001[Music] thank you and Welcome to our senate committee on education today is Wednesday January 31 it is 3:00 p.m. and we are in room hearing room 229 this meeting including the audio and video of remote participants is being streamed live on YouTube you will find links to reviewing 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 will include the 3:00 agenda for this committee on education 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 Wednesday Wednesday or or Wednesday February 2nd Friday sorry okay I was wondering you have Wednesday and Friday on Friday February 2nd 2024 at 3:01 p.m. in this room 229
002and a public notice will be posted on the legislature's website I'd like to take this time to remind our 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 unmute 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 matter thank you and with that I would like to welcome my committee members Vice chair Senator Kim Senator Troy Hashimoto and Senator forella members we are on item sb272 relating to education authorizes the Department of Health to require the Department of Education to report
003Corona virus disease 2019 potential outbreaks or other public health emergencies and related information in a manner most appropriate to public health and safety as determined by the Department of Health repeals the requirement to publish the report on the department of education's website and see to testify we have superintendent Hayashi please Aloha Cher kidani Vice chair Kim members of the committee Kei Hayashi superintendent testifying on behalf of the Department of Education the department stands on its written testimony in support of this measure thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you superintendent members any questions thank you next to testify Kenneth think director Department of Health you're not kenth good afternoon chair Vice chair members of the committee thank you for the opportunity I'm Sarah kemell here on behalf of Dr thinkink um I'm the state
004epidemiologist we stand on our written testimony in support of this measure and I will stand by for question thank you Sarah I'm not sure that everyone has read the testimony but if you have any questions let me know you can call her back do we have her testimony did you provide WR [Applause] testimony senator has a question I don't know if better you or superintendent but how many cases are we aware of the cases consistent decreasing um Senor I can get that information Dr Kim would you know if the current case load uh of Corona virus and I don't have the number for schools right here I could get it for you but um overall the case load has gone down in this last calendar year compared to the prior uh Senator um I'm being
005told that the daily average is about five cases about five cases so uh I guess the question is the necessity of the report um so from the do standpoint now we are really um working with doe when there is a potential outbreak situation so we no longer require each and every case to be reported to the um we aren't doing contact tracing of each case so the um reason that we were getting those reports before is now defunct so um we feel it is more appropriate for us to work with doe on potential outbreak detection and response okay and you support this superintendent so you support reporting how we we support um removing the requirement for us to report oh okay so this got it thank you thank you we do have um one person
006on Zoom to testify uh from the deputy uh attorney general and H Uchi and are person oh she jumped out of the [Laughter] TV good afternoon Cher kidani members and herui Department of the Attorney General um as we set forth in the testimony under this bill we see that there's a potential for the doe to be asked to provide what's called personally identifiable information under the family educational rights and Privacy Act um pursuant to furpa the doe must determine whether there's a health or safety e Mercy that warrants the release of personally identifiable information before it can provide that type of information so to avoid any potential fura violations we provided um suggested language in our testimony that we would recommend be added to the Bill thank you and members questions I'm not sure if
007was answered I still still on my pone um so you know for the reporting um still is it still going to be published on you guys website oh no um should this spill pass Senator that would not be a requirement yes but previously it was yes okay cuz then you can provide that cuz what they saying that they cannot find them on the link on doe page uh it it should be still there yeah the link should be there okay thank you thank you chair thank you questions of the superintendent members thank Youk members further questions questions okay we had someone on anybody else on Zoom to testify yes please come forward thank you chair and vice chair Angela Melody young testifying on behalf of cares um so this policy advises the school system to
008publish covid-19 related information as a collaboration of do and doe and it's good to get do and doe to sit at the table and to go over Health emergencies um we have a culture with the focus on working all day without rest or some people don't work at all so it's good to get to know health obesity awareness emergency preparedness nowadays there's so much information about mental illness smoking Vapes bullying how do you get it to the kids without without there being duplications in the research perhaps um this um committee can consider uh instead of do and doe rewriting the reports one can access the federal resources and you'll find the work is already accomplished um for example I can go down the list of what the federal websites provide CDC has basic information about
009heart disease foodborn illness environmental health growth charts interactive database tools smoking and tobacco um and some of the research is very relevant to students and CDC covers all diseases basically and CMS has emergency declarations such as National opiate crisis information thank you members questions thank you thank you any anyone else with wishing to testify on this matter member questions further questions I have a question question um superintendent are you currently is uh do we currently having the stats up on your website still yes we do okay so what is the average number now you said five five yes yes and that's been for the last October October through January chair okay so the last four months four months thank you thank you question um Department of Health what is the Department's position are you guys
010wishing the um Department of Education to continue posting this information or do you think that this pandemic is um not done but not necessarily to keep posting this information yeah thank you for the question while covid-19 is certainly not over um we are moving out of the pandemic phase into an endemic phase and we are aware that now many people may not even test when they have symptoms so to try to report each and every case that is reported to doe is really only reporting a subset of um people families that choose to report that to the doe so we do believe that that is no longer an effective way of tracking what's truly going on as far as covid incidents um so we don't recommend publishing those case numbers at at this point in
011time thank you for your testimony okay members if there's no questions no further questions we're going to move on to the next issue Senate Bill 2069 relating to the Department of Education appropriates funds to the Department of Education for the establishment of three full-time equivalent curriculum specialist two positions and 10 full-time equivalent FTE classroom leader POS teacher positions for K papahana kapuni schools K testifying is superintendent please my name is and I'm the director of The Office of wine education um the department stands in strong support of this request given um the growth that we've experienced within the line language immersion program over the last 10 years um we Advocate that additional classroom resources U be provided to our schools as well as um program staff to be able to continue to develop the supports
012that are necessary for um what happens in our schools I'll be available for questions um as needed thank you can you state your name again please you say Co is there anyone else here wishing to testify please come forward aloh my name is Kyle K Naka um I am a former Kaki teacher I was a kumu at kak an and k um I wanted to share my experiences to illustrate um the need for this bill this is my first time ever testifying at any State uh for any state bill but I thought that this was important enough that I should um while I was a casual h um part-time teacher at um I saw so many things that Illustrated the need for more kumu there I saw classrooms full of full of H 29 hanana
013full classroom was so full you could uh hardly fit students um as a science teacher the kumu there was responsible for teaching all four subjects in high school that's of biology physics chemistry uh plants and animals of a and for that kumu they bear so much of a burden to develop curriculum for all of those subjects um adding another kumu adding more kumu is something that would allow those H allow those kumu to be able to uh spend more time to develop curriculum to where in any other school they would have one kumu per subject in this school uh having in these schools the one kumu has to handle all four topics and this is something that would um allow them to have the time that they need to support our hamana uh similarly when
014I was a kumu at kamoko I was uh um was a first year kumu I was um in many ways needed a lot of help but at the same time the kumu were there to help me they were um they were also kumu they were teachers they were administrators who also had the same burdens that they had to bear I had to stop myself I mean I don't know if I should have but I did I didn't want to burden them more by asking for help so I didn't um and that put more responsibility on me the specialist positions that this bill asks for is something that would allow for um would allow for those kumu new kumu like me to get the help that they need for their uh to give the education their
015home on it deserve so all for your support of this bill um I'm sorry I'd also like to add by adding when I was at Anu most of our honic came from the West Coast by adding positions this allows us to add more sights so thatana don't have to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and come into school to and tell the kumu kumu I had to I only got four hours of sleep last night I couldn't do the homework this is something that would help H in so many different ways Mahal members questions so you said you were formerly a teacher or you still teaching now yes no I'm in the Air National Guard um I uh make a lot more money in the Air Force okay um and you know it's just a temporary
016thing I think my job is supposed to be on hold um but I um I've enjoyed a really cushy lifestyle with the Air Force um and the kumu have to juggle that know know that they're having all of this you know taking on all this burden but they could be making so much more money having a much easier time outside right right so you you essenti did you go through the certification or you just you said you were casual so you were just casual the whole time no I'm sorry I should have clarified I um got my certification with goola the uhila program um so I was full-time at kamoko um when I was a casual hire an I supported the science teacher who had to do all those four topics I see all right
017very good thanks thanks for your passionate testimony thank you so you taught what what levels oh I'm sorry High School secondary so when I was at Anway I taught 9 to 12 when I was at kamoko I was I'm sorry when I was on casual H uh I helped the 9th to 12 teacher teach the 10th grade when I was at Koko as a one teacher I taught all of seventh to 12th grade science okay so and you teach you said four subjects they do only four subjects um so ninth grade biology 10th grade chemistry 11th grade physics but they teach the whole curriculum uh at an when I was there that's how it went yes okay so so do they teach like um um fiscal fiscal literacy financial literacy classes as well in home
018you know way um I'm not too sure about what I I'm sure they must have had something but you know that wasn't my area so okay thank you thank you K signed up to testify is also assess is she here uh Kanani no Mak moku no anyone else here wishing to testify hello chair Vice chair members of the committee good to be here to pres president of hsta uh sorry I submitted late testimony hopefully you received it um we've started up what's called a Hawaiian education special committee at hsta because the issues that are affecting our hawaian emersion teachers and teachers that teach all the Hawaiian studies courses are just getting worse and worse as um they're not getting the support that they need a lot of times what they see is that the doe
019continues to get support support staff to help them but as kapuni has grown grown awesomely they have not grown in their support staff to be able to support the teachers who are struggling as you just heard to make sure that our students have all the lessons they need and so forth and so on so we strongly support this bill uh to have more support staff and more teachers in the classes that is growing throughout the state thank you members questions be I'm not sure if this is directed to you but for put um you know the positions that would you know give them to have the capacity to deliver instructions and you know just having more uh ways of uh helping out with the kids um in my district we don't have but we know
020that n one of the only schools in the webite that has Hawaiian emergency um program this something that would help other areas or just Mahala for the question um the requests for the positions that we have in place now are to um uh be able to fill positions that already exist um in schools that do not have enough uh resources to be able to establish permanent positions at the CL at this in the classroom level um I will add that in your District specific specifically um we opened a middle school haai language immersion program coule Middle School um last year and so they started seventh grade H yeah seventh grade H language immersion in Cap Middle School one of the positions would be to sustain that teaching line and then to add a second line
021um because they do intend to expand to grade eight next year thank you J thank you yes do they teach a c compliment of everything that's taught at doe the the intention is to be able to provide a educational um platform that addresses all of the content area of the Department of Education um but that also is done differently depending on the resources that are available at a school like you heard um from previous testifier or the um Charter School kamak um they are a full K12 Hawaiian language immersion site and so the intention is that every all of the teachers on staff can Oli in order to deliver the full so like financial literacy is that something that is being taught it's a requirement I I it's not being taught as a requirement in
022our coin language emerging schools however in a personal experience because my both of my children graduated from Kay an as a part of their personal transition plan they did have assignments embedded in that program that uh had them address how how they would make plans for funding a college degree moving forward or moving into their career I do know that that happened as in their in their personal transition plan work so they get a understanding about student loans and and interests and all kinds of stuff so they can survive in in financially I I know that's something that we're looking at the schools have it as an elective as well so um it's concerning because a lot of kids come out and don't understand what the impacts are to some of their loans that they're
023taking out and saddled they they my son definitely had to plan for how he would fund um his college education within the program within the transition plan program okay how how many students are graduating in the Hawaiian imersion program right now anywhere between 75 and 100 students a year um graduate from grade 12 in um how many of them go go and further it into uh the university I don't have that data I can um get back to you later on with that data if I can that be interesting and then and then the next step would be um are there jobs out there for those that graduate with in those degrees Yeah I I I don't know specifically around what kinds of um preparations have been made for students um specifically for graduates of
024Kon education I do know that our students are um entering into careers across the Spectrum um one of our early graduates is a doctor at stob um we have lawyers that have graduated from so it's not isolated sort of as a if you speak Hawaiian and you have to do a Hawaiian language U employment more than preparing them with the mindset and the language basis to be able to do whatever they choose to do we graduate be interested to find out when what areas they go into because as we heard from um our our um instructor that they can go out and make a lot more money and be more at ease um in in another in another um profession and of course teaching is one of the areas that you know you would think
025that they would want to go into as well so appreciate you can get that information at a future date thank you k um your um kopon teachers are there some on the neighbor Islands also there are Ki um teachers across all 22 of our schools and across five Islands good and so right now there are 10 full-time equivalent teachers or are there more than that there are more than that right now we have oh I might have that number here we have I think 152 um yeah 152 um teachers that are teaching in h language immersion classrooms in the Department of Education 152 152 so this bill is asking for 10 more full-time positions but also asking for um three full-time equivalent curriculum Specialists so how many curriculum Specialists do you have now I currently
026have um one I have I currently have four um curriculum specialists um who are doing a bunch of different things across the system the three of those positions are were um fortunately funded by um Esser um During the covid period um and a lot of the work that they did given the resources that were made available have really helped to um put uh much needed supports in the classrooms and um for three for 10 full-time equivalent teacher positions and three full-time um specialist three positions what is the cost to provide this I believe the number is around approximately $1.4 million thank you co members further questions yeah you um question since still on this topic um you know um 19 19 I guess 78 or 1977 share this with my colleagues and I just wanted
027to get you guys put since we have you here in the superintendent here um it was put in there in the Constitution that high language should be a um subject not as elective or after school program that you needed two credits to uh in Hawaiian to to graduate from high school and I understand what was being told to me by not only colleagues that I love and Trust here on the aspect of their view but I would want to know from the Doe's view if something like that would happen in the high schools from 9th to 12th and there's an opportunity for having Hawaiian studies as a not as an elective but as a requirement to take I would they looking into entertaining that as a credit graduate high school and I I understand some
028of the questions that came up about kids transferring from the continent here and not being able to accomplish that and I can think that we can probably figure out one way to do some kind of waiver in that but only reason why I say that is because when I listen to what you saying and and you know we all have the great intentions of doing this but if we don't pull a trigger that was there from 1970 something and start to move it along we'll never have it what what do you feel about that um Mahala for your question I understand that there is a bill um that's currently being proposed asking the same question about two credit requirement for graduation for olova students I do want to defer to our um Deputy of superintendent
029um of academics particularly to the issue of graduation credit requirements um but I would also like to offer that as part of the work of the office of O education um and specifically Board of Education policy 105.7 it is the charge of our the Department of Education to ensure that all students have access to opportunities to in to uh um learn ol hav as a part of as a part of um their educational experience and we are currently working um within the system to be able to um promote um proficiencies K12 um that's a huge um sort of lift to make um but we're looking for opportunities where schools can introduce um ol Havi as a part of the general curriculum either through context um and or through curriculum when students are um experiencing some
030of the materials that they have with some markers um hopefully in the future around identifying the proficiencies that students might be able to achieve across that K12 experience again that's the work that we are currently working on in the office of wi education um that would help us to address I think what the intention was of back in 1978 to ensure that all student staff and faculty um have access to learning opportunities for ol was the recognition back then was that the two um for two languages um was English and Hawaiian and English is to this stay in our schools but not on and that's the reason why it was brought thank you appreciate it thank you thank you chair col how many um teachers are there that can teach the Hawaiian language um within
031the K within the um kapuni classrooms um the one of the sort of proficiencies assessments is that the the teacher can um instruct provide instruction in um given the content that they're in charge of um and so while we have 152 teachers that are in um kapuni schools right now um there are a handful of those teachers that deliver instruction in English um in our two campuses that are full immersion campuses K or and Kino um as it relates to teachers that can teach ol Havi as a Content area in our non kapuni schools um I am not sure about that number I would have to give back to you I believe that um the department does have a number of the schools that do provide currently fine language courses um in year 1 to
032year four um at the different high schools yeah I'd appreciate that question forther questions thankk you Coe thank you okay I'm sorry I missed kopu relitz teacher H chair Vice chair kopu relit with the office of hne Affairs we stand in support of this measure um and I feel like the folks who are the experts in this room are much more equipped to tell you why but I did want to let you know that the office of wine Affairs stands in strong support of this meure follow thank you those questions thank you if no further testimony on this Senate Bill we will move on Senate Bill 20 69 relating to the Department of Education just do this one yes Senate Bill 2070 relating to the Department of Education exempts Career and Technical education goods and
033service Services purchases by the doe for the state procurement code I guess that would be you Mr superintendent thank you chair kidani Vice chair Kim members of the committee Kashi superintendent testifying on behalf of the Department of Education the department stands on its written written testimony in strong support of this measure thank you very much for the opportunity to testify members questions strong testimony thank you we felt it strongly questions thank you superintendent that was so strong no one [Music] questions also to testify Georgia Skinner what he said um aloha aloha Georgia Skinner or uh James toyoka Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism we do stand in strong support of this anything to help our teachers to face future also with technology changing this will really help them and as being part of a
034department that abides by the procurement code I know that this can help delay unfortunately sometimes our students being able to be uh being taught on the actual equipment that they can get jobs with so thank you very much for the measure and we stand in strong support thank you Georgia members questions than you next to testify Mark Glick Chief energy officer good afternoon chair Vice chair Senators Cameron black on behalf of the Hawaii state energy office we also are in support strong support of this measure our primary interest in this bill is that the uh there is an energy career pathway um that's been set up by the Department of Education so we appreciate that and that again is why we're supporting this measure this would help exempt some of the equipment uh particularly the
035welding that was called out so thank you thank you Cameron members questions yeah I have a question so some of these equipment can they go into hundreds and thousands of dollars or I'm sorry Senator I don't have the answer to that question I can find out so you folks deal with these equipment or I mean not myself personally um I have not personally dealt with the welding equipment okay so I don't want to misquote what what that might cost okay well yeah I mean to support a bill like this knowing that there's money implications possibly um would be helpful when you come and testifying support that you folks have information to give the committee understood and we'll uh we'll find that out okay thank you any more questions members thank you thank you wait there
036yeah she I'm good good afternoon chair Vice chair members of the committee Bonnie Kakui acting administrator and chief procurement officer we stand on our written testimony and all we're actually asking is that the the language be changed to mirror the language that is currently in house in Senate bill 3086 and it's companion bill 239 seven our recommendation is to tighten up the language a little bit so that there is no loow pools in between thank you thank you Bonnie members questions questions Senator Kim thank you Bonnie so can you explain what some of the loopholes are oops uh yes the way it was originally written um I we thought that it could be open up to any kinds of training and direct student instruction what what we did was we oh did I'm here um
037what we did was tighten up the language to specify that these equipment that they're purchasing or training that is unique to that particular career path and we called out different things like the welding the anatomy tables and those can cost tens of thousands of dollars as well as those flight simulators which can be very very expensive so when you say called them out that they would not be part of this no they would be but we said that it would be things like um well what we did was we took out such things as supplies implements tools Machinery because that could have a very broad definition especially supplies are we talking uh books and paper and pencils so we narrowed that scope to say that these equipment and supplies that they need are unique and
038specific to that particular career path like the welding and the flight simulators and not be so broad as to include may include any kind of equipment okay I guess when I read this measure I thought that it would be these small supplies and so forth that can be cumbersome going through procurement um but also the the concern that I had is that because it was broad to but some of this equipment uh like flight simulators and so forth runs into like you said hundreds and thousands of dollars and if if it's not uh competitive as far as checking out the bids and stuff is there room for um some kind of fall play at some point or not giving equal opportunity to the vendors uh to be able to provide um be part of the
039procurement process and providing this equipment to the schools uh yes there could be uh that is certainly a possibility but from what I also understand from the doe the people that Supply some of these uh equipment Anatomy tables flight simuls the market is very very um limited and additionally we ask that the doe put in guard rail guard rails to ensure transparency and standard processes of checks and balances so there is not this going to just one vendor uh without doing their due diligence to see what other vendors are out there that may be able to provide uh the services and goods that they need and who monitors this that would be the doe okay so you folks wouldn't be monitoring it so how would we know that there was safeguards we would not but
040we would ask that the do we provide that information to us so that we can you know double check to make sure what they are buying how they're buying it uh what methods they're using to obtain these uh goods and services okay thank you um question for doe if nobody has questions for Bonnie anybody else have questions for Bonnie superintendent superintendent so superintendent was that your intent that this measure be for these specific equipment or um thank you uh senator for the question um yes definitely we um in helping as previous testifiers have shared um it's very important that we provide authentic learning as much as authentic learning experiences for students to connect to Career Pathways um I think as we were able to provide as um um State procurement office has shared for example
041uh she did mention the anatomage table and that is a a piece of equipment that is rather expensive um but it is state of Thee art it provides our students with the most current experiences in terms of uh uh really looking at at Anatomy being able to identify um a a healthy tissue versus a cancerous tissue in fact there was just an uh the competition was yesterday at the convention center uh where all of our Korean technical student organizations got together to compete and the anatom much table actually was a um was one of the many highlights of of that event uh it it so what's the problem now how did you get the tables now uh we we did have it was an extensive process uh we definitely always be ensure that we F
042in procurement code uh we do our due diligence and so we did have to go out to bid because it was over the $25,000 threshold that 25,000 then your folks can go to three bers right to get under 25,000 we're able to um to we can go to uh um both written quotes and um verbal verbal and written quotes anything over 25,000 we have to go out to Bid And as was shared currently uh when we have equipment and we're looking for authentic opportunities for students those equ much if not all of that equipment that we're looking at exceeds the $25,000 give you didn't we raise that level no um it build it uh it did pass um unfortunately it it um it it didn't make it through though so the house um I I
043I believe um I believe it made another conference um but it was um there was a vet at the end okay yeah so what about 3D printers stuff like that is that fall under unique or um well 3D printers definitely again um if it if it did go over uh 25,000 um you know again we we need to go out to bid um as SPO had shared it's important for us to have thresholds in place and and real uh safeguards and so um some of the safeguards that we established last year that we're ready to implement uh for example is um a tiered system so rather than go from $25 to $100,000 right away we would incrementally increase those uh that threshold within the department so that we're able to um uh ensure that we're
044we're following the right procedures and as well as having U complex area superintendents review uh any of those those purchases that exceed those amounts uh just to ensure that uh we're complying with u the proper procedures but something like 3D printers isn't that common to more not specific to a career path um 3D printers could be depends what kind of 3D printers um and what the intent of the 3D printer is that's my concern on how that gets all lumped in and then get around the the process in some way um you mean the large 3D printers or the the smaller ones that whatever I'm just saying that you know certainly you could make a case that it's General and then you can make a case well depending on what the printers are but nobody's
045there going to be checking up on you or you know safeguards in there so we would have to depend upon you folks to be able to police yourselves right yeah most definitely and and and it is important for us to ensure that we're following those procedures and again the uh complex area superintendent um are will be charged with helping to monitor that um to get with their principles we have training that's ready to go out to be sure that our principles are aware of and and follow um the proper procedures understand but as you know and I know that there are often time um many violations and it gets reported to us and I know there's some concerns just the fact that there are um well not so much on the doe campuses but on
046the uh campuses where these small maintenance projects are going out to the same people over and over again because they don't have to go out to did so they use friends or stuff like that so I'm just don't want to get those kinds of calls yes I understand thank you thank you so superintendent there's a um you used the doe uses hands the Hawaii award and notices data systems for some of your for posting some of your um notices that that you're looking for special equipment or whatever do you still use that um let me S one one um Senator we can get back to you on that um I can check withfo H he wasn't able to make it today thank you thank you super superintendent sorry so superintendent just just going off of
047Senator Kim's line of questioning I I think I just got a little confused U maybe you can clarify for me so you said if it's over 25,000 you're still going to go out to bid no no if if should this should this pass right it would raise a threshold to to $100,000 okay and so um it we we wouldn't need to go out to bid currently anything over 25,000 we need to go out to bid which um uh as we are securing different kinds of equipment that's in that range it do take it does take um a lot of time right so anything over 100 you're still going to go up to bid I'm I believe that um this bill um would if if it's in CT in the CTE area uh that would exempt
048right totally from going out to there's no cap it's exemp it would be exemp totally so there is there is no parameters any anything you don't have to go to bid then so so so I know you you in terms of your for within the CT area yeah for that specific exemption so so I guess currently and I know you're talking about how you're going to kind of regulate this how much does the Cass have a say in purchasing right now if any the the cazes have the authority over the School principles in terms of purchasing they're able to within their area um monitor purchasing they're able to stop uh purchases that happen or they're able to question um purchases each complex area superintendent has a complex area business manager got it and the complex
049area business manager helps assist the area superintend so is there any internal sign offs right now over over search amount that the Cass has to to to see or check there's no threshold amount it's just up to their jur you know currently up to 25,000 it goes no there is none not from the so it's only if they choose to check it out they'll they'll see it there so there's no automatic go to the Cass if it's over a certain amount right now not currently so what is what is your thought process then to keep this in check but we do currently uh there are internal controls within the school within the complex area that they they are able to pull purchases and purchase orders if need be that's one thing um in terms of
050the controls moving forward should this bill pass um those uh those purchases that are over if there are any purchases that are over $100,000 we'll be monitoring those definitely only over $100 only over over 100,000 but that's the internal policy or is that in the bill no that would be internal to us okay yeah and but any any of those purchases um uh up to 100,000 would be would be um checked by the complex superintendent okay but they currently don't necessarily regularly look right I I think it's just it's just to me I think it's a good practice that they're probably looking at some of these purchases just to be aware so I think we do have U periodic audits um of the schools and uh by internal internal audit section uh and so both
051of uh appropriated funds as well as non-appropriated funds so those are some of the checks that regularly happen um and we'll continue those yeah and no I I get it I I think you have to have the internal controls I I I think for for the doe especially because it's like every school is their own little entity it's just you know you give them so much leeway it really I think to me you got to have very specific parameters cuzz there's just so many different variations from school to school so I I I think you know we're open but it's just you got to be able to prove that you know everything is going right so thank you thank you for that so within your internal internal check checks and balances would you then Institute
052that they could do like a a three bid written or verbal for these um I I think um chair thank you for the question Senator thank you for the question um the intent of the bill is to help us to explorate the process following within those parameters um and being sure that we're following within what parameters um procurement and that we are checking and providing opportunities for students to engage in those uh in in the kinds of equipment that we need right um and so it it okay because let me clarify my question so right now you have to if it's over under 25 5,000 you can do three written or verbal bits anything over you got to go to a full procurement so I'm just saying this bill passes would you still Institute at
053least the three three quotes either by by uh verbal or written would you still Institute that we would still do that we could still do that yes okay I'd like to see that in there because it has to be you know can't just go to one you got to check and see because you know you could so the the the verbal and then three so like like it was a 25,000 25 but it would raise that threshold right yes thank you the um what it called autonomy that stuff you guys was talking about you guys just had autonomy thing you guys talking about buying the table is that what it's called anage an table is that a table it it's a table Center yes so I just wanted to give one example so get five
054schools I'm not going to name any schools but I usually name Campell sometimes and let's get the 40 School away K so what of these two schools or the one school and five other schools on this table yes how is that going to be prioritized um thank you for the question Senator we uh currently um have gone through the procurement process uh which was was very extensive um and so we reach did reach out to schools that were interested in um securing the Anam watch tables so several of our high schools currently have them um and then uh they have actually been very excited in in working with them uh for Campbell High School um I believe their table is coming they they did order one uh which is which is uh we're excited about
055it and I think uh principal Le to so we have a flight simulator to C um you know I'm not sure on the flight simulator I can get back on that we see playings every day from NOA C so we just we have a Similator coming to our school I do know Senator that um we are engaged in U um aeronautical pathway uh that there are um we've engaged with um with the airlines uh they are in in need of not only Pilots but of with mechanics so any time that we can uh provide these opportunities for students so they get really excited about the learning um you know I I really believe that sometimes you know we need to put uh a little more expense in the cost up front to get students engaged
056and that's the hook for them right and then you know they'll really see the value of education and and uh education being relevant for them yeah I was I was blessed to be a fact of uh seeing some of our students at Campbell is actually right now pilots and you know they got into it and they they love it not because the planes was going over the head but that's what they got into because it was a pathway for them to go to Barber's point and flight simulation the time and got into and now they're vience was pretty good this was figuring the ass thank you s thank you thank you shair one more quick question can you give us an idea how long it took you to procure the tables and our watch one
057second over over here um Senator came ask one one um so just to be sure that I'm clear your question that you asked me earlier was about um the uh uh verbal quote the written quote and then the procurement threshold of 25,000 now we would raise that but the we would still Institute the the verbal and the written quote as is yeah should this bill pass for for these equipments that in this bill that you would at least have the three quotes whether it be written in verbal at at those thresholds no at whatever whatever thresholds you do but that you would have at least some comparison instead of just going to one vendor and say oh we like your equipment but without getting like another it could be only one but there may be
058opper times where as you just shared um there may be only because of the advancement of Technology yeah there might be only one right but when there are more than one then yeah you know because we want the best price right to I mean the cheapest is not always the best but we want to compare I mean you know whenever I buy anything I check Amazon I check eBay I check Teo I check them all before I buy and so we we would be able to compare that um and um as you said Senator sometimes the the cheapest might not be the best for students I got to check the reviews you know they get five star for okay thank you thank you and how often do you return never mind not too awful thank
059you superintendent thank you is Bonnie still on she is not on oh yes I'm here oh thank you Bonnie um last year you indicated that um SPO would be moving to um a electronic uh procurement system has that been done we are in the process now of that we've already signed the contract we've had we have weekly meetings with the vendor the actual e-procurement portion of that is still a little ways off as we're working with the the marketplace first thank you so can you uh give us an update a written update and um on on when you expect that to be finished oh yes I can uh we can provide you with a timeline uh we're working with the vendor on a timeline right now and hopefully we can stick to that depending on
060you know if all the all the players fall in place thank you appreciate it okay are we done with this issue moving on to where are we2 Senate Bill 2052 did you guys have question oh engagement program superintendent are you testifying Senate Bill Public Access room okay good afternoon chair kidani Vice chair Kim and members of the committee I'm Heidi Armstrong Deputy superintendent of academics I'm speaking on behalf of the Department of Education and we stand on our written testimony offering comments on this bill and I will be available to answer any questions we have someone on Zoom waiting to testify uh they're not present on Zoom chair thank you attorney general she here attorney general good afternoon uh Cher kidani Vice chair Kim members of the committee Deputy attorney general CIS Park just uh
061requesting that um we amend the language in the bill to include that the matter is a issue of Statewide concern in according to an article 6 article 10 section 6 of The Constitution thank you questions you is there Deborah helbert here good afternoon chair Vice chair members of the committee Deborah Halbert vice president for academic strategy also a member of the pace commission though I'm here testify for the University and not the pace commission we stand in support with some modification we defer to the PACE commission's recommendations for the edits to the bill as outlined both in their testimony on our own thanks I'm available for questions if you have any thank you members question do we have to pce should have been submitted do you remember seeing that testimony commission got you got it
062okay great she has it thank you cace Candace Park she just testified just testified okay that's it anyone else here wishing to testify on Senate Bill sure well good two minutes clock says one proceed only one minute okay Angela Melody young testifying on behalf of cares Aloha chair Vice chair and the committee um so I think this is a good policy I'm not sure how busy the public access room office is and it's not my purview to represent that office but it's a good idea um and an example of a fun interactive Civic engagement program the policy could copy is a Hawaii Children and Youth Summit made possible by Susie Chan Oakland and Uncle Dennis they dedicated a lot of work they do to providing resources and to supporting our generation and I'm super blessed
063to get to help to plan with the team it's an event sanctioned by the hu Vice statue chapter 8 in October 2022 the Kiki caucus held the summit to bring children together to prioritize issues and find strategies to Solutions which require statutory changes to be implemented at the county state and federal level and they declared that smoking as a priority of the Hawaii Public Health Institute is also an important subject matter to debate during the legislative process this season and the findings were from the summit that they'd like the middle middle school and high school programs to have peer-to-peer support therapy and counseling to emphasize the consequences of smoking while raising awareness about health education so Caris thinks it's very appropriate to assign this kind of program to the office and to create more Civic
064action opportunities for Hawaii's CES thank you thank you OA are you thank you OA hello chair Vice chair also to president HST apologize again for our late testimony uh HST stands in support for this uh we want to stress the importance of expanding civic education in our public schools to prepare students to participate in the public and political lives of their communities civic education helps develop critical thinking skills in our students students that are vital to the functioning of a democratic Nation including how to recognize social problems evaluate possible solutions to problems separate evidence-based claims from opinions and to take action H is among the 10 states with the lowest voter turnout in the nation cultivating social and political engagement among students through civic education is an important strategy available to increase voter turnout and
065citizen engagement over the long term so than just be for increasing voter turnout though but also to educate on how to be more involved in community issues as they arrive arise civic education helps to learn how to evaluate what others have tried what has worked and make a plan of action for creating change needed to solve problems together HS ask for your support model thank you members questions thank you is there anyone else here wishing to testify on this issue sure I just I guess do you can be doe so um first of all I just you like support the bill even though I never had a chance to sign on to him because I don't see my name here um but that's okay I really support the bill you know what I'm getting told
066is that why wasn't it done sooner I know you probably don't have that answer but I know you probably would have wanted sooner but the question is like why wasn't this done sooner I'm not sure why what was it St Staffing the public access room um I don't know I don't know and and the department does support the positions we would just um we don't they're they're not part of our board approved budget requests so we would appreciate the positions and the additional resources um but not supplanting anything that we've already submitted and civic education is at the Forefront just growing larger than the public access room um the board of education has asked the department to put together a civic education task force that has members from the pace commission P20 um the Judiciary
067we have some um nonprofits and our doe Personnel looking at how do we enhance and Elevate civic education in our school we do have newly adopted um social studies standards that include civic education K12 Anor standard five is a standard that's in every grade level and then in the High School courses but what the department currently um does not have a a mechanism to do so is how do we um keep track of or is it necessary to keep track of what are our students doing um in the areas of civic education and so this task force is looking at how do we record or do we need to record what our students are doing what opportunities they've had to participate in experiences that promote their engagement in civic education and learning um we recently
068just recognized two high schools in a newly created program called the Hawaii um schools of democracy and Maui high school and Milly Lani High School were recognized as schools who are doing um extensive and schoolwide or participating in extensive and schoolwide efforts and provide opportunities for their students to engage in Civic activities such as volunteering learning about the um more in inate int intricate um operations of government um policy legislation and so this task force that is currently um in place um is looking at ways where the department can expand and Elevate opportunities so that our students do leave us and participate in the Democratic process of voting they do participate in volunteerism they do participate in um opportunities to help support and um nurture the communities where they live thank you so just being
069good citizens yes okay thank you that's a good way to put it questions so Heidi you did answer one of my questions about how is civic education being taught now in the school so it is part of the social studies yes it's part of the social studies standards um K12 we also have a graduation requirement um in high school it's a half credit of course participation in democracy um and so all students have to go through there when you look at our social studies standards every single grade level has civic education embedded in the different strands of the social studies because you know according to the testimony and I tend to agree with lrb in the sense that um that the bureau does not believe that the primary responsibility for this effort should lie with
070part the public access room um um and they also felt that that they would be more than willing to share information par has already developed U regarding engagement with the legislature and the legislative process um but the bureau suggests that rather than stepping into teachers role be more effective and appropriate for part to offer workshops directly to appropriate teachers in order for them to expand their understanding and including in a part of their um curriculum so yeah to to get people from part to then step into the schools to me seems to be you know a reach in that sense so is that something that you cuz you supporting this right this measure we're supporting when when um I read the bill it was the department would assist in the efforts that par um currently
071offers um I I remember from previous testimonies Staffing the room so that it would be available to provide the services um that you just spoke of was very limited and so my understanding when I read this is the bill would provide a position um of would provide a full-time full-time position within the public access room and that's on page six line one and two in addition to two positions to support the advancement of civic education and funding so so the bill is saying that par should now be having people in their Department that's going to promote civic education is that what you're saying no I'm saying I I read the bill to say that it it would provide a full-time equivalent position within the public access room and then would provide two POS two full-time
072equivalent permanent civic education resource teacher positions within the department and that's on page four lines 78 and N page Department shall assign one appropriate staff the department meaning the DOE that was the department referred to as the as doe that correct department shall assign appropriate staff to coordinate with the public access room respects to outreach and engagement program okay because I'm reading lrb's testimony and um I guess there's a lot of concerns what they raise okay thank you thank you thank you hii members further questions if not move on to our final bill 2071 superintendent did you have testimony on this you good afternoon Cher kadani Vice chair Kim I'm Heidi Armstrong again from the Department of Education thank you for allowing us the opportunity to testify and we appreciate this bill and stand in
073um strong support um of this measure I'll be available for any questions thank you members questions um do we have the resources right now to hire people or can f fill these positions that would might be needed for this enhancement we we currently have the um Panorama social emotional learning student survey and we also have the trust Circle app and those are the two items included in this bill what we're asking for these are currently funded with Sr funds and we're asking for funding to continue um having these opportunities and resources after the 2425 school year when we will no longer be able to fund them with user got it thank you other questions thank you heid thank you is there anyone else wishing to provide testimony on this issue closer to we chair chair
074wou hsta president I would just want to say anything that we can do to uh we're in support anything we can do to um help with mental health and student emotional health is a positive uh this is about digital devices and things though we want to emphasize also that counselors are extremely important in this this process and we want to make sure that we try and staff our schools with as many counselors as possible especially coming from post pandemic and Po Folks in Lina they need all the support they can get Personnel wise and our counselors are are well equipped but we just need more of them thank you thank you also members questions thank you we did have a brad kusunoki wanting to testify thank you Brad good afternoon chair Vice chair Hashimoto um
075when I should followa I am a school counselor um my actual title is student services coordinator but I'm school counselor and teacher by heart at alvas Scott Elementary School uh I'm here to support this bill because I use both programs uh mainly the trust Circle app um we have a tool that will greatly help school counselors if if they choose to use it that it's it's easy to use for both kids uh teachers teachers and School staff and especially counselors um we I I have a student population of about 440 uh only school counselor I do not have the ability to ask every single kid every day how they are feeling and I can't measure how happy sad mad or or scared they are but with uh the trust tal app that helps us to
076give give the kids the opportunity to give us uh their voices where they stand as far as social or emotional well-being on a daily basis and it gives us a tool to go out and do something about it every day um my time up thank you br um questions so when you say you have a tool it's the it's the trust Circle app trust Circle app and yes I've been using it for two years uh I believe our school was the first one of the state to get it I got it on my own um I did the research and got the Grant and paid for it through um I got I think I believe it was a state Grant um for three years and I worked with the de developer to make to tailor
077it based on my needs as a school but also as the needs for school counselors across the state should they choose to use it um it is it is really good uh we we continue to use it and it the requirement for teachers it's minimal they just need to let kids to do it U at least for a couple minutes every day they just go on a lot of the kids they'll follow up and they'll use it as home on the on the weekends as well uh all they have to do is check in and just just share what how they are feeling it's kind of like a journal and then it in turn it gives us data as far as where our kids as a whole and even individually where they stand on different
078emotional levels and we can see that every day on a real time um real time so I can go out and and do what I need to do as a school counselor to help these kids that need it or as a as a whole school and do General programs um to support our school counseling program thank you so this app is online and made available to all school counselors uh I believe that's the intent right now I speak for just my school um it's available for all students at and staff at my school so what this bill cover that being offer to all the schools I think it's see it's okay thank you good thank you work how how much is it just for your school for the license I'm just curious well the Grant
079I got was um 36,000 for 3 years for just one your school for how many users uh it cover all students and staff there was no Max Max no okay so that that's about uh I guess 500 maybe 600 people total that could use it if they choose you have all these annexes of other schools great thank you thank you chair thank you superintendent or Heidi you guys have any testimony on this do you have any testimony on this issue we we support this issue and um are requesting the funding so that we can continue on after next school year so do you have a specific app in mind we do so the the trust circle is going to be is the app that we're currently using and we want to be able to continue
080to use it in the future okay um I don't recall what the funding requirement was 850 850,000 it's blank in the bill yeah in the bill pretty clear. the bill section three is 1.7 but page three is right so so the trust circle is 850 and then the Panorama seal survey which is also included in this bill um would bring the total to 1.7 1.7 million for both so one is a survey and one is an app and so that can be used for all the de schools yes and currently we're doing the Panorama seal survey it's mandatory twice a year um beginning of the year and end of the year and it's optional for schools to um offer a midyear survey how long would this be good for currently it's funded through school year
0812425 so it's going to be a reoccurring yearly we that that's what we're we that's what we are requesting 1.7 occurring every year yes for for about 170,000 students yes so if you don't get this then in theory a school could go off on their own and pay it out of wsf funds correct but we would not for the secl survey we would not have department-wide longitudinal data on um our students social emotional learning competencies okay so for for these programs though have you so so is there some type of um really good platform that you found that we we cannot do internal you know have some of our CTE students go figure out how to make a program and it's our own proprietary program I'm I'm sure they could um but um we don't
082have that yet but what the Panorama um SEO platform also does for us it gives us a dashboard where um teachers can have longitudinal data on their students academic Behavior attendance social emotional competencies it also has A playbook attached which is a resource that teachers can use if a child is showing that he or she needs support and one of these areas there are a series of lessons or interventions that the teacher can pull from and to date we have I have the numbers here sorry I have we we've had over 40,000 hits um or um entries from teachers accessing information um and it's a way that schools can log interventions track the success of the interventions and um give it gives us valuable not only information but also support and tools for teachers to
083use so so when you were using SRA funds this was deployed this was required of everyone or this was just a nice to have for everyone no this this is the seal um survey is required of everyone um the dashboard is a resource that um most of our teachers are using and the interventions have had have been viewed um or accessed 42,000 times so far this year so it is a tool that teachers are using um to help address the needs that are identified through the survey and through the dashboard okay all right thank you chair can I just add a comment you know I support all of these um enhanced ways to support our teachers and support our students but at some point you know we keep adding on and the cost keeps growing
084and so you know while I agree that we we want all of these tools at some point the pi is only so big so um you know we need to look at maybe old programs that maybe is not as efficient and how we can save because the reoccurring cost will kill us in in the long run and where we take the money out because you we want to make sure teachers are getting paid appropriately teacher housing all of that there's so much costs and so I I hope that you know we start off with things because we had federal funds and S funds and then we want to add it into the base reoccurring but um that's a huge huge expense and and then it gets higher and higher the cost becomes higher and higher
085so um that's something that I hope you FKS will consider and think about as we move forward right and and I I appreciate that and I agree with that um one thing that um there wasn't a lot of good that came out of covid but one thing that was is it really highlighted the importance of social emotional competencies and mental health and we didn't have the department didn't have things to fall back on and so now we have been able to build up a robust system of support reports and um we would like that to continue um social emotional learning competencies are just what make up a good learner so they will always be um necessary to focus said I support that but again you know there's only so much funds at some point and
086so the P you have to start to prioritize what it is we're going to be focusing in as we go forward because a lot of stuff end up in your base budget and then we don't know what the effectiveness are in some of these programs because it's not evaluated as far as we know um and so you keep adding and and you know the education budget keeps growing and yet we still get complaints about we're not paying our teachers enough and we don't have enough supplies in the classroom and so forth so um we have to start to look at these things and you know and I point to like the kindergarten assessments you know some of these costs can be um more efficient so I'll rest my case on that thank you thank you
087thank you um we're going to recess for reconvening the committee on education members have discussed the U bills at hand and the recommendation for Senate Bill 2072 is to pass with amendments the Amendments is to adopt the testimony of the Department of Attorney General with reference to avoiding any potential family educational rights and Privacy Act MERS so Senate Bill 2072 passed with amendments okay so recommendation is to amend Senate Bill 2072 um with set amendments chair votes I I Vice chair votes I Senator Hashimoto I I Senator Richards excuse Senator flla excuse to three members present your recommendations adopted thank you for Senate Bill 2069 relating to the Department of Education to appropriate funds for three full-time equivalent curriculum Specialists two positions and 10 full-time classroom teacher positions for KA papahana kapuni schools recommendation of
088the chair yeah pass was to pass as is and this [Music] is with a cost of about 1.4 million I think we talked about for 10 full-time equivalent classroom teacher positions and three full-time equivalent curriculum specialist two positions questions members recommendation is to pass as is okay recommendation is to pass Senate Bill 2069 unamended chair votes I Vice chair votes i simoto i two members excuse recommendations adopted thank you for Senate Bill 27 20 70 relating to Department of Education to exempt Career and Technical education goods and services purchases by the doe from the state procurement code repeals um we were going to amend this that would include three uh verbal or written quotes to procurement process for under 25,000 yeah so we can get language with the that language Outlet or would apply to
089all right so are we going to yeah apply it to the the the entities that are covered under the measure right so pass with that Amendment Senate bill of 2070 pass with an amendment to include three verbal or rtin FS for all no for all but using the under 25,000 process okay recommendation is to pass sb270 with amendments the chair votes I Vice chair votes I Senator Hashimoto I three members voting in favor measure is adopted thank you Senate Bill 2052 def recommendation is to defer Senate Bill 2071 recommendation was to pass pass as is did we have technical Amendments of this pass passes it yeah 2071 pass as is okay recommendation to pass Senate Bill 2071 unamended chair v z Vice chair v z has your moto I was I two members excuse the
090recommendations adopted thank you members that concludes this hearing