STAND. COM. REP. NO.1665

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: S.C.R. No. 120

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 120 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND BOARD OF EDUCATION TO IDENTIFY THE FULL COST OF EDUCATING FEDERALLY CONNECTED CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES AS ALLOWED BY THE FEDERAL IMPACT AID FORMULAS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request the Department of Education and the Board of Education to conduct a comprehensive review of the federal impact aid issue to resolve the discrepancies in educational funding by the federal government.

Your Committee finds that the Department of Education currently serves 30,337 federally connected pupils. The families of these students often pay little or no state income taxes, live on nontaxable federal property, shop at stores that do not generate any local taxes and work on nontaxable federal lands.

Additionally, your Committee finds that the federal impact aid law (P.L. 103-382, Title VIII) was designed to reimburse state public schools for the loss of traditional revenue sources due to a federal presence or activity (i.e. federally connected school children). This reimbursement, however, has not been forthcoming. For example, of the 30,337 federally connected students in Hawaii, 1,425 of them have been identified as special education students. These students alone cost the State $6,535,050 annually, of which the federal government only covers $914,907. This underpayment is just the tip of the iceberg.

This Concurrent Resolution requests the Department of Education and the Board of Education to conduct a comprehensive review of the federal impact aid issue to resolve the discrepancies in educational funding by the federal government.

Specifically, the Concurrent Resolution requests the Department of Education and the Board of Education to:

(1) Provide a report on the history of federal impact aid in Hawaii;

(2) Identify the cost of educating federally connected students as allowed by federal impact aid formulas;

(3) Determine if students are making progress toward predetermined goals; and

(4) Report on the use of funds for special education programs, teacher salaries, equipment including assistive devices and other educational issues.

Your Committee has amended this measure to reflect its recognition of the fact that the Department of Education and the Board of Education may not be able to collect all relevant data due to circumstances beyond their control.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 120, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 120, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair