STAND. COM. REP. NO 113

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 832

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 832 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow a student who is enrolled at a public charter school that has been notified of the prospect of revocation, nonrenewal, or closure, to enroll in a Department of Education school outside the student's service area.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission, Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network, Hawaii State Teachers Association, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that families are heavily impacted by the closure of a child's school.  To ease the hardship and stress of enrolling in a new school, sometimes in the middle of a school year, a geographic exception to allow a student to attend a Department of Education school outside the student's service area is appropriate.  The availability of a geographic exception may assist families in maintaining or obtaining child care, and make the transition to a new school a smooth one.

 

     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. 832 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair