STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1165

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 159

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 159, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHARTER SCHOOLS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to improve charter school governance and accountability.

 

     Specifically, this measure amends the laws governing charter schools by:

 

     (1)  Increasing the percentage of the annual charter school general fund allocation that the Charter School Administrative Office withholds for operational expenses, from two percent to five percent, provided that the office submits an annual report to the Legislature accounting for its operational expenses;

 

     (2)  Allowing a charter school to appeal to the Board of Education regarding a denial of reauthorization of its charter by the Charter School Review Panel;

 

     (3)  Specifying that the Charter School Review Panel's powers to address charter school issues include special monitoring and temporary withholding of an allocation for non-compliance issues;

 

     (4)  Specifying the local school boards' oversight of charter schools and requiring the Charter School Review Panel to ensure that local school boards are fulfilling this responsibility;

 

     (5)  Authorizing the Charter School Review Panel, after working with the local school board to address deficiencies in the local school board's fulfillment of its oversight responsibilities, to require the local school board to undergo mandatory board training and to reconstitute the local school board if necessary; and

 

     (6)  Requiring local school boards to:

 

          (A)  Make the names of board members and officers publicly available at the board's office or the Charter School Administrative Office, and on the board's or charter school's website;

 

          (B)  Meet at least quarterly; and

 

          (C)  Adopt and make publicly available the policies, procedures, and bylaws necessary to fulfill the boards' duties, including ethical standards of conduct relating to conflicts of interest and developed with the charter schools.

 

     Your Committee received comments in opposition to this measure from Curtis Muraoka, Vice-President, Hawaii Charter Schools Network.

 

     Your Committee received comments on this measure from Kalei Kailihiwa, Director, Hoolako Like of Kamehameha Schools.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure provides additional resources for charter school administration and clarifies the duties and responsibilities of the Charter School Review Panel and the local school boards to ensure that all charter schools are meeting their educational goals.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, style, and consistency.

 

     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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 159, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 159, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair