STAND. COM. REP. NO 233

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 374

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Education and Higher Education and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 374 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DUAL CREDIT PROGRAMS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Broaden current law to include all dual credit programs;

 

     (2)  Expand the pool of eligible students to include ninth and tenth graders;

 

     (3)  Allow for multiple assessments to be used to determine student eligibility; and

 

     (4)  Appropriate funds to implement the dual credit program.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, University of Hawaii System, University of Hawaii Office of the State Director for Career and Technical Education, Department of Education Office of District Superintendent Nanakuli-Waianae Complex Area, Kailua High School, Kohala High School, Waipahu High School, Kamehameha Schools, Hui for Excellence in Education, and fifty-six individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from two individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that students who participate in dual credit programs are more likely to attend college and are more likely to earn a degree.  The dual credit initiative may help Hawaii reach its goal to have fifty-five percent of working age adults hold a two- or four-year college degree by the year 2025.  Dual credit programs help high school students understand that college is a possibility for them.  The psychological blocks associated with being the first in a family to attend college, or rooted in a lack of encouragement or confidence can be alleviated through success in such a program.  Even simply witnessing peers take college courses on a high school campus can give some students the confidence to follow suit.

 

     Your Committees further find that expanding the pool of eligible participants to include private and home-schooled students provides desired services to those families who have not otherwise accessed the public school system. 

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Including students who are home-schooled or attend private schools among those eligible to participate in the dual credit program;

 

     (2)  Requiring that qualifications for enrollment in the dual credit program be uniform across all campuses offering dual credit program courses; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Higher Education and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 374, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 374, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Higher Education and the Arts,

 

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

 

____________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair