I think it's someone that might be retiring or I don't think we're cutting anybody. Somebody's retiring in the department I believe so we're not filling it. Um but we haven't we haven't cut a position in terms of a staff member. Okay. And then second to last question. My this one's more related to capital improvement funding. Yeah. So something that I've noticed at least during my time on the committee is there have been several requests of capital improvement money from the budget. Yeah. Um to the committee and and there's also a subcommittee of capital improvement um that has had those discussions and so there is a $2 million increase increase in that line item and so I'm assuming it's related to um the recent projects that we've approved but also sort of to limit the need to have to come back to the committee constantly asking us for for money to do capital improvement.
Yeah. um Carrie I don't know if you know or familiar with the attitude attitudinal surveys or I know that we do a lot of procuring PSAs through movie theaters and on the radio outreaching to University of Hawaii. Is this some of the one of the subjects that we do outreach on? Yeah. So one of the things that we do ask in our behavioral survey I'm glad you brought up is just how far people are willing to walk to a designated crossing. Uh which is important to kind of understand like the path of least resistance and that it shows that actually most people are willing to go to the appropriate spot uh when surveyed so that's like the majority meaning more than 60%. um and so we we want to encourage everybody to use the safest crossing possible. um I think that's you know putting in a positive light rather than just always saying this is the fine this is the penalty but encouraging people to make the right decision because it's how the road is designed to keep them safe.
>> Yeah. So, within a given lesson, um our curriculum is designed to be many of the lessons are designed as a very direct instruction. I do as the teacher. I'm gonna show you how to do it. These are the steps. Fill in the blanks while we do this. And then there's going to be a second practice problem and we're going to do it together or partner. And what recent math instruction research shows us is that again students need to be grappling. They need to be having that productive struggle and making sense of it. So for example, um today we had the opportunity in cohort. teachers had collaboratively designed last month um a lesson for a fifth grade class. They were learning about volume. It was going to be their very first day. The book has three problems and then 10 practice problems. And the way that we helped them to redesign the lesson doing one problem.
Yeah. In non in non foundation we would typically every year request a million dollars. So that 3 million isn't a reflection of requesting more dollars I believe I think it's a how much we need to spend on capital improvement where we have money in capital improvement already I believe so maybe Alyssa can correct me if I'm uh wrong about that. So a million is assessed to the cities and towns but 2 million is coming from excess and deficiency. Yeah. >> Okay. Yep. So this would essentially just be budgeting it in one line item instead of separate Right. >> line items through. Okay. Yep. And then um this the last question is more related to the bond that we approved to go out to the different communities um the $4 million bond Yes. >> that we requested. Um I'm assuming that starts impacting us in this fiscal year No, not this fiscal >> Not this fiscal year.
um but we are working on something like that right now but we're just you know PSAs are they they take a little while to produce and and get approval so hopefully we'll have something aired by pedestrian safety month this year. Thank you very much Carrie. I do want to say one plug for interns. We're actually creating projects to help us with some social media reels. I know that we're not allowed to go on TikTok but to do just a lot of safety messaging to reach different populations in addition to the public service announcement. Thank you Deputy Director Lee. Thank you Carrie. In in one of the testimonies it seems like the prices for jaywalking is between 130 and 180 and it's more than the speeding on the red light which is about what 60 something dollars so there's a big gap between jaywalking and other fines uh currently so um I I can tend to agree it's it's pretty high if you're paying over $100 for jaywalking it's a notification but apparently that's why this measure is before us.
They spent half an hour. The students spent half an hour on the topic. They had blocks. They had talking structures. They made sense of it together. They had a word bank. They were describing what they were doing and what it really meant to find the volume of a solid paper that they were comparing. I built it this way. How did you build it? Wait a second. If you turn it on the side, it's the very first time that they had had that experience with it. And what was really great about it also is that the teacher was able to hear. All of us as observers were able to hear the very first time they described it like okay well how big is what is what do you see we didn't notice a two by two um rectangle and they oh it's two by four and they were not describing the depth but they were describing it as a two dimensional shape even though it was in front of them and the teachers had this this aha that if the kids were only looking at the picture of the model in the book, they would have lived there.
I don't even think it's going to impact at the next fiscal year. So the only bond that we have is the one from 2017? Yeah, which is almost paid off. 2.3 million? Uh I think it's less than that the bond that we are still on that bond. I'm not positive. Alyssa probably has the exact number on that bond. Oh. Alyssa more related to the bond from 2017? Is that >> how many years left do we have I think we have It's like two or three more years on that. >> Yeah. I don't have that on. It's one or two more years when I'm not exactly I have I can get that for you also. >> Okay. Yeah, you can get that. Yeah, thank you. Yep. Um and then the question I'm assuming someone will ask is if there's any layoffs laid out in the budget.
Thank you. Thank you. Yes Senator Lee. I think part of the frustration I think in a prior hearing on this issue that came up as I recall earlier was a lot of the places that we have here in Hawaii aren't designed for pedestrians and I know DOT's been making great strides to try and change that and obviously it's not going to be overnight but in cases like for example um uh we brought this up I don't know a couple of years ago when it happened but um on Vineyard and Queen right as you're crossing to like the Pacific Club from here right it was like four-way um crosswalks and then DOT pulled one of them out so if you're walking from the capital to the Pacific Club now you have to cross three different times rather than just once. And in those cases you still see a lot of people now running across the street cuz I mean the wait at that light is it's like five minutes right in between like all the different turn signals cycles and all that stuff.
They would have had to do five more examples and five more different types with different numbers and different shapes. But they didn't. The exit ticket from today, 45 minutes later, 20 out of 25 students were able to find the volume of a new box. They were never taught the formula. The teacher did no direct instruction. Let me show you how to do it. And then we had five students up that we thought like you know what I think that could be your small group or maybe you can do one more problem. If we did one high quality problem if we did two probably going to catch at least a couple more of those students. So in answer to your question who is choosing those problems our consultant and our coaches are advising teachers on how to choose the problems. What are you looking for as the instructional leader in your own classroom as this expert or developing expert to determine which problems are worth my students time?
Any layoffs in the budget? >> layoffs planned from this budget? Uh there could be one but that's not finalized yet. Whether we need the position or not. Uh which position is that? Uh what I'm rather not say in open session yet since that person hasn't been notified. >> Okay. All right, thank you. Any further questions from Ms. Martel on the budget? Ms. Martel I'd just like to say thank you to you and your office staff for doing all this hard work for us. Very well laid out. Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to accept the budget that Ms. Martel put forward? Uh motion with another question. We'll wait for the discussion. >> Um okay. Can I get a second? Second. Discussion. Um so part of when I was getting clarification on the budget something that um stood out to me was the amount of um money that we're getting that's not from the cities and towns or or from the grants but more from foundations and um external resources that we've been able to leverage Yes.
And so how do we fix situations like that where the projects that are being done actually make it both more difficult for pedestrians and to some extent more dangerous cuz you now have three times the exposure to getting hit by a car. um while the same time then you know with this situation having like harsh penalties that especially for people who can't afford it means basically like do you take your life into your hands or do you end up paying? How do we fix that? So I don't know that particular intersection whether it was an engineering survey that maybe I mean I think sometimes when signal crosswalks are dangerous maybe that's why I don't know that particular one but I can get back to um But I'm sorry what is the question? Oh no I think I was making a point that this dangerous. Oh okay.
Really, what's going to get me what's going to get them to understanding and also what's going to give me as the educator the information that I need to resolve the misunderstandings. So that was one example and it it required taking the problem straight out of the book and crossing off all of the step-by-step directions and just giving them the tools and some guidance to make sense of it on their own. And so um I'm also hearing that there's still level. So there are ways that you can support student performance by going here's a scripted lesson in the short term about it and then next we don't but that doesn't we're not and the reality is every week is going to be slightly different and content is change over sometimes change. So by building capacity in our staff, we're really we're looking at it may not feel as fast today, but we're building and we are also getting some time.
compared to to other districts that have applied for funding and so I wanted to see if you can give a little bit of context as to um what we're looking for in terms of like grants from foundations Yeah. the upcoming budget Yeah. in raising dollars for this the different projects that Yeah. Uh Well, one of the uh we're working with Fidelity right now. We've met with them three or four times. Uh they [clears throat] uh we're looking for between one and 1.5 million dollars. Um The final application needs to be in on Friday which we're on target to get. We feel very uh good about that. Um we've been working closely with the team from Fidelity that gives the grant and presents it to the uh selection committee. And they feel really good about it also, they wouldn't have come back to us three times now.
Jade had said at a present public presentation that it was probably not in pedestrians interests and was not uh yeah I guess best practice. So anyway I raised that as sort of the example to note that these kinds of situations like some people are like forced into it and they don't have a choice. And so if we're going to like how do we create a pathway where people can still reasonably get around without having to face the specter of punitive fines. Particularly where they're near and now we're creating a lot more affordable apartments rentals affordable housing where you we increase population in certain blocks. As an example what I just talked about with the affordable housing within Chinatown up to um As an example the the area I talked about was Beretania and Manoa Key and then if you're going the other way up to Vineyard the next traffic I mean the next pedestrian um uh crosswalk is on Kukui so because of the nature of those living in the area which are more Asian, um, affordable housing.
The other thing that's the flip side of doing this in this in this fashion is it makes it even more important. So another upgrade next week, next month we'll be receiving any recommendations from you on salary. And this is why us talking about despite all of the other things, it's important that we're ensuring that we're investment and that's component of that. And the reason is when we invest in this in our teachers on other staff, we want to make sure they're not investing in them as a investment in some other district. I think even the best teach >> and I think the example must be shared with us which is putting features in a position that has that aha moment of the difference between teaching and something. Now you're developing the ability to in much the same way the description of how important is that the students have that productive struggle and then in the process of students going through that struggle they understand what they're learning to get and what I describe this even as an old man I'm trying to stop and so I have activities that I'm doing a lot of lessons and one of the things that I learn my own learning process is that those lessons I need to know and that's going to do that.
Um they've also worked with us to ensure that the the grant's written in the way that is written strong and and help us get the grant, but they are looking to give us money to support. In this particular case, we it's going to go towards offsetting some of the cost of the health um um building that we want to put up. Which the $4 million bond's going for that building, plus we're looking we've requested another million uh plus between a million and 1.5 is what they said they could give us. Uh so that looks very promising. Uh and then [clears throat] we're also right now in the process of writing a skills capital grant, which is can be up to $500,000. So we're writing $500,000 on that particular grant, and that's to buy all health So when the new building's done, we need to buy equipment for the building for the particularly the new pathways we're we're putting together for the new for our health programs.
You know, there I see it every day, but maybe add another crosswalk right where in between the two intersections that there is a an, you know, the ability for them to learn that they must use a crosswalk. So, you know, add that and also we have to uh, and unfortunately city and county are the counties are involved with the traffic light management system that you that we the state DOT pays for. Um, but sometimes the lights are got to be in sync I understand. Okay. Thank you. All right. Anyone wishing to speak to HB uh, is here. So, we'll say aloha and we'll go to HB 1688 and this is relating to the general excise tax exemption for aircraft maintenance uh, as well and we got um, Department of Taxation. Thank you for bearing with us today. Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, and members. Gary Okimoto from Department of Taxation.
It's not any different. Okay, this question is the fast data 92.2 shows that the percent of the students at low risk has remained 12% from falling data isn't shown and the lowest positive adjustment are two and three to specifically target the foundational gaps identified. So um as Marine mentioned earlier there are in the fourth grade we've had conversations with our district teams our principal teams our coaches to really presently knock small however as shared challenges with their curriculum that is available access different than literacy. There aren't a lot of evidence based research based tits out there. So that does require us to be thinking differently about resources that we need to provide so that kids aren't doing something different. So rather than going back to the black table and be again slower on a whiteboard compared to on your piece of paper. So you need to be thinking about what does that look like in terms of use of time and structural resources.
Uh so we're writing the grant to fund that. Uh and we actually and that's due I think in 3 weeks. Uh so we'll get that done. We just got awarded, which I think is in my one of my reports, $750,000 from the Clean Energy Center uh to do some projects here on the one of them is to continue our work with the Clean Energy barn that we're building to finish up that barn and to buy some more equipment for that barn, as well as to do some training. >> That's if that's in your report, I'll let you do that in your report. >> Okay. >> Clean Energy Center. >> [laughter] >> You got excited cuz I asked something. Yes. Um I can give you a lot >> [laughter] >> We have a lot of grant work going on right now. Okay. And then in terms of the grants cuz so a few months ago we had the general advisory meeting.
We'll stand on our written testimony and comments and we're here if you have questions. And thank you for being here when we heard the the Senate version as well. Appreciate it. Tax Foundation of Hawaii, aloha Tom. Good to see you again. Yeah, thank you, Chair, Vice Chair, and members of the committee. Tom Yamashika from Tax Foundation. Um, we have submitted written comments. We'll stand on those and be available for questions. Okay. Thank you, Tom. Okay. Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, and members. Jacob Akiu on behalf of Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines. We'll stand on our written testimony and comments in strong support and we are here to answer questions. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, Kohala Coast Resort Association uh, in support uh, Chamber of Commerce in support uh, and we got uh, testifying for Activities and Attractions Association of Hawaii and Antoinette Davis in support uh, comments from Johnny May Perry and in opposition Theodore Metros.