001good afternoon thank you for joining us this is the committee on education monday february 8th 3 o'clock committee meeting in conference room 229. with us in the room we have senator drew kanuha vice chair senator donna marcotte kim online i believe we have senator favela this meeting including the audio and video of remote participants is being streamed live on youtube you will find links to viewing options for all senate meetings on the live and on demand video page of the legislature's website this zoom meeting and youtube live stream event will include the three o'clock pm agenda for the committee on education in the unlikely event that we have to abruptly end this hearing due to major technical difficulties the committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business at wednesday february 10 at 3 pm and
002a 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 the people participating remotely all testifier audio will be muted and video disabled until shortly before it is your turn to testify when i call your name staff will unmute you and your time will begin after your minute is completed staff will mute you so that we can move this hearing along in an orderly and efficient manner thank you starting with our first agenda item senate bill 813 relating to charter schools requires authorizers to provide each charter school it oversees a list of approved independent auditors testify ivan lao interim executive director state public charter school
003commission yvonne thank you chair kidani vice chair kim members of the committee thank you so much for allowing us to speak in strong support of this bill simply put in addition to our written testimony we're asking that we be allowed to add additional uh qualified auditors to this list we have needs for additional auditors for neighbor island schools and we want to make sure that we're able to provide them with the qualified auditors instead of limiting it to just three so we thank you for that um for that proposed change i'm happy to take any questions thank you members are there any questions if not uh there is no one else to give oral testimony although we have written testimony that you may review at a later time moving on to item number two senate
004bill relating to charter schools clarifies the process for applicants to submit a letter of intent to apply to open and operate a charter school provides for penalties for authorizers who fail to timely comply with board decisions and we have oral testimony again from yvonne lau exec interim executive director hawaii state public charter school thank you chair kim vice chair i'm sorry chair kidani vice chair kim and members of the committee thank you so much for allowing us to provide comments on this bill we understand that there were a number of issues that we encountered this session this last year and we are proposing that we amend the statute to eliminate the requirement for the intent to apply and to simplify the process so that all that are interested and want to apply for a charter
005school can do so and that the commission can review their applications secondly the additions or the changes to the statute in section two i would simply say that there are existing mechanisms with the board of education that can address the issues with any authorizer or a charter school commission to exercise their oversight authority and uh additionally this the second part of that section also appears to have a process already in place that we stated in our written testimony so we're happy to work with the committee and other interested thank you yvonne also to provide oral testimony is murat arabaki marat please aloha thank you chair kidani vice chair kim and members of the committee i'll speak in favor of this bill i represent a charter school applicant group kulia academy we are proposing to open
006a school in kalihi area we very much support this bill i think it is very helpful i submitted a written testimony i also would like to add if the if you would consider adding like uh if we can ask some clarifying questions to the authorizer that would be really helpful certain things are subject to interpretation and a lot of times we can like i mean we might not know the expectation or the interpretation of the authorizer so it would be helpful thank you so much again thank you members questions if not that is concludes the oral testimony we do have written testimony as well with no questions members moving on to item three also relating to charter schools requires that a minimum of two of the three auditors selected by the authorizer for the state's
007public charter schools have offices on the neighbor islands to testify ivan lao interim executive director yvonne please thank you chair kidani vice chair kim members of the committee again we thank you for the opportunity to provide comments we believe that senate bill 813 would actually address this concern it has always been the commission's intent to increase the number of auditors that can service all 37 of our schools understanding that we have a number of our schools on our neighbor islands we welcome any additional neighbor island auditors that are qualified to do that and we would love to be able to add them to our list of auditors thank you thank you yvonne members any questions no questions we have no further oral testimony moving on to item number four senate bill 806 i'm sorry 808
008relating to the school facilities agency describes the powers and responsibilities of the school facilities agency by amending acts 72 session laws of hawaii 2020 transfers the total fund balance in the state educational improvement fund to the school facilities special fund by a certain date to testify randall tanaka assistant superintendent department of education randy please hello senator kedani mr kim thank you very much for your time and committee members we stand by our testimony presented and thank you for always keeping in mind the the youth and the keiki of hawaii any questions i'll be willing to answer mahalo randy members any questions of assistant superintendent tanaka hearing on we're moving on to the next testifier bonnie kahukui acting administrator for state procurement office good afternoon chair vice chair member of the committee the state procurement office
009stands on his written testimony providing comments thank you bonnie members questions if not that's all the testimony we have for this measure we do have written testimony for your review moving on to the next item senate bill 136 relating to the school facilities agency requires a department of education school facilities agency to adopt and publish administrative rules necessary to implement acts 72 session laws of hawaii 2020 by july 1 requires the office of the governor to provide a report to the legislature regarding the process by which the department of education purchases land and executes capital improvement project contracts through the school facilities agency there was no testimony submitted on this item members questions comments if not moving on to the next item senate bill 863 relating to school improvements requires the department of education to
010conduct an electrical assessment on all public and charter schools in the state to determine whether its electrical capacity will allow for the installation of air conditioning units and other air purifying devices and note the level of need in each classroom requires the department of education to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the legislature no later than december 31st to testify randy tanaka assistant superintendent department of education randy please hello senator cherokee donning vice chair kim members of the committee we have submitted testimony thank you very much for your time and efforts once again for the interests of schools and our students so we stand by our testimony hello thank you senator kanu has questions thank you chair hello randy hello senator um just a quick question i know you mentioned that you
011know we could view details of the assessments through the department cip project tracking system um you know part of this bill also i mean it asks for report you know to me i mean that's that's kind of like it's real sometimes real difficult to go through the system to kind of pull out you know individual uh needs yeah so that's why i kind of asked you know an overall report about the entire uh doe system it just simplifies the the way we can look at it yes i i agree with your point um in in the private sector we would have an annual report that describes all the different things that we're doing uh success or where we are so we we're i've introduced that is part of our ongoing program for the system that
012we use called cpt which is really to track projects at the school level i've also had them customize reports that aggregates all the different work that we're doing so we can send that to you in a pdf form um or uh have that trained through one of your your staff so that's the adjustments i've made in the last uh five six months so the system is a little more friendly because if you've got to dig through it it it can get a little cumbersome so that's kind of where we are just a side comment on the electrical and system with within our schools we've got from 11 to 12 000 classrooms and to go through this process which we have already begun through an assessment program called high fit to uh to take a look
013at our energy efficiency so it's a it's a long journey but we have started that process thank you no thank you it's good it's good to know because you know going through this whole process it was kind of you know talking story with each individual school and their process of going through the electrical assessment of every you know the vice principals did it and then had to go through the principle and then it was just an arduous process to go through especially when you know at the time trying to get our schools with um the needed uh ac but now this also includes you know air purifying systems too you know whether the the classrooms are equipped to handle you know possible uh air purifying systems so that's that's something that would be good to
014know as well yeah fortunately the units the air purifiers we bought are are those that can plug into the room so it's not an extraordinary demand on the circuitry uh we've installed nearly 3 500 air purifiers not every class can't can get it because of the limitations of the funding we had but it allows for those critical classes that the air circulation is less than optimal so we've been we've had the schools determine what those rooms are and continue to to evaluate so those units have all been delivered to to the schools and operating thanks randy thanks chair thank you randy of the 3 500 air purifiers that were installed were these also installed in uh those those classrooms that you know within the last couple years were air conditioned were installed with air conditioners
015yes it's a kind of a double edge the the recent guidance from cdc and the department of health is to try to get air circulation as best we can in the rooms and those centralized air systems are a little challenging because it didn't have the kind of our ability to open windows so air purifiers went in there we increased and made sure we're cleaning the filters in all these systems as best we can open windows and create that ventilation we have to be cautious that we're not blowing uh or evacuating air across students but it's really an up and out system so where if if someone is sick we're not blowing that across the students so we've taken there's an organization called ashrae which is a heating and air conditioning association and they have provided
016guidance on how to best circulate air in the room and they have a model that gives us a calculation on how frequent we're circulating that air air purifiers were really designed to to be in those rooms that had less than perfect air circulation so they're all in operation thank you randy um thank you um one of the questions that i wanted to ask you was when we did uh install air conditioning in many of the classrooms a couple years ago was it also required that we seal the windows closed is that that is correct and and so in some of the the rooms there's this plexiglass over the louvers the jealousies jealousies are not exactly the best sealant to keep the cold air in the room so we place those plexiglass on it that is
017problematic for us because now we have to take them off and some of them were cut specifically to those windows and we've got to make sure that we retain those and mark them properly so if there comes a time we need to replace those plexiglasses on those windows where we're not searching for the right fit so that has been a little problematic as our schools are not in full occupancy the process for those rooms that need it have been accomplished there's still i'm sure a few that we need to work on but you are correct the windows were sealed with a plexiglas covering thank you randy appreciate the information thank you okay i don't see any more testifiers so members if no further questions we will be moving to the next item senate bill 365
018relating to student informed consent allows public school students in grades k through 12 to decline participation in dissection by section and other procedures harmful to animals requires schools to make alternative educational projects available and the board of education to develop rules and give notice to all schools to testify terry ushijima assistant superintendent i believe terry's video is not working so she will be just giving testimony without us seeing her on video terry please good afternoon chair kidani vice chair makaro kim and members of the committee i apologize for not having my video available today i'm teri usuji my interim assistant superintendent with the department of education testifying on behalf of superintendent christina kishimoto we stand on our written testimony and offer a comment on ford policy 101-13 controversial issues and the hawaii department of education
019controversial issues web page describes an existing opt up process for lessons or activities that may be considered controversial the department respectfully submits that given the board policies and department regulations currently in play place the measure is not needed at this time thank you for the opportunity to testify and i am available to answer any questions thank you terry members any questions no questions thank you terry next item on the agenda senate bill 843 relating to career and technical education authorizes the department of education teachers to instruct vocation technical or career pathway classes without possessing an applicable bachelor's degree expands the sources of monies that may be deposited into the private trade vocational and technical school special fund and the purposes for which the fund may be used appropriates monies to testify terry ushijima assistant superintendent
020department of education terry please thank you chair kidani um again i'm testifying on behalf of superintendent kishimoto for the department of education uh we stand on our written testimony and offer comment on senate bill 0843 the hawaii teacher standards board currently issues a standard limited license and cte for potential teachers with industry experience and no bachelor's degree the department appreciates the proposed amendment to hawaii revised statute 302 a-425.5 which would rename the special fund to allow the department to use this fund to maintain its existing cte programs expand its program offerings and promote dual credit cte courses the department is concerned that hb 1299 proposes to eliminate this special fund thank you for the opportunity to testify and i am available to answer questions thank you members any questions if not lynn hammond's executive director
021testifying for hawaii teachers standards board then please thank you chair kidani vice chair mercado kim and members of the committee i'm lynn hammons executive director of the hawaii teacher standards board offering comments on this bill as the doe commented htsp does currently offer a cte permit plus four categories of licenses in the cte fields one of which does not require a bachelor's degree so i would be happy to answer any questions you have about these licenses or the permit the only other thing i would recommend is on page four of the bill lines 13-16 16 allowed the department to issue certificates in this field and i would offer the recommendation that this could be confusing to teachers in the field if the department is also issuing a certificate to teach so we would ask that
022maybe that portion be removed thank you thank you lynn members questions if not that's all the testimony oral testimony we have on this particular bill moving on our final bill senate bill 1004 relating to education beginning with the 2021-2020 school year requires the department of education to include the teaching of financial literacy in the personal transition plan requirement for each student to testify terry ushijima assistant superintendent terry please thank you cherokee and good afternoon to vice chairman khada and members of the committee also at testifying on behalf of the department of education on behalf of superintendent kishimoto we stand on our written testimony and offer comment on senate bill 1004 the department would like to highlight that there are very personal transition plans or ptp models across the high schools and each high school has
023the flexibility to design its ptp curriculum within the department's guidelines and there are various options to deliver financial literacy that schools can select from given the various options to include financial literacy in the school curriculum the department feels this bill is not needed at this time thank you for this opportunity to testify and i am available for questions thank you members questions if not next to testify stephanie sakamoto testifying for hawaii credit union leader stephanie oh sorry aloha senator stephanie sakamoto on behalf of the hawaii credit union league we're in strong support of financial literacy for students and we'll stand on our written testimonials apart thank you thank you members any questions uh stephanie i have a question does the credit union league have any kind of uh financial literacy program for students yes we
024do um through several credit unions there are some programs there's one called kid life smarts that's currently offered through a high school program i believe and the credit unions also assist in starting student-run credit unions in several high schools that that has a financial literacy component as well and so so this program is needs an instructor to do the program or is this on video or how is that this provided um i think it's the life smarts one and the student-run credit unions i believe they're considered extracurricular so i'm not completely sure who does the teaching i know that credit unions have professionals that facilitate it but i'm not sure how they work directly with the doe i would have to check thank you i'd appreciate that information stephanie okay i can get that thank
025you members any questions any further questions if not thank you stephanie thank you concludes our agenda and we will recess for decision making one okay comedian education is coming back let's see we are we have deliberated on the agenda items and the recommendation of the chair is to pass senate bill eight one three as is members questions if not chair multi chair mode sign senate bill 813 um i [Music] thank you five eyes recommendations adopted senate bill 814 relating to charter schools recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments taking the amendments offered by the charter commission in their testimony which removes the letter of intent process and also there are technical and non-substantive amendments members questions if not share votes voting no any member voting with reservation if not all five members present
026for the ia recommendations senate bill 864 relating to charter schools requires a minimum of two to three auditors selected by authorizer for the state's public charter schools have offices on the neighbor islands recommendation of the chair is to pass as is members questions if not chair votes eye senator 864 any member voting no any members voting with reservations hearing none five members senate bill 808 relating to the school's facilities agencies describes the powers and responsibilities of the school's facilities agencies recommendation of the chair will be to pass with amendments amendments are to include the transfer of all rules policies deeds contracts agreements as found in the lrb drafting manual parts 13 and 14 related to school impact fees insert a blank appropriation into the school's facilities special fund insert the power for the sfa to
027appoint or retain by contract one or more attorneys independent of the attorney general to provide legal services solely in cases of negotiations in which the attorney general lacks sufficient expertise provided that the independent attorney shall consult and work in conjunction with the designated deputy attorney general assigned four to insert the power for the sfa to use the department of human resources development to recruit hire and retain exempt employees architects engineers existing civil service positions and other technical positions for the development planning and construction related to capital improvement projects and also there are some technical and non-substantive amendments members questions if not chair boats eye and senator 808 can you remember voting now remember voting with reservations hearing 95 numbers 45 recommendations senate bill 136 relating to the school facilities agency to adopt administ and publish
028administrative rules recommendation of the chair is to pass as is members questions if not chair votes i share what's on senator 136. any members voting no many members voting reservations hearing none five members voting i recommend thank you senate bill 863 relating to school improvements requires the department of education to conduct an electrical assessment on all public and charter schools in the state recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments to clarify that for charter commission only conversion schools will be required to complete the electrical assessment members questions if not chair votes eye share on senator 863 any member voting remember voting with reservations hearing none five members of the doctor senate bill 365 relating to student informed consent allows public school students in grades kindergarten through 12 to decline participation in dissection or
029bisection and other procedures harmful to animals recommendation of the chair is to pass as is members questions if not chair votes i sure will sign senate bill 365 any member voting with reservations anymore voting no hearing not five members was that an objection senate bill 843 relating to career and technical education the recommendation of the chair is deferred decision making to friday february 12 at 05 pm in this room 229 chair will meet with the introducer of the bill to discuss some of the issues senate bill 1004 relating to education beginning with the 2021-2022 school year requires department of education to include the teaching of financial literacy literacy in the personal transition plan requirement for each student recommendation of the chair is to pass as is members questions chair boats eye trouble senate bill 1004
030any member voting reservations any number of voting no hearing none i'll find numbers voting fire recommendations are thank you that concludes the meeting of the committee on education meeting adjourned you