STAND. COM. REP. NO.  171-16

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2267

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 2267 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to support digital learning and the use of technology in public schools by:

 

     (1)  Requiring a publisher or manufacturer that submits printed curricular materials to be used in public schools on or after July 1, 2016, to also make printed curricular materials available in an equivalent digital format during the entire period in which the printed curricular materials are being used by the public schools;

 

     (2)  Authorizing moneys allocated for printed curricular materials to be expended for the purchase of digital formats of the curricular materials;

 

     (3)  Defining "curricular materials" to include instructional material in both printed and digital formats and replacing references to "school textbooks, instructional materials, library books, equipment, or supplies" with "curricular materials"; and

 

     (4)  Appropriating $12,800,000 for digital devices for teachers and students to use in public school classrooms.

 

     TechNet, CompTIA, and several concerned individuals supported this measure.  The Department of Education supported the intent of the measure.  The State Public Charter School Commission and the Hawaii State Teachers Association submitted comments.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting the requirement that a publisher or manufacturer that submits printed curricular materials to be used in public schools on or after July 1, 2016, also make equivalent materials available in a digital format;

 

     (2)  Clarifying that the appropriation for digital devices for teachers and students to use in classrooms be made for Department of Education schools only, and not public charter schools;

 

     (3)  Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount to facilitate further discussion;

 

     (4)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion; and

 

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     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. 2267, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2267, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

ROY M. TAKUMI, Chair