Report Title:

Schools; Air Conditioning

 

Description:

Requires the department of education to plan for and request appropriations necessary to provide air conditioning in every public school classroom statewide by the year 2006. Removes departmental discretion to have private entity pay provisionally for electricity and maintenance where installations were not done by the department of accounting and general services.

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

479

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

 

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the quality of public education in the State is related to the condition of public school facilities. In order to achieve schools of excellence in the twenty-first century, steps must be taken to ensure that our public school students are taught in facilities that are conducive to learning.

There is medical evidence to show that exposing children to prolonged periods of heat and humidity reduces their learning ability. According to the Committee on School Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics, an "effective temperature" of eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit for a sustained period of four to six hours is considered the maximum tolerable condition for sedentary educational activity. Fatigue and learning skills deteriorate rapidly beyond this point. Studies have confirmed that even slight increases in environmental temperature have an adverse effect on learning performance.

Most of Hawaii's public school classrooms are naturally ventilated. The adverse effect of Hawaii's climate on public school students learning in these classrooms is of concern since our State experiences consistently high humidity and average daytime temperatures in the mid-eighties in Fahrenheit degrees, with temperatures often rising to the high eighties and low nineties during certain months of the school year.

While the department of education has installed ceiling fans in certain situations to alleviate these concerns, these actions have not proven to be effective.

The purpose of this Act is to mandate the provision of air conditioning in every public school classroom statewide by the year 2006.

SECTION 2. Section 302A-1501, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-1501[]] Noise and climate control at school facilities. [(a)] The department shall plan for, and request appropriations necessary to implement[, acoustic], the following:

(1) Acoustic noise control [and air conditioning] of existing and new school facilities in areas that are [susceptible to extremes of temperature or] affected by aircraft, traffic, and other noise[.]; and

(2) Air conditioning of all existing and new school classroom facilities.

The department shall develop appropriate standards and consider local conditions for deciding whether acoustic noise control [and air conditioning of existing and new school facilities are] is required for effective classroom instruction. In all cases where acoustic treatment of school facilities is planned, the department shall utilize the services of individuals qualified by training and experience to recommend appropriate noise control procedures and components. Acoustic noise control [and air conditioning] shall be given equal weight as all other factors in the criteria used by the department in setting priorities for school construction and renovations.

[(b) In any case where air conditioners are installed in a particular school, the department may require that the approximate cost of electricity and maintenance for air conditioners not installed by the department of accounting and general services be paid by a private entity until the department establishes temperature and noise standards and a policy relating to air conditioning.]"

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $       , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002, and the sum of $       , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2002-2003, to provide air conditioning in every public school classroom statewide by the year 2006. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:

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