001good afternoon and welcome to the Joint Committee on education and labor and technology today is Wednesday February 5th it's 3:00 p.m. we are in room 229 and we are here today to hear Senate Bill 420 related to education this bill allows newly graduated high school students to be eligible for workers compensation coverage during the summer following their High School graduation while participating in Department of Education sponsored work based learning programs so Senate Bill 420 um to start off off we have our Department of Education superintendent good afternoon chair and vice chair I'm Tammy Chun Deputy superintendent for Kei Hayashi we're standing in support of um our written standing support of the bill and um referring to our written testimony on this matter thank you would you like to start questions any questions I have your
002questions okay superintendent or Tammy how many students and new graduates new high schol graduates would this bill impact uh we have not been able to um we've not brought on um new graduates as interns under these conditions before so we don't have um track record on this but we would imagine somewhere in the ballpark of maybe 50 in the fir to 100 in the first year thank you so how or will this positively impact these students in the work Bas learning programs oh absolutely this is really an important um experience for students and an important transition for students who are have graduated and moving on to the workforce it'll give them experience to be able to uh to pursue addition to and to build skills to be more ready to apply for um employment post
003High School can you describe uh various Partnerships with employers Community Partners military or higher education institutions sure so um we have different Partnerships that offer students um work-based learning experiences the ones that are currently state funded through the D um hel imoa program we are currently only offering to students for um who are um work doing doe work sites at internships At Doe work sites there's a separate bill that would allow our students to do those internships at private sector organizations um but in terms of Partnerships uh some of the Partnerships for workplace learning for example include the Hawaii lodging and tourism association with their own funding in uh prior year they were able to offer students internships paid internships um at hotels so I have not seen that separate bill has it been um
004sent over um let me just double check on the bill number we'll look it up okay thank you members questions any questions any question so right now these students aren't eligible if this question was asked and answer okay for a workers's compensation if they're participating in internships correct uh but if it's a regular summer job if they're employed as employees then they would be eligible as employees for workers come so as an internship do they receive do they receive compensation they interns May may not receive compensation okay so if they don't receive compensation where does the where does the money come from to pay them the workers comp so the because doesn't the employer normally have to put into the workers's comp so under the current statute the uh the Attorney General's interpretation is that
005if students are in um if students are still enrolled not graduated yet that Doe workers compensation would cover them while they're participating in doe sponsored internships so this is to extend the period of coverage for until July 31st After High School graduation for students who are participating in in the same internship Ty programs okay and the doe is in supportive of this support yes okay thank you further questions members so do we have a a you don't have a number yet as to how many students are in this category uh we would newly be able to offer this so I would estimate perhaps 50 to 100 in the first year that's for all de schs correct and can you describe the types of Partnerships with employers or Community Partners military and higher education institutions that
006um we currently have sure so um we have opportunities for our students to participate in for example pre-apprenticeship programs with the Carpenters Union um apprenticeship the carpenters training and apprenticeship program so that's a short-term opportunity for students to learn some skills and also to have some experiences to decide if they want to pursue the full apprenticeship program thank you question questions sure go ahead so do you have experience um in terms of like numbers I mean they're not in in very dangerous kinds of um work that they do when they're interning but do you have any idea of what kind of accident yeah it's I'm hang on I have that information we have it we have not had um my recollection is that we have not had any incidents with students um in terms of
007workers compensation and from a cost point of view Doe's um current uh what doe is uh requested in terms of overall workers compensation would cover the cost so there would be no additional cost for this bill um and as for Senator kid's prior question um see some more examples here um just as an example of the kind of um funding we have had students participate in design and Technology lab to be able to um learn how to learn use different kinds of media equipment so but the the primary place that students have been a lot of the internships have so far been uh through the state funded program has been on campus or At Doe facilities doing a variety of different kinds of occupations at the doe So currently this um workers compensation coverage um
008ends at the time of graduation correct so if they work through the summer they're not covered currently and this this bill would allow them to be covered correct and that would extend through the summer through July 30 31st through July 31st only so it' be maybe two month after graduation and this is for high school seniors who have graduated correct members further questions so so it's it's covered you're saying your coverage for them during the school year will just continue on if this passes the bill would extend it the the current coverage is while they're students once they graduate um they would no longer be considered a student so this would just extend the coverage for up to two more months without additional cost correct thank you chair thank you members further questions if not
009um recess thank you reconvening The Joint Committee hearing of education and Committee of Labor and technology [Music] in for Senate Bill 420 relating to education this allows new gr newly graduated high school students to be eligible for workers compensation coverage during the summer following their High School graduation while while participating in Department of Education sponsored work based learning programs committee on education is ready to vote are you ready to vote so recommendation recommendation for both committees is to support this bill amending amend oh yeah I'm sorry we have to defect the date to July 1 2050 and this will be changed when hopefully when it gets to ws and means thank you ready for the vote okay so for Senate bill 420 the recommendation is to pass with amendments chair kidani I this chair votes
010I Senor hasim ior Senator I five recommendation is adopted okay thank you very much labor and Technology same recommendations defecting the uh effective date to July 1st 2050 questions of concerns memb sing non senator for the okay for uh labor committee uh those voting i h chair pimo I uh uh Senator Lee excuse Senator ihara I uh maruki I and Senator fella excuse legis Bill adopted thank you very much thank you so the Committees on education and labor and Technology have passed out Senate Bill 420 with amendments hearing is adjourned thank you thank you welcome back to the committee on education we are now reconvening this me meeting to this is Wednesday February 5th 2025 it's 3:02 p.m. agenda and we are in hearing room 229 this meeting including the audio and V video of
011remote participants is being streamed live on YouTube you will find links to viewing options for all Senate meetings on the live and On Demand video page of the legislator's website in the unlikely event that we must abruptly end this hearing due to Major technical difficulties the committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business on Friday February 7th 2025 at 3:00 p.m. in room 229 and a public notice will be posted on the legislature's website members we are here to discuss Senate Bill 844 propos sd1 relating to education this bill appropriates funds to the Department of Education to fulfill the local Farm to school meal goal requiring 30% of the food served in public schools to consist of locally sourced products oh sorry oops mistake sorry the purpose of this decision-making meeting is to insert subst
012stantive Provisions into the following short form Bill a public hearing will be scheduled at a later date at which testimony will be accepted this is for Senate Bill 894 relating to education propose sd1 did I shake up the Department of Education and this checking eyes on your toes just checking so send a bill 894 appropriate spunds to the Department of Education to F fulfill the local Farm to school meal goal requiring 30% of the food served in public schools to consist of locally Source Products and recommendation is to adopt this proposed sd1 members questions no I didn't have it on my agenda I don't know what happened to my agenda decision making only no okay so the recommendation is to amend Senate Bill 894 to include the Amendments that was uh read to by the
013chair and so any discussion hearing none the chair Vice chair V Senator hasim Senator Senator Dort is excused for in in um support and voting I your recommendations adopted thank you and that concludes our that's decision decision making we have another agenda yes reconvening the committee on education for our next agenda first first one on the agenda Senate Bill 789 relating to school cafeteria meal costs this bill repeals the requirement that the Department of Education set school cafeteria meal prices at no less than half the cost of meal preparation to testify superintendent please Vice chair Kim and members of the committee excuse me Dino Deputy superintendent testifying on behalf of Department of Education the department stands in its written testimony which provides comments on this measure the department is requesting that rather than repeal the
014existing requirement that the threshold instead be lowered to 1/4 of the cost of prepering the meal this would align it with the language and our administrative Bill package which is Senate Bill 1394 thank you okay members questions question so what what prompts this meas the repealing of the 50% oh whatever you're asking for yeah it was um we tried to go to the board Bo of Education to increase it cuz right now we're charging like $275 but it cost us about $9 per meal so we weren't in compliance with the statute we went to the board they didn't want to increase the rates they just wanted to increase it for adults and for the second meal and they wanted to keep everything the same because of you know everybody's having a hard time with the
015economy to way it is so you know we need to address the statutory requirement at the 50% so that's why the bill came in to lower it we we're kind of at the 1/4 right now at $275 at $9 you're at what cost right now yeah $9 per per plate and we're charging $ 275 and this bill would raise it to what um would be like 25% so 450 225 yeah 225 oh no this bill would be half the cost it would be 450 yeah we go 1/4 going to be but you're at 275 yeah so so if we go 1/4 it's lower than the 275 yeah we above no we going to be above the 225 the 225 is 1/4 of our cost we're charging 275 you want to be in compliance basically you
016want to be in compliance with the statute right correct it's not to what question so this bill I would think this is a better bill because it has no requirement right yeah I think you you're deleting everything you're deleting the 50% requirement right yeah we're asking for the 20 25% but that's in your bill package this one this one I'm looking at it just deletes so this one has nothing right but you guys want something in the statute I guess to be consistent with the the package that was submitted so so what why why was the doe not following the statue we hadn't done a increase since 2015 and then Co hit and so everything got pushed back so nobody was worried that they were in not in compliance with the statute I think um
017it it came to our attention I guess towards the end of last year that's what we started so nobody figured it out until last year I guess so interesting well you know CU I think I think obviously just based on what happened in the news and the outcry it's it's a very touchy subject and so you probably have to have a long-term plan like you have to tell them okay within the next eight years this is what the increase is but you haven't touched it since 2015 and then have no plan well we tried to increase it getting it closer to 50% but staging it over a 4year period so gradually stepping up yeah but when I was a kid you you like quarter quarter increases right and you're you're saying a couple dollars that's
018like of course people are going to flip out right yeah and then you know the cost of the cost of the food is going to go up too right so we got to try and figure out how you going to Pace it with the cost of the rising cost of the food going up that's not addressed anywhere just it says 50% of the cost of the meal right so okay so the the Department's intention though is whatever we put in the statute you guys are going to comply that's correct okay okay thank you chair Senator K so with all the bills going on about free lunch for everybody well how then this bill becomes moved right at some point yeah if that passes yeah it'll be moved and and so when you're when these bills
019are coming up and what the cost might be you're using the current cost of preparation per meal as to look at what the cost might be to the state right thank you further questions MERS thank you is there anyone else here wishing to testify on this measure okay moving on please come [Music] forward H chair Vice chair Nate Hicks with Hawaii Public Health Institute we really appreciate you folks hearing this bill and introducing it uh you know Point's pretty clear School Meal prices are uh you know shouldn't be doubled as we've seen in the news recently and removing this would be a great step so we're definitely in support of this uh and we think yeah not instituting the quarter would be the better move we don't want to tie the Department's hands and making
020sure that they follow right if costs go up all of a sudden we don't want a big jump so removing it entirely would be a great step thank you thank you [Applause] Daniela Daniela good afternoon chair Kim Vice chair or chair kadani Vice chair Kim my name is Daniela Spoto I am with Hawaii apple seed um we are in support of this measure and um I also just wanted to acknowledge Senator Hashimoto's remarks um I do think this is the better bill um the bill that Deputy um Ido was referencing um it's if the goal is is eventually to have free School meals for children which we hope that it is this would just eliminate one more barrier towards that whereas um the governor's package bill would still have this additional statute and there this
021barrier and the statute that 25% of the costs need to come from parents um so it doesn't necessarily require that they make the meals free but we do think that this just sort of makes it simpler if that is the eventual goal so thank you so much for hearing my testimony thank you anyone else here wishing to testify this measure can I ask one more question of do so this will cover not just student meals but adult meals as well um I think the board wants the adult meals closer to what we're paying oh I see so that's that's not covered in in this language thank you members no further testifiers and we will move on to Senate bill 449 relating to Capital Improvement establishes a school Capital Improvement project modernization initiative in the school
022facilities authority to create a planning database for school facilities and appropriates funds testify superintendent thank you chair kidani Vice chair Kim and members of the committee in deputy superintendent testifying on behalf of the Department of Education the department stands on its written testimony which provides comments on this measure what department appreciates the role of the school facilities Authority we continue to serve as the overall lead for CIP and deferred maintenance projects we believe the department is best suited to oversee the overall Planning Development and constructions construction of its facilities and believe that a planning database would be better suited within our department rather than duplicated under the s Fe thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you further testimony good afternoon senate committee on education Ricky fujitani with the school facilities Authority we support
023this bill we feel that Hawaii needs to develop a plan for the tectonic changes coming about as the federal programs and funding for Education will dramatically change in the 14th Edition for mandate for leadership also known as project 2025 the common theme is student choice and that will have a amazing impact on the way schools in Hawaii are run and funded especially when in our case 20% of the kids are in private schools 7.9 are in Charters and homeschools so the impact is great what this Bill does is create a proactive decision-making tool for legislators where the data schema will be by legislative districts so key questions for the legislators who deal with funding budget and spending will be answered ahead of time questions like why should we build what should we build and where
024we should repurpose so we are very much in support of this Bill thank you members questions thank you Ricky good afternoon chair kidani Vice chair Kim Senator ha Hashimoto and huchi from the Department of the Attorney General um in our testimony what we noted is that um the the bill places this new section in the um subpart C of part six chapter 302 that's the subp part that relates to the school facilities Authority um to make it clear that um references to the board in this new section are um relate to the Board of Education rather than the school facilities Authority board we've suggested amendments in our testimony to insert the words of Education um in the new or in the statute so that it's clear that the references to the board or to the
025bo e and not the SFA board I'll be available for questions thank you thank you members questions thank you is there anyone else here to testify on this measure not question question um so I'm hearing Zoe and then I guess F Ricky so doe is saying that they're best suited to oversee the overall plan right and therefore you're saying that this funding and I guess the database should be in the department and not duplicated under sfas so is this duplicating or what's happening well it doesn't exist now so the key is to build it as quickly as we can um we feel we're not right now there's no duplication because we don't have it no so is that your understanding okay so you're saying it shouldn't be in F you should only be in do
026correct okay and you're saying that you guys are the ones responsible for the planning no no we're saying this thing has to be done and you you to us or give it to them but we got to build this right but who is the more who or should it be both places or who is the one that supposed to be overseeing this definitely we have to work to we have to work with each other but but who can move fastest to get this thing up and running as quickly as we can well who can s if he can are you saying you guys can no give us the money and we'll do it no but that's what you guys say and then you I mean the reason no matter who does it somebody needs to
027get the money so if you're not going to ask you're not going to get yeah right but the thing is you guys have a history of that's if said we created this we created all stuff you have a backlog of so when you're saying give it to you guys and you guys are going to do it I I don't necessarily have faith that it's going to happen it's going to happen in a timely manner I'm sorry that's I know yeah our history um is not so good yeah but we try to make some changes within the organization that can be better responsive getting better people you folks already have this huge bureaucracy that yeah I'm think so if you folks get it then you folks will work with oh absolutely we have to because all
028it is is provides information to make better decision right ultimately the decisions have to be made by the legisl who decides funding or the do who decides repurposing and reusing put some language in the bill or in the committee report to assure that happens yes okay thank you so let me ask this So currently um does the doe work with SFA at all or does SFA work with the do at all or how are you doing projects right now there's four standing committee meetings where we regularly meet with the doe for each of the programs that we run first there's an overall one where we meet monthly and that involves operations Dean Audrey hadano and Chief of Staff yeah it's the same yeah but who's the lead uh myself and in the case of the
029overall Chief of Staff which is Camille then in the Central Maui schools the lead is Jen oraki and Brenda Lowry who are in charge of new schools in the case of work for housing we hope to work with the land department at the doe and then the third one in terms of midd Ling housing our lead right now is Fred Murphy but we want better oversight with either uh the best person would be audrea D and she's in charge of scheduling that regular meeting now and Audrey is with Dey okay thank you y thank you thank you Senate Bill 423 relating to the Early Learning board as adds the director of the Hawaii headart state collaboration office or their design as an ex official non- voting member to the Early Learning board requires the Early
030Learning board to invite the president of the Headstart Association of public or their designate to serve as an ex official noning member of the board um is y aloss here hi chair kidani Vice chair Kim and Senator Hashimoto I'm Yuko Adar cross director of the executive office on early learning we stand in strong support ofb 423 and we thank the committee for hearing this bill back in 2011 then Governor Neil abber cromi declared the Early Learning Council um by way of executive order as the state's advisory Council uh over the years it was replaced by the early learning Advisory Board and now it's currently the Early Learning board and so as a result The Early Learning Board needs to comply with certain requirements of the federal Head Start act so in 201 23 act 170
031which structured the composition of the Early Learning board and this bill just makes the change that's needed to realign the new composition with the headart act so adding the state director of headart collaboration as you mentioned and also inviting the president of the headart association or the president's design um the header act also requires that the board include a representative of local providers of early childhood education and development services so the membership of our current board does already include an individual who satisfies that requirement however e recommends that the bill be amended to ensure that this requirement is not accidentally overlooked in future years and has suggested language for your consideration thank you thank you members questions thank you anyone else here wishing to testify on this measure elenia mashita who's chair of early learning
032board is is that you on Zoom yes thank you go Aloha chair Aloha Vice chairo for the opportunity to um testify on this and uh we stand on the testimony of uh executive office and uh I submitted my testimony a little early so the language I will def in that we are suggesting I'm going to defer to the eel version we discussed it yesterday and um the E version of the language we're suggesting is more appropriate so thank you for consideration and thank you for your support thank you Elaine members questions no thank you very much is there anyone else wishing to testify in this measure seeing none moving on Senate Bill 1384 relating to the early childhood education special fund this bill amends section 302 l9e HRS to require stien funds repaid by a
033stiped recipient pursuant to section 302l HRS to be deposited into the Early Learning special fund established pursuant to section 302 L5 HRS to testify orar cross Cher kidani Vice chair Kim and Senator Hashimoto Yuko Ado across director of the executive office on early learning we are in strong support of SB 1384 and we thank the committee for hearing this bill act 210 slh 2021 established the Hawaii Early Childhood educator stien program to address the shortage of qualified Early Childhood Educators in Hawaii the ACT specified that recipients of the stiens who do not satisfy the requirements of the program must repay the stien funds and added a new section to to HRS establishing the Hawaii Early Childhood educator special fund into which any repaid stien funds were to be deposited however act 210 also specified that
034the special fund shall be abolished and repealed on June 30 2023 as a result the fund was abolished in 2023 and is no longer in use this bill is a housekeeping measure that deletes section 302 L10 HRS which established the Early Childhood educator special fund and redirects any stien funds repaid by a stien recipient to the Early Learning special fund instead thank you thank you members questions how much is in the early learning sted Early Learning special uh so we have uh the only amount that we've ever deposited into the Early Learning special fund is maybe like about 2,500 that we received from a ho e Dental Service Grant and what kind of stiens normally would get put into when it was under the early educator the early so the Early Childhood educator special fund
035so we do have a early learning uh stien program and so it's if anybody should default on it then the money should go into the special kind of default um so for example if somebody withdraws from the program or if they're termin the how much was that was a lot of money or just Okay so as of Summer of 2024 there were only nine recipients and the total is 31,8 64 that we're in the process of recouping from these individuals how hard is it to well they've we're giving them notice and then at the same time we're trying to look into Contracting for a collections uh piece because this is something something new for our office that's such a small amount to go to a contract yes so that's why we're trying to recoup it
036from them directly thank you question members thank you thank you is there someone else on Zoom wishing to testify elen mashita yes Mahalo here I am again chair of the Early Learning board and we stand on our testimony Mahalo in support thank you Elaine in support yes members questions thank you if not moving on to our final agenda item Senate Bill I'm sorry not yeah it is our final Senate Bill 684 relating to the Board of Education requires the Board of Education to adopt administrative rules to ban the usage of cell phones at Department of Education schools does de have testimony on this no to testify Andrew crosslin out here Renee diaper rink and support Alice abalin also in support any additional testifiers present or on Zoom wishing to testify if not members questions yes
037I introduced a similar bill um so is there a problem do you we see any problem with the cell phone situations of students during classroom time so every school currently sets their own policy regarding the use of cell phones there's a variety of different ways schools schools deal with that do you think there should be a more consistent model there there could be a more consistent model I I do think that um we have not heard schools ask us to provide more consistency different School some schools say no cell phones at all some say none during instructional hours not during class unless the teacher asks to bring it out some say they can't be brought out at all so I think um we we could have more consistency i al you have that ability without
038a measure right without a bill correct so why don't you I mean there's number of bills have been introduced in the house side and on our side and I know parents have talked to me and they applaud having a measure like this so um I think the fact that and Schools Kids move from school to school different policies that will be doe not to have a more consistent policy throughout the schools I may not be so restrictive that's why we're leaving up the the details and the policy to doe but we want you guys to come up with something so we're working with the Board of Education and the board um has an intention to set a board policy regarding cell phone use in schools are you folks aware of the different types of um
039items out on the market which you like they have these little pockets that kids can put their cell phones into that locks and then open after then are they allowed to or other measures I've been to conferences and there's all of these different ways in which the schools can achieve that purpose are you folks aware of all of those yes Senator some schools use the pouches currently okay well again even more so if some schools use it others don't I mean it would be think helpful for parents out there to understand what the policies are because they have kids in different different schools and have different policies so the expectation is that the board will set a policy this year in um collaboration with the Department okay thank you thank you members oh I should
040just correct the board is going to work on the policy I'm not sure it'll be this school year but I would expect it would be in place before next legislative session that was requested in the board's testimony or resolution thank you okay no one else here to testify on this measure okay we're going to recess thank you members the committee is reconvening committee on education and with regard to Senate Bill 789 we are going to this is relating to school cafeteria meal cost recommendation is to pass with amendments changing the requirement of the threshold to 1/4 of the cost of preparing mules and also defecting the date to July 1 2015 questions members okay U no questions a recommendation is to pass with Amendment Senate Bill 789 uh Senator kidani I Vice chair votes Senator
041Hashimoto Senator kuha Senator Dort I five eyes recommendations adopted thank you members on Senate Bill 449 relating to cap Improvement uh recommendation of the chairs to beer Senate Bill 423 relating to the Early Learning board uh we my recommendation is to pass with amendments and to um include the testimony of the executive office of early learning and defect the date to July 1 2050 members questions if not shair vots up if not uh recommendation is Senate bill for 2 three pass with amendments any member voting no any member voting with reservations hearing n all five members in the affirmative recommendations adopted thank you for Senate Bill 1384 relating to Early Childhood educator special fund recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments and we will defect the date to July 1 2050 chair votes
042I any member voting no any member voting reservations hearing none all five members present voting in affirmative recommendations adopted thank you for Senate Bill 684 relating to the board of education and the usage of cell phones at doe schools the chair would like to defer this matter and would like the Board of Education to take up this matter rather than this committee thank you any questions meetings adjourned