001foreign and welcome to the Joint senate committee on labor and technology and of Education today is Monday February 13th 3 o'clock P.M we are in conference room 229 I'm Sharon Mori Walking Chair of the committee with me our committee Senator uh Keith agaron with me and the education committee chair senator kidani thank you and members Senator Kurt favela okay before proceeding with the Joint Committee hearing I'd like to make a few housekeeping announcements the hearing is being streamed live on YouTube you can find links to viewing options for all Senate meetings on live and On Demand video page at the legislature's website and the unlike the event that we encounter major technical difficulties and must end it abruptly the committee will reconvene on Wednesday February 15th at 3 o'clock P.M in this conference room 229
002and Via video conference that they're a temporary technical glitches during your turn to testify via Zoom we may move to the next person due to time constraints we appreciate your understanding know that the committee has all your written testimony I'll be reading a list of in uh well okay we will have closed captioning and if it doesn't accurately spell your name please uh we apologize if you're interested in viewing the written testimony please go to the legislature's website the time slot for this hearing is 90 minutes so we'd like to accommodate everyone but we ask that do you limit your testimony to one minute yeah so moving on to the first bill relating to us SB 718 relating to public employees it clarifies teachers and other Personnel in the state public charter schools our members
003of the state collective bargaining unit as their Department of Education counterparts and the person we have uh director Brenda Hashimoto of hrd thank you and support again you have comments on its concerns um hsta and support uh please good afternoon thank you chairman uh Senator kirani um my name is Andrea Eshelman I'm the deputy executive director at hstm here on behalf of osattui Jr who is our town is unable to testify today is asking your support for this amendment to HRS 89 in recent years contrary to statute the employer has questioned the status of public charter schools and their representation alternately the the AG's office as well as the herd office of collective bargaining have claimed that either Charter teachers don't fall under bargaining unit 5 and or the state has no authority to bargain
004for Charter School teachers these claims are despite the statutory Provisions in the HRS 8910.55 my testimony outlines the concerns and what those sections of the legislature that excuse me the statute address all of these uh claims or despite the fact that under 10.55 the state of Hawaii Bargains with us at the table for all bu5 employees and budget and finance provides salary calculations and other costs and appropriation bills thank you thank you okay anyone uh else to testify as well oh please come up hello kayaka chair Vice chairs and the Committees my name is Angela testifying on behalf of cares and um we are going to provide comments a charter school is a school um who receives Government funding but operates independently of the um public school system and um Charter School teachers have valuable
005information to share so um it is it should be of consideration for the legislature um to consider including Charter School teachers thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you anyone on Zoom to testify on this measure no one on the gym chair so I have a written testimony from hga with comments uh concerns that we're not include other bargain unit employees of a public charter school testimony from Joy bulosan oh [Music] conversion charter school and support Brian Starkey individual in support and we've got um let me see I think one John Fitzpatrick hope McKean Penny duvacho Tiffany Edwards Ryan link Donna Dom Shauna Arthur erinol all individuals in support is there anyone else um could I ask uh the hrd director ashimoto [Music] so you've you've heard uh from hsta that they don't believe
006they're being treated as uh having bargaining unit at five um uh representation of the public charter schools and that both the AG and hrd have not addressed them as bargaining at five members can you respond to that I don't know that that's the case um according to my staff the Labor Relations staff we do recognize that Charter School teachers are members of unit 5 and they have been involved in negotiations on on the hsta negotiating committee so I'm not sure if perhaps that was in years past but I think there's an acknowledgment now especially in light of section 89 10.55 that Charter School teachers are members of hsta are you five um and and so you don't see a need for adding this into the law uh as as um charter schools in bargaining at
007five in statute I I do not because it's covered under chapter 89 10.55 and we don't make that distinction for any of the other bargain units um the charter schools have members in unit 3 and Unit 13 unit 2 unit 4 and we don't specify that they're included in any of those bargain units so we just feel like it's it's unnecessary that it it's already addressed in statute appropriately in in 89 10.55 you think you stick that stay there for a minute Andrea would you come up and um identify um what the problem seems to be or has it been in the past so I think if you look at our testimony the very last paragraph that I um added um from last week so the AG last week testified in the house that public
008charter schools do not the problem was that public charter schools do not have a vote in the creation of the master contracts and they weren't quote sitting at the bargaining table so part of the issue is that we're now being told in recent weeks well yes you're part of our Union at five of course yes we've given Appropriations but now the issue is that well we can't represent those Employers in the master contract 10.55 specifically established that for bargaining the master contract those six votes across the table the governor the superintendent the Board of Ed is who we bargain with D Hurt is there representing the governor anytime we bring up issues that could affect Charter Schools or that are pertinent to Charter Schools we're told no we don't represent those employers by D herd
009and the AG were expressly told they will not agree to stuff how to do with Charter Schools [Music] the agent's office is not present and then I'll just note last week the AG did mention that there was a recent arbitration that reinforced that they are our unit um and so that was what he spoke to last week um this is Journey from Recess to Senate Bill 1251 so thank you Senate Bill 1251 relating to substitute teachers beginning July 1 2023 it requires substitute teachers who work 90 days or more to be compensated equivalent to the daily rate for an entry-level teacher salary commensurates with their placement in class one two four three to testify superintendent form of Education please Aloha chair Milwaukee chair kidani Vice chair Lee and vice chair Kim and members of the
010Committees uh Sean bacon assistant superintendent for the office of talent management testifying on behalf of the Department of Education uh the department stands on its written testimony and opposition of this measure just to clarify this is not an Administration bill so I just want to thank you for the opportunity to testify and be here for any comments thank you is there anyone else I don't have any other decisions someone else here wishing to testify in this field members questions I want to share with us what the opposition is that the public knows I have the testimony here but they certainly don't know so sure not a problem so just to go back um there was a a lawsuit with the Department years ago about substitute teacher pay and actually in part of 302a 624 it
011does talk uh section B of it that the wage adjustments shall be comparable to the across the board uh wage adjustments for each teachers that are negotiated so when this became effect in the law of 2008 the department has been looking at class one two and three for the teacher levels and every time the hsta bargaining unit five members have gotten across the board increase the substitute teachers have got the comparable amount since that time okay and if the substitute teacher is um filling in for a teacher that's been absent for more than 90 days you focus iron and fat compensating them at so the substitute teacher that has been working longer than the 90 days they are still receiving the same class one class two or class three sub depending on their qualifications um
012if if a teacher is going to be out for quite some time that there is the ability for the school to actually hire them on a vicene basis until that teacher does return if it's going to be longer than that 90 days so there are options available if the substitute teacher is interested in that other option too that also comes with the French benefit also how often is that done how often as a substitute teacher teach for longer than 90 days and then opt for that um well it really depends on each teacher's situation if they're going to be out on some type of lead for approximately the whole year if they're a sabbatical leave of maternity you know if it dependence teacher situation um to determine whether or not that they may be eligible
013for that right but the question is how often how many times instead of you so you've told us you're data German so what's the date on I don't have that data in front of me and how often that that does occur I would be something that we I get to go back to our staff and see if we can get that for you Senator thank you thank you members for the questions senator for Villa yeah just just to continue on um most of the substitute teachers are retired so they don't want to do a long-term um contract over 1980 right yes that is pretty much the trend right there are yes some of our substitute teachers are retirees and if they were to go back and do a contract they would have to then um
014forfeit their retirement benefits well that's what Senator Kim wanted so you could give him at least that the majority of you guys substitute with teachers are retired and are looking into taking a new teacher that's there or taking somebody to go for more than 90 days and you guys won't be able to fill it with a substitute because most of them are retired um teachers so yeah and but the way that the current statute is also written too I mean the entry step is step five right now for the entry step for the teachers in class two or three so what we've done is since 2008 we've looked at the entry step class five and then every time there's been a three or five or whatever the percentage across the board increases we've done that
015for our substitute cheats usual so thank you so you feel that this measure is not necessary as close to folks are humongous uh correct thank you questions okay okay we can go right into decision making then um I um the first measure SB 718 we're going to defer until um Wednesday February 15th at 3 pm in this room 229 we will check in with the AG before then and we will make our decision at that time for Senate bill and for Senate Bill 1251 recommendation of the chairs to be fair to uh questions to a particular date and time oh I'm sorry I'm sorry indefinitely questions that's it okay an adjourned okay thank you foreign education today is Monday February 13th at 3 20 P.M this meeting including the audio and video of remote participants
016is being strong streamed live on YouTube you will find links to viewing options for alternate meetings on the live and on-demand video page of the legislature's website this Zoom meeting and YouTube live stream will include the three o'clock agenda for the 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 February 15 2023 at three o'clock P.M in room 229 any 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 one minute per testifier per bill for people participating remotely please remain muted and video disabled until survey before it is your turn
017to testify when I call your name unmute yourself and your time will begin after your minute is completed staff will meet you so that we can move this hearing along in an orderly and efficient manner that took five minutes of our time okay members let's start with uh Senate Bill 832 relating to education authorizes accountants to transfer land to the school facilities Authority exempt the school facilities Authority from taxes authorizes State and County agencies to render services to the school facilities Authority upon requests establishes a deadline for the transfer of properties to the Department of Education from the City and County of Honolulu required by act 272 session laws of Hawaii 2019. foreign testifiers because we have one to the Terry Jones I'm gonna work from the school facilities recess we're containing the committee on
018education three o'clock agenda and these um or measures that were heard previously and deferred for the decision making today first one is Senate Bill 832 which authorizes the counties to transfer land to this whole facilities Authority uh members the recommendation of the chair will be to pass this bill out with amendments adopting the testimony from the school facilities Authority allowing SFA to engage in commercial Enterprise activities for the purpose of Revenue generation also allowing SFA to contract to manage Leasing and management of housing projects for context this was the Attorney General's testimony from Senate Bill and also we have Technical and non-substantive amendments members questions no questions if not recommendation for Senate Bill 832 is to pass with those amendments chairman Senate Bill 832 with amendments um Senator Richards recognization foreign members next one is
019also for decision making from a previous hearing Senate Bill 1022 relating to the Early Learning board immense the composition and qualifications of the Early Learning board to consist of individuals from each County instead of from particular entities or types of providers establishes General qualifications for members of The Early Learning board appointed by the governor foreign [Music] foreign recommendation of the chair is to pass this measure as is and uh just for clarification members we had asked the Early Learning board to provide us um with any information and they did have a meeting remember they asked they did have a meeting but couldn't make a decision so we'll pass as is cheerful side I'm Senate Bill 1022 unamended any member president holding these reservations [Music] thank you members last item on the agenda is Senate Bill
0201023 relating to Early Learning appropriate monies for the preschool open doors program and executive office on early learning to expand access to preschool and to implement program changes required by previous acts expansive types of entities from which a preschool open door service provider May obtain accreditation authorizes the preschool open doors special fund to accept federal funds and appropriate monies members questions recommendation of the chair is to pass unamended any members voting in our position any members voting with reservations senior during the recommendations thank you recess thank you this is to convene the committee on education hearing of Monday February 14th 13th at 3 10 pm first on the agenda members is Senate Bill 692 relating to the Department of Education appropriate funds to the apartment to support wide-ranging activities for Student Success to testify superintendent
021fayashi please Aloha turkey Donnie Vice chair Kim and members of the committee Keith ayashi superintendent foreign on behalf of the Department of Education the department stands on it part of this measure the department is requesting that Appropriations in this bill be blanked out if this measure is moved to the next committee as the department is still working with the governor's office and the department of budget and finance as to the appropriate funding amounts thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you members questions thank you superintendent we also have written testimony from a Marion California I and a Susan Cola Davis in support anyone else here wishing to testify violence measure please come forward Aloha kayaka it's your Vice chair in the education committee Angela testifying in strong support on behalf of cares education is
022the gateway to opportunity Reverend Dr Martin Luther um Dr Martin Luther King Jr wrote on the purpose of Education the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically intelligence plus character that is the true goal of education education enables Hawaii's enables Hawaii's students to develop skills essential for Life learn social norms develop judgment and reasoning and discern right from wrong therefore the purpose of this act is to appropriate funds to the doe to support various initiatives for students and the initiatives will provide the students with academic social emotional behavioral and physical needs and it will help to support the doe thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you so Angela are you my support and support that's all the testifiers we have and have those questions yes I
023have a general question thank you I mean this is a statement as far as appropriate funds Department agencies to support wide-ranging Initiative for Student Success [Music] ful none of these have been um appropriated I mean none of these business programs uh thank you for the question Senator these are high leverage initiatives that we're looking to move forward with the Department uh Workforce Readiness is definitely a a large part of the Department's uh initiative to ensure that our students are prepared upon graduation ready for Workforce or ready for higher education into the workforce also K-12 alignment to ensure that Elementary Middle High School are in alignment as we prepare our students for Workforce readiness middle level education is also another initiative of nationally I believe middle schoolers have they've been challenges in the middle level uh
024in Hawaii we also want to ensure that our middle level educators are providing continuing to provide the kinds of regress instruction and really understanding the needs of middle level education students so these are some of the initiatives that we believe are high leverage uh including secondary mathematics is another area vulnerable populations and so forth so none of these programs have been okay um well if you look at for example vulnerable populations department has um identified areas such as El or English language Learners uh a native Hawaiian populations especially students as areas that we have focused on we do need additional supports especially as we move forward out of pandemic uh these these particular populations have demonstrated a need in supporting their in each of the respective areas okay I'm just concerned that we seem to
025embark on all of these different programs and current programs um you know I'm not sure how these things are occurring or just that we get these programs and then we get Consultants to do some of these programs and then it costs more and more funding so I'm just leery based on what happened with the assessments about consultants and all these conditional programs I mean it sounds good and it looks good but and in in actuality it and then current programs I mean I don't know I'm just wondering how do we divide without any of these programs now or if we're doing these programs now how are these all these kids who've been neglected all this time oh thank you for the question uh the department has for example as a share about vulnerable populations we
026have been addressing the best that we can for vulnerable populations and their needs uh the additional uh funding would allow us to continue that and expand the kinds of services that we need for students uh middle level education for example definitely is an area of need of the department though perhaps in past years may not have had a substantial focus on middle level education but we're definitely looking at the data we've identified that as a need for our students right especially in the middle level grades those are very challenging years for them for for our students they are not only not only academically but social emotionally uh it's a very trying time for them and we want to ensure that we have the supports in place necessarily to ensure that they're able to succeed okay
027because we're talking about a lot of money here right we're talking about 288 million dollars right I didn't add them up Senator I think yeah I think also though it's not part of the amendment we're going to make Mr Blanca okay but based on what they're trying to measure in you know 43 million school-based budgeting 26 million especially 14 million instructional support um 53 million school-based budgeting I'm not sure what that is I mean just the fact that we're talking about K-12 alignment to continue to deliver a cohesive kindergarten to grade 12 educational program I don't know if you haven't done it or to continue to do it Department of revision and we find alignment for K-12 curriculum instruction and assessment alignment curriculum will further facilitate the coordinated teaching and learning throughout students educational Journey
028and we're not doing that now or we need all this money to do that and then when we talk about assessment you know again that word assessment bothers me because I'm going to be doing more for this for this Hopkins assessments that we never intended to do what you folks are doing but thank you for the question Center at these are Johns Hopkins assessment was primarily for the uh kindergarten assessment yes it's troublesome and it's so Broad and you can see a lot of money and it leads me to think that we haven't been we've not been align them I'm delivering a cohesive kindergarten to grade 12 educational program the department has been working on alignment I said to Kim you definitely have well I think what we need to do though is as we
029look at um alighting the levels uh that's something that I think we can do more with elementary middle and high school um that those transition points are really critical for our students as they transition from elementary to Middle too high and then out to post-secondary career for these numbers and these programs so thank you thank you um superintendent for the kindergarten assessment is that something new to the department that we're going to be doing yes well we are going to training I believe right now for teachers so is that an assessment that has been used in other states Johns Hopkins assessment I believe it has children's and we are also trying to put that into the Hawaiian language so that parents can choose to do it in Hawaiian for their children in the Hawaiian yes
030I believe um we are looking to work together with our kayakuni schools uh to create an assessment that is unique to the needs of archiveling schools and working together with office of Hawaiian education as well as with a Hawaiian company Educators to ensure that our Hawaii us kindergarten Readiness assessment for kaipuni schools and students are both culturally relevant and addresses the needs of ofakai police students so the Hawaiian version is not necessarily the John Hopkins version no it is not Disney yes so can you tell us how many states did the John Hopkins um assessment or one similar ended up not doing it because it was just too difficult and they had a hard time and they ended up not being successful in it do you know how many well I'm sorry so thank you
031I don't have that information with you but I definitely can give that to you you've heard that no I haven't you uh no I've heard that we've uh that Johns Hopkins assessment has been used in other states I haven't heard of difficulty though but I can definitely check into that can you because I understand that they've had problems states have been abandoned it and went and did their own more simple type of assessment which is what we're looking for should be doing instead of this and that the states that was mentioned earlier um I think was like four states like the Midwestern states that really no no connection to what we're doing here in Hawaii so I'm very troubled by this and we're going to spend a million dollars and I understand that it's also
032a subscription that we've got to pay continuously over a period of years which never been told to me before I'll I'll get the information to you soon okay but since troubling that you don't have that information and we're we're going to invest a million dollars where that money can go to help help us that you're telling time that have been left behind or is is um vulnerable students I mean a million dollars can go a long way to help vulnerable students that we're using it to do an assessment and training these teachers and that business with track record that it's not it's not worked in many states but before we make that kind of investment I really thinking the deal here we raise this concern over the summer and you folks continue to fly on
033you know so um so I would travel in voting in favor of some of these monies you're asking I'm taking to clean up your filters that happens I'm sorry I'm not able to get to the uh but right now I'm not able to answer the kindergarten industry assessment question but I definitely will look into it and get that information to you thank you thank you um okay thank you thank you is there anyone else here wishing to testify on this measure okay moving on [Music] Senate Bill 260 relating to Career and Technical education requires the Department of Education to employ individuals as Vocational Technical or career pathway teachers authorizes the doe to instruct doe teachers to instruct vocation technical or career pathway classes about possessing an applicable practicable bachelor's degree to testify superintendent please Aloha
034charity Vice chair Cam and members of the committee Sean bacon assistant superintendent from the office of talent management testifying on behalf of the Department of Education the department stands on its written testimony and offers comments on this measure thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you Felicia villados interim executive director white teacher status board good afternoon Vice chairman and committee members my name is Felicia Villalobos I'm the executive director for the white teacher Standards Board and on behalf of the board we stand on our written testimony with comments and here to answer any questions you may have thank you thank you we also have written testimony and support from three individuals members questions enough questions thank you moving on foreign moving on Centerville 971 relating to student transportation appropriate funds to the doe to
035provide public participants with students with bus passes requires the doe to collect certain data on city bus pass uses for public high school and charter school students requires an annual report to the legislature to testify superintendent please good afternoon Cherokee Donnie first year Kim Laurel Randy Tanaka Department of Education the department stands on its written testimony in support of this measure thank you very much for the opportunity to testify here for questions hello assessment s Yvonne Lau interim executive director Hawaii state public charter school Commission Aloha chair cadani Vice chairman Kim and members of the committee on PJ Ford and our director in Ford Yvonne lau and we stand in the support of this honor written testimony and look forward to working with the doe and thank you for including the public charter schools thank
036you PG members let's see let's all the testimony we have we have written testimony from about eight people in support members of questions yes Senator I trust this is no but you are in support uh yes we are supportive so what kind of costs do you estimate currently we're running about three and a half to four million uh we're eclipsing 10 000 passes and this is a Statewide effort uh most of it is on Honolulu because the distribution of Boston uh throughout Honolulu is much more robust than the neighbor Islands but we do have Provence on each other yes Together part of it was to gather data on what kind of ridership and this is partly to address our driver shortage in some of the areas we wanted to shift the high schoolers to this
037program evaluate what kind of shift we got so we can move those drivers to the to the lower grades so does it still I mean you could hear it because I thought we're only giving passes bus passes this this year we started yes yes so do you this bill do we need this build here are you doing it uh what we need is the funding okay so you started doing it last year because of the less routes we had money and that's the money we use to fund this program okay and you give one to every student whether they tell you they're going to take the bus or not they have to apply for it they have to apply for it and so you're saying how many how many students we're just over 10 000
038is what my team said what we would like to try next year is adding 8th graders to the program so right now it's just 90 to 12. and we had two objectives obviously to shift off the high grade loads and to begin to get people used to to public the younger books to public transportation okay and so you just started so this data is going to be shortcut yes we we should have data at the end of the semester thank you questions Senator Richards thank you um in the bill it talks about may help develop Transportation on the big island what does that mean well we are working with the helion program um and the challenge we have is the routes I think that's the problem because we don't have enough bus service and the
039bus the bus is on the Big Island right now are no fair for the next I think two years at least and so because there's a concern for federal funding being impacted but so we're talking about development but what does that mean because we're on a new bus routes are we talking maybe share rides or what are we talking about we've done share rides we've done paid for uh mileage the next big step especially for those communities that don't have the frequency or the routes is adjusting the Bell schedules of the schools so we can align more with the pickup and drop-off times but that requires working with the hsta in the schools because it's a little more Advocate some of these families the older kids go home and watch the kids Athletics comes into
040play so we're we're trying to figure it out now it's a pretty intense mapping program and then we would fill the gaps with the routes that we have we've done an incentive for getting more drivers but it's a struggle to get drivers William CDL um not enough CDL Drivers Across the Nation correct that's a problem so and so I'm really curious about development because something come from helion we worked on that for a year and a half and they're doing all they can and I know that for a fact but the problem is it's a big island and we don't have the frequency of buses and that's what we're running to the issues the other thing we're looking at is 15 passenger vans yes that's what I was curious it doesn't require CDL license and
041it's requiring working a little bit more with the community on that so uh but we we're looking at acquired 15 passenger vans I assume you have to try a little pilot project someone can you get what you're working on right now okay I appreciate that thank you chair thank you Randy question um so right now the there are I think kamiki High School does have a different bell schedule do they still I think what it was to address one that issue with the we've got like two or three schools on an adjusted Bill schedule it seems so what does it take for the for the schools to get in with Justice Bill schedule it takes uh working with HST it's taking a look at what kind of ridership we're going to get because of just
042the scheduling of Athletics and all of that so how long is this process uh we've already started part of it um we have a what we call routers guys that watch the routes and the load capacities so probably at the end of the school year when we get this collection of data we'll have a much better understanding of what the ridership looks like so if you purchase these 15 passenger vans who are the drivers um in most in the past while we looked at mostly As the coaches the Athletics feds they were using the buses to move the sports teams around you know the smaller teams the volleyball stuff like that the challenge we're going to have is making sure the drivers are qualified their driver's abstract is clean uh and the willingness to do
043it um so that that's where our challenge is going to be who drives the bus or the van so would this come before after you purchased events oh it's runs parallel roads we're looking at them now and we're really working through the principles in the complex area superintendents and also my understanding is that the doe I guess this would be the degrees policy that we cannot mix ridership on the school buses so this the elementary kids can't be picked up on the same bus as the intermediate or high school kids correct correct so is this the same thing going to happen for the 15 passenger van um possibly I mean it's really the Gap right if you got high school kids and elementary school kids could be a little challenging for us not that they're
044going to challenge these kids but it's it's the an easier standard to maintain keeping them separate so that policy is really a deal in policy or is that another policy uh I've got to check with the the National Standard and then would be if it's a doe policy then have you looked at maybe allowing a mixture because I've had a question from maybe two parents saying that the school bus goes right past their house but they're not their child is not allowed to ride it because it's for high school kids only we I will tell you we have had mixed age groups where we have a monitor on that bus to kind of manage that the driver's job is to drive correct yeah not stop the stuff so we've had uh monitors on that but
045that requires some volunteer and some something I'm just getting people to help manager kids on the bus well we we have we have done it with a monitor of the bus yeah but so have we looked it into that further to see if there is a um if we could be getting more kids on the bus if we did that rather than purchasing bands that we may know how to drive this our first goal is to maximize the seat capacity on the bus and that requires uh we we had a challenge this year where like you said the bus goes by and there's nobody sitting on the bus but they have to make a reservation so we don't over capacity the bus and some of the kids some days don't ride right and sometimes you
046don't write for three or four days we went for an opinion if we could take them off the bus so somebody that really wants a seat can get on and we have a an opinion that we can't kick most of us yeah I guess that would be difficult to do and most parents or even the high school student will not be calling in to tell you they're not going to use the bus because they don't know probably until right before they meet rights of us so I understand but that is an issue yeah but we're we're working on it and thank you for your reminders that we should step it up a little harder thank you Brandon Senator just to follow up though but you know an empty boss I can see some don't show
047up and yeah you know three quarters full or but I've seen standing on the corner holding size I've seen empty buses so I mean I'm not sure that everyone on that bus decided not to catch the bus that day you know what I'm saying so there's some issues there that I don't know that so we're about to introduce what is called an RFID Card which really is an electronic device that really measures ridership of individuals whether you're taking the bus or not and that's going to give us more debt but then that product uh that program is is focused more on West of water right now we haven't launched it yet but we're pretty close um we're having a hard time reading bus drivers now are you expect to get drivers for these deaths because
048now you're going to need more drivers for less amount of seats right yeah they're going to be actually uh School staff members so we tried something remember a Enterprise had this program this van share program so we try to get Enterprise engage with them but they don't uh they didn't want to engage with that program so the parent would have the van they would take the kids to school we looked at a hub and spoke concept like Kamehameha schools brings it to the park everybody bring their kid there we jump them on and we drive them and then the parents could have the vents on the weekend or other times but for some reason Enterprise didn't want to do it so we're trying to replicate that concept but we can't use parents for State assets
049like we would we were purchasing so we're trying to talk to staff School staff members How We Roll that out we're not there yet but the problem we have is getting the Vans right now it's backlogged for like 12 months [Music] yes absolutely to do that yeah because then there's reliability right well I I hope so supposedly they have to get to school too yes and they get use of the bag um no no you can't know where to stay that's it it has to be part that's why we like the Enterprise program because they could use the events for the Enterprise didn't want to engage okay well I just hope this is not a program we're going to invest in these lands and then find out that it's not working and we're going to
050have in advance oh you know what I'm saying you tend to do that all the time so yeah this this one's a slow rollout right it's not for everybody some of the schools have requested and the the ones that that we will uh is a mostly is the rural communities that are far apart Honolulu we don't see a heavy use for that because we have the bus service that is pretty robust but the rural community is a tough one those are far away as of September 2022 how many vacancies on bus positions over a hundred positions and we continue to lose and the problem is we we lose a mid-school year and we that's when we're adjusting routes so you're not purposely leaving these these positions because according to the Democratic party caucus this year
051yet 150 of the 700 bus driver positions are not dated on September 22nd despite efforts to inclusivate and providing Improvement incentives no we don't we we want to hire these guys I mean because what we end up doing is we lose the driver we've got to shift the routes and that route goes blank we want we need these drivers we want these drivers but it's a challenge and you know it I think being out in the middle of the Pacific exacerbates that because on the mainland they can always drive across County Line and yeah service each other we're a statement system it makes it more difficult well I wanted to ask you um regarding the bus passes are we getting a discount from the city and we're paying for the price um I think you
052know the answer we're not getting a real deal just wanted everybody to hear it you know because Hawaii is different we're the only state in the whole Union where the county does not pay anything into the education system which is why it costs us about 25 of the state's budget to support hului schools so just asking the counties for a deal on bus passes it seems like such small like previous director of that department did ask um but can we get the governor to ask or somebody else we will certainly do that can we take a bill everything's phone and then tax money we're all in need of cash so thank you very much thank you okay moving on to Senate Bill 531 relating to education authorizes the school facilities authority to appoint an executive
053director and evaluate their performance annually to justify and hariuchi good afternoon chair kirani Vice chair Kim and members of the committee Deputy Attorney General Andrew has set forth in our testimony um the reference to the authority having the duty to appoint the executive director of the SFA might be confusing because it's a reference to an entity so to address that we're suggesting that in the amendment to section 302a-1702 B the word board be inserted so that it's clear that the SFA board is the one to appoint the executive director also the amendment to 302a-1702b regarding the annual evaluation we don't think that that amendment is necessary because the annual evaluation for the executive director that responsibility is already um um is already the duty of the SFA board in 1704 C2 so it's not needed
054in in 1702 B thank you as members questions thank you thank you I have no other testifiers um they're just going to start another confrontation because we're you know we're not into that thank you I'm going to ask for resignation okay questions yeah questions answer on this um the school facilities that would be agency school facilities agency here I guess they don't care what we do with the building But but so nobody can speak about school facilities okay are they even up and running yes and Scott Fuji I guess I can we completely ask for um an accounting of how much funds are CRP funds are encumbent because it's up to them to send it right 200 million is my recollection from last year it has been a comfort and what are the projects and
055are they going to be able to some of the projects and how long they've been there because my understanding is that projects there for years and then now we have a new set of CIP that's going to last in 2024 are we going to be able to even and oh yeah we could get some answers to them um thank you Senator we'll make a list of the questions okay foreign [Music] agenda Senate Bill 1443 relating to asthma authorizes a Department of Education oh that's why I don't have sorry [Music] um okay recess reconvening the committee on education we are in decision making for our 3 10 pm agenda and the recommendation of the chair for Senate Bill 692 will be this is relating to the Department of Education to support wide-ranging initiatives for Student Success
056recommendation is to pass with amendments adopting testimony from doe to blank out the Appropriations as listed on pages 2 and 3 and also some technical and non-substantive amendments members questions pests with amendments chair Bull's Eye share about Zion Senate Bill 692 senator [Music] Senator Richards aye Senator Favela all right can you Vice chair we'll vote no because I want to make a point to dnu that they really gotta clean this up and look at this assessments and uh you know we're interested throwing in more money than we still have issues um your measure is adopted and enchant thank you for Senate Bill 260 relating to Career and Technical education recommendation of the chair is to pass as is cheerful side one two Senate Bill 260 pass unamended with the four members present anyone voting an
057opposition and we're going with reservations you're not the numbers who are measures thank you recommendation for Senate Bill 971 is to pass with amendments which are Technical and non-substantial this is relating to the student transportation um bill Senate Bill 971 pest with amendments chair bull side Senate Bill 971 with amendments any no votes any reservations here in non-4 members president voting Iowa Community thank you for Senate Bill 531 sd1 relating to education and school facilities Authority the recommendation of the chair is going to pass with amendments thrown up by the Attorney General so Senate Bill 531 sv1 pass with amendments I mean remember president voting no only members for supporting reservations here in non-four members president member provisions thank you that concludes this agenda good afternoon convening The Joint hearing of the committee on education
058and committee on Health and Human Services for our 345 PM agenda although it is now 4 15. to to hear when we were students to hear Senate Bill 1443 relating to asthma this authorizes the Department of Education to stop Bronco Bronco delayers for emergency use during respiratory distress and authorizes Department employees to volunteer to administer bra few leaders can see thank you to testify superintendent please um Vice chair Kim and vice chair Aquino I'm Annie Kalama office of student Support Services assistant superintendent um testifying on behalf of superintendent Department of Education so we stand on our written testimony offering comments and noting that we've um suggested some amendments that are written in the testimony so thank you for the opportunity to testify and we're here if you have questions for us thank you next is
059Pedro Haro executive director of American Alum Association Hawaii chairs Vice chairs and committee members I'm Pedro horror executive director of the American Lung Association employee thank you so much for hearing today's bill as you know I I don't have to stress to anybody about the importance of asthma for for the children of Hawaii uh unfortunately native Hawaiians and Filipino children have a higher propensity for asthma as we are looking at blog in particular Hawaii County has been facing uh disproportionate amount of asthma cases as well so we really thank you we send in our written testimony and are available for questions that's fine thank you next to testify is Evan Louis hello chairs Vice chairs remember the committee my name is Evan away I'm testifying on behalf of the Hawaii Association for justice we completely
060understand um you know the intent of this measure and the need for this measure however we did want to know in our comments our concerns with the community Provisions provided in this measure um you know as it stands in the sort of you know render complete complete immunity for civil liability from the administration of this medication so you know when the applicable standard of care is actually uh you know when when you're rendering Aid in an emergency situation it's a good Samaritan law it's applicable and so there's already um you know liability immunity in there if it's uh the acts as long as the acts don't constitute gross negligence or wants an act or a mission so um you know we just do have our concerns and would respectfully recommend that the immunity Provisions be
061removed and um you know thank you for your your time and available for any questions thank you next to testify and Marie Uchi Deputy Attorney General's office good afternoon cheers kidani and San Buenaventura Vice chairs and members and harichi from the Department of the Attorney General has set forth in our testimony we suggested some clarifying amendments with regard to certain terms that are being used in the bill as it stands trying to replace certain terms with terms that are already defined in statute and also our third recommendation was to make an amendment to the with regard to the training requirements that are set forth in the Bill thank you for the opportunity to testify and I'm available for questions thank you we also have a Bove 10 testimonies and support one offering comments is there
062anyone else here wishing to testify in this measure if not members questions of testifiers yeah I guess the hallway Associated Justice hey Senator yeah I think this is upon a volunteer thesis people with something in an emergency yeah so because it's an emergency situation this would apply in that instance so that you know all actions would you know there's a higher standard in which it allows for a little bit more room for you know um uh you know gross negligence or wants an Acts or remission or attention acts you know those are the higher standards um you know emergency responders but in the under the Good Samaritan law would it be you know subject to the negligence standards yeah so the reason why I bring this up is because um you know the reason why
063I really like this build is because in our community on the west side we have landfills and we have the highest levels of respiratory disease on the west side having something like this available is is to me would be a plus well for the rural areas especially some place where we get a lot of landfills and all the dumps and all the power plants um so okay I just was wondering if if that would apply thank you thank you chair thank you members for the questions Jeff horses okay I have some questions superintendent [Music] your comments are about you guys already provide the services so this is provided through the health room Paris where good afternoon chairs committee members my name is Jennifer I'm with the school health section and the Department of Education and
064thank you for asking about our current system to support students with asthma so there is a process for the family to request that a medication be stored in this with an administration of the medication um the current law allows for the school health assistant under the supervision of the Doh public health nurse to be able to assist with the administration of that medication is there um uh life of the medicine that you receive or is that good for a number of years or what thanks for asking that question it's an annual process to renew a medication request at school so um at the end of every school year the medications are supposed to be provided back to the family and then that's supposed to help ensure that they are not expired and that they're still
065aligned with the doctor's orders so you guys check the life of the medication when you receive it that it's still good correct um how often have has a deal we had to uh use medication for children I'm not sure the amount of times that they've had to administer it but I can tell you that we have 462 students in our Public School System who are enrolled that have an emergency action plan for asthma that really seems like a low amount of students to me I mean I have children and grandchildren that also are asthmatics or you know and I know of many others so that in the total doe 462 that have asked you guys to to hold medication or to to well those are students their children meds should they eat it and that
066those are so remember that the Department of Health public health nurse is involved in reviewing the application for the request and approving it and the Department of Health Public Health nursing Branch was able to provide us that data that 462 students have an emergency action plan for for asthma and I think that um we share your concern that not all students who have asthma have been diagnosed yeah that's my problem my issue um I so then I guess um it's only for the help nurse to give the medication or anyone on campus can give this medication um currently the process for an emergency rescue medication is that the the school health assistant is the person who is designated to assist however Others May volunteer so that the statute says that under a life-threatening condition certain
067individuals are able to assist and so in those scenarios so for example when students go on field trips off campus that's when there's a process to request the public health nurse or another Healthcare professional to train individuals on the proper process to administer rescue medication and then the individual is able to carry it with them when maybe the student goes off campus and if the health nurse or else health aide is unavailable um and something happens on the playground then who who's kuleana is in it's everybody's responsibility to call 9-1-1 in case of an emergency and a life-threatening situation on campus but you have the meds in hand right so the process would be to go to the health room and some of our schools do have Hawaii Kiki nurses and so they would actually
068be more qualified even than a shot to assist in a medical emergency if um in that situation there's nobody who's been trained to administer the medication they would need to rely on EMS thank you um I think I need the AG for the next question oh go ahead sorry so this this meditation is it um prescribed is it a prescription um thank you for the question um Vice chair that the medication um would be prescribed under a standing order per this um this bill so currently an individual it's required to have the prescription by their physician so it's customized to their health condition this would allow for a broader group of individuals to prescribe a medication to be stored at school okay because um it says a school May maintain a stock of Supply how
069do we know if you get some Supply that it can be used for different children with different situations um that was my concern as well and my understanding is that American loan has been working with a pharmacist to explore more related to that question my very general understanding I'm not a licensed Healthcare professional is that stock albuterol is generally considered safe that there is very low risk of um negative consequence from administering that to someone who is not experiencing asthma and in fact it's a common medication for anyone with medical respiratory distress even if it's not asthma okay I just you know I'm concerned again um one will be storing this this medication to that it might not be um right for a particular student and if it's administered and something goes wrong then with
070the school be held liable so I can see where my health plan is important families provide this um medication that is tailored to their child so there's no mistakes and no chances of of you know them getting something that it's not going to be good for them thank you okay Senator yeah so um the only reason why I like this meal not so much of the thing being stored having somebody on campus in case the prisoners my daughter carried herself even though she didn't look as um was recommended that she has it the reason why I like this is that if somebody's a volunteer and a kid does go into that we don't have time to get the marriage to come and do the asthma pump um my daughter will have him in the first
071personal account I try to assist my daughter I'm not seeing it happen I'm just using my daughter as an example um you know to give the medicine um not so much having it at the help room because if you're not a rural area of schools most of the kids carry them just like the EpiPen they carry them with them but they need somebody to be voluntarily trained in case the person is incapacitated and cannot do by administering themselves because they got one total asthma attack and it kind of because we can't wait for 9-1-1 by the time they come they'll be out cold and I really in very serious conditions so I'm just saying that um besides the point about stocking and storing them uh maybe that's not a good wording but to have somebody
072learn um because we have a lot of kids on campus a team would be something different thank you chair thank you sure thank you um I agree with what uh Senator Fulton is talking about and if I'm understanding this correctly you you have the prescriptions from all the the kids that have this and so all you're all we're doing here is letting a volunteer help get the medication in that's already been prescribed so it's just a an almost a convenience but it's a time sensitive thing that we can get done is that correct um thank you for the question Senator I I believe that the intent of this law is to go beyond that so that in addition to having an individual be able to access their own prescription that there would be a a
073supply on hand for anyone who has respiratory distress in case of emergency to have access to it so it's a little bit different okay um using this stuff because I use it in animals as well um yeah I agree it's relatively safe and so I think the having the ability to do this because you talk about Big Island having that's where I'm from we have the volcano and I'm sure that's implicated in a lot of stuff so I'm I'm comfortable with this thanks chair for you thank you senator thank you thank you so it says that it authorizes the school it doesn't require the school to maintain a stock supply and based upon your testimony that basically the children who need this medication already have it in them with them or I guess have the
074nurse provide do we really need any appropriation amount because you guys are doing this already anyway um thank you for the question sure the um the appropriation would facilitate the purchasing of the additional medication so not just the individuals who have it prescribed they bring their own to school but this would be so that the school would purchase medication and then also to provide additional training and development of resources associated with the rollout so um again it would be voluntary it would probably be a pilot for a school who for example knows that their Community has a high prevalence of asthma so that if they wanted to have a stock medication they could do so okay thank you I'm sorry do you have do you have an estimate as to how much it would cost
075yes in our testimony I believe that we submitted an estimate was it 176 000. 100 so it just covers a cost of purchasing and then also training and then um storage as well okay thank you you said that would that would cover the cost of purchasing for an annual stock yes and training personnel whoever volunteered and were participating in this yes okay thank you EG please are you able to to buy or to stop now without the spell no we are sorry um and response your question Vice China we are unable to stop this medication at school currently because we don't have the ability to have standing orders for it and we don't have a protocol to administer um medications such as this to individuals without a prescription thank you thank you and from as
076you read this bill does it limit this only to students so if the principal if a visitor in the office goes down with breathing issues the school can bring out their Bronco by later and well it looks like as I see on page three line six or excuse me seven um it would be volunteering to administer to any student or individual so it does look like it could be applied to so um yeah yeah people delivering grew to the cafeteria [Music] you have a school meeting that's not your meeting but you're going out to cafeteria to somebody um so I I have an issue with this just obviously but uh you have any further comments never ask you other questions any questions from this side questions yeah and I guess superintendent what I'm asking from
077you are you comfortable with this bill because it's any visitor that comes onto your campus and it doesn't specify where they're there during school hours or anything this would be anyone thank you so I'm assuming that your security guard at night would have to have access to this and people come onto the campus thank you chair for the question I do have concerns with disability thank you members any questions uh Miss recess reconvening the joint committees on education and Health and Human Services relating to Senate Bill 1443 recommendation of the chair is to defer chairs to defer indefinitely thank you