STAND. COM. REP. NO.2036

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 2145

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2145 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR FAMILIES FOR RESOURCES FOR EARLY ACCESS TO LEARNING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to establish additional Families for Resources for Early Access to Learning (R.E.A.L.) programs and to conduct a longitudinal study of the program.

The Department of Education testified in support of the measure.

The Families for R.E.A.L. program, developed from a Minnesota family education model, is based on the premise that parents serve as their children's first and most important teachers and, therefore, have the opportunity to positively influence their children's learning experiences and development. Under the program, parents attend classes with their children, learn parenting and teaching skills, and network with other parents. Teachers report that children from participating families enter school better prepared to learn than children from families who have not undergone the program.

There are currently three Families for R.E.A.L. programs operating in the State and hundreds of families on their waiting lists. The funds appropriated by this measure would enable the establishment of additional programs in the Honolulu, Central, Kauai, and Hawaii school districts. Additionally, funds are required to undertake a longitudinal study of the program's effectiveness on student achievement.

Your Committees have amended this measure by deleting specific appropriation amounts.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2145, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2145, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Education,

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NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair

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DAVID MATSUURA, Chair