STAND. COM. REP. NO. 934

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 831

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 831, H.D. 2, entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Expedite the process of school closure when a public charter school becomes financially insolvent by deeming the school to have voluntarily surrendered its charter contract;

 

     (2)  Require the authorizer, in its sole discretion, to determine whether health and safety concerns require school closure;

 

     (3)  Require the authorizer, in its sole discretion, to adopt a closure protocol any time a school is subject to closure; and

 

     (4)  Require the authorizer, in its sole discretion, to determine whether to provide for a transition period in the event of a school closure.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission, Hawaii State Teachers Association, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that the lengthy charter revocation process established under chapter 302D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, never contemplated a scenario in which a school is insolvent or insists on continuing operations despite insolvency.  Although such situations are not expected to arise often, a mechanism needs to be available to expedite the closure process in order to protect students and stakeholders.  Because many public charter schools operate on very tight budgets, concerns have been expressed as to the meaning of "financial insolvency", and defining the term is important to help charter school administrators better understand when the mechanism may be triggered.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by clarifying that a school is financially insolvent when it is unable to pay its staff when payroll is due.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 831, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 831, H.D. 2, 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,

 

 

 

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair