House Standing Committee on Education

Okay. Good afternoon, everybody. This is your Committee on Education. Today's date is March 11th. It's 2:04pm and we are in Conference Room 309. 10 bills on the agenda. Today we're going to take some out of order. First we're going to go to Members. SB 1388, SD2. This is with regards to SFA and DOE representation.

First up, we have Board of Education offering testimony and support. Next, we have DOE offering testimony support in person. Superintendent, Hello.

Chair Woodson, Vice Chair Lachica, Members of the Committee. Keith Hayashi, Superintendent, testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. The Department stands on its written testimony in support of this measure. The Department must have an integral role in the oversight of and active involvement in the SFA's planning, development and construction of public school facilities.

Adding Department representation to the SFA board with two voting Members from the Department and the Board of Education will ensure that the SFA's service to the Department is aligned with the department's operational and strategic goals and operations. Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you, Superintendent. Next we have SFA offering testimony, offering comments.

Good afternoon. Ricky Fujitani with the School Facilities Authority. We stand on our submitted testimony with comments. Thank you. Thank you so much.

That's all I have. Anyone else? SB 1388, ST2 seeing non Members. Are there any questions? Okay, seeing them. We're going to go to SB 1393, SD1. This is with regards to SFA, DOE and land conveyances. First up, we have DOE offering testimony and support.

Aloha, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica, 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. Thank you for being here.

Next we have SFA offering testimony, offering comments. Director Fujitani.

Thank you again. Ricky Fujitani. We stand on our written testimony with comments. Thank you. Anyone else?

HB or SB 1393 SD1. Seeing none. Members or are there any questions? Okay. C. None. We're going to go back to the top of the agenda. SB 423, SD1. This as a Head Start Representative to the Early Learning Board. First up, we have ELB offering testimony and support via Zoom.

Aloha from Maui. Chair, Vice Chair and Committee. I'm Elaine Yamashita. I'm chair of the Early Learning Board. And stand on our written testimony and support. Mahalo.

Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for being here. Next we have Yuko Ar offering testimony and support in person.

Hi, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair, La Chica, Members of the Committee. I'm Yuko Ar, Director of the Executive Office on Early Learning. We stand in strong support of SB423, SD1 and thank the Committee for hearing this bill.

Last year it was brought to EOL's attention that the Early Learning Board was previously designated to serve as a state advisory council for the purpose of the Head Start act and as a result, the Early Learning Board needs to comply with certain requirements of the Federal Head Start Act.

In 2023, Act 170 restructured the composition of the Early Learning Board and this Bill makes changes needed to realign the new composition with the Head Start Act.

The language of the SD1 adds the Director of the Head Start Collaboration Office as an ex officio Member, invites the President of the Head Start Association of Hawaii or the President's designee to serve as an ex officio Member and includes language to ensure representation of early Childhood education and Development Services is included in the makeup of the board.

The EOEL supports the current version of this bill and respectfully requests the Committee's consideration of an amendment to change the effective date to upon approval. Approval. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. That's all I have. Anyone else? SB423 seeing none. Members, are there any questions? Okay, seeing none. We're going to go on to the next bill, SB422. This is with regards to the Department of Education awarding high school diplomas to those whose education was disrupted because of time of war.

First up, we have DOE offering testimony support in person. Thank you for being here, Dr. Chen. Next we have Chamber of Commerce offering Testimony and support. Hawaii Military Council offering testimony support. We have three individuals all in support. Anyone else? HB422C non Members with any questions. C9. We're going to go on to the next bill, SB3532 SD2.

This is with regards to DOE employees, agents and the administering of certain medications. First up, we have DOE offering disability support in person.

Aloha, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica and Members of the Committee. Kino Gardner, Assistant Superintendent, speaking on behalf of the Department of Education. And we stand on our written testimony. In support of the measure. Mahalo for letting us testify.

Thank you for being here. Next we have Department of Health offering testimony support in person.

Good afternoon. Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica and Members of the Committee. Dr. Diana Felton, Hawaii Department of Health. The Department stands in support of this measure which would safely help prevent kids with health conditions that require medications from having to miss school or other off campus enrichment activities. Happy to answer any questions.

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

Good afternoon. Chair Woodson and Vice Chair La Chica and. Members of the Committee. My name is Clementina Ceria-Ulep, Dean of the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene. So the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene and the John Abrams School of Medicine are in strong support of this measure.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony.

Thank you for being here. Next we have testimony from the Hawaii Patriot Republicans in opposition, Special Education Advisory Council in support. And we have testimony from 38 individuals, one in support, one and 37 in opposition. Anyone wishing to provide testimony seeing non Members. Are there any questions? I have questions for DOE and University of Hawaii, please, together.

Dean.

Thank you both for being here today. Either one of you can answer these questions. And so this proposal, it seeks to allow for oral, nasal, topical medications and also in emergency situations. Can you please explain what a nasal, topical or oral medication is?

So Ben Kalinsky will be executing this program so he can provide better details than I can. He's from the Department of Education.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Ben Kalinsky. I'm a pediatric nurse practitioner with the Hawaii Keiki Program and the clinical consultant to the School Health section of the Department of Education. So the question is relative to the roots of Administration for medication. So an oral medication is taken through the mouth and swallowed.

What's an example of like an oral medication, a nasal and a topical. Okay.

Tablet medication that you swallow is typical. Oral liquid medications could be taken orally. Right. And a nasal medication may be like a steroid spray that you put in your noes. Spray that goes into the noes is a nasal route. And topical medications are creams or ointments that go on the skin.

Okay. And so how would this be administered if from like the prescription all the way to actually the application to the student.

The process for ensuring like the review and the.

Yeah, if you can quickly explain like the entire process from prescription to application.

It begins with a parent requesting a medication to be received during the school day. That is the first and most important step. The provider that the family chooses to provide their health care would provide the prescription to the school on a form that the Department provides.

The form is processed at the school, which triggers the child fine process to ensure that there's considerations for the child's needs as a matter of access to education and for potential disability.

And then the Department has a standard for a nurse to review the medication form to determine if it's appropriate for a person with the training of a school health assistant to provide that medication and otherwise the medications are given by a nurse contracted by the Department of Education.

So it starts with a parental request.

Yep.

Very good. And some of the testimony illuminated to the fact that this can improve learning outcomes. Can you concretely succinctly explain how that is?

So many of the medications that children are taking in school are attention deficit ADHD treatments. So that contributes to their their learning. Many children with chronic conditions that don't have access to their medication tend to perform less favorably. Asthma being one of those examples, especially as it can impact their attendance.

But also just the ability to learn is best when a child is healthy and ready to learn. So those are some of the examples maybe that are most common. But access to medication during the school day is also considered a civil rights issue.

Okay, thank you so much. Members, are there any other questions? Okay, seeing none. Thank you so much. We're going to move on. Something in my throat. Next bill, we have SB 659, SD 2. This is with regards to locally sourced food products and school meals. First up, we have is DOE offering comments. Thank you so much for being here. Next we have SPO offering testimony in opposition.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Bonnie Kahakui, Administrator, State Procurement Office. We stand on our written testimony in opposition. We're only opposing the dollar threshold, which takes it from $25,000 to $250,000. Next opposition, and it is not in our testimony.

But I would like to make it clear now, we do oppose the DOE being exempt from 103D 104, which is all agriculture products. And agriculture products may include not only the produce, but fresh meats, produce, animals, and plants as well. So that was never the intent of the original bill. It was only for agriculture produce. Thank you, and available for questions.

Thank you so much. Next we have City and County Honolulu, Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency in support. And we have the Department of Ag. Excuse me. Offering testimony in support in person. Ulupono initiative in person in support. Brian, you didn't want to... I'm just kidding.

Afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Micah Munekata here on behalf of Ulupono initiative. Standing on our written testimony in strong support of this measure. I believe there's bills that have come before this body over the course of many years looking to make some headway on a lot of our local food goals.

I think we all can agree that we're really trying to get more local food into our school system for our kids to have fresh, nutritious meals and also supporting our local agricultural community in return. So I think this is just another tool. I think this measure, again, seeks to really move the needle.

I think after so many years of this body passing a goal of reaching 30% by 2030, I think it's time we start to seek some of these other options to really help push the DOE in the right direction. I think we've kind of tinkered around the 5% local over the course of the last three years. I think that something like this is a really good policy to consider that will move that percentage closer to our goal of our 2030 goal of 30%. So again, thank you very much, Chair, for hearing this measure, and we really appreciate it.

Thank you for being here. Next, we have Hawaii Farm Bureau offering testimony in support.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of Committee. Brian Miyamoto here on behalf of the Hawaii Farm Bureau. And Chair, with your indulgence, on behalf of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. I know it sounds weird, but they did ask me to submit or to testify on their behalf.

They are unavailable, and they offer their regrets. They have an entire staff meeting. But the Chair did want to emphasize her support for Section 2, which does exempt the DOE, and it is in their testimony from the procurement code for local agriculture to include meats, livestock, aquaculture.

And in fact, her comment to you, Chair, is that hamburgers and stews using local beef would be back on the school lunch menu. 30% by 2030 is doable. So on behalf of the Department, they are in support of the bill and specifically that exemption. Hawaii Farm Bureau's testimony is the same. I think everyone supports farm to school.

Farm to school is something that we need to support and we need to achieve at least the 30% by 2030. We also support the exemption. DOE was exempted from the procurement code years ago. We went to the preference. I believe, and the Farm Bureau believes an exemption will allow the flexibility to DOE in order to help them achieve that 30% goal in 2030 and the 40% and then 50%.

So again, we are in support of all portions of the bill, and we are pleased that the bill came up from the Senate with that new provision which would exempt the DOE from the procurement code for fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts, poultry, livestock, livestock products, milk, milk products, and aquaculture products. Again, don't we want these local products in our school meals? If so, give the DOE the ability to procure these with that exemption. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you for your passionate testimony. Next, we have Hawaii Public Health Institute offering testimony in support in person.

Aloha kākou, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica, Members of the Committee. Kawika Kahiapo with Hawaii Farm to School Network. Sorry. We strongly support this bill. We believe that its intentions would align, help to align Act 175 and make sure that we get 30% by 2030 and so forth. Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here. Next we have Hawaii Farmers Union offering testimony in support. Hawaii Food+ Policy in support. One individual also in support. That's all I have. Anyone else? Members, any questions? Vice Chair.

Question for State Procurement Office. Having heard all the testimony and, you know, all the intent behind, you know, wanting to support local ag and our farm to school goals, what would be the I guess the office's push for the bill? Will you, should this bill move forward, will you continue to oppose the bill?

I probably would. There's no, we didn't see any testimony why the bill went from, which we agreed with the DOE from 25 to 100,000. Now it just went from 100,000 to 250,000, and we didn't see any justification for that. One of the justifications talked about the farmers not having the technological capacity to respond to an online bidding process. And again, we did provide testimony in our packet that showed that there's a great deal of number of farmers that can respond to that.

Our objection is because of the accountability and transparency. We're talking about getting three quotes and having either the cafeteria workers or whoever is that's buying food for the schools calling up on the phone, getting three quotes, noting it down. How is that transparent and accurate?

And you're asking the SPO to make a report to determine the efficacy of this program. And what we're going to get is all these slips of paper from whoever we're getting them from to say that this program is good or not. I just don't see how we can in this age of transparency and accountability.

How do we make that leap from paper to that in order to push this bill forward? Of course we don't have any objection. We want to see the kids have fresh fruits and vegetables. But it needs to be done in a standard format, and we believe that doing it in online system is the best way to go forward.

Mahalo. Thank you. And follow up question, Chair. Follow up question for Hawaii Farm Bureau, please. Thank you, Brian. Wanted to just ask from the... Yeah. From the local farmers. I mean, we want as many local farmers to participate as possible. And it is very difficult for them to participate in the current process. Does the 100,000 versus 250,000 make a difference? What does this look like for them to be able to participate at the 100,000 level and then the 250,000 level?

Brian Miyamoto, Hawaii Farm Bureau. Thank you, Vice Chair. I don't know, honestly. I'm not going to sit here and make up a story, 150 or 100 to 250. Again, we are not the ones who had suggested that. We just want to give the Department the tools or as many tools as possible.

Again, I think our goal is to get more local, and if it needs to be compromised for that portion, absolutely. I think that's something the Hawaii Farm Bureau would consider if it will result in continued discussion on the ultimate goal of increasing our local agricultural products in the DOE's program.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Members, any other questions? I have a quick follow up question for SPO. Thank you again for being here. So what is the distinction in your mind between 100,000 and 250,000?

100,000 comes from our small purchase threshold. It's a number that the Legislature put forward a few years ago. And so that was a definitive number. It's not something that we came up with arbitrarily. That was a, it's a benchmark. Small purchase threshold for goods and for goods and services is 100,000. Obviously for construction it's 250,000, but we're not talking about construction. So that's where we have that $100,000 benchmark.

So what is, what is your rational for the difference though? I mean, if you have 250k for something else, then what is your specific concern?

My concern has always been it's a lot of money for agencies to have to buy using a manual process. As I say, for small purchase, we know that small purchase is supposed to be quick and easy, get it done, over with. Anything above that, we feel that it should be an even playing field for everyone and not just calling your three favorite vendors or your three favorite farmers or whatever the case might be.

Regardless if it's fruits and vegetables or for goods and services. We just want to make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to compete in this market. And as the program grows, more and more farmers will participate, and will they have an equal opportunity to bid on these products.

So in terms of market rate, you have a 250k threshold for something else. Why is it different?

We know that construction, well, 250 is for construction. So we all know that I think construction jobs cost money. And so 250 to get something less than 250,000 would be really small projects. It could just be fixing up a school, it could be fixing up buying furniture.

And anything above that would be probably, you know, a major project. So in this case, we're talking about fruits and vegetables or other produce. Is it supposed to be quick and easy? And that's what the DOE wants to have, something quick and easy. So we're proposing the 100,000.

In addition to that, the way the bill reads is actually making it more difficult for the DOE because not only do they have to get quotes, you also have to get quotes from non-local to make sure that they stay within that percentage. So now you've actually tasked them with more work.

Thank you so much. Remember, any other questions? Okay, Senator, we're going to move on to the next bill, SB789SC2. This is with regards to limits on school meal costs. First up, we have DOE offering testimony support in person. Thank you. Next we have Hawaii Public Health Institute offering testimony and support in person.

Law Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Nate Hicks with Hawaii Public Health Institute in support. We know that the proposal to double school meal prices happened just a few months ago and we're trying to avoid that. Especially we have, you know, one in three families right now experiencing food insecurity.

The last thing we want to do is to make another barrier for them to, you know, eat. You know, there are going to be many more students going hungry if school prices go up.

And so making sure that we can lower this, you know, arbitrary requirement to make sure that we can keep prices low would be very important.

Mahalo. Thank you for being here. Next we have the Democratic Party of Hawaii Education Caucus offering testimony and support. We have Hawaii Food bank offering testimony and support. Hawaii Children's Action Network speaks in support. Available via Zoom.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, I stand on our written testimony and support [unintelligible] bill. Thank you very much.

Thank you for being here. And we have two testimonies, both in support court. Anyone else? HB 789 ST2 say none. Members, are there any questions? Okay. Say that we're going to move on to the next bill, SB 1300. This is with regards to mail subsidies for Alice families.

First up, we have DOE offering testimony and support in person.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Tammy Chun for the Department of Education. We support SB 1300. I wanted to just call out some Amendments that we are requesting. So the first is that we support that our Alice families receive subsidized or free meals. A couple of things with that regard.

The first is that we are requesting an amendment that that would operationalize what the Alice threshold would be. The household income threshold would be at 250% federal poverty level.

Second, it's going to take a little bit of time to put in place the processes and procedures and the technology to be able to allow the Alice families to request eligibility and then to receive the meals. So we are requesting implementation of the Alice subsidy for the school year 2627.

So it gives us a year for implementation. And then in the interim for next school year, we'd like to request that the cost of meals for students who qualify for reduced price lunch be covered in full so that those students would receive fully subsidized meals and that that would be for the 2526 school year. Thank you.

Perfect.

Thank you so much. Next we have County of Hawaii Department of Research and Development offering disability and support. We have HSTA offering testimony support in person.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Sarah Millianta-Laffin. On behalf of HSTA, we have been here for many years talking about the importance of feeding students. We've had vehicles in the past that have been great. This vehicle for moving it forward helps. We still liked 757 better, but the idea on school meals are school supplies.

I can tell you stories of 20 years of the kids that I fed in my classrooms. I can tell you the fights in Costco with my partner about putting more things in our cart because feeding kids is essential. There are kids hungry now, there are kids hungry today and they deserve meals.

And we need to find a way to make that happen. But we do support this measure because we see that it helps. We were concerned just because we haven't heard the exact number on how many it's helped. We've heard a few varying numbers that it could be an 8% assistance rate.

But it'd be lovely to know how many more families we'd be affecting. But we do support this. We got to feed hungry kids.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Kawaii County Council, Ms. Holland in support. We have, excuse me, the Mayor of Maui County in support. We have Hawaii Appleseed in support, in person.

They're here.

Aloha Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica, Members of the Committee. I'm sorry I'm not there in person. I would love to be, but circumstances didn't allow it today. My Name is Daniel Espoto. I'm here today representing Hawaii Appleseed. We wholeheartedly support any bill that would get us closer to free meals for all students.

And so we are in support of this bill. We would also like to respectfully suggest some amendments very similar along the lines of what the Department has recommended. They're in a written testimony. But of particular concern in the bill is the requirement the Department up top administrative rules.

This is a process that we know at times can take two to three years, during which time any appropriation tied to this bill would lapse. And we know that that could jeopardize the program ever coming to fruition at all. So one of the things we'd like to suggest is removing that requirement.

In addition, the Department has also requested that rather than using Alice as the measure, due to the complexities of that, looking at a federal poverty level instead, which is a much easier lift, I believe they requested 250% in our testimony. We are asking for 300%.

Just because when you look at Alice Thresholds, the four, the family of four that we usually use as a marker for Alice does fall around 300%. That is the same threshold. So we think that's a good marker, at least for the family of four to look at as far as fpl.

And finally, meeting the income threshold is not the only barrier to participation in the free meal programs. There's other challenges, like not being able to submit the paperwork for language learners or maybe concern about providing information to a government agency. So for this reason, we utilizing.

Okay, thank you very much. Reconvening false alarm. So we're going to continue with Hawaii Apple Seed. If you can, please continue in your testimony. Sorry for the disruption.

No worries. I was so confused, but I'm glad. It's a false alarm. I think I was just in the. Middle of saying, you know, it would be better to. For the ATLAS population rather than using. ATLAS as the measure, to use federal poverty level. And the reason that we look at using 300% in our testimony rather than.

250 is because that's sort of the marker. The family of four, that is the example family in the ATLAS methodology falls around 300% of the federal poverty level. So that's just one marker that we. Have to kind of tie to ATLAS. So 300% might be something to consider. The last thing I wanted to say.

Did I already say the part about the. I don't know what part I got cut off? Was it the. Did I get to say the part. About the income threshold not being the. Only barrier to participation?

You did say that already.

Okay. So we think the Legislature should consider amending the bill. The DOE had said, adding in increments, maybe doing, you know, just reduced price and then this and then potentially something after. We would like to also see that. But for the end result to eventually.

Be feeding all children so that we can eliminate the need for collecting paperwork. And there need to be an impetus. For the children to apply. Thank you so much for hearing my testimony.

Thank you so much for your zoom testimony. Next, we have Catholic Charities Hawaii offering testimony and support in person.

I'm Betty Lou Larsen with Catholic Charities, and thank you because I don't usually get to testify in front of your Committee. Good to see you. Catholic Charities is a partner with Aloha El and others in an ATLAS initiative. And so we work with many ATLAS families and know they're stressed out anyway.

But food is extremely high cost, and, you know, if you can't feed your keiki, you're going to think of moving. And that's one of the concerns. These are working families, their workforce.

I think it fits into the Legislature's intent to find ways to lower cost of living and to help our workers who want to stay here to stay in Hawaii. And so it's that. But it's more important is the kids themselves.

In order to learn, in order to grow, in order to be healthy, they need to have healthy meals and. And not just something that they can grab on the way out of the house a little bit that they have at home. So thank you very much for hearing this bill.

Thank you so much. Next, we have Pride at Work Hawaii offering testimony and support via Zoom.

Good afternoon. Michael Golojuch Jr., President of Pride at Work. Pronouns he, him. We. Thank you for hearing this bill. We do. I do want to echo the same concerns that have been by Hawaii State Teachers Association because this bill is not going to help everybody, especially those that coming from a hostile family environment.

And parents are also stressed out from having to fill out if they miss the paperwork, their kids don't eat. If they don't put money in their accounts, the kids don't eat. And.

I'm just sick and tired of hearing about families or children going to, coming, going to school hungry and them not getting a meal or them being handed a cheese sandwich when the rest of their classmates are handed a hot meal just because there isn't enough money in their account.

So while I know this bill doesn't fix everything, it is a start. We heard from the DOE today and we've heard from Appleseed that there's all this paperwork involved.

How much time and energy put into all that paperwork would be saved if we just made lunch free for everybody and be able to ensure that all kids were fed. So we hope Appleseed do move this bill forward.

We want you to realize that this is not the end, that there is a huge, there's a bigger problem out there and we need to make sure all kids are being fed because hungry kids do not learn. They do not help our economy.

They do not become productive adults if they do not have a solid education and a solid building blocks that they miss out because they are hungry at lunch, after lunch. So on that note, thank you for hearing this bill.

I do want to point out that all those people that come to before you and other committees claiming they care about the Keiki, where are they today? Where are they today? Because they're not here. And they're not here when other bills that actually impact the Keikis lives and make them better.

And so I call, so we call Shabbat on that when you the rest of your hearings when you have to deal with those issues. So we encourage you again, pass this bill. Mahalo.

Thank you for your testimony. Next, we have Hawaii Youth Services Network offering testimony and support through Zoom. Aloha.

Chair, Members of the Committee, I'm Judith Clark, Executive Director of Hawaii Youth Services Network, a statewide coalition of youth serving organizations. We support this bill because across the islands, tens of thousands of local households, households make too much money to qualify for free or reduced school meals. But are still struggling financially.

We know that one in three families in Hawaii are experiencing hunger or food insecurity. In 20231 in 10 Hawaii households were going without food for a whole day. Some or most months out of the year. 37% of all households felt anxious about running out of food.

Providing free school meals to children from ATLAS households will ensure that more public school students will have access to healthy food and will be able to take advantage of their educational opportunities and learn the skills and knowledge that we are trying to teach them. Thank you for this opportunity to testify.

Thank you for your testimony. Next Wave Hawaii Food Industry Association offering testimony and support via Zoom. Thank you. Next, we have Hawaii Public Health Institute offering testimony in person. Support.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Nate Hicks with Hawaii Public Health Institute in support. As many of you already know, we would love to see free school meals for all. This is the pathway forward. I think none of us want to see hungry kids.

And the revenue that's being generated right now for meals prices is under $20 million a year, which, when you compare that to the $2 billion DOE budget, this is such a small price. At the end of the day, this is definitely something we can afford. It's something that we need to afford.

And the return on investment is through the roof. Making sure kids can eat is going to pay dividends now because they're not hungry and down the line because they're more productive, they're learning, they're building confidence, they're not stressed out at school, leading to chronic disease. So, again, free school meals for all.

However, if we are going to continue down this pathway of ATLAS families, federal poverty level is a much better method using administrative rules, as discussed. We also think that 300% of the federal poverty level is kind of the minimum that the price should be set at.

Again, fortunately, 300% is roughly right around what the ATLAS Survival budget is. Now. It's not perfect, obviously, but it's very close. If we, you know, go below that, you're going to have many, many families struggling to make ends meet and not qualifying.

And so I think, you know, if we do choose to go this route, that's the better path forward. And I think we also should consider, as said before, a pathway to free school meals for all. This can be an interim plan. Thank you. Mahalo.

Thank you for your testimony. Next, we have the Green Party of Hawaii offering testimony and support. We have the Democratic Party Hawaii Education Caucus offering testimony and support.

Thank you, Chair.

You wear several hats.

Anyways, Cameron, Hurt, I am the Vice Chair for the Democratic Party of Hawaii Education Caucus and I'm also here as my capacity of Governing Board Chair for Voyager Public Charter School. You guys have heard great testimony so far today and I'm sure many of the points you're familiar with already.

But I do want to steep us in our reality and that and our reality is with the New Federal Administration, we've already lost $660 million to the local food for schools program. That's already gone.

And we now as of today, that cuts came straight to the Department of Education which are already looking at cutting the program to expand already free and reduced lunch.

So any federal dollars that we're getting, we can pretty much count that out and coming in the future, we have to prepare now and our kids can't go hungry because we're failing to prepare. I love the idea of trying to find that benchmark. I see you guys trying to figure out where the happy medium is.

ATLAS family is a great place to start. But who's an ATLAS family this year and who's one next year is never the same. Personally, I will share that I was a dad who had to choose between my son going to school and getting food or me going to work and being hungry.

In 2013, as a teacher in the state, I could not afford to eat lunch and for my son to eat lunch I had to pick, offer parents a better dignity, give them the opportunity for their kids to eat.

And as a former teacher, I can tell you that many of my kids, the rambunctious ones, the behavior problems, as a fully self contained former special education teacher, a lot of their problems was food insecurity. They didn't know where the next meal was coming from. But they knew when they came to Mr.

Hurt's room there was going to be food for them there. And that changed their attitude around completely. So please, please, please pass this bill.

Thank you, thank you for your testimony. Next we have Kauai Women's Caucus offering testimony. Support Hawaii Food plus policy and support Church State Council and support Pele Lani Farm LLC and support parents and children together. In support Hawaii Food bank and support Project Vision and support Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center. In support Hawaii Hunger Action Network.

In support, Hawaii Farms Bureau. In support Oahu Youth Board. In support Aloha Care Support Hawaii Children's Action Network speaks and support via Zoom.

Aloha again Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. I'm Nicole Wu from Hawaii Children's Action Network and similar to bill HB 757 and some others we heard the first half of the session. We support free school meals for all children. We share a lot of the points that prior testifiers have stated.

One is that having just free meals for all kids is definitely less administrative burden for the DOE. They don't have to collect meal, meal costs, meal prices from fees from the parents. They don't have to chase after that and all that.

And I think I did share with you last half of session that there are some studies showing savings of something like $0.67 per lunch and $0.59 per breakfast if a school moves to free school meals for all. So that's something to consider.

And also, as Daniela said, we know that there are families that qualify for free or reduced price meals, but for whatever reason, whether they just can't get their paperwork together or they don't speak English or read English very well, or they are afraid of interacting with government programs, which is an even greater fear in our new Administration.

They don't put in their applications and so then they don't get the free meals, even though we know that they need them. So free meals for all would be a way to take care of all those issues.

But if we were to follow the ATLAS family model that this bill has, I agree with prior testifiers that it would make a lot more sense to move to the federal poverty level instead.

One thing to point out is that the ATLAS standard, while we talk about it a lot here in Hawaii, the first time we had it here in Hawaii, it was 2017. It's done by Aloha United Way and then they didn't do another one for a few years until 2020. And then after 2022, the methodology changed.

It's a great figure, it's a great stat. But by using ATLAS specifically, it would put DOE kind of dependent on a private nonprofit doing this report every single year. The federal poverty level is an official standard across the nation that is updated every year.

If you look at the 2024 ATLAS report on page three, they have the levels. The federal poverty level in 2024 was 36,000 about for a family of four, while the ATLAS was about 108,000 for a family of four, which is like a few other people said, just about 300% of poverty.

So if we want to keep it sort of at the ATLAS level, I also support 300% of the poverty level instead. Thank you for letting me testify.

Thank you for your comments, greatly appreciate it. Next we have Hawaii State LGBTQ Commission offering testimony and Support via Zoom. Dr. Odell, we have Hawaii alliance for Progressive Action offering testimony support. We have 76 individual testifiers all in support to offering comments. One opposition we have Joel Edwards, individual offering testimony and support available via Zoom.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair and Committee Members. My name is Joelle Edwards. I'm a community advocate. I'm also chair of the Kauai Democratic Party and an auntie in a small rural community. And I voice my strong support today for SB 1300 which supports our ever growing ATLAS families.

But I also urge you to amend this bill so that all students have access to free meals.

As you're aware, many of our working families don't meet the strict income limits for free and reduced price lunch which are capped at 185 but the federal poverty level far below the 300% or more that is actually needed to cover these living expenses.

During the pandemic I was the Food Access coordinator here on Kauai and during that time I witnessed the impact of these types of income guidelines in which families who live in school zones where free and reduced lunch ratios might be higher than what they need.

There were many Keiki who were left out of the school food distribution in their neighborhood school and were asked to drive to another side of our island.

Many groups in this group today I want to thank them because we worked diligently to make certain that all families could get the resources but we should not have to had to battle the way that we did. All students should have food in our very rural community.

Up here on the north shore of Kauai most students are traveling long hours to get to school and I have the school bus stop right in front of my small market and we watch so many kids start their day maybe with a musubi and then they're getting off the bus starving and when I've asked most answer that they didn't bring and or they're unable to get the school lunch.

So now we have a snack fruit box for these students that the market provides. But what about the in between those times? It's well documented students who experience hunger face greater risk of stress, depression and long term health issues.

We've shown that providing free school meals leads to improved academic performance including higher test scores and less stress overall for the families. I want to hollow you for your time today and thank you for all your hard work on this session.

Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Chloe Franklin offering testimony and support in person.

Good morning Chair, Vice Chair and Members of the Committee. My name is Chloe Franklin and I am a senior at Kalaheo. This paper in front of me is filled with facts and figures about glucose levels, improving cognitive ability and how engagement goes up when hunger goes down.

But I think it's important for you to see a firsthand story of someone who has gone through that. When I was a kid my dad was often deployed who knows where, he was a Marine and my mom was at home with my siblings and I. There were three of us and oftentimes it was hard.

We didn't make enough to comfortably afford lunch every day. But we made too much to get school food reduced and lunch was off and just whatever we could throw into our lunchbox before we left for school.

And a lot of the times I would go to my friends houses after school and beg their moms for snacks because I was hungry. That's not something anyone should have to deal with. And I think this bill can prevent situations like mine from happening again.

Thank you. Thank you Ms. Franklin, for your testimony. Is there anyone else wishing to provide testimony? Please come up and state your name. Maybe what school you're from.

Aloha. Chair, Vice Chair and Members of the Committee. My name is Ashton. I'm also a senior from Kalaheo High School. I wanted to express my strong support for SB 1300 which addresses the critical issues of food insecurity among Hawaii's working families and students. I wanted to share a personal story of mine.

I'm lucky enough to have a home prep meal every single day before going off to school. But I had my freshman year I had a friend who was that I had to share my lunch with. He didn't have the it called, he couldn't afford to buy school lunch. So I don't think anyone should go through that.

And also I was just happy to share my lunch with him. And so with that being said, I urge you to vote yes on SB 1300. And thank you for your time.

Thank you for your testimony. Anyone else, thank you for being here. Please state your name and your school.

Good afternoon Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Andrew. I am a student attending Kalaheo High School and I am testifying in support of Senate Bill 1300. I have friends who attend public school and struggle to afford meals due to their family's financial situation.

Ensuring that students from low income households receive proper nutrition is essential for their academic success and overall well being. This bill will make a real difference in helping those who need it most and I believe it is an important step towards supporting all students in Hawaii. I ask for your support of Senate Bill 1300.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much for being here. Anyone else? Okay, seeing none. Are there any questions? Anyone on Zoom? Okay, Members. zero, is that someone?

Aloha. Can you guys hear?

We can hear you.

Okay. Aloha. Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica and Members of the Committee. I am Lauren Pokepala, teacher at Adioi High School. I am in support of SB 1300 with amendments as well.

You know, for us high school teachers, we all know that building relationships with our students at the beginning of the school year is super critical because that's when we get to hear all their stories and experiences and then that's what guides us in how to best support their learning journey.

Over the years, many of my juniors and seniors, they share that they have jobs. And the sad part is they have jobs because they have to help support their family needs. I think about that's not their Kuleana, but they do it anyways because they have to. Their Kuleana is actually to learn from interactions within the school setting.

As adults, we need to do our best to provide these positive learning environments where they can feel supported and encouraged. If we can feed all our youth, they can focus on learning and working towards becoming the leaders that Hawaii needs.

I just want to say mahalo to those Kalaheo high school students for coming and sharing as well and mahalo for your guys. Time. Aloha.

Aloha. Thank you for your testimony. Anyone else? Okay, seeing none. Members, are there any questions? I have a question for DOE. Thank you again as Chun for being here. So it was articulated in Several testimonies the 300% federal poverty level. Is the DOE okay with that?

Do you have a figure and how would you implement that in schools in terms of identifying, identifying those families?

So this is in regards to the, the federal poverty level that would be used to identify families that essentially operationalize what ATLAS is. We would be okay with 250% or 300% just as a point of reference. For free lunch it is 130% and reduced lunch is 185% of poverty at different household sizes.

So this would go from 185 to 250 or, or 300%. We don't have really. We don't have information from families at this time about how many families would be at 250% or 300%. 250. We did come up with the number of families.

We believe that our estimate is that there's 12,000 families in or students in the DOE who are likely to be in the group between reduced Lunch and ATLAS that is about 8% of the student population.

The way we came up with 250% was to look at different combinations of household characteristics and look at the ATLAS house survival budgets for those different household combinations.

Just to give you an example of what's in the 185 to 250% that is a household of 21 adult 1 school age child or a family of 42 adults 2 school age children. That would be examples of households that are in the under 250%.

Or then when we get to the 250 to 300% you would be looking at households such as a family of 31 adult two school age children are at 265% federal poverty or three household of four with one adult three school age children would be at 254% poverty. So I think 300% would be fine.

It's potential to have AB a as it's a little bit more generous. It has potential to have some potential additional costs but we won't know until we get the information from families applying for to be eligible for the subsidized this additional subsidy.

Do you have a estimate as to how much that would cost compared to the 250 federal poverty level? We don't.

You offered we don't Our estimate right now is that based on American Community Survey data and and the United Way ATLAS report and in in partnership with the Hawaii Data Collaborative we We estimate that 12000 families are ATLAS and that's not related to directly to federal poverty level.

How would you identify the families?

So right now we're expecting that we would identify the families in the same way that families apply for free reduced price lunch. They submit an application identifying their family size and family income.

And so it would just be a different there's a particular cutoff right now threshold for free lunch reduced lunch and we would just add another column that said for each household size this would be the ATLAS category or the 250 or 300% category.

Okay, that's easy enough. Members, any other questions? Vice Chair.

DOE follow up question. Currently as you implement the program for free and reduced price lunch do they only do they all receive just one card?

So currently we're on an electronic system of payment whether this the for all students to receive meals and so the students are scanned in some schools use IDs or some schools have a binder say of scan of barcodes for each student and the so the that's how students are charged the meals are charged for the student.

The source of the funding, whether parents are paying or whether they're getting a federal subsidy is, is unknown to the scanner or to the students as they go through the line. That information is all on the back end.

And just confirming what you shared with us earlier, your data source is from Census American Community Survey because you're currently not collecting information on family income right now and you will be providing second, a new form for eligible families to apply. Correct.

We would have to change this the way that we collect and evaluate the data about household income to include the additional group of families. And so it would be. But we are, we would really like to have just one process for all students whether they're going to be subsidized through the federal program or through the state program.

And in what was shared earlier by, I believe it was Hcan, we don't often capture that gap group because out of either stigma or Association in this delayed implementation of one year, will education and awareness be part of that? Like, hey, there's going to be potentially this new program coming out of DOE.

We, you know, encourage, you know, eligible families to apply and it's a new program other than free and reduced price lunch.

So what would be important to sharing the message and preparing everyone to take, to take as much advantage of the opportunity would be if the Legislature were able to approve this program now for the implementation in the following year so that we know that it's coming and funded for the following year, then we can definitely start communicating that something new will be happening next year.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Members, are there any other questions? Okay, thank you so much. Seeing none. We're going to go on to the next bill, SB 494, SD 2. This is financial audits for charter schools. First up, we have the Office of the Auditor offering comments. Next, we have Charter School Commission offering comments in person.

Aloha, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica, Members of the Committee. PJ Foehr on behalf of Dr. Noh and the State Public Charter School Commission. We stand on our submitted comments regarding SB 494, SD 2 and are here to answer any questions regarding this matter.

Thank you for being here. Next we have Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences offering testimony in opposition. Not present. Anyone else? SB 494, SD 2. Seeing none. Members, are there any questions? I have a quick question for Charter School Commission. So already, there's various types of audits that are required by each charter school. Do you know the genesis of this particular proposal?

The genesis of this... I'm not aware of it. It came from the Senate side, Senator Richards. We are not aware of the genesis of it, no. But yes, charter schools are required annually to submit their own audit.

Okay, thank you so much. Members, are there any other questions? Okay, seeing none. We're going to go into the next bill, which is SB 747, SD 1. This is with regards to establishing an audit office within the Board of Education. First up, we have BOE offering comments. That's all I have. Anyone else? SB 747, SD 1. Seeing none. Members, are there any questions? I guess there is no one ask questions, so we will continue on to the next bill. And we are complete. Recess.

Okay, thank you, Members. We are back for voting on several bills. First up, we have SB 423, SD1.

This is the companion to House Bill 1066 and it adds head start membership to the Early Learning Board. Members, I would like to pass at HD1, defecting the date to July 1st, 3000. Questions, comments, concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on Senate Bill 423, SD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair vote. I.

[roll call]

Chair, recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, members. Going into the next bill, SB 422. This is with regards to high school diplomas for those whose education was disrupted because of times of war. Very similar to HB 628. Like to defect the date to July 1, 3000. Questions, comments, concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Okay. Voting on Senate Bill 422. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Noting Representative Muraoka's absence for this bill and for the rest of the agenda. Any members voting no? Anyone voting with reservations? Chair recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Going on to the next bill, SB 532 SD2. This is with regards to DOE staff agents and administering of certain medications. Companion to HB 1499, recommendation is to pass this with the HD1 defecting the date July 1st, 3000. Questions, concerns?

Chair.

Yes

I'm just going to cast a vote in reservation.

Okay, thank you. Anyone else, members? Vice Chair for the vote, please.

Voting on Senate Bill 532. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments, noting the reservation vote for Representative Kila. Any other members voting with reservation? Anyone voting no? Chair, recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Members, going on to SB 659 SD2. This is with regards to the Department of Education, locally sourced products and procurement. Again, very similar to HB 1293. Members, recommending HD1 blinking out the dollar amounts in the purpose sections, referencing them in the Committee report. Also defecting the date to July 1st, 3000. Questions, comments, concerns?

Vice Chair for the vote, please.

Voting on Senate Bill 659, SD2. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Anyone voting with reservation? Any members voting no? Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Going on to SB 789 SD2, Department of Education and limits on school meal costs. This is the companion for HB 1075. We'll revert back to that language in the HD1 version that also has our preferred defective date. Questions, comments, concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Okay. Voting on Senate Bill 789, SD2 Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Any members voting with reservation? Any members voting no? Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, members. Going on to SB 1300 SD1, DOE at no cost meals for Alice families. Members, the recommendation is the HD1. We're going to remove the language in section 2 that's found on page 2 through page 3. That's with regards to the admin rules, as it was stated in the testimony. That takes too much time.

Instead, we're going to define students who qualify for that as families at 300% of the federal poverty level. Also, members, we're going to add in that section that for their first year we will make reduced lunches, so both breakfast and reduced lunches free for that first year of implementation per dual ease request.

And then in the second year, the full plan of providing free meals for Alice families as is defined in that new section 2. Defect the date July 1st, 3000 and we'll reference the 565k for the first implementation year for the subsidies for the first part. And we'll wait for the figure for the Alice, the 300% FPL later.

Questions, comments, concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Members, voting on Senate Bill 1300 SD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Any members voting with reservation? Any members voting no? Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Members, moving on to SB 494 SD2, financial audits for charter schools. Member per many of the testimonies, audits are already done, including by independent CPA firms. So we will defer. Defer. Thank you. Next, members, moving on to SB 747 SD1, establishing an audit office in the BLE for annual audits.

There's nothing done in this way at this time, so we're going to move this to continue the conversation, defecting the date to July 1st, 3000. Questions, comments, concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on Senate Bill 747, SD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Any members voting no? Any members voting with reservation? Chair, recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, members. Moving on to the next bill, SB 1388 Senate Draft 2. This is with regards to SFA boards and DOE representation. Members, recommendation is to pass this with the HD1.

We're going to revert back to the senate draft one version which makes a recommendation to add two members that are non voting and we're going to defect the date to July 1st, 3000. Questions, comments, concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Members, voting on Senate Bill 1388, Senate Draft 2. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendment. Any members voting with reservation? Any members voting no? Chair, recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, members. And lastly, SB 1393, SD 1, SFA, DOE, and LANC advances. Members, the recommendation is to pass with the HD1 reverting back to the the house companion which is HB 1074 HD1. We're going to use that language which reflects the house position has our preferred defective date. Questions, comments, concerns? Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on SB 1393, SD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Any members voting with reservation? Any members voting no? Chair, recommendation is adopted.

Adjourned.