001Aloha. Thank you for joining us for our first education committee hearing of 2021. I am Senator Michelle Kedani, chair of the education committee. I'd like to introduce the members of the education committee. First, our vice chair, Senator Donna Marcado Kim, who is joining us virtually. We also have Senator Donovan Dela Cruz and Senator Favlla joining us virtually also, and Senator Drew Kenuha, who is here physically with us. I'd like to take this time to remind our testifiers that due to time limitations on our virtual hearings, we will be limiting testimony to one minute per testifier per bill. 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. I
002will also not be reading every testifier who has submitted written testimony. A record of all written testimony submitted can be found online for those who are interested in reviewing all of the written testimony. And with that, we will begin this hearing with our first bill, Senate Bill 47. Today is Monday, February 1st, 2021, 3:00 p.m. We are in conference room 229. Our first bill, Senate Bill 247, relating to public libraries, establishes a p pilot program to generate revenue through the lease of public library lands to meet the mission of the public libraries. Establishes the library facilities fund. requires the state librarian and board of education to report to the legislature. Our first testifier is Stacy Aldrich, executive director for the state public library system. Stacy, thank you. Chair Kadani and members of the committee. Um
003the Hawaii Stacy Aldridge State Librarian um the Hawaii State Public Library system supports the intent of SB 247 and stands by our written testimony and are happy to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you, Stacy. Recess. Calling the committee back to order. For those uh senators, if you're online, can you mute yourself until you're called, please. Um, so I'm going to open it up for questions right now. Senators, are there any questions on for Stacy Aldridge on this Senate Bill 247? Senator Kim or Senator Favlla, any questions? Uh, Stacy, I do have a question. Um currently what is the uh CIP budget for the libraries the request or for this current year? for this current year. It was 10 million in the first year and five five million in the bianium in the
004supplemental year. Thank you. So um if we are not able to uh include that uh requested amount would you still be able to do this project? um it would be difficult for us to do. Um I I think that the challenge for us is not only the funding but um the level of expertise um we will have to work with DAGs who does our contracting and we'll have to rely on them for their expertise on on producing scope of work and um moving forward. So, was there any discussion at all with DAGs regarding this um bill? Uh yes, we um we review all of in the beginning of the budget year, we do review all of our projects and we um we have to go through the process with DAGs for hiring consultants and we
005had 20 projects on top of this project. So we were beginning the discussions of um looking for consultants and continuing the challenge of course for us was the pandemic uh which changed our budget priorities. Okay. Um thank you Stacy. Thank you. No further questions. Moving on to our next testifier, Amy Brinker. Hi chair. Um Amy is not on the Zoom call. Oh, thank you. She is in support. I don't have any other testifiers signed up for this. Moving on, Senate Bill 144 relating to a school supply subsidy pilot program. This would establish and make an appropriation for a one-year school supply subsidy subsidy pilot program at Naleu Elementary School. To testify is Dr. Kishimoto, superintendent, Department of Education. Hi, Chair. Um, she's not on the Zoom call either. country school to testify is superintendent department
006of education. Okay. It seems like we're getting feedback, so you're confusing us. Department of Education. Okay, [Music] members, you have a written um testimony from Dr. Kishimoto since she was to have been on the call, but I apparently is not. Are there any questions, members? Otherwise, we are moving along to item number three. Senate Bill 220 relating to service learning requires the Department of Education to implement a service learning curriculum to develop student character, values, self-esteem. We are moving civic responsibility and knowledge of local community issues and concerns through community service volunteer work. Signed up to testify is Dr. Christina Kishimoto, superintendent, Department of Education. Hi, chair. She's not on the Zoom call. Thank you. Excuse me. Hello. Yes. I'm sorry to interrupt. Um I'm here to testify on behalf of Dr. Kishimoto. Um can
007you state your name, please? Yes, this is I'm Terry Ushiima, the interim assistant superintendent for the office of curriculum and instructional design. and the department stands on our written testimony and is available to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you, Terry. Members, are there any questions for the department on Senate Bill 220 relating to service learning? Terry, I have a question. Um, I'm not sure. Um, I actually have not read the testimony as I expected to hear it. Um, so is the department in support of this Senate bill? I we're providing comments on this bill. We currently have um ACCNS and opportunities for our students to participate in service learning. Does your does your uh ACCN curriculum include what was mentioned in this bill? Um it includes um it's elective high school course on community
008service. So um may I ask my um specialist if um is Rosanna Fukura who's here with me? Yes. Uh this is Rosanna Fakuda. I'm with the Department of Education, Office of Curriculum and Instructional Design, Social Studies Program. So my question related to Senate Bill uh in response to superintendent's comments that the department has authorized courses and code numbers ACCN program. My question is does this program include the service learning curriculum that is within the bill? Okay. So the there first of all there are multiple courses um throughout the ACCN that incorporate um service learning specifically into their uh curricula. There is also a five credit um course that can be taken twice for graduation elective credit on community service. The the community service um really provides um opportunities for students to develop responsibilities. Um it
009encourages um partnerships. It encourages humanitarian attitudes. Um and this is both within um with their peers and with um adults and members of the community. What about um curriculum to develop student character, values, self-esteem, civic responsibility? It does. It allows for all of that. Absolutely. What about financial literacy? Financial literacy is a respectfully a very different question. Also have the calendar letting you know online version but there's like 67 days. This bill has does not mention financial literacy but there is an approved elective course in the department of education and how many you said it's a half credit. I'm sorry the course the curriculum is a half credit for elective high school. Yes, it's 0.5 credit, but it can be repeated. Um, so it can any student can earn up to one credit general elective
010credit um for their um in their high school career? Madam Chair, question. Senator C. Thank you very much for this is elective an elective course. How many students actually elected it? how many students actually um took the course. I will have to get back with you on that and check those numbers. Okay. Because according to this bill, it would be part of the curriculum and it would be a requirement for graduation. So your current program is elected so uh students don't have to take it. Correct. That is correct. It's uh in line with the school design uh of Dr. Kishimoto um to allow flexibility to for schools to design curricula that meet their individual needs, right? Uh but I think the um purpose of the bill is to say that these are life skills that
011should be learned and should be part of the curriculum and not necessarily be um up to each campus. Some students will be uh financially educated and others won't and and have self-esteem and others may not. So I think that um is an important part of their overall curriculum and I'm not the author of this bill but I would assume that that's what it is. Um literacy is not mentioned in this bill at all. It's going to be we may have to amend it to include it, Madam Chair. But I will let you know that the department now has a statewide um financial literacy course that schools across the state are um having students enrolled in. That's new this year. And is that elected as well? It is an elective course. Okay. And then again, I'd
012like to know how many pe how many students actually uh sign up for these electives. So, are you asking about financial literacy not in this bill or are you asking about service learning? I'm asking about both. Okay. Thank you members. Are there any further questions? Thank you. If not, moving on to item number three, I'm sorry, four. Senate Bill 242 relating to education requires public and charter schools to offer education in computer science, requires annual reports. Scheduled to testify, Dr. Christina Kishimoto, Superintendent, Department of Education. Hi, this is uh Terry Ushiima again. I'm here to testify on behalf of Dr. Kishimoto for the Hawaii Department of Education. And we stand by our written testimony and we're available for questions. Madam Chair, question. Point of point of information. Can the department start to at least give
013us an idea on your testimony? Because being on Zoom and if public is watching, they don't have they may not have your testimony. So, I think it'd be really helpful if you folks would at least give some general idea why you're why you in support or in opposition to a measure going forward. Is that all right, Madam Chair? That's fine. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Terry. would you like to respond? Sure. Um yes, thank you for the opportunity. Um so we're providing comments on this and um we have continued to work collaboratively on the computer science action plan that uh provides deliverables for the 15 complex area computer science support teams. So, we've um been doing work in this area and we have looked at um some of the language. We have a recommendation on
014page four. I'm sorry, it's not um it's in the testimony, page four, lines 12 to 14. And uh we're recommending some refinement to the language there on the definition of computer science. Um and related to uh the reporting system uh currently uh with our trile system of governance we're able to report the information required in this measure and it does not need to be uh uh gathered by the complex areas. Uh we're able to do that at the state office level. So um that's some information related to this bill. Thank you members. Further questions. Madam Chair, Senator Kim. Thank you. I appreciate you articulating that. Um the fact that the language you said before lines 12 to 14 is not in your testimony. How would we have known that or gotten that information if you
015didn't give it to us? Well, I I'm sorry. I I thought it was in the testimony um on the first page. Yeah, because I thought you just said it's not in your it's not in the written testimony. Oh, no. I'm sorry. What what I meant was um I I was apologizing since the public doesn't you know they can't see what's so thank you for asking for that clarification. Um yeah I was just um sensitive to that. Thank you. No thank you. It's just important that you know everybody has an understanding as to why the department uh supports not support or even have comments on how we can make it a better bill. So thank you. Thank you members. Further questions? If not, moving on to the next testifier. David Miauro, executive director, testifying for Hawaii
016Kids Can. David, aloha. Can you folks hear me? Yes. Fantastic. Aloha, Cher Kani, Vice Chair Kim, and members of the committee. Wishing good health to you all. First and foremost, the legislature and Governor Eay sent a strong message with the passage of Act 51 in 2018. Three years later, Hawaii has made tremendous progress offering computer science at the high school level. And yet, we know that early exposure is critical with closing the ethnic and gender gap in technology. That is why we need SB242 since it ensures our kei and elementary middle school will build a strong foundation to lead Hawaii into the future. Research shows that these early years are where children build a belief about what is possible in their lives. For a child who has never known someone who has worked in the
017STEM fields, early exposure will give her the confidence that she can s succeed and thrive as an innovator. That's why SB242's commitment to quality data matters as well. Data is fundamental for equity and transparency. Lastly, the special fund will enable major local and national technologies to put some skin in the game. Oh, there is already David. Are you complete? Oh, sorry. Sorry. Just uh thank you for the opportunity to testify. Just wrapped up. Thank you. Members, questions? If not, moving on. Katie Hendrickson, director government affairs, testifying for code.org. Aloha, Chair Kedani, Vice Chair K, members of the committee. Um, mahalo for the opportunity to testify. Um, I work at code.org. We're a national nonprofit and we work to ensure that every student has the opportunity to learn computer science in K12. Uh we've worked with
018our regional partner uh STEM Works and local facilitators in the state to provide professional development to over 1,000 elementary teachers, 55 middle school teachers, and over 20 high school teachers for AP computer science principles. We are incredibly excited to see this legislation um as it's really going to make a difference for those elementary and middle school students um providing them opportunities to learn computer science. Um, we're also excited to see the the fund open up uh for public private partnerships. We know that a lot of industry in the state is very eager to contribute and that funding is going to be essential for making sure that each school has uh the the funding and the resources needed to offer this to every student. Uh, mahalo again. Thank you, Katie. Members, are there any questions? Question.
019Senator Pia. Hi Katie. So Katie, not every student gets offered computer education currently. That's correct. Um, every high school is currently teaching it, but only a small percentage of high school students are taking it. Um, and we know that there is research that if students are exposed to computer science and STEM subjects in elementary and middle school, they're going to be more likely to identify with it and opt in to take it when they get to high school. Okay. So, as far as our computer our computer science curriculum at whatever level, um there's and there's no no point is it part of the general curriculum that exposes the students. It all is it always an elective? Um I I think that would probably depend on the school. In general, it is an elective in the
020state. There is state curriculum. Uh there's the K12 computer science standards. Um, but it is up to individual schools to decide which students have access to those opportunities. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Katie. I I just wanted to point out to you um I found it interesting in your testimony that you you mentioned that Hawaii has averaged over 1,400 open computing jobs each month over the past year. And uh I think that's a tribute to you know the importance of technology and with what we are living right now. Um we know that many of our students are far behind in reading and mathematics much of it is because they're having difficulty um just working um on on computers and and the skill level that they have. So I I do agree that this is
021a really important bill. So, thank you for your testimony, Katie. Moving on. Hawaii Society for Technology and Education. Oh, Kristen Nomi Rogers Chapman. Aloha, Sher Kani, Vice Chair Camp, members of the committee. My name is Kirsten Rogers Chapman and I most recently was an evaluation specialist in the accountability section at Haido. I served for 10 years in education Hawaii and I left the islands pursuing my doctor in education leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I began my career in education Hawaii as a teacher at Wood Middle School and in my first year I endured the furlows that resulted from the 2008 economic crisis. Over the years, this CO 19 pandemic has wrought havoc that's not dissimilar to what we endured in 2008. And the need to diversify our state's economy is more clear
022than ever. To weather this crisis, I believe, which will continue and its effects continue to devastate, it's important to ensure our students are equipped with the skills to thrive in high wage, high growth industries here in the state. Now, I think we've made great progress back and I think that SB242 builds on that progress to promote and accelerate equity and access to computer science courses by providing better student data. For these reasons, please consider and support this bill. Thank you, Kirsten. Members, questions. If not, we will move on to Item number five, Senate Bill 463 relating to gardens. Authorizes the Department of Education to to develop programs to encourage the development of gardens on school property. authorizes the Hawaii Community Development Authority to develop programs that provide incentives to establish gardens in housing projects, communities,
023and schools to testify. Dr. Christina Kishimoto, Superintendent, Department of Education. Aloha. This is Terry Ushiima um testifying on behalf of Dr. Pishimoto. The Department of Education provides comments on SB 463 and the department agrees that students should engage in a well-rounded curriculum with topics including nutrition and obesity prevention, composting and waste management techniques and cultural and historic aspects of the local food supply. The department is deeply committed to wellness as demonstrated in the Hoy board of education policy uh health and wellness and to aa based education. The department has subject matter standards that include related concepts and content areas including health science and social studies. Existing policies 105-1 academic programs 105-2 responsibility for curriculum development implementation and curriculum online and curriculum online for the roles in making curricular instruction decisions to provide a quality standardsbased
024academic program that aligns and fits the needs of their school communities. Thank you. I don't have any others signed up to testify. Members, questions of the department. If not, Senator, thank you. Thank you, Terry. So, um I know you said you're providing comments, but is it yes, we would implement this measure if it passes or um based on your testimony? Uh yes, we would um respectfully want to have more information on what it would involve with the Hawaii Community Development Authority and the human resources of the University of Hawaii at Monoa. um we think that there may be implications for our schools uh that could arise from these conversations. So at this point we are um providing comments. Great. Thank you. I wanted to point out uh this is not a bill that says they
025they have to. It says they may. So uh members if no further questions we will recess for decision Reconvening the committee on education. The committee has met and deliberated and the recommendation for Senate Bill 247 relating to public libraries is to pass with amendments taking the library suggested amendments to replace board of education with department of education in section one. Members questions if not chair votes I. Recommendation for SB247 is to pass with amendments. Chair votes I. Senator Kim I. Senator Dela Cruz I. I vote I. Senator Favlla. I. Chair. You have five eyes. Your recommendations adopted. Thank you. Moving on to Senate Bill 144 relating to a school supply subsidy pilot program at Na Allejo Elementary School. The recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments blanking out the appropriation and noting the
026amount in the committee report for WHAM to consider. No questions. Chair votes I. Chair votes I for SB 144 to pass with amendments. Chair Kadani votes I. Senator Kim I. Senator Dela Cruz I. I vote I. Senator Favlla I. Chair five eyes. Recommendations adopted. Thank you. Senate Bill 220 relating to service learning requiring the department to implement a service learning curriculum to to develop student character, values, self-esteem, civic responsibility, and knowledge of local community issues and concerns through community service volunteer work. The recommendation of the chair is to amend to include financial literacy. Questions? If not, Senate Bill 220 to amend to include financial literacy. Chair votes I. Chair's recommendation for Senate Bill 220 is to pass with amendments. Chair votes I. Senator Kim I. Senator Dela Cruz I. I vote I. Senator Favlla I.
027Chair five eyes. Recommendations adopted. Thank you. Moving on to Senate Bill 242 relating to education. Requires public and charter schools to offer education in computer science. Requires annual reports. Recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments taking the Department of Education's proposed amendments to align the definition of computer science on page four lines 12 through 14 with the national definition of computer science by Alan Tucker. Also clarifying that the annual report will be submitted by the DOE but broken down by complex area. If no questions, recommendation is to pass Senate Bill 242 with amendments. Chair votes I. Recommendation for SB 242 is to pass with amendments. Chair votes I. Senator Kim I. Senator Dela Cruz. I. Senator Favlla. I. I vote I. Chair five eyes. Motion recommendations adopted. Thank you. For our final bill,
028Senate Bill 463 relating to gardens. Authorizes the Department of Education to develop programs to encourage the development of gardens on school property. Authorizes Hawaii Community Develop Development Authority to develop programs that provide incentives to establish gardens and housing projects, communities, and schools. Recommendation of the chair is to pass Senate Bill 463 with amendments and the amendments would be to put a priority in for edible and native Hawaiian plants in the school gardens. Members questions if not. Senate Bill 463 with amendments. Chair votes I. Chair's recommendation for SB 463 is to pass with amendments. Chair votes I. Senator Kim I. Senator Dela Cruz. Hi. I vote I. Senator Flla. I. Five eyes. Chair. Your recommendations adopted. That concludes the hearing of the education committee.