Senate Standing Committee on Education

Good afternoon, welcome to the Senate Committee on Education. Today is Friday, April 11, 2025. This is our 3:00pm agenda and we are in hearing room 229. This meeting, including the audio and video of remote participants, is being streamed live on YouTube.

You will find links to viewing options for all Senate meetings on the live and on demand video page of the Legislature's website.

In the unlikely event that we must abruptly end this hearing due to technical difficulties, the Committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business on Monday, April 14, 2025 in room 229, and a public notice will be posted on the Legislature's website.

I'd like to take this time to remind our testifiers to that due to time restrictions on our hearings, we will be limiting testimony to one minute per testifier per Bill. For people participating remotely, please remain muted and video disabled until shortly before it is your time to testify.

When I call your name, unmute yourself and your time will begin. After your minute is completed, staff will mute you so that we can move this hearing along in an orderly and efficient manner. Thank you. First on our agenda is GM779.

Advise and consent. Submitting for consideration and confirmation to the School Facilities Authority Gubernatorial nominee Shelley Piva for a term to expire June 30, 2029. So to testify on this measure, Superintendent Keith Hyashi.

Aloha Chair Kidani, Vice Chair Kim, Members of the Committee. Keith Hyashi, Superintendent testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. The Department stands on its written testimony in support of this measure. Ms. Piva's experience managing large scale operations with diverse teams is directly applicable to the complexities of school construction projects.

In particular, her experience in gathering community and stakeholder input will be invaluable. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Superintendent to testify. Joshua Mueller, Detective, HPD Individual in support. Is he online?

No, not present, Chair.

Are there any additional testifiers present who wish to testify on this issue? If not, Members any questions of the testifiers? Okay. Is Shelly here? Shelly?

Aloha, Chair. Vice Chair.

Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself, Shelley?

Yes. I apologize that I cannot be there in person. I had a prior commitment on the mainland. So thank you for letting me testify via Zoom. I just want. I just want to let you know that I retired in March 1st of this year.

I was expected to just kind of chill, but I decided that I really needed to do something. And when the opportunity arose to be a part of this board, I thought that it would be a great opportunity to give back to the teachers and the students who in our community who I truly value.

I've been in the community policing team for many years, but pretty much my entire career I've had to work with the community stakeholders, organizations, and many other people in order to get the jobs that we needed done. I value the input of those that are part of the projects that we will be involved in.

And I think the biggest, the big positive part that I will bring to this Committee is that I'm able, I believe that my strength is to collaborate efficiently, effectively, and with aloha with those that will be involved.

Thank you, Shelley. Is there anyone else here wishing to testify on this nominee? Moving on to the next GM7. Oh, I'm sorry. Questions?

Good afternoon, Shelley.

Good afternoon.

I know we had a lengthy discussion about you serving, and we certainly appreciate your willingness to serve. So you realize that this position deals with a lot of construction, facilities, infrastructure, that kind of thing. So I know that that's not necessarily in your resume.

So do you feel that you can take this on and be able to make decisions regarding facilities?

I absolutely think that I can take this on. I believe in myself. I love to learn all the time. So I may not have experience in construction, but I am not afraid to ask questions all the time if there's something that I need to know better to make a good decision.

I believe that many Members of this board and the staff and the Executive Director have experience in that area and that what I will bring to this board is more the collaboration with the community. The, the schools, the DOE, the BOE, the stakeholders, the students.

And decisions that I make will not only be representative of what is best for the construction side, but it will also take into account especially those that will be affected by the construction that we are doing.

How would you deal with a situation where there's a project being built and there's only X amount of dollars that is allotted for that project, and it's not necessarily what the DOE wants or the location that they might want it in. So there's a disagreement at the end of the day. How.

How would you, as a board Member, help to deal with something like that?

I think a lot of times. Well, in general, you have to get the input of everybody involved. I believe that the board is just. We take on what the ledge allows us to build.

And when there's a conflict between what the Department of Education or the Board of Education may want and what the board may also want, I think that's where I probably will be able, because of the partnerships and the relationships that I've built, be able to truthfully, honestly be able to talk to both sides and be able to collaborate and come to an agreement.

In my opinion, when a decision needs to be made, you have to look at who is the end user and who is going to benefit from the project itself. So the questions I base my decisions on would be, there's always four questions I ask. Is it best for the community? Is it best for the teachers?

Is it best for the students? And is it best for all of those involved? If you could say yes to all of those questions, then it's a good decision.

I understand that there are going to be times where people are not going to agree, but I believe that I have several different ways of being able to communicate better so that we all should be wanting the same end result.

And that is to give our students, our teachers and the community the best facility for education that is a safe place for our students to be able to go to and our teachers to be able to go to to learn.

Very well said. Thank you. But one area you left out is the financial aspect of it. And so there is only so much money that may be allotted and sometimes that may have to be the final decision making as to where we put things. Because if, you know, we have cost overruns, we can't complete the project.

I know there's $1.0 billion worth of projects that is sitting incomplete at this point or been encumbered and can't go forward because of the lack of funding. So I think that is a key area that has to be balanced.

Similarly, in our family budgets, we certainly want to give our family and our kids everything they want, but the budget is the budget and we have to live within the means of the budget. So I think that's one factor that has to go in and you know, what's realistic that we can actually build.

So hopefully that will be taken into consideration.

Definitely. I think it's just a matter of both parties coming to an agreement on what needs to be prioritized. And at that point it's whatever is within the budget.

So if there's things that different in what they think is in priority, then that's when probably I believe that I can be the most beneficial in going to both parties and explaining both sides on how we have to meet this budget and what is your priority, what is the Board's priority?

And coming to an agreement of, listen, we may have to cut this, but we also have to gain this for your side. So it's never going to be one person who's always going to get what they want.

It's going to be, do you understand that we have a budget, so you're going to have to give and in turn the other person will give.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you Shelley. You've answered most of my questions, but let's, let me ask you, based on your experience in procurement and fiscal management, what do you believe is key to keeping a project on track to completion?

Well, based off of my experience, it's, it's the process from the beginning to end, making sure that those involved in the process, including myself and the people who have our, the money that's going forward. It's always being in communication and making sure that the project doesn't stall anywhere.

Because a lot of times in my, in, in my experience there's always a stall in the procurement process somewhere along the line, whether it's getting the quotes or whether it's looking for the vendors or whether it's actually going for a sole source or whatever it may be, being able to constantly be on track and keeping in communication saying why aren't we moving forward?

What do we need to do to get this moving forward and not letting it go to the wayside and losing time and in fact by the end of the budget year we end up losing money because we didn't spend it in time.

Thank you. Comments, Members? If not. Thank you Shelley.

Thank you.

Moving on to GM 777, submitting for consideration and confirmation to the School Facility Authority gubernatorial nominee Robert Davis for a term to expire 6-30-2025 and also GM 778 Robert Davis for a term to expire at 6-30-2029. Bob, please.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Good afternoon. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Vice Chair and Senate. Let's see, where do you start? So I've have a little over 30 years in the Department of Education, was a teacher, coach, counselor, vice principal at a high school.

I actually worked in the personnel area for a few years and then I went on to a principalship at an elementary school before retiring the last eight years as a complex area superintendent for the 20 schools in Leilehua, Mililani, and Waialua.

I really enjoy the area of facilities, really started understanding it a little bit as a vice principal while I was at Leilehua High School. Worked on many, many projects, put up 15 classrooms, two story building, field, track, many other large scale projects for a campus.

And then of course with the experience of being in the complex area superintendent, there are a lot of projects that were done within our area. ESSER money came in and we were tasked with utilizing it because of the pandemic. I think the track record for LMW bodes well.

We're able to not only successfully utilize the $14 million that we received, which was on top of our normal budget, I think we were able to create systems in place that allowed the 20 schools and the students current and the students in the future to really benefit from that funding source.

So much so where after we've proven that we could successfully utilize the funding, we were able to secure almost five more million dollars for projects that we had to put on site. Because we utilized our budget, we weren't going to overspend and we were able to do so in less than two and a half years.

I think we've been able to expand our program, our programs at the 20 schools. I think we're able to benefit students for years to come. So that money was not just used for last minute items. We did do tutoring and things of that nature to catch our kids up.

And I think also the track record would show that, you know, our kids were pretty successful with their growth and achievement. Very proud of that. The, the team in LMW did an excellent job.

I think we're also able to successfully work with not just the schools that are below us, but then the various departments above us, you know, and I feel very comfortable and confident that, you know, upon leaving that, you know, the, the communication, the collaboration and our relationships were all positive.

And so, you know, I think that that's something that I'm able to bring to the table to be able to communicate with folks whether you agree or disagree.

But you can do so in a manner where, you know, you treat each other with dignity and respect and then you make things transparent so you can earn and build trust and then you can move forward hopefully in a positive area so you can successfully help the community.

Thank you. Bob. Having been on the Early Learning Board, what were examples that you can share of having productive communication with your board and the degree?

Okay, yeah, I, I was the designee for the Superintendent for four years on the Early Learning Board and it was a new board because EOEL was relatively new at that time. And so we were able to, I think, kind of help the Executive Director there with some guidance.

And we're beginning to set some policy because it was a new board and they had not at that time set any policy for EOEL. We were also able to successfully identify schools in the DOE where we could put in pre-K, because that's basically the realm for the DOE, to help facilitate that portion,

I was able to participate with setting the parameters for how we would be selecting the school statewide because it was something so new.

I feel we were successful in identifying the appropriate schools because it's based on how many pre-K programs were in the area, what's the say, the poverty level within the area, how many students in the area generally go to pre-K, et cetera. So there are numerous qualifications to be higher on the list.

And so we started with the first 10 and then by the third year there were another 20. And then after I left the board, they were continuing to identify more schools that would be on the list.

Thank you. Members, questions?

Yes, hi. We also had an extensive discussion. So, having thought about everything, what do you see as the biggest obstacles at SFA and what do you as a board member can do to contribute to resolving that?

I think actually similar to EOEL and being part on the Early Learning Board, being new, I do think there's just growing pains. I think communication is a big part of that. Knowing how and when to communicate, the methodology, who to do it with, kind of finding your footing and grounding yourself in, in doing the work.

But you can't do it alone, you got to do it with other people. So ensuring that you, you fold in the people that should be at the table, ensuring that people feel comfortable being at the table and just really keeping that communication line open. Got to really extend yourself, you know.

So as a board member, you got to extend yourself no different than as a CAS. I would want the Board of Education to come and visit all of our schools, you know, so they can really see how the schools are doing at the ground level, you know.

So as a board member with SFA, it's a matter of going out and looking at some of the projects for ELB and actually understanding what is SFA's part and role.

And then the people, they contract with it and how are they collaborating with the school, whether it's workforce, housing, how they're doing the same, whether it's Central Maui schools, how is that going, how much input is coming from the community and the educators in the area and how well are we listening and then what can we give to that part of the equation so it can be the most sensible decision making.

I think it's important to understand the history as to how SFA has evolved. You know, having with DAGS and then having it at DOE and now having SFA do you think that's important to understand that, to understand better what failed in the past and why it failed and the kind of responsibility that you as FSA have to make it successful.

Because if this thing continues to, you know, be divisive and, and you can't get agreement, then, you know, we as legislators have a way of curing that by coming up with another idea, another brilliant idea on homicide.

Sure. I think it's an opportunity, you know, because these, the three buckets for SFA are huge and those buckets were in the DOE prior. So coming up with, with the school Facilities authority outside of the DOE allows a DOE and OFO to focus on some other priorities, participate with the priorities of SFA.

But it's SFA's focus with those big bucket priorities, you know, with housing, with EOEO and with Central Maui schools, you know, so there still needs to be collaboration with the DOE, without a doubt because SFA exists to support those primary needs within education, but they have the, the ball, so to speak.

Well, you said a key thing was that SFA is outside of the DOE. So if that's the case, then, you know, I guess I have some concerns about including all of DOE back into SFA because we're only going to go back down the same road.

So I think that's something cognizant that the board members sitting on SFA needs to understand. Otherwise why even have SFA. Right?

Right. But, but similar to in the Early Learning Board, DOE was part of that. Non-voting, but it was part of the board. So I think that's where the communication lines were open. Yeah, without.

Right. But again without moving it all on and making sure that, you know, well, you know, the issues and the problems, I just hope that understanding that, that you know, we can avoid some of the, the reasons why it failed while it was under DOE. Thank you. Other questions?

Thanks for being here. I, I guess going off of Senator Kim's questioning, you know, how are you going to balance, you know, what the DOE wants and what the DOE is telling you?

I know they're, you're friends with them, but how do you balance that with what is practical and how are you actually going to get something done? So what they're asking may not be, you may not be able to do, what do you do in that situation?

Well, again, I think it's important that I kind of guide myself with being grounded in what is the right thing to do. I think I've always done that in my professional career.

I feel that there is an opportunity to ensure that we get schools on Maui, to ensure that we get more of our needy students in preschool, and to ensure that we increase and really start with this workforce housing. I really think that that in itself can really help with sustaining our teaching cadre.

And so looking at the overarching mission of ensuring that those three items are being accomplished should be the forefront.

I realize that there are times when, say, something is wanted by a school, however it is not practical, given the budgeting for it to occur, then that's where I hope that my skill set is able to meet the needs of both parties and help to come to some kind of decision making so it doesn't necessarily halt or stall.

Okay, so as I think one prime example is, what are we going to do with this Mililani teacher housing? I recently saw the memo that outlined all the things that the DOE wants. But the reality is if we do all that, we tank the project. So what do we do about those kind of things?

I'd have to see that. I haven't seen it yet. So again, I think my hope is that my skill set is able to help work through that.

Okay, so, so. But you realize that you're on the SFA board, right?

Yes.

Not the DOE?

Yes.

Okay, so as long as we're clear that you have to make this, figure out how to make it work. Yes. You have a person, you know, you have an entity that you have to serve. But at the end of the day, you have to make sure somebody's SFA projects move forward.

Correct.

Okay. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. To testify, Superintendent, in support.

Hello. Chair Kidani, Vice Chair Kim, Members of the Committee. Keith Hayashi, Superintendent, testifying on behalf of Department of Education. The Department stands on its written testimony in support of this measure.

Mr. Davis has served the department for nearly three decades, holding roles as complex area superintendent, principal, vice principal, regional officer, counselor, and teacher.

These experiences will help to provide the insight on school-level impacts on decisions made by the School Facilities Authority. Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Anyone else here wishing to testify in this measure? Okay, next.

Next on our agenda, GM 780. Submitting for consideration and confirmation to the School Facilities Authority nominee Michael Unebasami for a term to expire June 30, 2029. Michael, there. Just a minute, please. Sorry. Let me take testimony first. Alan Oshima to testify. Alan had written testimony in support. Is there anyone else here wishing to testify? If not.

Hello chair, vice chair, 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. Mr.

Onebasami brings over five decades of public service experience, including leadership experience in facilities management, finance and legislative affairs that will directly align with the responsibilities in helping to guide the Facility School Facilities Authority. Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Question. Anyone else here wishing to testify on this measure? Michael, please. So excited about this.

I didn't realize until recently, now that when he says five decades sure makes me old. Chair Kidani, vice chair. Thank you, members of the committee. I know all of you, and you all know me.

Recently retired as the Associate VP for Administrative Affairs for the community colleges, serving in that position for 31 years, a total of 56 at the university. One of those years was really at the DOE as well.

Among all of the administrative responsibilities that I had in my position, one of the key elements was facilities planning, construction, renovation, repairs. And I had a great team to do all of that for the community colleges. And I bring a lot of experience to this board in that area. We've done a lot of work.

I think we've done a lot of good work for the community colleges, setting priorities, living within budgets. Thanks to the legislature, we got appropriations for and directly for the community colleges. And that basically was started by Chair Kidani back when she was CIP chair. Thank you very much for that.

That has helped the community colleges immensely in terms of us addressing our priorities in working with the seven campuses. The chancellors basically also delegated the authority to make decisions about projects to me and my staff.

So we work with the campuses to understand their priorities and work within the funding levels that we get from the legislature and ensure that the needs of the campuses are met based on their priorities. So I think I bring a lot of experience to this position on this board.

Thank you, Michael. Questions?

You told me not to ask him.

And you're listening.

Wow, you have a lot of power, Michael.

There you go.

Okay, I agree. Okay, well, then I will ask questions. In question number three of the questionnaire you submitted, you stated DOE is a client of the SFA. Please explain your comment.

Sure. The SFA, like Senator Kim explained earlier, has a history in terms of how the DOE did its work when it came to construction and through its evolution the SFA was created because DAGS was not able to effectively do what was expected.

The DOE did not accomplish the things that they were expected to do, and so the SFA was created. I still believe firmly that the DOE is the one that should be making priority decisions on new construction work based on the needs of the students in their system.

Whether it's, you know, for any K12 programs, it's the DOE's responsibility to identify and share those priorities right now with the SFA.

It's the SFA's duty to then meet those priorities and have an exchange with them and collaboration with them in terms of the funding that's available, the priorities that they set, and to see whether we are all in agreement to move forward. But again, the client to me is the doe. It's their programs, it's their students.

They know their students needs, their teacher needs, their facilities needs, I think better than the SFBA. We're there to implement and do the construction design and construction work for them.

Thank you, Michael. Members, any questions?

Just follow up. So you talked a lot about school facilities, but some of this is not just school facilities. It's workforce housing, it's teacher housing and so forth. So in that situation, you. Yes, they're the client, but I mean, there's other factors. Right. It's not just classrooms and what the students.

Correct. And I think we need to understand what those other kinds of needs are because they're all related to how the DOE delivers its product to the students.

I guess, kind of going off of that, that, you know, the unique thing about school facilities authority is that currently what the statute says is that, you know, they get assigned projects. Right.

And so how do you think the workflow should be in an ideal world where the legislature makes the final decision through the funding mechanism to make things happen? So we have to be okay giving that money to SFA for them to work on it. But then, so we have to give the appropriation, actually move forward.

But then the DOE, you know, at some point, yes, they have some say, but really it's the legislature. How does that relationship all work?

Now, you involve us because even though, you know, the deal is saying we need this, but we have to then say, okay, yes, you need it, and then put in SFA versus putting in a DOE. How do you, how do you be that client? If we were in the middle of being the referee?

Because we can be like, no, Keith, we don't. We don't want that. We're going to give you something else and we're going to give it to SFA, which kind of is what's happening right now. How do you deal with that?

Initially, as the DOE sets its priorities for new construction and related construction that they feel are needs to meet their needs, they should be collaborating with the SFA. If we agree on moving forward with the legislature to ask for and request funding for certain kinds of projects, then that's what we would do.

The legislature in their wisdom has the authority to then take what we request and make decisions on how much and whether they're going to fund certain kinds of projects. It is not, and this has happened at the university as well when I was there, that there are legislative add ons that are the wishes of the legislature.

That may not be part of our priorities, but if it's priorities that the legislature sets for us in certain areas, then we would proceed with those kinds of projects as well.

So while I say that, yeah, the DOE is the client in all of this, the initial collaboration between the DOE and the SFA has got to be there to initiate these kinds of things going forward to make those kinds of requests known.

Thank you, chair.

Thank you. So Mike, where does the accountability fall? The accountability on project? And I'm thinking, you know, about Maui, the school we built in Maui, which everybody said, I don't know if everybody but engineers, that they chose a site where the rock was really hard. It was going to cost us extra money to build a school there.

But it was insistent, insisted, insisted, insisted. And it costs double what a school would cost. And then we didn't even put in the overpass. There were all these problems. So where does accountability lies when something like that happens? Because you know what? For too long everybody points the finger and nobody's accountable for that.

Yeah, this, you know, I don't know whose decision was that they wanted the school there. It was the DOEs, was the legislator of the district, whatever. But in this case SFA now have that response, sole responsibility. So accountability will lie with SFA.

I think in the end the accountability is with SFA because we're the ones that's doing the construction. We're the ones that, that's making ultimately the final decision.

But there has to be a lot of collabor with the DOE, with the design consultants, with, you know, and those decisions are made together and hopefully we come up with a good decision, the right decision in the end.

But there has to be that kind of collaboration, good communication and hopefully we can all agree to something in the end that we can all live with within the allocations.

And there are times that we will have to come back and say in order to get this project- project done for this purpose, we need more money than what was initially appropriated. I mean, we've done that in the past as well. So it's a matter of presenting things, understanding things, communicating what the project entails.

But it's also being clear about what's needed to be done. Because so many times we run out of money because we come in with change orders, because the entity changes their mind. They don't like the shutters. They don't like the way this window should have been on the other side. You know, the drainage isn't draining correctly.

And I don't know it's because it's change orders or because the plans wasn't done correctly or we rushed it. But there's always problems with construction and the contractor and the contractor's bid. Knowing that there's going to be changes. They know government already and they know going to be changes.

And so when the change orders come, the price goes up. Right, for those change orders.

So I'm hoping that SFA is going to also be looking at these areas to make sure that we go in with good plans, that we bird dog a lot of the problems, and that when the entity or the client comes in and say, well, now that we think about it, you know, it'd be great if we had two fans in this room instead of one.

You know, so those are the things that, if I'm here, I'm going to question if you guys come in and need more money or you can't finish the project. Thank you.

I hate change orders.

I do, too.

Question, please.

Mike, thank you for being here. Are you noticing in your capacity, that Department of Education is collaborating well with SFA? Because in the past, projects have kind of been dragged along, Possibly because DOE might. Not necessarily. Maybe it's a time issue, maybe it's a disagreement issue.

But is SFA and DOE on the same page as far as the projects that you folks currently have in place? And do you see DOE being a part of the delay for completing these projects?

Senator, sorry. This is my first introduction to SFA, so I'm not.

Oh, sorry. You know, the way you were talking, I was just like, oh, this guy knows it all. So I was over here learning. Thank you. But just of what you know, and if you- if you can't answer, that's fine.

But I would have to look at, you know, some history in terms of what has been going on. And, you know, it's a board of five people. They have maybe seven. Maybe seven. I'm not familiar with the staff of the SFA. I've seen the website. I'm hoping that. I'm sure we have good staff.

The board will have to depend a Lot on staff work. So even in answering Senator Kim's question about accountability, I depended a lot on my staff. They're the experts.

Yeah.

Great. Well, just in your capacity, if you move through in the confirmation process, I would like to encourage you to take a look at that, because the whole reason that SFA was put in place was to relieve DOE from these types of projects, but then to expedite the process as well. So no sense. We create.

Create entity after entity if it's just continuing to slow the process down. So sounds like you come with a good wealth of knowledge and I know you'll have insight to look into those kinds of things. So thank you.

Thank you.

Questions, members? If not, thank you, Michael.

Thank you.

Moving on to GM781. Submitting for consideration and confirmation to the School Facilities Authority Gubernatorial nominee Damien Kim for term to expire June 30, 2029.

For the record, I don't have a conflict. We're not related. Well, we're not related. We may be somewhere down in the family tree.

You want to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sure. First of all, thank you for the privilege of being here and being nominated. I have 38 years of experience in the electrical field as an electrician in the State of Hawaii, licensed. Prior to that, I worked for electrical engineering firm doing drafting and electrical designing. I've worked in a field on school projects throughout my career.

Got into the union position where I deal with developers, contractors, sat on the heartboard, which I believe is harder than this one going to be. So I'm thinking this is not as bad. I did nine years of that hard head to stay on that. Yeah.

So I think the experience that I bring to the table regarding construction wise is kind of right up my alley.

Thank you, Damian. Members, questions? No questions. Yes, I'm gonna ask. You have no questions of him, then we'll ask our testifiers to come up.

Well, okay. You know, I get the last name Kim. That's fine.

She told us you're. You're her relative, so we can't ask questions. Just kidding. Superintendent.

Hello, Chair Kidani. Vice Chair Kim. 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. Mr. Kim brings over 30 years of leadership experience in the construction and electrical industries.

Additionally, his involvement in the Waipahua High School, Iet Advisory Board and Adult Friends for Youth illustrate his commitment to education. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent. Anyone else here wishing to testify on this matter. Thank you. And Members, I would like to say that I am also on the board of Adult Friends for youth. And note Mr. Kim. Very well. And his support of youth. Thank you, Dean. Okay. No further questions. I'm going to move along.

Okay, next up is GM586 and GM698, Jan Iwase. This is for the Gubernatorial nominee for School Facilities Authority for a term to expire and 6/30/2025. And the second term is to expire 6/30/2029. Thank you, J.

So I want to know how come Damian didn't have any questions?

Well, you know what? I think you're right. So when you get done, we'll bring them back. Okay, good.

Last name is Kim. Okay. Is your middle name Kim?

Unfortunately, no.

But I did serve with her husband on City Council.

Okay, thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today. I began my career in 1973 as a Head Start teacher. And Head Start is a preschool program for disadvantaged children. It was designed to give kids a Head Start so that when they go to kindergarten they can be successful. And it was a really great experience.

Then I was hired in the Department of Education. I worked at Wheeler elementary and at Mililani Mauka elementary, which was the first high tech school I got into school Administration. And I ended my career after 15 and a half years as a principal at Halekula Elementary School, which became Daniel K. Inoue Elementary School.

And during my tenure there, we were very fortunate to apply for a federal DoDEA grant to upgrade the facilities and the capacity at our school. It was built in 1959 and there were no major changes to the school, despite the number of students who were. And we are bursting at the seams with 14 portable classrooms.

So we were able to apply for that federal grant today. A grant? It was an 8020 grant. 80%. 20%. And thanks to Senator Kidani, we got the $6.6 million that we needed and the project continued. And three years and four months later, we have a beautiful 21st century campus. After I retired, I kept myself busy.

Randy is a full time job. Yes, he is. I didn't want to say that. Yes, he is. But, you know, relaxing, doing a little golfing, mentoring teachers at student teachers at, uh, West Oahu, wrote a couple of books. And then I had an opportunity to join the SFA as an interim board Member.

And it's been a really, really good experience for me. SFA has three projects that they are in charge of. One is the preschools for Lt. Gov. Luke's Ready Keiki program. And I think, you know that I, I'm passionate about the fact that we need preschools for our students, especially the ones who are most vulnerable.

The second project is the Central Maui School Project. It's very necessary for a Growing community that's going to continue to grow, and that was exacerbated by the Lahaina fires. So we are working with DOE to plan that school. And then the third one is the teacher workforce housing, and it's in Mililani.

And I know that it's progressing as well. These are three issues that I'm very passionate about. Preschool education, good schools and nice facilities for our students, and teacher workforce housing.

Because as a principal, there were times when I offered a job to a young teacher and although they wanted to come to our school, they had to decline because they could not find housing. And we hired some teachers who did come, but after one or two years, they could no longer afford to stay here.

So I think teacher workforce housing is a recruitment and retention issue and I think it's very necessary. So I'm very. I've been enjoying my time on the SFA and I think there's much more work to do and I would love to continue as a board Member.

Thank you, Jan. Members, questions.

Questions. So, Jan, you're the only member that we are confirming that have been sitting. Yes. On the board. And you've been there, what, about nine months? Isn't that.

I think a little more than that?

Yes. So during that, this time that you've been sitting, what have you noticed that have caused concerns with DOE and SFA and the need for DOE to have a seat and a voting seat as well as the BOE have a voting seat on SFA?

Okay, I've been thinking a lot about that because I know that there is a legislation to put those Members on the board. I think there is a delineation between SFA and DOE in the sense that SFA only can do projects that are legislatively or from the Governor or the Board of Education.

So far, it's only been the Legislature that has appropriated funds for the SFA. But we are working with the DOE in order to address the needs that we talked about earlier. I think. I think the question I would ask is this. If the BOE and the DOE get a seat on the board, what about the Governor?

Would he get a seat on two seats on the board as well? Would the Legislature get two seats on the board as well? It is a five Member board. The only stipulation is that one person has to be in the construction industry.

And if these other people want to come on the board, then the five Member board that you folks are confirming will be outnumbered. And so I see that as a potential problem. I think that the SFA meetings are open I think that we have Committee meetings where they can come and ask questions if they want to.

SFA has regular meetings with the doe and I think we need to improve that communication. Communication isn't is important between SFA and the doe, but it is a two way street.

And I think that what I found from my time on the SFA is that the staff there is very much committed to getting the job done that they were assigned and getting it done on time and on budget. And so they're looking at different ways of building schools.

And I think, I'm not sure if you've sat in on the meetings, Senator Hashimoto, but they've included all the men, I mean the CAs and principals and community Members as they're planning and, and I've seen their plans change as a result of those meetings. So there is communication.

So why do they say that there's not. There's a need for them to.

I'm sorry, I don't know the. But I can tell you that I think that there's communication and I think that we can do it better. But if the SFA is going to do the job that you guys assigned them to do, then they got to move ahead.

We can't keep hashing problems, perhaps an. Ex official membership on the board without a vote. Who would help solve that?

I don't know. I'm not sure. And I, I've never, this is my first time on a board and I've not had ex-Offician Members. I really can't tell you if that would help. It might, but at the same time I think it.

But your meetings are open to the public. The meetings are open to the topic.

There's Sunshine Law. We follow that.

So and do you folks, when you do the RFP and you put the RFP out is the. It is public, right?

So you're talking about the RFP for the teacher housing. Any rfp. Any rfp. It's a public document. Yeah, I know that the one for the teacher housing was put out prior to, you know, my serving on the board.

So when I hear like they say, we didn't know about the RFP or we didn't know it was an rfp, you know, I, I say, well, that's part of the responsibility for the entity to. It's a public, public document.

It is. Yeah.

Thank you. Further questions, Members. So Jan, when, when you meet with your SFA Members, the board. Is anyone from SFA invited to the Board Meetings or do they come to the Board Meetings?

They yes, they all come to the Board Meetings.

Guys are ask questions about current projects. Yes.

And we have Subcommitee meetings that meet twice a month as well. And that's a real good opportunity to ask questions. And, and I'm, I, this is really new to me and so I ask a lot of questions, even through email.

And I found that the staff has been very open about answering right away and, you know, making sure I understand what's going on.

I'm sure Ricky appreciates that. Members.

Yes. Thanks, John, for being here. Thanks for your service. On SFA. What, what do you think is the progress that we're making on the Reikiki side?

You, do you think that enough space is being made available for, you know, SFA to expand or, you know, is there issues that you're seeing with, with the rollout or, you know, what are your thoughts in that area?

You mean for the central Maui?

No, no, no. For the. Ready Kiki, the preschool already. Kiki?

I'm sorry. Well, it's, I think the first year SFA opened 11 classrooms. The second year they opened 45. And this year I think it's scheduled to be 25 more classrooms will be open. But we know that all of these preschool classrooms can't be on DOA campuses. We have to look at other places where we can put.

So SFA is looking at Hubs, maybe four classrooms on city property or state property, that they are working with those entities too, not just on Oahu, but on the other islands as well. There is a hub planned for Imiloa on the Big island that's going to be run by a charter school. They're presently building four class.

I think it's four classrooms. Maybe it's more at the, uh, dorm that's coming up. So when entities say they want to host SFA, I think then they look at whether they can, the funding and all that. And, But I think that they are moving because we know that it can't always be on DOE campuses.

Do you think we functionally kept out at DOE campuses or there's just some tension moving forward at the DOE campuses?

I don't know. I would like to think that we're not capped out. I mean, enrollment is going down at many schools, so hopefully there'll be space for preschool.

But If, Senator, if Lieutenant Governor's goal to have all 3 and 4 year olds in preschool by year 2032, we need a lot more spaces and we need more teachers and we need more organizations that want to host or maybe run the program because SFA doesn't run the program.

Right, right. You're just facilities. We just facilities.

That's right.

Okay. Well, I hope. I hope, you know, we can figure out. I think. I think your statement on the communication was a good one. It's a good take to understand what you're thinking as a current board Member of the. Of the Dynamics. And so, you know, I appreciate your candor with us.

And I think all we want is facilities to get built on time, under budget, potentially. Right. We want to work together. Absolutely. That's right. I think looking at the big picture, hopefully we'll continue to do that. I know your term is, you know, for many years to come, so we thank you for your commitment and continuing to.

To work at this process. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for the questions, Members. And I have one more question. As a current Member of the board, have you met with SFA, with, with Ricky on occasion, or had a chance to ask questions about completing projects or the status of projects all the time?

Yeah. And he's very good about responding to me many times with pictures and slides and information that he knows that I need in order to make the decisions.

So how often has the board been meeting?

The board meets once a month and the subcommittees meet twice a month.

Okay. So at the meetings, Ricky is present, so you guys are able to ask about project status, et cetera.

And he has his project managers always give a little update on the projects and the progress of the projects. Yeah.

Follow up. Sure. So does a DOE come to these meetings?

I think there was a time when Assistant Superintendent Randy Moore came to a meeting because he had. He was going to testify. But other than that I have not seen.

So nobody comes. So that's part of the problem with the communications, that they're not dare to hear what's going on or.

Well, we are two separate agencies, so I. I don't know if we. If they want to come or if they have conflicts with the time. So I don't know.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Gonna call for a short audience.

I totally forgot to get the testimony for nominee Jani was. Yes, and I think we had Superintendent to testify. Thank you, Chair.

Hello, Chair Kidani. Vice Chair Kim. 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. Ms.

Iwasi brings over 40 years of experience in public education to this position as a principal let her school through a campus modernization effort, an experience that would directly relate to her responsibilities on the School Facilities Authority Board, thank you very much for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Members, Any questions? Thank you. Did Mr. Iwase want to testify?

Thank you for the generous offer, Madam Chair. Well, thank you.

I guess I know where you're sleeping tonight.

That okay. So. Okay, we're going to go right into decision making.

So the recommendation of the Chair would be to advise and consent on all of our Gubernatorial nominees and that would include Shelley Paiva for the School Facilities Authority, Robert Davis, also School Facilities Authority, Mike Unabasami, School Facilities Authority Damian Kim, School Facilities Authority as well as Jan Iwase for a term to expire 6/30/2025 and Jan also for a term to expire 6/30/2029 and yes, I'm sorry, Bob Davis.

Robert Davis for term to expire 6/30/2025 and. A term to expire 06/30/2029 Members. Any questions ready for the vote? Yes.

So we're going to have to take it individually. So for GM779 and this is for Shelley Paiva to expire 06/30/2029 the recommendation is to advise and consent. [Roll Call] All five voting Aye. Recommendations adopted.

For GM777 also to advise and consent and GM778 taken together and this is for the confirmation for Robert Davis for two terms, one to expire 6/30/2025 and then 06/30/2029 respectively.

Any Members voting on opposition? Any Members voting with reservations? Hearing none for both GM 777 and 778. All five Members affirms this those are adopted. Moving on to GM 780 for the confirmation of Michael for term to expire 06,30 recommendation is to advise and consent Any Member voting no.

Any Member voting with reservations hearing that all five Members voting I recommendations adopted and GM 781. This is for the confirmation for Damien Kim to expire 06/30/2029 for advice and consent again. Members anyone voting no? Anyone voting with reservations? Hearing none. All five Members voting Aye. Recommendations adopted.

And finally GM 586 GM 698 for the confirmation for Jan Iwase to expire 6/30/2025 and then 06/30/2029 respectively to advice and consent. Members anybody voting no? Anyone voting with reservations? Hearing none? All five Members voting Aye on both resolutions. Recommendations adopted Chair.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Congratulations all.

Members for the deferred 3:01 p.m. agenda. The Governor has withdrawn the GM 775. Therefore we will defer this measure. This concludes the hearing.