001good afternoon welcome to the senate committee on education today is Monday February 3rd 2025 this is our 3:00 p.m. agenda and we are in hearing room 229 this meeting including the audio and video of remote 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 this Zoom meeting and YouTube live stream event will include the 3:00 p.m. agenda for this committee on education in the unlikely event that we must abruptly end this hearing due to Major difficulties the committee will convene to discuss any outstanding business on Wednesday February 5th 2025 at 300 p.m. in room 229 and a public notice will be posted on the legislator's website I'd like to take this time to remind
002our testifiers that due to time restrictions on our hearings we will be limiting testimony to 1 minute per testifier per bill for people participating remotely please remain muted and video disabled until shortly before it is your turn to testify when I call your name onute M yourself and your time will begin after your minute is completed staff will mute you so that we can move this hearing along in an orderly and efficient manner thank you welcome Senator Donna Mado Kim you the first item on our agenda is Senate Bill 529 relating to education appropriates funds to the Department of Education for its COA program this program is to educate students by integrating Math Science Social Studies Civics leadership language and literacy with cultural practices and traditions in AA land and Community settings first to test
003superintendent Kashi please K Vice chair Kim aloh Keith Hayashi superintendent testifying on behalf of the Department of Education the department stands on his written testimony and support of this measure the impact of H has been truly been performed for our students and our families and our communities thank you for the opportunity to testify follow thank you next to testify n Noah Thompson CEO Polynesian voyaging Society aloh I enjoyed seeing you in h July at the convention center where you spoke so passionately and eloquently on educating our cats through our dedicated teachers and our communities we are also so fortunate to the partnership that we have with you and the Polynesian oing society as well as a here well H and thank you um chair and vice chair for having me um having said that I
004you just need to know that for me education is everything it will determine our future but what we teach our children so I'm here to support the DOA in any way I can and um I know we only have one minute so um let me get I put in written testimonies is much more detailed about my support I just want to say 2013 we started on morning The Arc went from Alaska to San Diego got a phone call in late August that from Laina and um they said in the black of the storm you bring the canoe home so we did but my sense in communities there's a lot of strain there's stress uh economic there's um and children are concerned about about future not clear so we stayed home and did this five Monon
005Voyage which is going to end up being seven months total going around the state 26 Comm ports probably will hit like 300 to 350 communities and reason why I'm support of um bill um 529 is because I seen the impact of a when there's a bridge that's created between the power of communities and families and the whole that bridge to teachers were the bridge to our schools so I just want to uh just say that maybe imagine my poor mathematics but by August when 13,000 School teachers go back to 295 schools and wait for 27,000 school kids come we may be at the point where we won't be able to train um 2,600 teachers and to reach 55,000 students that's why I'm in support of this particular Bill thank you thank you I Know M
006questions um that all T yes um that's all the testify is correct superintendent I think this is a wonderful program and I believe that if it's integrated into the schoolwork that it can be projects that will Encompass math literature um common sense and tradition so I think it's an overall program which is what we what we search for to have in our curriculum so questions I'm going to ask is like um I I just I'm not sure why it hasn't been embedded into the curriculum and why we have to actually put a separate like it's a separate program um so my question is who is this offered to is it like a special course or is it integrated into the the curriculum now thank you very much for the question Senator um actually it's being
007integrated into the curriculum actually the uh um thanks to n Thompson and Polynesian voyaging society and our Community Partners that uh participate in the H across our communities um it's an opportunity to bring communities together uh to bring teachers together students um uh with with the oh with our Cano and um really help students to connect on the importance of um Thea uh VA and um looking at building on uh uh n Thompson's 10 million planetary Navigators you know it's it's about as you shared Senator is about um building the sense of value and community and appreciation for Earth and and all that we have so to your question about being integrated um definitely no no matter what um curriculum I believe that's being taught in our schools there is a direct connection that teachers
008can make to community support and to uh the H program and um it it is about bringing our teachers together to um help build that sense of so when you refer to the whole Care Program what program is it actually that's embedded now or what is it now it's not embedded yet is this just the training portion of this or I so I I think for me as a teacher if I were a teacher that's participating H um I'm able to bring my class down to to the no I understand but currently right now what is in the schools because I'm reading the bill and it says that U legislature finds that um this movement ignites 10 million Navigators who will pursue critical inspiration voyages but what is it actually because is there it is
009this a brand new thing that's being integrated right now it it it connects and integrates to our current curriculum uh it is up to the teachers and uh to be able to connect to the current okay students aren't don't have this in their curricul they they currently don't have it in so that this is very important for us to right and you've been building it by training the teachers is Teachers uh bringing Community organizations together and and so forth okay so in the meantime the curriculum is being Rewritten as such to embed this yes for for teachers to build connection to uh what they experience to the whole uh experience so is it required how do you how do you ensure that it's being integrated throughout like is it from K through 12 or how
010how are you how are you folks looking at this I I think um you know as as a as a educator um and experiencing H experiencing the uh the connections that students have as as I go there and I listen to the teachers and to the students um I really believe that it's a strong connection for students and so um teachers will I I really believe connect with this so it's not a um a mandate that teachers will uh do ABC and D in in this sequential order but it's more of a a connections that we make as as Educators and bringing that sense of value uh all you know vales to our students integrating but if you have a teacher that is not buying into it or if you have a teacher that don't
011actually do it you know what I'm saying how do you how do we ensure that all of the students are getting this and I'm don't saying that they all have to do it the same way but that there's some way of measuring how much of this have been actually integrated um by classes um I I I really believe that um uh as as teachers um experience the whole program and make those connections uh they they're able to make connections throughout curriculum I don't I don't think I don't believe that it's a uh only in a certain content area that they'll draw connection to with experiencing but again there there's no guarantee that all the teachers are going to embrace it right there's no guarantee that you know one class may not get the same benefits
012as others whose teacher might be a little bit more passionate about it I'm not sure I'm just trying to find out you know it's one thing to have a program but it's another thing to measure at some point and to ensure that there is some systematic way in which it is getting to the student and that we can measure it at the end of the year to find out whether or not we achieve the purpose and not just yeah if the teachers feel you know motivated about it that you trust they're going to integrate it but they may not um I I do believe that we we have um an evaluation uh uh that teachers complete as a after the whole let me just double check on that there is an evaluation that as teachers
013go through the whole Care Program uh that they do complete and fill out to say you know the the what value they have in it their connections and so forth It's not at that point the point at the end of the school year once this because this is new or this has not been integrated so once it's integrated after the end of the year do is there some kind of evaluation to see how much of that has been integrated I think um when we look at uh some of the data that we're collecting through like a panorama survey and such there are a number of things that um teachers do in the classroom to help build uh the sense of efficacy sense of um connectedness um so so you're saying yes there is going to
014be a mechanism by which we can look at and see a direct connection uh to specifically to hokel at the end of the year um I don't believe we have that uh but will is that your intent to have something um we we definitely can look at at um implementing something to put in a thing where it's it's taught differently across the and not all the students get to benefit thank you you know I think it's really important too that um as teachers go through it I know for me I I I did also that when I went through the program I made personal connections for myself that I I didn't expect to make and I think that's um uh it it's it's that connection with uh with with the community um um Partners there
015with hok it it it is life I like life changing it is it definitely understand and but it doesn't affect everybody the same way so I'm just just wanting to make sure that we are investing in this and that we're ensuring that it is going to be embedded and that we have a way of looking at to see how successful we were because if only 75% or 80% of the teachers are actually utilizing it a teacher might just use a small portion of it and not enough I mean I'm just you know how do you know that unless there's some way of measuring it I um you bring up a good point I think also uh within our schools we do have uh as grade level teams and such or um uh um Pathways and
016CTE groups of teachers get together and they uh continuously discuss about learning student learning and what they're going to be doing next um I know that when teachers participate in the H uh experience uh definitely that would be some of the again I don't doubt that but at the end of the day I want to see the data I want to see that you know this is being integrated so that and and every teacher will integrate it in their own way but again that it is being integrated in a meaningful way that the students are benefiting from it and I really think they can so the money that how have you been paying for the training and stuff you had monies in the budget before this um prior to this we were leveraging some of
017the our SRA funds our s federal funds um as as as Sir has how much have did you leverage um I I believe about the same we last milon yes 3.5 million over the last each year okay and that money went to what to train the teachers training and experience training and experience for the teachers teachers and students okay so the bulk of the teachers have been trained no can you come forward so okay maybe I should preference that by saying when do you tend to Institute this full on come Tomy Department of Education um we started haare uh two years ago at the beginning of um The Voyage and we have started in two complex areas I'm sorry two districts wward and the word and then we cumulatively built out so we've trained to
018date about 1,300 of our teachers um Senator you are asking about like the scope uh the funds that we're requesting will provide both teacher PD as well as Student Activities so our most recent Hare in Maui had 2,000 I think students that participated um over multiple days both on lahina as well as in in partnership with PVS at um Central Maui so each haare that we're hosting will have anywhere from you know several hundred to very large groups we have one scheduled for spring in Hilo and we're hoping to he hit each of our complex areas but our funds right now can only do a certain amount of students at a certain given time um part of it is capacity of our canoes and our Ina based organization so um one day might be focused
019on secondary schools we'll bring out just our middle school students and Center our activities around age appropriate for them and yes we do do evaluations both students as well as teachers as well as our community partners that are coming in with us to see um one is at the right setup and pairing as well as um what activities do they see that will be ongoing cuz some of these activities there are follow-ups both in the class room as well as like summer you know like what comes next you know see that's my that's my vision that it's embedded in the curriculum so that's why I guess I'm having a hard time when you just refer to this as a whole care um event or whole care s it shouldn't it should be part of the
020curriculum and if part of the curriculum means they have to go see the Cano or they have to go see the whatever it is that is already embedded and it's not a separate program correct because when you have a separate program you have um the tendency to lose the funding to lose this but if it's embedded in the program like every other stuff you embed into your program that has certain things related to it right whether it be you know um um trips or or student Student Activities whatever that it's embedded into the program and yes you might have to dedicate some monies but I'm having a difficulty when 4 million a year how many more teachers you intend to train and so forth yeah I think what you have to think about for the
021event there's things like superintendent share that we can do in the classroom but to actually put on the event allows us the opportunity to partner with those 50 organizations um it does require funding for us to move the canoes to different locations but we'll be able to leverage the resources of those commity based Arts to put on the event is expensive I do want to say that but but if it's part of your curriculum to know it in advance be able to when are these events and how it's related and so then the teachers have advanced notice so that they can work the curriculum so it leads up to the event and so forth I think it's so important that we we have this done in in a holistic manner exactly not peace new yeah
022like you said so for instance this year Kawaii is getting ready for their event so this school year they're spending what we call preh like you said the canoe is being taken to each of the schools um and then they'll do activities to get ready to for a fall actual Hare event at the beach similar to what Maui had so kind future budgets looking like is it like every year you're going to ask for $4 million no I think $4 million will allow us to continue to build capacity at each of our districts we've designated um the 4 million will allow us for eight districts on hav island to do eastn West because it's not realistic for us to move kids um it allows for like I said the pre the preor care event the
023actual big it's a week long we'll have a day for our kaiapuni students and then four days of elementary middle and high activities and then it allows for us to do a post activity back in the classrooms um each year we're able to train additional teachers so this year you know we're up to uh what is that 1300 teachers of out of 13,000 teachers so we hope to keep building more and more teachers each year that we have haare and who does the training um we um use all of our Community Partners the department our partners like with Polynesian fory Society so we have a large amount of of um Ina based and vaa based organizations that help is there such a point where you'll have um these people totally trained that they can then
024train in house yes we actually um with festpac which happened last year we were able to build um do training for our lead teachers to then take it back to some of their grade levels so some of it could be train the trainer but I think like superintendent said it's one of those things that you yourself have to experience I think like you said to build that connection might be a little bit harder to hear it from someone else unless you're already committed and invested in the kind of work I'm having training or continued training right okay thank you much I didn't mean to take up so much time it's quite all right I just think it's so important Camille so thank you for the discussion um the $4 million you're asking is for f
025school year 2526 correct again 4 million for 2627 correct and and by that point how many students will have been trained we will how many I mean teachers how many you know how many more years are we going to have to do this to make sure all of our teachers I think um we're thinking within the next three years cuz this is like our first like full implementation um in three years we'll be able to get to all of the districts to better assess like our capacity capacity we're also trying to get feedback from our schools like is this does this make sense this is this how you want to learn are your students see seeing the benefits out of it um I think at that point we'll have you know we'll have systems in
026place and I think like Senator Kim said like at that point how much can the schools already absorb will it be within our regular school budget to afford the trips um I think there is still going to have to be an investment by the department on making sure that the canoes and the vaa type of activities CU like I said it's expensive it's expensive for our organizations to host it but it makes a lot more sense for us to invest in community ORS I know our um counterparts in the private schools like Pono Kamehameha they have built their own canoes um I have big ke we do not have that capacity it is extremely expensive as n will share with you for us to invest in that type of things but our Ohana vaa can
027carry that you know but it still requires us to pay for our kids to have those kind of experiences so some some things I think we have to rely on our partners other things we can build you know I have um two schools called AA and W ho who have been doing work with kanun moku for many years now um um and they have built capacity so that their entire staff not just teachers but their entire staff is trained and so for them they're at a very different level it's already in in you know ingrained in their being which is what I think you're looking for and then I have other schools this is like the first time that they've even heard about voyaging so you know just kind of at a different level um
028it took uh wild H Anda several years though to get there so I think for us with Department support you in the next three three years we we can come back and let you know where we're at um and we couldn't do this without you know like I said the strong Partnerships we need all 50 and more you know every year we're trying to attract more Regional based support so that um each Community can host their own have you into um decommissioned Cano Cano um that they can donate to the school I I don't know Senator if we could afford the upkeep you know the the training the crew maintaining and managing getting the canoe to the water it's easier that I I was thinking not so much it's in the water or whatever but
029if you know if you needed like to have a real canoe there I mean that can serve other things other than being able to get in the water and have a whole crew but I mean you know looking at way ways to increase the students awareness and ability to touch feel see uh even though it's not maybe in the water correct we have um we have like for our nanakuli what and I they're working with with AA and trying to restore we have others where like I said on kaii um one of the people who submitted testimony she's actually taking the VA to each School more of the we have Urban schools like you know the I the coast kids the OU Island they have a more tendency to be by the water and see
030the canoes versus more of our inner schools who maybe don't have that you know ability or don't have that not in their backyard yeah and their parents is not in in their real house so to me those are the ones that may benefect from stuff but anyway that's just an idea I'm sorry great great ideas no I love it thank you any other questions thank you moving on Senate Bill 1390 computer science report so this changes the due date of Doe's annual computer science legislative report from June 30 to 20 days prior to the start of the legisl of sessions similar to other doe reports superintendent Hayashi Aloha chair kidani Vice chair Kim and members of the committee I'm Terry USI Jima assistant superintendent from the office of curriculum instruction design um the department stands
031on its written testimony and we appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony thank you thank you memb questions yeah Terry don't go so Terry I understand uh you need more time to be able to compile the data and that June 30th is just too close to the end of the school year right yes but going all the way to the 20 days before the convening of the legislature can you do it like by August or September because you know you you know how many reports we get by the 20 days I mean and we can barely get through them all and you're going to add one more plus I'm sure you have to deliver so many other reports for 20 days before so wouldn't you want to at least spread it out so could we could
032we do it more like September or August um I think probably um yes we could do it before the end of the year part of our thinking was to be consistent with the other reports that we have to submit that's my question so it would be helpful if we could do it like in September or October because um even you know what at the end of the year it takes time to get the data and it's not just like okay here's the data we have to make sure the data is good data right and I'm just thinking September October with school starting maybe you know end of summer August but hey anytime before November if we could do it October we can do we can aim to submit it earlier but I think that would
033give us more time I think that be better than we can I have the time to review it otherwise yeah we get so many I don't know we get at least several 100 not more okay we would appreciate October then that works can we change it okay we can talk about a decision yeah we can probably change it but my my other question is what exactly does the report entail or what it's expected to so I think um the intention of the report is over a three-year period we um systematically um put in a plan to offer computer science um in all of our schools so the first first year they started with high schools the high schools had to offer um a course and then the following year it was um it gradually ramped
034up so that at least um one middle school and one Elementary School had to offer it and we're at a point now where um we're expecting District yes each complex area and now we're at the point this year where we're expecting all schools to offer something something so um the report helps us to track the implementation of this important content area in our schools thank you members questions thank you ter thank you next Senate Bill 1388 it adds two voting members that represent the Department of Education to the board of education to the the school facilities Authority board superintendent testify chair kidani Vice chair marado Kim members of the committee Kei aashi superintendent testifying on behalf of the Department of Education uh the department stands on its written testimony in support of this measure although
035uh the school facilities Authority is charged with the Planning Development and Construction of school facilities the daily School operations and implementation of Public School curriculum remains an exclusive mission of the department um and oversight from the board Al so we do look forward to um uh should this pass work together with the school facilities Authority thank you thank you members questions so when we put this together did you folks say something to us that you thought is important that we have two we have two other members that from the school district um I'm just to clarify um put together either the bill or the SFA when we put the SFA you know we put five members right then you want to add two so I'm just wondering was this something that we overlooked or you
036guys didn't think you should have anybody on there um well I think um as we um move forward it's it's important in working together with SFA I think we've identified that having a a superintendent and the board chair on the SFA um helps to ensure that there is collaboration it makes sense I'm just wondering if that wasn't something proposed the beginning uh uh sorry S I wasn't here when the SFA was um initially created okay I was just curious let's do that and then when you say that it's the superintendent's design the chairperson design I assume that it's going to be the same one um throughout whatever term you point them to and that every meeting is not going to be a different person no for um for for I can speak on my behalf
037either it will be me or the same designate I think it's important we put that so there's some continuity okay thank you so I'm not sure how well you collaborate or the doe collaborates with sing now but uh will this bill help with this collaboration yes Senator uh um chair the um the bill Will adding two members uh to the SFA board um myself and the board chair uh will help with the collaboration so is SFA now in communication with the doe and the Boe uh we we try our best to uh collaborate with each other I think there has been some instances where um collaboration could be a little better but I think that this will help from your side or from SFA side um uh don't mean to put you on the spot
038but I I I you know for this to work to for the benefit of both agencies as well as our students and our schools yes there has to be collaboration and if there is an issue I think this committee you know should know so we can try and help fix whatever that is um I I can speak for on behalf of the department uh we we have um done our best to collaborate and work together with um SFA and any other agency I think it's important especially in this in this particular situation with the school facilities Authority I think they're charged with a a very important responsibility and so working together with the Department is I think of the utmost importance so um I know one of the uh projects that SFA is working on
039is uh teacher housing so um we've had as far as I know one meeting out at middle Loney High School are you guys aware when the meetings happened or do they collaborate with you guys I mean I just want to know that it's not being this is what're we're going to do and you guys have no inut um we we we've tried our best to uh work together with SFA to um um to to uh with the Milani high school project um thank you members forther question so the governor appoints all five members now right yes have you ever talked with the governor and and recommend people to put on that you think might presented interest of the school um I I have I have not yet reached out to the governor related to SF
040because he could he could appoint one of the five to be from the board or whatever right I mean he could appoint whoever he wanted yes I I I think this would um this bill would ensure that there is representation for I'm just trying to see if we work within the within the framework of the um law that's there and then you're saying they're voting members why do they have to be voting members can't they just be ex official members because I don't know if having um conflicting interests and then a division of the of the um board because of that I'm just trying to anticipate what could happen um um I I think that as voting members um it it's important that all um seven members get together to to work through any issues
041that might arise and having um everyone as voting member members I think helps to facilitate that process um that everyone's views are uh considered I but I see that the board chair would have additional weight in the sense that they know he's the board shair he already has a lot of powers that he can already influence and similarly with you um I I see it more in the board chair but I'm wondering if that you know Screw skes the um the whole makeup of it I I I I think um Senator Vice chair that uh although we each of the seven members have their respective positions um in in uh on the board um each member still just has one vote that would be equal so but you have influence I mean come on you
042know that some members or on the board would have more influence over others um and the fact that you know when third pretty much one third of the board would be coming from the board and from from schools uh one of the things we're hoping that this will do is like the chair said have collaboration that you know when they're going to be at the schools and so forth so I'm just wondering if that the necess necessity of them having a vote and just sitting on the on the vot on the board so anyway I'm just questioning I I personally for me I just I think it's important that um s members be voting members okay thank thank you superintendent has um the department been advised or had any collaboration and discussions as to uh
043what schools will have um teacher housing uh from to my knowledge uh no not from you mean from SFA with the Department of Education right uh no not to my knowledge no okay uh in in a collaborative sense okay so I mean to me that's an issue because you guys have full Authority on school grounds so they can do all the plans they want without you but it's not going to happen if you don't agree is that correct um I I would I I would um hope so Senator that to be able to work together um I I do believe that there is some um uh uh with within the SFA respons responsibilities themselves uh I'm not sure if we're in agreement on on that but that might be something for um uh School facili
044authority to respond thank you further questions members okay thank you super capson executive director Board of Education good afternoon uh chair Vice chair and Senator uh capson po executive director of the board uh standing on our written testimony supporting the bill uh and we just want to say we do welcome all the opportunities for communication and coll operation thank you members questions thank you Ricky fujitani good afternoon Senators Ricky fujitani with the school facilities Authority we stand and our written testimony with comments MERS questions yeah so you heard the discussion do you foresee any kind of issues of on voting versus ex official being ex official members of the board I think typically it's been ex official in this yeah it's it's voting so it's it's it's a little different right now are they ex
045officials no right now there is no there right this this bill would make them voting but I'm asking your opinion as to whether or not it should be ex official or you think it should be it should be ex official okay thank you so Ricky thanks for being here so so what what is the current communication right now that we have to have a bill that you know is forcing you guys to communicate is that communication just not naturally happening already so we actually have uh four standing meetings with the doe there's one monthly one overall on the direction of the SFA and how it impacts the doe that's happens monthly there's that's open meeting or that's it's with uh myself Chief of Staff the deputy super uh Camille okay with also with Audrey hadano
046on basil side and with the deputy superintendent used to be Randy Moore first it was C O gorl then it was Randy Moore and now it's with d chea so that's a monthly meeting and we go through all our programs that we're do dealing with and how it impacts the Department of Education that's the first standing meeting the second standing meeting is with Milani High School on all the issues and all the Milani High School issues have been constantly with the lead of friend Murphy so that's the second standing meeting there's a third standing meeting that we're trying to schedule with Workforce housing and that hasn't been scheduled yet we're waiting for a response and then and the department of education on who their point person is and then um the fourth standing meeting is
047with Central Maui schools and that's again a regular meeting that one has had many meetings because as you know the central Mai schools is in schematic conceptual planning stages so there's been significant amounts of meetings on those first stting meetings so those are the basic studing meetings we document we keep a log of every meeting you keep a log of what the minutes are is it available online no no could you put it online um yeah actually the the Central Maui ones are online um the midani high school ones have been documented there's a separate website for that too for additional Workforce housing not yet and the other one is an internal one with Senior Management so I guess the question BS becomes I guess even though you're having the meetings are you actually listening
048to what the doe says because I think if if they feel like they need greater say over things my sense is something's a miss here well for if we look at each of those standing meetings the first one is an overall strategy Direction uh the second meeting dealing with Workforce housing right the I guess I'll cut to the Chase and I guess the question is is my sense is you know I might be wrong but I think my sense is that the doe felt like at a certain point the whole Milani thing wasn't something that they consented to right um they felt that maybe the RFP wasn't um what they expected it to be what you have to realize in the enabling legislation for Workforce housing Milani high school was the number one on the
049list with the most amount of money I mean that was in the actual that doesn't mean you just go do what you want you have to have some discussions with the oh absolutely the meetings were with um Senator one meeting that I am aware of although there's been in total maybe 20 or 30 meetings there were a whole bunch of pre RFP meetings because of site selection on the impacts of these issues an RFP process is a very very long process yeah so could this be avoided if there was Prior some type ofus before proceeding or some type of other doc I'm just I'm just trying to find ways to how we bridge this Gap because I think there's needs I I think there's a role for you to play it's just I feel like
050the Dee feels like they need a larger stay and so yes this bill is one way to do it but I feel like there's other ways that you can do it without a bill as well right on the preschools there was four or fiveo use significant amounts of meeing so that's really not the issue I think the issue was with Milani High School okay but there was no with that with liai high school right no okay yeah it's so maybe we should move towards that model so what's happening since the initial RFP and subsequent rfps that are needed in order to repurpose School lands for work for housing the governor's office has stepped in has conducted monthly meetings between us in order to p that along because in the eling legislation for Workforce housing it's
051really the governor's decision he has that final say so the governor has to be on board at the start and that's the intent so will Kaine has taken the lead on that so he is scheduling he's had a series of meetings and he's trying to push along the next Who's included in the meetings RI it's uh governor's office Attorney General's office the Department of Education and the school facilities Authority for future could you also send it to the committee on education sure yes I know that SFA has been um in communication with the department but can you explain why uh doe found out about the mid December meeting after SFA sent mailers out to the constituents right so um Milani high school was aware of it they're aware of the request from Senator Del Cruz's
052office to do a greater mailer and so they were informed the school committee Council was informed it's just that that communication then from the school to deal we management didn't occur but the school has always been involved every step of the way in the midd high school Prospect you uh you and SFA or or their Consultants stated that potential school campuses would be used for future teacher housing and the department was not communicated after repeated letters requesting F SFA to communicate with them I can show is it your intention to cause confusion or or I'm I'm just trying to clear this up because this is our communities and your task with with doing uh teacher housing however it's on school property and principles still have control of their schools absolutely so we've done no other
053RFP since Milani RFP Milani High School Fred Murphy was involved from the very start no other rfps or due diligence has been done in any other school the amount of money that we have to do rfps we only have for this one so until there's additional funding there's no funds to do due diligence to progress to the next sites we've identified a lot of sites but none of this has gone beyond any communication to the principal of the schools please also copy the superintendent and myself we will was it your intention to cause confusion with School principles who were unaware that their campuses could be used for Teacher housing could you said that at a meeting Our intention was not there are lots of schools that could be monetized or could be repurposed for workfor
054housing we have not done any due diligence or engagement in order to pursue next steps questions um yeah I guess so in your monthly standing meetings with the chief of staff Don everybody else in there do you talk about the upcoming meetings um for Millie Lon do you talk about all those things yes we have three programs we have three very distinct programs the progress with preschools the progress with the midani RFP and Workforce housing and the third Central M that's all we've been aside okay so at these meetings how involved and how um interested doe have participated and asked questions and stuff yeah they're typically at least an hour or or or longer and they're very involved in all the issues we we summarize it every month and we go so you you think
055that there's a lot of communication yes yes I do okay can I ask um the Board of Education as to you can stay there as to what is your what is your need that you see that you folks need to vote on this board what is what's been lacking well Senator I think part of it is um it just formalizes some of the communications that we've been talking about you have to have a vote to formalize Communications I I think we would appreciate the vote no I know You' appreciate it but I mean you you folks as a board already have that power over everything that comes under the scope of the board so to get on to another board that has another vote I mean there's other ways to be able to get the
056communications and having a vote because even with a vote what does that do you just formalize vote and if it's s five to2 or what does that really do just getting a vote I mean I I think that that that's true what you point out I mean again we think representation matters having a vote matters but I mean if if the legislature decid otherwise that's fine and I think being all the things that have been discussed I think everybody would want to continue all of this engagement and communication and I'm trying to get to the bottom of what what precipitated this and if it's lack of communication then I don't know if just getting a vote on the board will improve that communication because if there's all these meetings going on then you know and
057if you're not asking questions in these meetings if you're not being engaged then it's not going to help if you're one you have one representative ative on the board and one representative the board that votes how that information going to get down now if that's the case then they don't need to keep anybody in informed because you too going to be informed and it's up to you guys now to get the word out right you follow me so you have a lot more at stake now because you are the representative and it's up to you to get that information out which I don't know that you want to take on that additional responsibility I mean Senator I just say that I mean with that kulana right I me if you get a seat at the
058table then you do have to accept all the things has been known to not get information out so anyway okay thank you thank you um so Ricky there's a potential that the school campuses other school campuses will be used for future teacher housing so is it the um sfa's um intent to make sure that um the principles and the community is aware and not start any project any type of any work without notification yes so was it your intention to cause confusion with School principles who were unaware their campuses would be used for Teacher housing no the enabling legislation actually lists a whole bunch of campuses ident identified by the legislature where te future teaching housing projects should have happened but you've made statements in public meetings that you're going to do other um projects
059and no one's aware of what these projects are yeah we haven't started it every school there's 256 sites that are all potential sites for workfor housy what about the the Middle School in Moi have you notified any of the principles or the Middle School in Maui and Central Maui there's no space it's not an option yeah okay so there's no plans right now absolutely the those two schools are overcrowded they're compacted the the need is to build additional capacity for schools in central so you are aware SFA is aware that the doe has full Authority on their campuses so any plans whatever should be discussed with the doe and the scho principles as well as the superintendent yes absolutely act 307 gives title to the doe they own the land the only way we can
060monetize or repurpose that the governor has to approve the transfer of the land or the use of the land for the SFA to repurpose that's why it all starts with the governor's office because if he doesn't agree there's no progress I'm asking you before you go that step that you discuss with the superintendent and the principal of the school before you take get step to Governor so that you fully are aware of the needs of the school in the community that's one of the standing meetings that will cane is leading in order to go on the next steps for subsequent rfps and that is done by letter or just phone calls or what well so far it's been a series of meetings with Will Kane his recommendation is to have a standing meeting scheduled between
061the school facilities Authority and the land use group at the doe in order to triage and prioritize and identify all those sites before we do are you aware of these meetings sure thank you Senator um I have attended uh two meetings uh what that what um director um is is talking about you had Representatives go to the other meetings uh we've had repres uh the one that he's speaking about uh related to Mr K I've gone to two of those um for the invited to all of them I have been invited to those with Mr K I went to two of them and you send anybody else in um if if anybody attends that meeting it would be our school facilities Authority you can authorize somebody can't me but you have't I have whoever whoever
062uh if there is a meeting with u the governor's office then if I can't make it right so you know about facilities I do yeah um however Senator I um just to to kind of clarify um when when as if it has standing meetings with the Department what is discussed at those standing meetings is really important because although we have standing meetings if it's not the if it is not the point of discussion on what decisions are being made or what's being explored um and those discussions and standing meetings are limited we have no knowledge of what else is going on but you can ask right uh not if we don't know what is happening but you can ask at the meetings for more information or Clarity or whatever if we know what the next
063steps are going to be well if you go to all the meetings you have a better idea right I mean you have that opportunity you have a voice on the Committees right now or on this meeting if you attend if you don't attend then you have no voice right we correct right so if you ATT 10 you can ask is is there anything else on the horizon is there anything else coming up that we need to know about you have any plans right can you ask that at every single meeting we can okay do you have that opportunity who holds the meetings uh it's a depending on which standing meeting uh it's a standing meeting with uh Mr fuani with the chief of staff is online with our facilities folks with Will Kane it's who
064that's in person in person but who calls that meeting uh well the the the policy office the policy office yes so in in the um in the case of the midani high school project um as Mr fuani shared that um principal knew of the the project our conflix superintendent wasn't aware neither was my office aware why not that's a good question I'm not sure I I believe that the the the in talking with the principal uh he thought that the communication was going to go between SFA and our office so repeat do you guys just go to the principal with no letter directed to the superintendent so uh to give you a real brief history I started this in February the RFP was posted months before so all those meetings were before we started as
065soon as we found that out we did have a meeting with superintendent Chief of Staff with B Davis with Fred Murphy with Kurt wter Gurl on the status of that RFP because until then we were not aware that subsequent Communications from Fred to senior staff didn't happen so after that then we had a slew of meetings inviting all the key people on the status of the Milani RP including with our key consultant the willham group that was running that whole job so upon discovery that the previous executive recor did not involve other than the scho of all this information we Rectify that we scheduled a bunch of meetings with all the key people we even formed a steering committee task force specifically do with midd with key legislators the Attorney General School Community Council neighborhood
066boards on on the status of that Ary so in all your Communications written communication with principles um do you provide copies to superintendent and the complex area superintendent the only one we've had is with Fred Murphy and certain ones we copy I mean after that meeting we copy everybody on everything yeah because but that's already in play that RP was in Flight already right it was already been posted when did the Ry get post uh December of 2023 and did you guys know about the Ry no you didn't know about I you didn't know what's posted Noe I did not who knew under de besides the principal um I don't know but the principal did know princip knew right yeah I mean Fred was involved from the start on the sites the location the draft
067and it's a public document right yes it is it's posted on posted so there's no way you folks somebody wasn't keeping track or going on should you not include the superintendent as a CC on anything to deal with SCH um I was at the doe that time superintendent were you the superintendent no I was working at the do that time when the RP was posted that was in 2023 what was your role um I was in the auxiliary Services Department did you know about the rfg uh no at the doe my function was paying a lot of bills so who was who was FS FSA or whatever uh at that time it was uh the first executive director uh Chad fuus yeah so he's not there anymore question for an executive director Boe so so
068I guess do you does the board get regular reports from school facilities Authority as a standing item on your agenda uh no no we we don't but the why why don't you we are looking to schedule some meetings maybe maybe they should be a standing agenda item and then you don't need to then they can come to you you don't have to go to them and they can tell you everything that they're doing because I would assume that the Board of Ed members don't know what's going on because the board chair can can't tell the other members nevertheless if he was a member without going into a publicly noticed meeting under the Sunshine Law anyway that's correct Senator U but I could also say that we as staff can try and make them aware of
069things that are coming up and to your earlier suggest you only can tell them that in an open meeting that's that's noticed yes so you should have an agenda item to at least inform your members of what's going on at SFA right thank you very much for the suggestion Senator no in all seriousness uh we do have uh SFA uh schedu to come before the board no I would recommend a standing agenda item we can make things more regular I I I think I think at the end of the day something is broken so we just got to fix it and I don't think you need a bill to fix it it's just somebody needs to be proactive to fix it right and I think you're the the prime person to do that and then
070just uh just to clarify I don't want to uh I do need to check with the board members and yes the appropriate chair uh to to actually schedule that but hopefully they can watch this on YouTube and they can see the interaction you think thank you thank you further questions further comments sure superintendent please thank you Senator um I I do also just want to uh point out that uh this bill is a Governor's package Bill and it was drafted in collaboration with SFA thank you okay thank you members we are moving on to Senate Bill 527 which establishes and appropriates funds for the full-time equivalent of five full-time equivalent positions within the Civil Rights compliance branch of the Department of Education to testify superintendent good afternoon Senator kidani chair kidani Vice chair Kim Tammy
071Chun Deputy superintendent testifying in support of this bill this bill would increase the capacity of our civil rights compliance branch office to respond to and conclude complaints and investigations more quickly the recent changes with Title 9 in the Trump Administration um changed the the rules under which Title 9 cases are reviewed and so the additional capacity also assists with that thank you thank you members questions question how many do you have now there are currently 15 Equity Specialists you have 15 and you need five more you need one3 more so the 15 are uh most of them are assigned to a geography to a particular complex area so they handle the cases from the complex area the four of the additional position would float among all the complex areas to provide additional capacity where there
072are um cases that need to be dealt with and one position would be for gender Equity regarding um Title 9 Athletics how many cases do you get a year about 400 cases a year and each case um each of the 15 gets divided among them or how does that work so because they're most of them are geographically based um it's not always even across all of the Specialists but um on average um hang on see so I think it it do depend on how many cases are coming up from any particular complex area so they each have about 25 30 cases yeah on average in addition the uh civil rights office also handles accommodation requests for Ed okay thank you thank you to testify Linda elento on Zoom Linda please proceed is Lind I'm in
073of FB 527 but I wanted to ask that the committee consider additions but basically the of students with disabilities also be included I feel like that this particular Bill kind of hides Section 504 as well as Ada as it applies to students also the Hawaii Revis statutes 36815 also includes um the civil rights of children or students with disabilities um I I can provide um some written testimony with more details but again I wanted to support or ask that the funding be also considered for um specifically for students with a disability who may or may not um need special education so that they can have access to an accommodation modification Aid Service opportunity or benefit that the Department of Education offers thank you for this opportunity and I would welcome or be able to answer
074any questions thank you Linda I look forward for your written comments members questions there are four testifiers in support but I do not believe they're online they're all written testimony pardon one in opposition yes one one person was in opposition testone any questions thank you superintendent did you want to comment on this thank you moving on to item Senate Bill 868 relating to school bus driver certification subsidy pilot program which establishes a one-year School Bo driver certification 7 by subsidy pilot program within the doe for fiscal year 2526 requires reports to the legislature and appropriates funds anybody to testify on this bill superintendent good afternoon Cher Kon Vice chair ke member of the committee Dina Deputy superintendent testifying on behalf of Department of Education the department stands on its written testimony which provides comments on
075this measure the Department of Transportation is primary is the primary agency responsible for licensing and ensuring compliance of school bus drivers in Hawaii the department of education does not own or manage School Bus fleets and lacks the resources to certify staff needed to implement a comprehensive bus driver certification program we thank you for the opportunity to testify on this measure anyone else here wishing to testify on this measure members questions um yes questions I appreciate your testimony I had some questions regarding whether or not um doe can certify you have the Personnel no we don't to certify and then who would the bus drivers work for right we don't have flea so they're all contracted out right um lewood Community College is helping with trying to get bus driver certified they have a extended program
076but yeah we're not involved with the dver be better if we gave this money or funding or whatever to Community College I was wondering we take on certifying we have enough challenges already okay thank you okay so Dean yeah um how many well what's the shortage I mean in percentage of bus school bus driers it it fluctuates because we're dealing with two different vendors contractors and we don't know what it's going to be we cannot project what the shortage might be that's what's really you know the the tragedy of this whole thing is that we cannot prepare for it because we don't know until school starts if the driver show up or not you know some of them they just don't come back after summer or the Christmas break and so that first day of
077school is always really traumatic for our bus guys because they got to figure out you have enough to cover got to move stff around um that's the unpredictability and that's what causes aot of problems right now so what would be the cost of um this program I mean how many how many um people are you expecting to get certified what is a shortage Nationwide of you know school bus drivers and then I think you see the advertisements on TV with um West the Wahu aggate recruiting bus drivers everybody's trying to look forward at uh CPL designation um it's just we don't have people that are interested in driving a school bus right now that's kind of the problem so is there projected cost in I I don't I don't know trying to do this program
078they cannot don't we don't even know if we going have enough drivers so I I don't know how how much the training would be right okay so so are we is do e trying to do this program themselves or they're going to ask us this is a this is a bill from a senator so this not yeah it's not our but we have reached out to the city and county etss to try and see what we can do to you know overlapping um the city bus routes with our bus route I maybe free up some more drivers but they're still in discussion right now we haven't had any commitment from anybody so but you don't have any idea what the cost would be then no not at this moment questions thanks Dean for being here
079yeah I I guess the the what begs the question is the intent of why we're this Senator introduced this bill is that there's just a frustration with this bus driver thing right and I think I see the deputy there who I you know had some words for at the beginning of this school year about why this is happening again and I I granted your new so maybe there's a fresh set of eyes but I think it's just we know that it's this is happening over and over again and I think PE legislators are just kind of frustrated at this point that something needs to be done to fix it right I think we cannot go into another year and say oh we're just going to do the same thing and expect different results because I
080feel like that's what we are kind of doing so I think you just need to give give us assurance that there is a plan for this coming school year and even on ma we haven't filled all of our school bus routes they're not all back right right and that's unacceptable in my mind that we're at this point where we can't even fill them and so at some at some point there needs to be some operational differences whether we're you know doing I don't know stagger school start time so the bus can do multiple routes or something right but for a lack of just saying oh we're just going to do the same thing again and hope for a different result I think that's at least this bill offers a solution even though you you can't
081implement it but you you get the gist of where it's coming from understand I understand yeah I mean I think everybody's trying to help get more more bus drivers um unfortunately we don't have a a large Dem I mean a large uh work to work from I mean Workforce to work from um trying to train them going through leward program that's one option I we try to grow our own to that program um but you know we cannot predict how many people are going to grew up and want to take the class and get the CB license that's the problem I get I get that so so with the with the challenges that we have is the de we looking at any other thing like I said is staggered school start times or something else
082reaching out to the you know Rand Randy was brought before he left it was very interesting he was like well we're going to let them work at on the bus and then they're going to come work for us and then they're going to then drive the bus again interesting at least he's thinking outside the box but I think that's what it takes right trying all those things and you know not many not much success the thing with the the city is if we can get um some of the routes overlapping we free up drivers and we have more drivers that we can spread around to other places that need rout so that's kind of yeah but that's not going to work on the neighbor Islands well they can they can take the drivers and fly
083them to the neighborhood some of the the companies are doing that now because of the shortage so it's happening right now with drivers flying to neor Islands to cover different routes okay okay well I hope we don't have the same debacle this next school year you and me both you and me both well I I think it's the whole economy and not just bus drivers but we've got rubbish Pickers and all kinds of areas so maybe we need the policy as to how do we how do we do this because as we give more and more services it becomes an entitlement and then it's hard to take it away so if you go to staggered school hours the parents are going to complain about that so there's really you know no real I don't know
084solution at this point unless people take their kids to start taking their own kids to school or you know I used to walk half a mile to school but yeah covered barefooted barefooted in the snow thank you so I mean I don't think there's an answer to this this this issue but are we encouraging more students to go online or how are we trying to deal with this problem city bus yeah that's that's one option we're trying to look at the city bus pass BR is that the only option though I we're looking at the the thing that Randy had talked about getting drivers but we're getting a hard time getting anybody interested in even doing that so yeah but knowing that because it's not just school bus drivers everybody all the bus drivers companies
085are having issues so how are we trying to solve the problem are we trying to do more online classes or no we we're trying to address the transportation issue as best we can and we're trying all different things right now you know the licensing different programs but in the meantime how many students are missing classes and missing school work school time because of the the lack of the bus routes being covered correct not being able to get school no matter what I don't have that exact information but I'll get it for you that be interesting to see but yeah that would be something to look at to see if we can provide maybe more online I know it's not the ideal but we still have to we have a an obligation to our students to
086make sure that they're getting their education right I agree so I'd be interested to know what other um things you guys have looked at okay we'll get back to you thank you thank you okay 1393 one more uh use of public lands Senate bill of 1393 it requires SFA to consult with doe or other impacted Department agencies before any transfer or lease of land or property owned or occupied by the do ensures that SFA land use decisions aligned with the du's operational and strategic goals takes effect upon its approval superintendent Hayashi why is this bill needed kadani VI chair members of the committee Tashi testifying on behalf of the department uh we do stand on our written testimony support of this measure and requesting though uh an amendment uh uh in working together with SFA
087to delete on page three lines 10 and 11 a quote upon terms and conditions as may be agreed to by the parties for the purpose of this chapter and quote uh removing this language uh will create more flexibility for the parties to effectuate the bill and again this is a Governor's um package bill and we have collaborated with the school facilities Authority in in this bill explain why that why you need that deleted cuz I would think you'd want them to agree to right no um yes it it's uh under uh HRS uh let's see um 302a 1703 uh the school facilit Authority is charged with the responsibility for uh the development planning and construction related to all public schools that are assigned by the legislature Governor or the State Board of Education uh so
088in in um uh us working to consult with the Department uh would help to um um again build in stronger Communications I thinking about this line that you want deleted yes Amendment you want this line taken out in collaboration with the school facilities Authority page three lines 9 10 11 10 and 11 10 and 11 yes it says upon terms and conditions as may be agreed to by the parties for the purpose of this chapter so you don't want the parties to agree um we uh did want the parties to agree why you take out in collaboration with together with SFA I think we agreed that we would remove that language SFA can you come for I I'm just confused I don't know am I reading it wrong stay there you don't want to have
089the agreement what is this no the the statute is poorly drafted it just has to be clarified what the doe is correct in their position is that the way it's drafted when the governor authorizes transfer from any other state agency they have to agree to the terms and conditions but for some reason the last sentence repeats in the department case they don't need to so it's really inconsistent so all the intent is to try to make it consistent with state agency lands and doe lands but okay it has to be redrafted but it has to be agreed to yes absolutely on the ter I just was think you King that out yeah no I don't know why the de would agree to it the de is is is right is that that the statute is
090confusing and inconsistent it creates a different hoop for the doe when it should be the same for all the state LS so to be clear on page three line 10 you want to take up the upon terms and conditions as may be acced by the parties for the purpose of this chapter is that correct that's the drafters of that one to me just go back to the statute and just say state agencies and the authority is much simpler than okay convoluted just thank you a question CH SFA uh hasn't the SFA been put in position to make these kinds of decisions uh on behalf of do or Boe um because my point being is I'm afraid of getting somebody else in the process delaying the process of these transfers uh so is there something that
091I'm missing as far as SFA being able to vet the paperwork make the decision and not prolonging the process so all SFA has those title of aiding land so the first step is we have to approach the governor to get approval to transfer the property or lands that we want to use to repurpose once we get that approval then it's on the sfa's part to do take it out of Latin court go to the regular system get the title subdivide and then repurpose back right so our only project so far is Milani we're not at that phase yet until we get agreement from the school from legislative funding there's no point to put that for the governor for his approval to transfer the land and then subdivide it oh so this is a a situation
092that you've never been in before as far as being able to make that decision yeah we can't it starts with the government it thank you CH thank you any further questions superintendent sh just to clarify um Senator this chair just to be sure that so um director fujitani has mentioned that you would the SFA would check with and get permission from the school before going to the governor for request so it's the doe would be in in the very beginning in the decision- making being that it's our school campus thank you very much so it's um with approval of the doe and not just the school you approval of the do yes correct thank you thank you foration no further questions okay let's go into decisioning okay calling the committee on education back to order
093we are in discussion and ready to decision make on the recommendations for the Senate bills so on Senate Bill 529 relating to education is appropriate respons to the Department of Education for its whole AA program recommendation of the chair is to blank out appropriation amount and note in the committee report that 4 million is requested by the Department of Education recommendation is to pass with amendments chair v i um mam chair I have a discussion I'd like to request that we put into the commit report um the discussion regarding integrating the whole Care Program into the um embedded into the curriculum of of du as we disc thank you and also we're supposed to defect the date okay defect the date thank you for that reminder okay with those uh recommendation members is to pass
094SB 529 with amendments uh the chair votes I uh the vice chair votes I Senator Hashimoto I Senator k i Senator dord I okay five members present all voting I recommendations adopted thank you on Senate Bill 1390 relating to computer science legislative report changes the date of the Department of education's computer science legislative report from June 30th to 20 days prior to the start of the legislative regular session um recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments noting Technical and non-substantive amendments um changing the deadline for Doe's annual report from 20 days prior to the start of the legislation legislative session um to by each October 31st thereafter MERS questions can I clarify so are we changing it as of October 31st from now this year and then onward right are you able to
095meet that deadline yeah I think she said October yes or earlier yes question members thank you okay recommendation is to amend s SP 1390 um any me member voting no any member voting with reservations hearing none all five members in the affirmative recommendation is adopted thank you for Senate Bill 1388 relating to education which adds two voting members that represent the Department educ of Education on the board of education to the school facilities Authority board recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments and defecting the date to July 1 2015 Madam chair clarifying the amendment would be to have the board members the ex official cor board members ex official okay questions members if not the recommendation is to pass s SP 1388 with amendments any member voting no any members voting in with
096reservations hearing none all five members uh vote I recommendations adopted thank you Senate Bill 5 27 relating to education establishes and appropriates funds for the five full-time equivalent positions within the Civil Rights compliance branch of the Department of Education recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments but changing the appropriation amounts in sections three and four to unspecified appropriation amounts noting in the committee report that 77952 is a appropriated for the five full-time equivalent Equity Specialists and 20,000 is appropriated for material and supplies also for some technical and non-substantive amendments and defecting the date to July 1st 2050 members questions hearing none Senate recommendation is to amend Senate Bill 527 with amendments any member voting no any no for me no for Senator de okay any members voting with reservations hearing none four members
097voting I one no your recommendations adopted thank you Senate Bill 868 relating to the school bus driver certification subsidy pilot program which establishes a one-year school bus driver certification subsidy pilot program within the doe for the 20252 26 school year requires reports that the legislature appropriates funds uh I think we're deferring this one members questions thank you Senate Bill 1393 relating to the use of public lands requires a school facility's authority to consult with the Department of Education and other impacted departments or agencies prior to the conveyance of ownership rights or lease of lands to the school facilities Authority recommendation of the chair is to includ include the testimony of the do e and SFA to to delete page three lines 10 and 11 which reads upon terms and conditions as may be agreed to
098by the parties from the per for the purposes of this chapter members questions hearing none recommendation to pass s SP 1393 with amendments anyone voting no anyone voting with reservations hearing none five members voting I recommendations adopted members that cludes our meeting meetings journe