House Standing Committee on Education

Hey. Good afternoon, everybody. This is York Committee on Education. Today's date is February 6th. It's 2:00 p.m. and we are in Conference Room 309 in your state Capitol. We have about a dozen bills, a little north of a dozen bills on the agenda today. So let's get to it. These bills are more straightforward than in the past.

First up we have HB 1200, codifying teacher ratios and statute. First up we have is the Department of Education offering comments in person.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Sean Bacon speaking on behalf of the Department of Education. We stand on our testimony offering comments. And are available for any questions.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

Next, we have Department of Budget and Finance offering comments. We have the Democratic Party for Hawaii Education Caucus offering testimonial support. And we have 11 individuals all offering testimony support on this bill. HB 1200. Anyone else? HSTA, please come up.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair. Sarah Milianta-Laffin for HSTA. We're in support of this measure.

Thank you so much. And that's all I have on my list. Anyone else? HB 1200, seeing none. Members, are there any questions? See none. And we're going to go on to the next bill, HB 1344. This is with regards to the Department of Education and mandatory fafsa. First up, we have Department of Education offering comments in person.

Good afternoon, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair Laka, Heidi Armstrong testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. And we stand on our written testimony offering comments. Thank you.

Thank you for being here. Next we have OIP offering comments not present. We have Hawaii P20 offering comments in person.

Good afternoon, Chair and Vice Chair Steven Schatz, Executive Director at Hawaii P20 Partnerships for Education. I stand on our written testimony offering some comments. We already do quite a bit of collaboration with the DOE and uh, to try and get those FAFSA completion numbers up. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Next, we have testimony from one individual via Zoom. Jesa Phelps offering testimony support via Zoom.

Good afternoon, Chair and Vice Chair. My name is Jason Phillips and I'm a junior at the University of Hawaii. Currently, I'm pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Social work and I'm here to testify today in support of House Bill 1344.

As outlined in Section 1 of this Bill, $14 million in federal Pell grants were unclaimed in Hawaii in 2023. And this funding could have provided 4,500 students with free tuition and in University of Hawaii Community College. These financial resources hold a crucial opportunity to support students in pursuit of their higher education and to overall strengthen Hawaii's workforce.

According to the National Attainment Network's FAFSA tracker, only approximately 40% of Hawaii's Class of 2024 completed the FAFSA and this percentage has has been declining. House Bill 1344 has the potential to reverse this trend by encouraging greater FAFSA completion rates and ensuring that more students are financially equipped to pursue post secondary education.

Furthermore, I would also like to add that as a graduate of a Low income inner city school in Arizona that required us to complete the fafsa, I can personally attest to the challenges that are associated with the process and having a working group to help implement this plan is essential.

Completing the FAFSA is often complex and overwhelming and many students lack the necessary guidance to navigate it successfully. Without my high school's proactive initiative, I would not be where I am today in my academic journey.

In closing, I urge you to Support House Bill 1344 as doing so will directly contribute to expanding access to higher education and fostering a more skilled and prepared workforce for Hawaii. Thank you all for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Phelps. That's all I have on my list. Anyone else HB 1344 seeing none. Members, any questions? A quick question for P20, Mr. Schatz. Mr. Schatz, thank you for being here. Can you please expand upon your testimony and share some of the practices?

You folks partner up with DOE to make sure that there's increased FAFSA participation?

Sure. I think one of the highlights over the past few years is that the DOE has actually integrated the FAFSA tracking data into their data system so that school personnel can follow up with families and students who have not yet completed it. So that's been something that's been beneficial.

We also have established a FAFSA hotline, a phone number that we staff to help families and students with FAFSA completion, and we have an email inbox as well that we've stood up to help. In addition, we've done both in person and virtual events.

We started with the virtual events during the pandemic, but the virtual events have actually been useful post pandemic as well. So all of this work is in coordination with the counselors at the school level, the school leaders, to make sure that we have as much opportunity for outreach as possible.

Thank you so much. Quick question for doe, but Vice Chair?

Go ahead, Director. I'm really concerned about the attempts by the by President Trump's dismantling of the Department of Education and how, you know, the impact of the loss of, you know, financial aid and the Pell Grants and what it, what that impact could mean for us is that.

Just wanted to ask if this is something that the, currently the working group has raised as a potential concern and is this something that you feel the Legislature should start to think about or, I don't know, address the. This session?

I think we are in a very unsure situation right now as it relates to federal funds, both for competitive grants and also for what we call formula grants. So I do think they're. I'm not an expert on this, let me just say that. But I am going to be.

But we at P20 and uh, and Doe would would be affected by any changes to federal funding as it relates to the Education Department. The Education Department is in statute, so I'm not sure that any President has the authority to eliminate it with the stroke of a pen.

I mean, like the federal Department and how they're eliminating the Pell Grants and all the rest of scholarships. Right.

So all of this is a concern for us. I think the President of University of Hawaii gave an address this morning. I think there are more. There's a. There's a big concern for all of us who rely on federal funding and rely on federal programs. And so we're sort of poised to.

To do whatever is necessary to ensure we're. We're on top of this for our students and families. I think it could get difficult as we go forward, but we all just have to keep our eyes wide open.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Shost. Thank you. Vice Chair, Department of Education, please. Thank you for being here. How do your counselors help out students that need help with the fafsa? It is quite involved. There's several moving parts. It includes both participation from the student and also the parents.

And so do you folks provide any support the families to help complete those?

The answer is yes. And like Director Schoch shared, we do have that tracker that allows us to see what has been completed and what hasn't. So the counselors work with the students.

Schools also hold fast for nights where there is staff on hand to help the parents complete some of the portions that may not quite be so well understood or they might have questions on the counselors continually inform students and families on what is still missing. So the work is being done.

We do know there is a reluctance from some families for filling out any kind of form from the government that that's one obstacle. There's also. There may be misunderstanding that I'm a middle class or an upper middle class family. The FAFSA has no value for me. Why would I fill this out? I wouldn't qualify.

So it's the continual education from both P20 and our schools on what doors the FAFSA can open for students and that continued encouragement and support to get the form completed.

Thank you for that. And so how do you advertise the FAFSA nights?

I'll give some examples. Through their newsletters, through the school's mass messaging, which is a communication system they can send out to parents, cell phones. It can be through their email. They have a variety of ways. There's not one standard way that a school would do that.

And you communicated that sometimes there's reluctancy. What is the reason for the reluctancy? From the parents or is it from the students or both?

I think what I have heard is one, there's not a clear understanding on why I need to fill it out. I might not qualify. Some families choose not to fill out any forms that come from the government. And some families may not be clear on what benefits completing this form, which is tedious, could bring to their child.

Thank you so much, Members. Any other questions, please go ahead, RIP.

You know, you. You said you guys have FAFSA nights and they send these things out, so. In my. In my district, there's only one. Excuse me, there's two high schools. And as a father of six children, four of which have used the fafsa, it's not being our community. I can only speak for my community.

My community doesn't know about it as much as they should. And speaking from my personal experience, we found out late on my first girl. So if there's a way, a program I can help that you can help us with to make sure the schools are getting it out there a lot more, especially in our community.

Sure. I. I can make sure you get the information from the schools as well.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Seeing none. Moving on to the next bill, we have HB 1499. This is regarding the Department of Education and authorizing staff and volunteers to administer certain medications. First up, we have Department of Education offering testimony Support in person. HB 1499, DOE in person.

Next, we have Department of Health offering testimony and support. Please come up.

Good afternoon. Chair and Vice Chair. Heidi Armstrong, Department of Education. The Department stands on its written testimony in support of this measure. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Next we have the Department of Health offering testimony in support.

Hi. Diana Felton, Administrator of the Communicable Disease and Public Health nursing division at DOH. We stand in our written testimony and support and are here for questions.

Thank you for being here. Next we have the University of Hawaii system offering testimony and support in person.

Good afternoon Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica. And Members of the Committee. My name is Clementina Seryu Ulep, Dean. Of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene. So both the School of Nursing and John Abrams School of Medicine are in strong support of this measure and available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you you for being here. Thank you for your partnership with our schools supporting our keiki across the state. Next we have Hawaii State Center for Nursing also in support. We have Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii offering testimony and support. And we have about seven individuals all in support. Anyone else? HB 1499.

Seeing none, Members, are there any questions? Seeing none. We're going to move on to the next Bill. We have HB 902. This is with regards to Public Safety Power Shut Off Program and the Department of Education. First up we have is DOE or offering testimony support.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. I'm Tammy Chun, Deputy Superintendent for the Department of Education. We're standing on our written testimony. In support on this Bill. Public Safety Power Shutoff is a HECO program that preemptively will shut off power to as a preventative measure for wildfires.

This would turn off the electricity for the community, including our schools. And so this Bill is to provide some measures to allow us to keep schools open while the power is off.

Thank you so much. Okay. Next we have Public Utilities Commission offering testimony and support in person.

Good afternoon Chair, Vice Chair, Members, my. Name is Kyra how on behalf of the Public Utilities Commission and we stand on our written testimony in support of this measure and I'm available for comments.

Thank you for being here. Next we have Hawaii Electric in person.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is James Abraham. I'm testifying on behalf of Hawaiian Electric in support of House Bill 902. We will stand on our written testimony.

I did want to note that the PUC suggested some amendments so we would be in support of those amendments to broaden the scope of the Bill so it doesn't only apply to our utility but to all islands.

Thank you so much. That's all I have on this list. Is there anyone else wanting to provide testimony on HB 902 seeing none. Members, are there any questions? Vice Chair.

Hawaiian Electric, please. So if you can explain what PSPS is, because I was one of the, I represent Mililani and we were one of the early communities that were affected by it.

Before it was called PSPS in our schools, thankfully it was occurring in the evenings, but it was occurring every week for at least six weeks in my community early last year. The State of Hawaii is already providing a lot of resources, financial resources, to Hawaiian Electric. We have the Maui Settlement.

We just passed second reading today on a Bill to provides securitization.

So my question is, why does Hawaiian Electric feel that we should use, continue to use taxpayer dollars to fund a study to mitigate the effects of PSPS and understand the effects when it is Hawaiian Electric's responsibility to provide reliable power to our public, you know, to the public, to our community and to our schools.

Is there, has there been any effort to do cost sharing or to have Hawaiian Electric fund this study?

Sure. Thank you for your question. I do want to clarify that if you're talking about the rolling outages that may have happened in Mililani or other areas of the islands due to lack of generation supply, that is separate from our PSPS program which was just started in July, July of 2024.

And we actually haven't de energized anyone, any customers through that program yet. We've stood it up to monitor the hazardous, what we call fire weather conditions where there's strong winds and dry conditions, low humidity, where we're monitoring to see if the conditions require us to preemptively shut off power to prevent possible ignitions due to our inability infrastructure.

So I just want to clarify that, you know, what you're talking about in your area, I guess, is separate from the PSPS program that we're talking about for this Bill. Hawaiian Electric, we did recently publish our Wildfire Safety Strategy, which is available on our website and it's filed with the Public Utilities Commission.

It's undergoing review by the Public Utilities Commission. It outlines a lot of the steps and a lot of the investments that we are making to help make sure our communities are safer from the risk of wildfires, which is increasing due to climate change and, you know, many factors.

So we do believe that wildfires are a whole of society issue that we all need to pitch in on. We are doing our part to look at what we can do to minimize the risk from ignitions from our infrastructure.

So we do feel like this is a good Bill to help the Department of Education look at how they can minimize impacts to the schools that are in these high wildfire risk areas which are specifically in our service territories are on Maui and Hawaii Island.

And on my question about the cost sharing, providing backup power, anything else, other types of. I guess, yeah, resources that you can provide should this continue to happen to our schools?

Yeah, we are looking at different ways to support the communities. A main thing that we've been doing since, you know, even before we started the program and since we started our program last, middle of last year is in the outreach and engagement.

We've had a lot of face to face engagement with these communities that are in these high wildfire risk areas to ensure that they're aware of what our PSPS program entails and that they're prepared for those situations.

As part of our long term plan, which is in our wildfire safety strategy, we do have potential to set up these community resource centers in certain circumstances when there's going to be extended outages and we would be working with local stakeholders, you know, emergency management, state and county agencies to set those up.

Then final comment, I want to read this to you because. So the power outages in Mililani occurred every week from the end of January until the end of February. This is from your Director of Government Relations in March of 2024 as we were investigating this.

Said, in addition, we recently implemented changes to improve safety in areas identified by the State of Hawaii as at risk for wildfires, which includes the area of Mililani.

Out of an abundance of caution, these safety features are set at a higher sensitivity, shutting off power quickly if any disruption is detected, any disturbance may result in an outage that affects areas in both overhead and underground service and it goes on. So I stand corrected in that this was a PSPS before it was called a PSPS.

And then since it was occurring in our community at the time without the knowledge of the community, they had since corrected that and sent out at my request a letter to all households notifying them what was happening.

I appreciate that. Just to clarify what you're referring to, they are wildfire mitigation strategies, but it's separate from our PSPS program. What you're referring to is if a fast trip settings and we have auto reclose blocking.

So what those do is they help shut off power quicker to make sure that for instance, if a branch landed on a line, we want the power to shut off and not try to restart and re energize automatically as it would under normal conditions, unlike when it's not a high wildfire risk time.

If, you know, a branch happens to briefly touch a power line, we would want the power to come back on automatically. But if there is this high risk, we turn that function off.

Which means that the branch, you know, if the branch is continuing to stay on there, the power wouldn't try to start, you know, re energize which could lead to, you know, sparking and things like that. So it, it's a related function that you're talking about, but it is separate from the PSP.

So I just want to clarify that.

I don't want to keep arguing with you but yeah, all the power lines in Milani are underground so no branches will fall on our power lines.

But I think my point is just that I don't want to see continue to see just state resources flowing into Hawaiian Electric on an ongoing issue that affects, you know, should not affect our community when we're already, you know, pay. Our community's already paying so much for a service that you know, should be reliable.

We should depend on. Thank you.

Please go ahead.

So I, I do have a question similar to Vice Chair in how does it, how does it, how does HICO feel it's fair to have the taxpayers pay for the study?

Now having sit through at least four different PSPS presentations, I know that I've personally brought up the question about individuals with health conditions and how PSPS will affect them. And HICO has said that HICO will look into helping the individual out, making sure that they survive.

Can HICO just not also look into the schools and helping the schools stay open during the PSPS or do you feel it's fair on the taxpayers to cover that cost?

So in setting up our PSPS program, we did work very closely with the Department of Education. So that's an ongoing conversation we're having with them and other stakeholders that are involved.

Two year, one aspect of the outreach that we've been doing to the impacted customers that live in these high wildfire risk areas is that we've encouraged them to sign up for our PSPS mass alerting system that will keep them updated on, you know, if there's a potential for a PSPS De energization so they can prepare with their families if, you know, if they do have special medical needs or whatever it may be.

So, you know, we are doing a lot to try to work with these communities and make sure they're aware of the potential impacts.

We just think that this funding to specifically look at how we can, how the Department of Education can keep their schools open for communities would be, you know, an additional thing that would be helpful for these communities.

All right, all right, thank you.

I don't think you actually answered his question. That's why he paused. Sorry, sorry. Can I.

I'll rephrase the question in a simpler term. Why does HICO want the taxpayers to pay for the study to keep the schools open. HICO's done studies. Why can't HICO do the study for the DOE? Why does HICO support the taxpayers doing the study for the power that HICO is shutting off?

Yeah, again, so the high wildfire risk is.

We understand what PSPS is. The question is, why does HICO so strongly support the taxpayers footing the Bill for a study that I feel like HICO should be paying for?

Again, the high wildfire risk is not only a HICO issue. So we think that everyone has their role to help protect these communities.

Okay, thank you. I'll ask a different question Chair, if I may. Have you folks identified any schools in the immediate wildfire areas?

Yes, as I mentioned, there are some schools on Maui and some schools on Hawaii island that fall within our PSPS areas.

Thank you.

I'm going to move on. Okay, next bill, we have HB 97961. This is with regards to the DOE and school libraries and a CAS pilot program. First, we have Department of Education offering testimony, providing comments in person.

Aloha Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica and Members of the Committee. I'm Terry Ushijima, Assistant Superintendent of the Office of Curriculum Instructional Design, providing testimony. On behalf of the Department of Education. The Department stands on its written testimony. Which provides comments on this measure. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you so much. Next we have HSTA providing testimony support.

Aloha, Chair. Vice Chair Sarah Millianta-Lafin for HSTA. It will come as no surprise to this Committee. As you've heard from me a few times, I was the weird kid in school. And I will let you know that weird kids find their home in the school library. That school library needs to be staffed by a certified librarian.

According to this bill, only 29% of our Department of Education schools have certified librarians actually in their schools. And so when we think about why that certified librarian matters, they play a crucial role in fostering literacy, critical thinking and research skills among students. They promote literacy and a love for reading.

They help students develop strong reading habits by curating diverse collections and recommending books. They teach information and digital literacy. We're at the AI briefing that this Committee kind of hosted recently. And misinformation is a huge problem right now. And librarians are on the front lines when they're a certified library science professional who can help with that.

One of the things I've heard from many administrators when I ask, like, why are there not school librarians? And they'll tell me, millie, they're expensive.

And so it's much cheaper to go ahead and hire a wonderful educational assistant who can just check out the books than it is actually hiring a library science major who can go ahead and curate the collection and make sure the kids have access to books, books that they want to read. So the digital also just support.

I was surprised when I learned my school didn't have a librarian because I'm used to going and saying, hey, I'm teaching this lesson next week. Can I have some books? Can I have some resources? Can you recommend some titles? Teachers wear so many hats.

We don't have the time to read every book out there to keep our kids focused in that. So for that and our reasons in our written testimony, we definitely support this.

Thank you for being here. Next we have Hawaii Library Association providing testimony and support. We have testimony from 14 individuals, all in support. Anyone else? Seeing none. Members, any questions? Okay, Seeing none. Moving on to the next Bill, we have HB962. This is with regards to the Department of Education, libraries and the complex area. Now, excuse me.

This is with regards to the Department of Education and the libraries. The Department education system and libraries Librarians, please come up. Identify yourself.

Aloha again. Terry Ushijima, Assistant Superintendent from the Office of Curriculum Instruction Design, testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. We provide our testimony providing comments on this measure. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you for being here. Next we have HSTA offering testimony support in person.

Al Chair. Vice Chair S. Melon Laffin for HSTA will stand on our written testimony.

Mahalo. Thank you so much. Next we have Hawaii Library Association also in support. And we have 15 individuals all providing testimony support on this Bill. Any other testifiers? Seeing non Members? Are there any questions? Straightforward, similar as the last Bill, expanded version. Next we have HB730. This is with regards to DOE and CRCB.

First up, we have DOE offering testimony.

Good afternoon. Comments. Good afternoon. Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica. Members of the Committee, Sean Bacon, Assistant Superintendent from the Department of Education. We stand on our written testimony in support of this measure and are available for any comments. Thank you.

Thank you so much in support. Next we have Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks offering testimony and support and Rosenbaum LLC offering testimony and support. We have AAUW of Hawaii offering testimony and support in person.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair and Members of the Committee. In addition to the written testimony that we submitted, I wanted to make comments on other testimonies I saw in the Senate companion bill hearing. There seems to be some opposition saying why do they need more people?

I sit in Civil Rights Work group for the Title IX piece of it representing the community. I have a lot of chance to talk to principals about what CRCB does and what more is needed. And I hear again and again from principals that they could use more training, more awareness of teachers as well as parents and students.

So I really think they could use the additional resource. And I also noticed in the some of the positions that there seems to be confusion that CRCAB only does Title IX. That's not the case. It handles Title 6, Title 7, and Americans with Disability Act 2. So it covers all aspects of civil rights.

So I wanted to make that point. So thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you so much for your testimony. We also have testimony from 24 individuals all in support with one offering comments and one individual wanting to testify in person. Ashley Battis, in person. Please come up. Thank you.

Aloha Kakou. My name is Ashley Badis. I am one of four plaintiffs in the class action Title 9 lawsuit filed against the Hawaii DOE, as well as my old high school, James Campbell High School. So the reason why we filed this, we also filed for no damages because what we really wanted was to see recess.

Reconvening. Please go ahead.

Okay. And to continue, the reason why we want to file this was to see some real change in my experience as a female student athlete. I felt like I was a second class citizen compared to the male athletes. And this was seen.

And the most obvious issue, that there was no female locker rooms, which is not the only issue present. It delved deeper than that, including lack of facilities to train at, lack of a even just a bathroom.

There was many instances in which girls would have to relieve themselves in the bushes or run off campus because of bathroom closures and due to lack of a locker room. It also went as far as lack of equipment.

And I felt like we had a lack of support from the Administration in General when we did raise our complaints about things not having a coach. I played water polo and did swim during swim. It was a co ed sport and they had no problem providing a pool, a facility for us to practice at.

But when it came to water polo and all female sport, they failed to secure a facility for us to practice at. And there was instances where we even had to practice at a public beach, which is unsafe. And if, you know water polo, water polo can't be played in the ocean.

So these are all things that were very disappointing to me as a student athlete. And it made me feel that as a girl I was not enough. Because on one hand you have us begging for the minimum just to play while the boys teams were getting sent off island to optional tournaments on the mainland.

And so that's why we decided to elevate our complaints into an a class action lawsuit. I believe that this Bill will actually give us the change that we need.

A part of our settlement agreement was to actually for the school to actually have a Title 9 coordinator that would oversee any of the issues and just be on call for administrative support in that area. And so that's why I think this Bill is really important to actually see a statewide change.

Because in all honesty, I still hear things about complaints of Title IX incompliance from other people around different schools and different districts and on different islands. So thank you guys so much for this opportunity to testify.

Thank you for your testimony. That's all I have. Is there any other testifiers seeing None. Please come up and please identify yourself and your affiliate.

Angela Melody Young testifying on behalf of ROCARES in strong support.

And so based on the federal law, there should be provisions for specific protected classes, such as those who have disabilities, as well as for example, the protected classes, although not within the federal law requirements, according to the crcb, I think it's the policy, as per the State Department of Education I'm reading it.

It says that the mission is also to extend. Rights to women.

And so the CRCB oversees the department's compliance with federal laws that include but are not limited to Title 9 of the Education Amendment of the 1972 act, also referred to as the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity and Education Act, Title 6 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1999, and the Equal Education Opportunity act of 1974 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

So when public accommodation, such as something within a public school is not provided. For women or those within a protected. Class by federal law, the then it's not that you have intentionally discriminated, but it is a discriminatory practice because these specific classes and these gender equity issues are interfered upon. Thank you.

Can you please submit your testimony? We don't have it and we need it for our record. If you can. Thank you so much. Anyone else seeing None. Members, are there any questions? A quick question for Doe. Thank you for. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Chair Woodson. So can you kind of explain in your testimony you.

You make reference to the 2024 Title 9 ruling by the federal court how that impacts Title IX currently?

Sure. So there were 2020 guidelines and then they were then replaced with 2024 GU for us to be able to do our Title IX investigation process. But in January, a federal court overturned the 2024 regulations, which reverts us back to the 2020 regulations. And the processes and procedures in those 2020 regulations are very robust.

And you know, it takes quite a bit of time. And our Director from our Civil Rights Compliance Branch is actually here if you'd like to get a little bit more information on the process for that at this point right now.

But it is increasing the definite workload of the equ and we want to make sure that we have the staff and the capacity to be able to handle these complaints in a timely manner to be able to get a resolution to these complaints for our individuals.

The Department does provide the Legislature annually a report and we're seeing approximately about 400 cases a year that our equity specialists are currently seeing right now.

How did the court proceeding and ruling differ from differ operations per how they are now within your schools per title 9?

I'll ask our Director from our Civil Rights Compliance Branch, Beth Sheng, to come up and kind of help to answer some of that question for you. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Beth Sheng. I'm the Director for the Civil Rights Compliance Branch, Office of Talent Management, Department of Education. The 2024 regulations actually made it smoother for our investigations for Title IX, K12 issues. But when they were vacated and we reverted back to the 2020 regulations, the process is much more tedious. It's longer.

There's process in place where you have to provide 10 days of equal response from both parties and it draws the investigation process out. Probably equal to two investigations than just one. In fact, there are two parts to every investigation. So the first part is just the investigation process where you're collecting information.

The second part is when you're doing the analysis and decision making. And it has to be different equity specialists according to the regulations. So it does draw the process out quite a bit.

That's helpful. Thank you so much. Okay. Member, any other questions?

I just have a quick question. Chair, please go ahead. For the Department. So this, this bill is calling for five positions. It seems just kind of arbitrary, but is there rationale? I know that you guys are asking for one full time equivalent or the bill's asking for one full time equivalent.

Civil rights compliance specialist, two and then four equity specialists. Is that sufficient? What is the plan as far as responsibilities for the number of specialists?

Okay, so we have one gender equity and athletic specialist. So we had one of the testifiers talk about the recent lawsuit that we had with Campbell. So we're really trying to work on ensuring that there is gender equity in our athletics program.

There's a gender equity work group that is currently happening right now, and we want to make sure we're in compliance with. With the settlement agreement for the lawsuit. So that one position will mainly be focusing on that as we move forward here.

The other four equity specialists, really, we want them to be is we'll be focused at the state office and then depending on the workload with the 15 different complex or equity specialists at the complex areas, as workload fluctuates and as cases increase or decrease, we want to make sure we have the flexibility with those equity specialists to move where the workload is to address the issues in a timely manner.

Okay, but this will cover all schools, is that correct? That is correct. Okay, perfect. That is correct.

Thank you, Rep. Any other questions? Seeing none. Okay, moving on to the next bill, we have HB754. This is with regards to community schools. First up, we have Department of Education supporting the intent in person.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Tammy Chun, Deputy Superintendent, the Department of Education supports the bill. Regarding community schools. We stand on a written testimony.

Okay, thank you for being here. Next, we have HSTA offering testimony and support.

Aloha, Chair and Vice Chair. Sarah Milianta-Laffin, HSTA. We also stand on our written testimony and support.

Thank you. We also have DHS. Excuse me. Offering testimony. Offering comments in person. Please come up.

Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members, Catherine Coronada, the Department of Human Services, on behalf of Director Ryan Yamani. The Department stands on the testimony of support.

Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for being here. Next, we have YMCA of Honolulu offering testimony and support. We have White Children's Action Network speaks in support. White School for the Deaf and Blind with seeds of peace and support. Democratic Party of Hawaii Education Caucus offering testimony and support. Specific resources for education and learning and support.

University of Hawaii Pals in support. Separately seats of peace, Mr. Nishimoto in support. Councilman Ishimono. We have Casta foundation offering testimony with comments. Hawaii Afterschool Alliance. Didn't see you there. Sorry. Offering testimony, support in person. Please come up.

Hi, I'm Paola Adams with the Kauai After School Alliance. Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, we are here to support this bill. As you may know, community schools is a strategy that supports the whole child.

It's a strategy that we are trying to support because we know that in order for kids to learn, they need the basic needs cover, they need to be fed, they need to have access to clothing, they need to have access to food to house security.

We have great examples in Hawaii of community schools that are right now, for instance, Waianae elementary schools, providing a lot of services for the community and the family and the children from a food pantry, a closet, after school programs, summer programs, as well as any single thing that families need and a student need in order to be able to learn.

Another great example that we have is Moanaloa Elementary School in Molokai, where thanks to the community school coordinator, the chronic SMTS reduced dramatically from 63% in 22 and 23 to 93% from 23 to 24, which is a reducing increase in attendance or 30%. We are having successful stories in all our community schools in Hawaii.

So that's why we are encouraging everybody to support this business. Thank you.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for your testimony. Next, we have actually we have seven individuals all providing testimony and support. Anyone wishing to provide testimony, please come up. State your affiliate.

Angela Melody Young, ROAR Cares, in strong support of the appropriation of funds for community schools to facilitate such dynamic school and Community based relationships. I think it's very necessary to appropriate the funds to accommodate the community schools and to help the students better the lives of themselves and also the teachers in Hawaii.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Can you please provide that so we have it for the public record? Thank you. Anyone else? Members, any questions? A quick question for DOE, please. Thank you, Dr. Chun, for being here. As was alluded to by one of the testifiers, we're seeing a increase in absenteeism actually across the country.

Some of our extenders, like one of the testifiers that was just mentioned, also referred to as providers. They are showing a proven methodology to decrease absenteeism and increase student participation by working with the families. Your testimony indicated that you are primarily looking at this model to help out with schools that need intervention.

But can't we use it for broader application, like to increase absenteeism?

Yes. So the community schools model can be used by any school. There's benefits for any school. In the testimony we referred to the model being used by all of our schools that are in a group receiving intensive interventions. So that is a requirement of schools in that. In that category.

But other schools can use the model as well. So it's not exclusive there. It's just required for those schools. I see. All right, thank you for that clarification.

Any other questions? Members? Seeing none. Moving on to the next bill, we have HB 1069. This is with regards to adding DOE. Represent representatives to the School Facilities Authority Board. First up we have. Who do we have first? Who's first? Board of Education offering testimony. Not present. Department Education offering testimony. Comments lost. Oh, here we are.

Hello Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chico, Members of the Committee. Keith Ayashi, Superintendent, testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. The Department stands on its written testimony in support of this measure. Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify. Thank you for being here, Superintendent.

Next we have SFA offering comments in person. Director Fujitani.

Good afternoon. Ricky Fujitani with the School Facilities Authority. We stand on our written testimony in support of this bill.

Support, okay. Thank you so much. That's all I have on my list. Anyone else? HB1069 seeing none. Members, any questions? Vice Chair.

Question for SFA. Can you kind of explain the. Maybe the role and function of the board as it's. And then of the School Facilities Authority? And would the addition of the two additional. How would the additional. The addition of the two voting Members impact the way that SFA currently does its work?

So right now we're. Our board is five. This would add two. So that's all right because odd number, you can break the tie. Most agencies that are associated with another agency, administrative attach. Does have board Members on it. So this is pretty common because we're administratively attached to the DOE, we have to work with them.

Majority of our projects are with the DOE. So this, this makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So operationally it just increases our board to seven from five.

And the question for the Department, please. I understand this is a admin bill, administrative package bill for this one. Just wanted to ask why this is separate from the. There's five members appointed by the Governor and then it's.

The two members are voting members but separate from the, the process of the appointment and wanted to just ask about that and then. Yeah, maybe that first part first. Is there any reason behind that?

I think as. Thank you very much for the question, Vice Chair.

As the Department and SFA continue to work together, it is important, I think that having a, having the Superintendent and the Board of Education Chair as members of the SFA board as Director Fujitani shared ensures and brings a more collaborative spirit together to ensure that we're able to address the needs of our schools.

And facilities and Director kind of share like if it does come to a tie breaking vote, would that impede in any current projects or. I just worry if that would delay on all the, all the progress that's like currently and they're going with.

I don't believe it would.

Okay. Okay. My last question is just on the wording. It's right now it says the Superintendent of Education or the Superintendent's designee. So there's no really like Claire, like clarification on what designee means. Like would you be open to like an amendment that says like the designee, like a true representation of like the Department.

So the Superintendent's designee, like who is an employee of the Department of Education or the Board Chair or a current Board Member of the Board of Education Board Chairperson's designee who is also a current Board Member. So tying like the designee as part of the board and tying the designee of the Superintendent as part of the.

DOE, I think for speaking on the department's behalf, for me as a Superintendent, I would be the one sitting in on the meeting or, or a designee would mean someone from the Department that's representing me and my voice, Superintendent's voice on the SFA board.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you Members. Any other questions? Okay, CNN. Moving on to the next bill, we have HB3,636. This is with regards to CIP and modernization. It's an initiative. First up, we have DOE offering comments.

Aloha Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica and Members of the Committee. Dean Uchida, Deputy Superintendent with the Department of Education. The Department stands on its written testimony which provides comments on this measure. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you so much. Next we have SFA offering testimony and support in person.

Thank you Committee for hearing this very, very timely bill. What this bill does is plan, start to plan today for tectonic changes in terms of federal programs and federal funding. The direction where the Federal Government is clear, it's school choice.

And that will have a profound impact on Hawaii, especially since over 20% of our students are enrolled in private school, online or homeschooling. And that's going to be an incredible seismic shift in terms of programs and funding. What this bill does is a proactive initiative which provides critical information for legislators.

It should be based on a database schema by House and by the Senate where you can get information and answers to key questions of why build, what to build and where to repurpose. Again, thank you for for hearing this bill.

Thank you for your testimony. Next we have AG's office offering comments or in person offering comments.

Good afternoon, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica, Members. Anne Horiuchi from the Department of the Attorney General. We're offering in our testimony a clarifying amendment. The new section that's set forth in this bill. It's placed in the statutory section relating to the School Facilities Authority. But the wording in the bill refers to the board and it's not clear.

It's rather ambiguous whether that means the Board of Education or the School Facilities Authority Board. So we are suggesting some amendments in our testimony to clarify that the references should be to the Board of Education. Thank you. I'll be available for questions.

Thank you so much. Next we have Budget and Finance offering comments from the Director. Next we have HSTA testimony and support in person.

Aloha, Chair and Vice Chair. Sarah Milianta-Laffin on behalf of HSTA. Vice Chair. Thank you for this bill. I will just kind of give a story. We're going to send out our written testimony, but I've been in the same classroom at Alima Intermediate in Ewa Beach since for the last eight years.

And when I got into that classroom, I teach this hands on STEM class. It is messy. We are doing things. We are building models and I have two sinks in the classroom, but only one of them worked. And when I inquired about like, hey, can I get this sink fixed? It would make my class better.

They're like, well you have one working already. You don't need to get that one fixed. So my school is the original Campbell High School. So it's 60 years old. And when I asked around, other teachers had the same experience in science labs and different kinds of things.

What I was excited about with this piece is that you could really see what needs to be fixed, when, how, and this can get done faster so that students don't have to wait for this access.

I will also say as a Title 1 school, I ask my neighboring middle school, I'm like, how do you afford all this amazing equipment? Like, how do you do this? And the admin will be like, well Millie, we don't have to spend all the money on repairs that your building has to spend.

So if the wind blows heavily, our power goes out. You know, if our, if it's a particular stormy or randomly the Internet goes out. And these are just things that other schools don't always have to face.

So I would love to see this compiled in a way that legislators could access it, the public could access it and we could really know what's going on in our community. So we support Hollow.

Thank you for your enhanced testimony. Next, we have lose quality home health care services offering testimony and support. We have the environmental caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii offering testimony and support. That's all I have. Anyone else see none. Members, any questions? Vice Chair.

Question for the Department. Thank you, Director. I mean Superintendent. Superintendent. So I mean my intent for this bill is just to really have a decision making tool.

It's really to help us, not just legislators, but also the public, like kind of really have the data to be able to just look at CIP, look at what assets are in our district, be able to understand the movement of projects. One, it stems from the lack of communication.

But also there's just so much big, big projects that are going and not going. And so wanted to just ask one, is there a current database that does exist with the Department? Is this tool currently available for lawmakers to, you know, work with the Department on? And do you have the data that's currently listed in the bill?

I don't think we have the data. I think an asset management program would be good, especially what the HST representatives talked about. We could track projects better by having asset management and we could also everything is deferred maintenance right now because we, you know, we're falling so far behind.

The ideal place is to do preventive maintenance and getting control of the data would help us move us in that direction.

Thank you. And then follow up question for SFA, please. Thank you. If you can please share in your testimony what you feel could be included in the database and how would you able to access the data? Because in the DOE testimony and budget and finance, it is the, you know, CIP data is housed within the Department.

Oh, absolutely. So SFA would have to work with the Department in creating the system up. But the problem with all systems in the past has always been school centric, and it doesn't align with where the spending and the budget comes from.

So we have to look at it differently and it has to be legislative centric, meaning taking the same ESRI instance, the LR the Legislature uses to how to find your Legislator, you would overlay then all the school information based upon the 51 House districts and the 25 Senate districts.

The key information you want is first of all, why build in the first place? Which is, what do you have? What's your asset inventory? Right. What's the buildings, the square footage, the the schools, and then what is the condition of those assets? You know, fair, good, excellent, bad. And finally, what is the utilization of the assets?

Most school systems have these in standardized systems and they follow industry standards like the facility Condition Index to determine criticality or enrollment capacity ratios to determine the utilization. When you have that information, then you can decide which schools to invest, what to invest in, which are the worst projects to fix by your legislative district.

So that's what has to be built as quickly as possible.

Does SFA currently have the resources to be able to collect this data and make those assessments, or will you require the funding in this bill to make it happen?

Yeah, you'll need funding. The DOE has multiple stores of information, but again, they're all, they're all project or school centric. We have to repurpose that into a manner that's more relevant and easily consumed by decision makers on budget and spending, because then you can make decisions on funding. Right now it's very, very difficult.

So I'd say that information is there and it's been accumulated over the course of a decade on a variety of different studies. But sitting in access tables from 2017, from recent surveys in 2019, and they're all these pockets, but they're not aggregated into an asset management system as he has talked about.

Without an asset management system, you don't know why you're fixing it or should something else be fixed or something is of a higher priority. The Importance and the timeliness is there's going to be less money and we all know it because the money is going to flow with school choice.

So even more so, the decisions are going to be more difficult on what roof to fix right. Which, which foundation to repair. And that's why this, we think this bill is very timely.

Thank you. Chair.

Thank you. Members, any other questions? Okay. Seeing none. We will move on to the next proposal, which is HB 987. This establishes a Procurement Automation System Special Fund, which aligns with procurement statute, pretty much housekeep—housekeeping—measure. First up, we have SPO, offering testimony in support.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Jake Chang. I'm from the State Procurement Office. We stand on our testimony offering strong support for this Bill, and as you mentioned, we have a. housekeeping amendment that we want to make sure that is recognized. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next, we have DAGS comptroller offering testimony in support. That's all I have. Anyone else, HB 987? Seeing none. Members, are there any questions? Seeing none. We're going to move on to the next bill, HB 901. This is with regards to adding an additional appeals process for our public charter schools. First up, we have the Board of Education offering comments.

Next, we have the Charter School Commission offering comments in person.

Hi, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Ed Ngo, the Executive Director of the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission, and we would like to appreciate the opportunity to offer testimony and we stand on the written comments. Thank you.

Thank you for being here, Dr. Ngo.

Next, we have AG's Office offering comments in person.

Good afternoon, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica, Members. Ann Horici from the Department of the Attorney General. In our testimony, we've suggested some clarifying amendments. One is to remove the word "Administrative" from Page 2, Line 6, to make clear what type of an appeal that this would be in this new section.

Also, we thought that as written, the Bill does not clearly define the events that would be directly appealable to the Board of Education. So, in our testimony, we've basically provided a suggested amendment to how the, the, the new statutory section should be written out, or the amendment to existing statute 302D-15. I'll be available for questions.

Thank you so much for being here. Next, we have testimony from Waiʻalae Elementary Public Charter School, in support. We have the Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network, in support. Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences, also in support. And one individual offering testimony in support. Anyone else, HB—oh, please come up. We are on HB 901. Did I say? All right.

Any questions? I have a quick question for the AG please. Thank you again for being here.

I understand your legal rationale, but my—regarding your proposed changes to administrative appeal directly—my reading of the Proposal, and again this is a by-request bill, is that the charter schools individually are asking for an additional appeal, if their original appeal from the Commission is not to their satisfaction, and that's not to say that anything is going wrong, but if they want an additional appeal, then they would have an opportunity to go to the Board.

And so—but your read is different?

Right, and I, I—let 's see.

Well, for instance, in, in the Bill, currently under—at the bottom of Page 2, Lines 18 through 21—it's stating that, except as otherwise provided in Subsection B, so that's the new section, a party shall not be entitled to a hearing before the Board under this section, unless it has exhausted all available administrative appeals.

So, our reading was that under the current statutory setup, the types of actions that are set forth in subsection A, those are denials of an application for a charter, charter revocation, non-renewal. There's an administrative process that needs to happen first before the aggrieved school can go to the Board of Education. Under new Subsection B, that type of process before the Commission would not be happening.

It would be directly, you know, once there's an adverse action, then the party can go directly to the Board of Education to be heard. So that's—we thought that we needed to take out the word "administrative" to make it clear that there's no—that administrative process before the Commission is not necessary for these new appealable actions, under new Subsection B.

For your explanation, you said on Page 2, Line 18, except for otherwise provided in the subsection, that you disarticulate it. So, to me, that means that they would go through the normal process and then have an additional process of appeal through the Board of Education.

Actually, what we're reading, be as trying to accomplish, is that there can be an aggrieved—there's an action, an adverse action, that's not one of the actions set forth in A.

So, not one of, not a denial, a revocation, a non-renewal. Some other adverse action that is regarding the, for instance, regarding the school's operation, governance or funding, some other adverse action that the Commission takes, with regard to a charter school, rather than having a proceeding before the Commission with say, the presentation of evidence, some kind of a formal proceeding. Once there's that adverse action, the school would be able to go directly to the Board of Education under this new Subsection B.

So, if this is, if I—if we're misunderstanding the intent, then we're happy to work on, on trying to clear this up.

But this was our understanding about what this Bill is trying to accomplish, which is to clarify the expanded rights that charter schools would have to go directly to the Board of Education and expanding the Board of Education subject matter jurisdiction over charter school appeals.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for your expertise. Dr. Ngo. Thank you. Can you please quickly describe what the current appeals process is for charter schools if they have grievances under the constructs of current statute, under 302D?

So, under—yes, and again, definitely not my wheelhouse around statute. Learning really fast. But I believe as the AG had described, there is that mechanism for appeals regarding the non-renewal revocation and also for applications.

So, if a school would want to appeal that process, there is, within the Hawaii administrative rules, 850-5, an opportunity for that school to come and dispute whatever that decision is, hold a hearing. They can have legal counsel present and then after that appeal process, then a written decision is made.

And then, from that point, then they would have 21 days, for example, to file an appeal to the Board of Education. So, that is what the process is currently.

And during that 20 days, do they have to shut down if you're revoking their license to operate?

No, during this—so I'll take a non-renewal of a contract as an example. So, we—for all schools that are up for contract renewal, at typically the end, June 30th, of whatever that given year of that contract is, by November they receive notice of their performance, off of the frameworks. That's financial, organizational, and the academic.

And then, they would have an opportunity to actually dispute whatever those weaknesses or those findings might have revealed in each of those frameworks. Then, the reason why that's set up that way is so that there can be time built in for an appeals process and that school will operate until the end of that contract.

And so, that is, again, built in November. The hearing happens in December and then, from that point, then the springtime is when schools go through the appeal process.

Thank you so much.

Any other questions? Members caseing them? Moving on to the last bill of the day, this is HB 904. This is with regards to the Board of Education and charter school reporting. First up we have is the Board of Education offering testimony and support. Here we have Waiali Elementary Public Charter school offering testimony in opposition.

Hawaii Public Charter school networks offering Testimony in opposition. Two different individuals from the network, both in opposition. Anyone else? HB904, please come up and state your affiliate.

Aloha, Angela Melody Young, ROAR Cares in strong support of charter schools. So a charter school is a school which operates independently of the locally operated public like school.

This is with regards to HB 904.

Oh, 904.

Yes.

Did we go over the charter school?

Yes.

Oh, can we.

You missed it.

Go back to it?

We cannot. We're going to move on.

Okay.

Thank you so much. Any other. Any other testifiers on HB904? Seeing none. Members, any questions? Okay. Seeing none. Oh, please go ahead. For the Board of Education. The Board of Education is not here, Mr. Ayashi, I believe.

Do you want to speak to the. The charter School Commission?

No, actually. So maybe you can help me with whoever it is. I just want to see what is. The benefit of not having to report to the Legislator.

Respectfully, Representative Muraoka. Keith Ayashi, Superintendent, Department of Education. This would be a Board of Education related bill and I don't believe I should be speaking on behalf of the Board of Education.

Okay, thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.

Quick recess.

HB 904. Seeing none. Recess.

Good afternoon. Reconvening for decision making on several bills. First up, we have HB 1,200. This proposal would codify teacher ratios and statutes. Members, it would definitely be beneficial for us to make sure that we keep our classroom ratios at a certain number. But I do agree with the Department that it would cause potential.

Potential complications if we codify in statute. It's too rigid. So therefore I will defer. Next bill is HB 1344. This is mandatory FAFSA completion. When I was reading the testimony last night a phrase really jumped out at me from the department's testimony. It said attainment of a diploma should be contingent upon demonstrating academic proficiency.

And I think that's actually correct. And so this is my bill, but I will defer. Moving on to HB 1499. DOE and the Administration of medication by authorized and trained staff and volunteers. Members I would like to pass this with a HD1 simply defecting the date to 3-1-3000. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Members voting on House Bill 1499. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendment. [Roll Call] Recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Members. Moving on to HB 902. Plan Public Safety power shutoffs and the Department of Education Members. I would like to pass a HD1 per some of the testifiers recommendation. I would like to swipe. Swipe out the word Hawaiian Electric companies and exchange that with electric utilities. That's so we can include the island of Kauai.

That's found in the appropriation sections. Besides that defecting the date to July 1st, 3000. We will be also looking to see if specifically HECO can pay for the study. But for now that those will be the only changes. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on House Bill 902. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Roll Call] Chair your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Members. Moving on to the next bill, HB961. This is with regards to DOE and school librarians complex pilot program. Members recommendations to pass this with the HD1 blinking out the amounts. Voting those figures into into the Committee report and defecting the date. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on House Bill 961. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments.[Roll Call] Recommendation is adopted thank you Members.

HB962 DOE Systems and School librarians recommendations to defect the date. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on House Bill 962 Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Roll Call] Your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Moving on to HB 730 Department of Education and the Civil Rights compliancy branch. Recommendations to pass this with the HD1 defecting the date. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote please.

Voting on House Bill 730 Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Roll Call] Recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. HB 754 DOE and Community Schools models. Members that would like to pass this the HD1 defecting the date. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote please.

Voting on House Bill 754 Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendment. [Roll Call] Chair your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. HB 1069 DOE representation on SFA board. I would like to pass this with the HD1 defecting the date. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on House Bill 1069 chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments.[Roll Call] Chair your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you Members. Moving on to HB636 CIP Initiative. Recommendation is to pass this defecting the date with the HD1. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on House Bill 636 Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Roll Chair] Chair your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you Members. Moving on to the next bill HB987. This establishes automated automated special fund system, alignment for per procurement statute and it adds the ED to SFA as a CPO housekeeping measure. Like to pass this with the HD1 defecting the date. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on House Bill 987 Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Roll Call] Chair your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you Members. Moving on to the to the next bill HB901 Public charter schools and additional appeals for now we'll move this to continue the discussion with the HD1, which is the recommendation defecting the date. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair.

Voting on House Bill 901. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Roll Call] Okay, Chair recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Members. Moving into the last bill, HB904. This repeals duplicative reports by the BLE regarding charter school reporting Members. I would like to pass this with the HD1 defecting the date and per the BLE's testimony, I would like to to add some of that language which explains that this is just duplicative in nature.

It's a double report in essence. So it's clear for for Members moving forward. That is the only recommended change. We'll do that in the preamble section. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on the final bill, House Bill 904. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Roll Call] Okay, Chair. Your recommendations adopted.

Thank you. Adjourned.