STAND. COM. REP. NO 118

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1376

 

 

 

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 S.B. No. 1376 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to fund the expansion of the Ike Pilialoha School Behavioral Health Program in the Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua complex area.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hawaii State Teachers Association, and The Queen's Health Systems.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Ike Pilialoha Program provides students with psychiatric care in the school setting with direct input from teachers, counselors, and administrators.  The program is delivered through a collaboration of providers from The Queen's Medical Center, Tripler Army Medical Center, and the Department of Education, and serves military dependents and the civilian population seamlessly.  The program alleviates major hurdles between families and mental health services including cost, stigma, time, and distance.

 

     Your Committee further finds that behavioral reports and suspensions have dropped off significantly since implementing the program.  Not only does it have an immediate impact, but because children benefit from early identification of mental health concerns, interventions are more effective, and the child is more likely to effectively address ongoing or future mental health challenges.

 

     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 S.B. No. 1376 and recommends that it pass Second Reading 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