My father's character has been consistent for decades. Over 20 years he coached at West Valley. There was an isolated event. There's a bigger picture. His values did not suddenly change over over two decades. His heart for mentoring young men did not come from a place of harm. It came from a place of responsibility and care. Investigations were conducted. Facts were examined. And yet the damage of accusation lingers far longer than the truth ever seems to. What he has endured is not just professional, it's personal. It has affected my family, his reputation, and the community he served so faithfully. And still through all of this, he's carried himself with restraint, dignity, and faith, trusting that truth matters even when it takes time to surface. I ask this >> I'm sorry. Your time is up. Good. Be free to everybody. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening board.
I know you want your prep time. I get it, you know. Well, it's part of it. It is part of it. No. No. I'm sorry. I can't take No, you would have had to come to the podium. I'm sorry. But I got a letter about prep time and that's okay. I mean, I don't think Is there anything wrong with you wanting prep time? I think >> okay, you can suspend the rules. >> Okay. All right. We sorry about our meeting and we got these letters, but I'm addressing everyone. >> Anyway, it is hard to try and you know accommodate all these pets. every scenario there it none of it was pretty I mean we did try to do the work and so then after last week I was just kind of stressing out about it and just thinking well did we look at this and this you know um does do you guys have any more questions about what's on the resolution these specific positions >> I I just one more because again that the special ed cut is not in here.
So that's something that we're going to have to really look at for this um next iteration of the survey. Keep going the wrong way. And then we've completed our midyear LCAP review. We're continuing to have conversations with our county office team and that's with our ED services team and the business team that work um with us in collaboration. We'll bring back all of our results to a study session at a board meeting in June. That'll be June 17th. And the following week, we'll be bringing the final LCAP for board approval um on June 24th. And that is the end of our midyear LCAP questions, concerns. >> Thank you.
Any discussion? Seeing none, uh, vice chair for vote, chair bai, >> I vote yes. Senator Fukunaga, excuse. Senator Kim, >> hi. >> Senator Favlla, >> I chair recommendation is adopted. >> Thank you. Committee on J committee is [laughter] I'm going to call the committee on education to order. Uh again the hearing is being streamed live and today's Wednesday 26 2026 in room 229. Uh we are being streamed live and you folks know the all the rickor abruptly amen uh ends. We're going to resume on Friday February 13th and you're limited to a one minute testimony. So with that, we are going to start off with uh Senate bills um 896 and Senate Bill 895. Members, we're going to decision make on this right now. In the event I lose quorum, we do need to amend these bills as um to begin with. And so these two measures of the first measure, Senate Bill 896 is relating to education.
The department stands on its testimony and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you very much. Next we have Dainty Bartholus, Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities and support Barus, executive director for the Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities. We are in support of this measure, but we're hopeful that um DHS with their state plan amendment where it has a full income disregard and asset disregard will come through where a Medicaid buying won't be needed. But right now we are in support of this as um in case that is needed. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Next we have Christine Pagano again. Decap in support. >> Thank you very much. Lewis Urch Hawaii Disability Rights Center in support. >> Yes. Thank you. Good afternoon Senator. Uh members, uh Senator, I know you championed Cal's law because we I still got the pictures to prove it and I and and I know that you >> and that was I know you were very supportive and I think what's happened is that over time cow's law has worked very well.
So we've seen great progress when we've been able to pull the kids in. The last one again you saw the data fourth grade student retention. Um that's a big one for us. They they have the junior high scary so that day when they come over they leave there and they're like they're ready to come. You know so we we we really take pride in that fourth grade uh success as far as we did not have a lot of kids for the first time leaving because they were scared about coming to the junior high. Um so we've got really good plans in place as far as things that we're doing. Uh if you don't know this you probably seen on Facebook we've got $4,000 donated the other day to provide t-shirts for all eighth graders and fourth graders from the community uh to give those students shirts and things at Cub Fest to increase uh the Cub Fest involvement as well.
Again, I am nervous as well. Uh my name is Drake Martinez and I have a proud former player at Coach Randal. I graduated from West Valley High School in 2017 and had the honor of playing under Coach Randell for two seasons. During my time in the his program, I learned lessons that extended far beyond the football field. Coach Randelle's guidance, discipline, and leadership helped me shape me into the man I am today. I have carried his advice, values into my everyday life. I am now blessed to be married to my beautiful wife for two years and to be the father of an amazing son. Coach Grandell has inspired me to strive to be the best version of myself, not only for me, but for my family as well. I'm writing this letter to strongly recommend Coach Grandell. West Valley High School would be truly fortunate to welcome him back as a coach and mentor.
It does it mean it's not going to >> We've already done that. >> We've discussed that. That's something that's taking place on something other than >> Oh. Oh. >> of this resolution. >> So, it'll come to us later as a resolution. >> Okay. It's not on it's there's legalities behind that. the what is before you is what is needs to be on this resolution per last week's meeting and the vote that you guys took on option four anyway. Okay. It's not regarding this specific item right now, but throughout the course of the remainder of meeting tonight, there are things we will be addressing that will benefit our school and bring in more money. One of which I will be talking about later after we do this will be what we can do to reduce the absenteeism issue in our school. So things like that will give us more money.
Does anyone have any questions? >> Awesome. >> I have a few. Um I tried to highlight them as we went so I could remember. It was quite a presentation. Um, for LCAP goal one, I think we should recognize the improvements. Like our attendance rates are going up, chronic absenteeism is going down. Um, love seeing that. I think that everything's going in the right direction. So, we should one recognize we start with the positive, which I think is great. >> Absolutely. >> The numbers we're seeing at the end, I think we're all a little bit like, oh my gosh. >> Um, >> so this also has a lot to do with this gentleman standing next to me, too. Thank you. >> Because he's really working collaboratively with our school sites, talking with students, talking with um our assistant principles to try to really get those suspension rates down.
Uh it's a proposed it's a short term short term it's a short form bill and uh we did post a SD1 online and uh this would be to uh have a reporting system for capital improvement projects and so what happens is we will amend it and then uh so the recommendation would be to pass Senate Bill 896 with amendments by inserting the provisions of the proposed SD1 then recommitting the bill to the committee on education. Uh and then we will then schedule for a public hearing on this measure at the next or the later um hearing and we will post that notice. So if you have any concerns about the two uh amendments that we're making, you will have a chance to testify on that when we schedule it for a formal hearing. So with that, members, I want to recommend that we amend Senate Bill 896 uh to the SD1 that was posted.
Uh and so you see more people with disabilities employed. At the same time, we we've also seen some limitations with it because it currently had is pegged to a cap of like 135% of the poverty level. So you have people making more who are now faced with a tough choice about career advancement versus Medicaid. So uh there is a bill moving on on repealing the the cap and Kyle's law. That would be good. The Medicaid buyin is here is also another option. So I think all these options the goal is competitive employment and and integration. So whatever moves is good I think at this point. >> Thank you very much. Next we have Hawaii Self- Advocacy Advisory Council in support. Janelle Fiesta in support. Janelle, are you present? >> I'm right here. >> Oh, terrific. >> Good afternoon, Chair Sam Brennova and committee members. My name is General Fiesta and I'm here in strong support of SB 2275.
So that's just some of the things that are on the horizon for us but that's probably not it. I can tell you we're going to keep keep moving the needle so. Uh last piece again is just I would sum this up because I know this for us it's student engagement it's discipline it's accountability as David and Brandon have already talked about. Um the most important thing is just valuing the people that work in our building. Valuing the students valuing our people uh and that's number one for us. And if we can continue to do that then we're just really excited about where we are right now and where we're going. We've just got a great staff behind us and you can feel the vibe when you come into the junior high. You know we're we're not the we say this we're not the armpit we're the heartbeat.
He is a man of integrity, strong values, and deep commitment to family and community. Under his leadership, West Valley experienced tremendous success and earned the respect of coaches throughout the North. His dedication to coaching football and his commit commitment to building young men of character make him an outstanding coach. I fully support coach Grandell and I am confident he will bring leadership, discipline, and continued success to your program. Iron sharp and iron. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm I'm just a mom supporting my son and um his teammates. So, good evening. My name is Shaki Gurnie. I'm the parent of a current junior and an incoming freshman here at West Valley. I would like to take to take a moment to express my gratitude to the West Valley administration for their leadership during this transition. When the football program faced significant changes at the conclusion of this past season, our student athletes chose to rally together and advocate for positive change.
So doesn't have to specifically do with this something I'm going to talk about later. Just letting people know. I will go ahead and move to approve this at this time. Okay. So roll call vote. I >> I'm going to abstain. Sorry. >> It's okay. You're still going to pass. It's still going to pass, right? I'm just abstaining from it. Okay. Um, all right. I All right. Motion carries. Okay. Moving on. Eight monthly items and financial reports. A approval awards. I'm going to approve the awards. Second.
And I think a lot of positive behavior intervention supports have also been a huge factor in our chronic absenteeism rate and our attendance rates improving. So, a lot of those um action items are under Mr. Carol's uh viewpoint. and vantage point. So, we appreciate all the work he does there. >> Thank you. I think um just one observation and maybe this goes into input for for next year is you know these are very like lagging indicators, right? They they're like there's a problem or things are going well based on what we've done in the past. So, >> um it's it's hard to address after. So I was thinking it might be nice to see some metrics that um measure the great things you are doing that are actually boosting this. So like some way to measure >> um I mean we do Yeah, I think you do it.
Any discussion hearing? None. Uh you okay? Vice chair if you will take the vote to amend SB 896 to uh propose SD1. >> Senate bill 896 SD1. >> Chair votes I. >> Pass with amendments. Chair votes I. Vice chair votes I. Senator Fukunaga excuse. Senator Hashimoto. >> Hi. >> Senator Doro. Hi. >> Measures adopted. Madam chair. >> Okay. Thank you. And the next bill um 895 similarly it is a short form bill and um this authorizes the board of education to adopt rules and repeal certain requirements for the department of education and chartered schools commission uh to share data with the department of human services. Um and so we will the recommendation is to um amend Senate Bill 895 with the proposed SD1.
I know of a young man named Calbert. He lived with a rare neuromuscular condition called spinal muscular atrophy type 2. Because of his condition, he needed 24-hour care. This extensive care, only accessible through Medicaid, allowed him to live. I heard that Cal was brilliant and he had goals just like anybody else. >> His brother is right here, by the way. >> Yes, I know of him. He dreamed of becoming a professor and a writer, but Medicaid allegibility rules forced him to choose between meaningful employment or the life sustain life sustaining services he depended on. And no one should ever have to make that choice. Cal passed away in 2013 at the age of just 23. I never met Cal, but I live in the exact same condition that he had, and I face the same impossible dilemma. Every day I worry about losing my Medicaid uh if I continue to work and I can't build for my future.
>> [laughter] >> Ronnie knows you. So we just like to have fun with it but at the same point too you know it's it's we're we just want to keep to keep pushing that envelope so. Have fun it's you know if you're working at junior high setting you got to have a little fun with it you guys. >> [laughter] >> That's it for us. Thank you very much for that. Besides a lot of good information you could actually feel the excitement that you three all three spoke about so thank you because you can feel it. So moving on to the consent agenda. We'll start off with 26-101 approval of agenda for the February 11th 2026 regular meeting. 26-102 approval of minutes of the January 8th work session January 14th 2026 statutory Board of Finance and regular Board meeting. 26-103 approval of payment of claims. 26-104 approval of financial report.
I'm appreciative of all the administration who chose to listen to their concerns and goals presented by the players. Mr. Big B provided them with honest feedback and gave them clear actionable steps to move forward. Sorry, administration has also been very receptive to our parental concerns. At our request, you extended the application window to ensure a diverse and highly qualified pool of candidates. You also expanded the interview panel to include community representatives who understand the legacy and potential that West Valley football has and can be again. The transparency and open-mindedness shown throughout this process has been evident in the appointment of Greg Grandal as our hopeful new head coach. Coach Grandal, thank you for your application and your commitment to West Valley. Thank you for your commitment to the Cottonwood community and to football in general. Our athletes are exceptionally talented. This group of boys um you guys know from last time I am very close because I love them with my whole heart.
>> Any discussion? >> I know there were items on here that were quite costly with the roof having a massive leak in the kitchen. So, things that are unforeseeable cost the district a lot of money. All right. Roll call vote. I >> I 8B. Governor's proposed budget presentation. Hold on. Just connecting. So, this will just be a brief overview of the governor's budget proposal. Michelle and I attended that up in Sacramento. Oop, sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Go back. Um, we attended that up in Sacramento a couple weeks ago. We were roommates. We shared a room and uh attended the workshop together. So, um, I'm just going to go over really briefly some of the things they proposed. Just kind of keeping in mind that it usually changes by the time May roll comes around. So, some revenue assumptions. So, the projected LCFF uh for next year is 11,000 or 11,134,747.