STAND. COM. REP. NO. 470-06

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: H.B. No. 3237

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 3237 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to increase access to early learning programs for all children, increase participation in these programs by promoting their value, and improve the quality of programs and practitioners by:

(1) Creating an early learning authority to oversee the State's early childhood learning system;

(2) Making more early childhood learning programs and facilities available by establishing financial incentives for their creation;

(3) Improving the quality of early childhood learning programs and practitioners by establishing financial incentives;

(4) Attracting and retaining quality practitioners in the early learning system by ensuring adequate compensation; and

(5) Guaranteeing the availability of early learning opportunities to all children by providing subsidies for all four-year-olds.

Good Beginnings Alliance, the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, Calvary Episcopal Preschool, American Academy of Pediatrics, Hawaii Chapter, Kamaaina Kids, Inc., Blueprint for Change, Kauai Good Beginnings, Hawaii Educational Policy Center, Good Beginnings Community Council – Maui, Waianae Coast Early Childhood Services, a member of the Temporary Early Childhood Education Task Force, and several concerned individuals testified in support of this measure. The Department of Education, Department of Human Services, Alu Like, Inc., The League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Parents and Children Together, Hawaii Association for the Education of Young Children, Early Childhood Educational and Management Service, Head Start Association of Hawaii, a member of the Temporary Early Childhood Education Task Force, and a concerned individual supported the intent of this measure.

Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended this bill by replacing its entire contents and inserting language that:

(1) Establishes the Early Learning Working Group (Working Group), composed of community members and representatives from various agencies, to:

(a) Develop plans and timelines for an early learning system that maximizes public and private resources to provide early learning opportunities for all children in the state who are four years old on January 1 of the school year; and

(b) Make other recommendations for the early learning system;

(2) Requires the Working Group to submit reports of its progress, findings, and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Governor and Legislature; and

(3) Appropriates funds for the operations of the Working Group.

This bill was also amended by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2006, and a sunset date of July 1, 2008.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Labor & Public Employment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 3237, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 3237, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Labor & Public Employment,

 

____________________________

KIRK CALDWELL, Chair

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ROY TAKUMI, Chair