for the annual student conference, would have dictated the timing of the conference, and would have required HSSC to create an evaluation of the conference; and

(3) The Senate version requires cooperation between HSSC and the student conference committee in planning the secondary school conference.

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 H.B. No. 1878, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1878, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair