STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1136

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 1728

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1728, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Education to hire part-time teachers, tutors, or both, for elementary and intermediate public schools with instructional needs.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Department of Education and Hawaii State Teachers Association.

Your Committee finds that numerous studies have shown that smaller class size enhances student achievement. In Act 51, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004, the Legislature provided for the reduction of class size in kindergarten, grade one, and grade two. It is highly important to continue this movement. Students benefit from smaller class size by having more personalized attention, and teachers assigned to smaller class size classrooms experience fewer discipline problems and are able to move more quickly through the curriculum.

Your Committee has amended this measure to include the following provisions from S.B. 1221, S.D. 2:

(1) Requiring the department to reduce the ratio of students to teachers in kindergarten to grade two and appropriating funds;

(2) Developing a phase-in plan for the reduction of class size for grades three to five; and

(3) Appropriating funds for additional assistance in grades three to five when the one-to-twenty-six ratio is exceeded.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1728, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1728, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education and Military Affairs,

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair