REPORT TITLE:
Schools; Textbooks


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds for a textbook management system for schools.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.1714       
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO TEXTBOOKS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that to insure that
 
 2 students in public schools are provided with textbooks for their
 
 3 courses, a textbook accounting system needs to be in place.
 
 4 Currently, students often do not return textbooks at the end of
 
 5 courses.  When charged a fee for these lost books, the student
 
 6 may deny having been issued or having signed out for the book.
 
 7 Under these circumstances schools have very little recourse
 
 8 against the student.  Oftentimes the sanction occurs at the end
 
 9 of the student's academic career, when the student may have
 
10 already incurred hundreds of dollars of fees for lost or damaged
 
11 books.  The sanction may be to pay the fees or not participate in
 
12 the graduation ceremonies.  Even if the school recovers the lost
 
13 books at this stage, many of the titles may be no longer usable
 
14 because they have become obsolete during the intervening years.
 
15 And, even if the school recovers money for these books at
 
16 graduation, the school has had to spend money earlier to replace
 
17 those books.
 
18      The schools need a more up-to-date method of keeping track
 
19 of which student has a book and when it must be returned.  The
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.1714       
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 current manual system is cumbersome and not always accurate,
 
 2 costing the taxpayers money.  In the meantime enrolled students
 
 3 are shortchanged when they do not have textbooks for class.  The
 
 4 department of education has investigated various textbook
 
 5 management software programs that schools might find useful and
 
 6 suitable for specific textbook accountability needs.  The purpose
 
 7 of this Act is to provide funds to allow schools to purchase a
 
 8 suitable textbook management software program, with first
 
 9 priority going to high schools, then intermediate/middle schools,
 
10 and finally, elementary schools.
 
11      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
12 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $          , or so
 
13 much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000, for
 
14 the purchase and implementation of a school-level textbook
 
15 management system and necessary computer hardware for the
 
16 department of education; provided that implementation begin first
 
17 at the high school level, then the intermediate/middle, and
 
18 finally at the elementary school level.
 
19      SECTION 3.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
20 department of education for the purposes of this Act.
 
21      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.
 
22 
 
23                              INTRODUCED BY:______________________