House Standing Committee on Education

Hey. Good afternoon, everybody. This is your committee on education. Today's date is the February 17. It's about 02:03 in this conference room, 309, in the State Capitol.

We have about 15 bills on the agenda today. First, we have over we have about a thousand testimonies for one of the measures, and so we're gonna assess a one minute time period, and vice chair is gonna explain that. Vice chair.

Thank you so much. It's very important to us that we get to throughout the hearing today and then get to hear from everybody as well. We will be observing a one minute time for your testimony. A time, a countdown will be displayed on the screen, so that those on Zoom can also see it. So if you could kindly observe, like, prepare your remarks so that we can get through everyone's testimony. We'd like to be able to testify in front of our committee today. Thank you so much.

Thank you, vice chair. Okay. And with that said, we will start with our first bill, HB 1934, and this is with regards to the Imagination Library of Hawaii. First up on our testifiers list, we have the state librarian for your testimony in support.

Hello, chair, vice chair, and members of the committee. Thank you so much. You have our written testimony. I would just like to emphasize if we're really going to improve literacy across the state, making an investment in our younger youngest readers to have a library is so important, their own library. And, also, that there is a way that the state really does provide support, so that, as we move with non profits and we can, continue to find others, over time we can help support this project too.

So in the beginning, we'll really need the support of this. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for being here. Next, we have Friends of the Library of Hawaii offering testimony in support of a person.

Hi. How are you? Hi. Chair, vice chair of the committee. I'm Nainoa Mau.

I'm the executive director of Friends of the Library of Hawaii, and we support, this bill. We currently run the Imagination Library across five islands in rural, areas, and it is a globally proven, program. It is very cost effective and, as written, we do hope there's amendments to the funding section where it does ask for, fifty fifty match where with the entire CY population, that would be a pretty big ask, especially if you have a client.

So we ask to receive funding for a couple of years to get the program off the ground and then give us time, if we are the nonprofit to to find find the local funding to support.

Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Next, we have Oahu Exclusive Co op operating testimony support, only written testimony. We have also eight individuals operating testimony support, one in opposition. That's all I see for HB 1934.

Is there anyone else? Seeing none, members, are there any questions? I was I have a question for the state librarian. You're you're testing the number is this is actually an existing program, so it's not different. You're you're just it's just offering just asking for an expansion of that.

Yes. We focused on the most in need communities, so Molokai and then particular ZIP codes across the city. And so we have libraries that are providing, applications on Kauai, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai. So it would be an expansion for all children across the state, zero to five. Okay.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Any other questions, members? Okay. So we're gonna have to go to the next bill.

Next bill is HB 2004. This is with regards to a floating librarian. It's an extension to the pilot program we currently have. First on our testifiers list is the state librarian offering comments in person.

Please stand on our written testimony. Thank you.

Thank you for being here. Yes. We have the Department of Education offering testimony in support in person.

Thank you so much for being here. Next, we have HSTA offering testimony support in person. HSTA? We have an individual, Dr. Sunyeen, offering testimony and support via Zoom.

Yes. Thank you. I'm Sunyeen Pai, a retired community college librarian, and I've worked at UH Manoa and Kapiolani Community College. I have observed that many of our high school graduates are struggling to adjust to college level learning. Community colleges accept all students, but many arrive unprepared for college courses.

As a result, they often need to take remedial classes at their own expense, which don't count toward their degree or certificate. This can be costly and discouraging, causing many to drop out. School librarians train students to study better and successfully pass college entrance and qualification exams. They play a vital role in student preparedness. We're also concerned about the increasing spread of social media bias and misinformation.

With the exploding presence of AI, we need school librarians to teach students how to critically evaluate the information they find online. They do this by helping students process their emotional responses to social media and not to respond so quickly. I am in full support of this bill. I hope that you continue to support this. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. We also have testimony from five individuals who went in opposition to this bill, HB 2004. Anyone else? Okay. Seeing none, members are there any questions?

Question.

Vice Chair.

Department of Education, please. Sorry. Thank you. So last year, I know we, passed act 1 to 134. But House Bill 961, is there what's the current, like, are there. Are you experiencing any challenges identifying a neighbor island complex area?

Yes. We did, but we have identified a neighbor island and a Oahu complex area. And we are in the process of recruiting, which is the upcoming timeframe for when teachers can apply for transfer. We did identify a Oahu complex area earlier on. There were no qualified candidates that we could draw upon because the bill requires the person to be a certified library.

Okay. And then what happens to the existing funds that we had appropriated from last session? It's still intact?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you, Katie. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Members, any other questions? Okay. Seeing none, we're gonna go to the next bill, which is HB 2398. This clarifies the library's role regarding our and MSAIP projects.

First up, we have the State Librarian System in support in person. Yeah.

State Public Library System in support. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We have Board of Education offering comments. Oh. Board of Board of Education.

And next, we have department of education in person for any comments.

Aloha chair, members of the committee, Jesse Souki, the Deputy Superintendent of Operations. We stand on our testimony in comments and are available for questions.

Thank you for being here. Next, we have comments from the Attorney General's office in person.

Good afternoon, Chair Woodson, vice chair, head of the committee. Mister Randall Watt, the department of attorney general, comments. As outlined further in our written testimony, the department thinks the phrase land controlled by the void is vague and have suggested amendments to justice. Available for questions, thank you.

Thank you for being here. And we also have two testifiers, one in opposition, one in support, individuals for HB 2398. Anyone else? Seeing none, members are there any questions?

Questions for the library.

Okay. Vice chair.

For libraries, please. Thank you, Mallory. If you can kindly just share the intent and, like, what the bill is intending to achieve and if there's any specific, their obstacles or, like, what are you currently experiencing with the issue right now? Title issues.

Right. So decades ago, the public and school libraries were built at the same time a school was built, so they're very close to the school buildings and over time, you know, the school has expanded. Now we have had more renovations to our public libraries, we have different uses from the school campuses, so there's been some conflicts over the last several years.

More recently, we had a conflict, when we were trying to build a new, public library on the Big Island, and so we thought this is the best way to try to address this. The we have a separate set of CIP funding that we have a time limit to expend the funds and so we just want to be able to control and make sure that we don't lapse our funds.

Has that been a common issue of lapsing the amount when you can't, when there's delays?

No. This was the first time, though a big one, but we've had other conflicts in the past that we've had to resolve.

Did you get a chance to go through Attorney General's testimony?

No. We haven't seen it yet. Thank you.

Thank you, vice chair. DOE, please. Thank you, deputy, for being here. Have there been any any instances in recent history to where, there was discussion between the State Library System and the DOE, and the proposed activity regarding an R and M, RCIP project, impeded learning, or otherwise, broadly speaking, regarding, school operations as there've been any significant disruptions.

Deputy Superintendent Jesse Souki of operations. The issue that it looks like libraries are trying to address here is an issue that any land developer wanting to use a third party land, especially school land, would face. And there are conflicts because as

When you say third party, what do you mean?

Third party land? Someone who I use it generally as an entity that doesn't own the land that they'd like to develop on. So as the previous testifier for the library said, there are conflicts and that's a natural thing because the schools have a certain mission and the libraries have a certain mission. So for example, there's a bill that, was circulating where it is asking, the legislature is creating an opportunity for certain entities to serve alcohol on on land. One of those entities is the library.

So if the library is as followable on school land or adjacent to school land, that would create a problem because under state law and rules, you can't serve alcohol within 500 feet or yards from a school. So, you know, those kind of conflicts come up. Another common conflict is pick up and drop off. So I'm not sure what lapsed funding project that was, but a recent project in, KAO for our library.

It's a lot of back and forth about pick up drop off because we would no longer as a school be able to use the pick up drop off that they used to have.

It's a big deal for parents, big deal for safety, and so it took a long time to talk about and explore how pick up drop off would be addressed moving on into the future.

This the issue of so I'm identifying issues because you asked and, you know, so another issue is, you know, when a library is open to the general public and it's in the middle of a campus, you know, we have a duty and obligation to show that those persons are not on the harm to student registry. That's difficult to do when you have a library open to the general public. You know, other issues, Some of them are listed in the testimony.

That's interesting. And so per your first example, did that significantly disrupt DoE operations to have to make a change with regards to pick up and drop offs?

Oh, yeah. Yes.

How so?

Well, in that particular case, an area that was used for pick up and drop off for as long as the street didn't there probably, it no longer could be used. And the way that the traffic is, the the roads are set up, it's not an easy, fix to to have parents pick up and drop off in a different area, it creates safety issues, it creates issues with parents wanting to pick the kids up across the street, and so the kids off campus now that's an issue, so it is a significant hurdle, you know, to address. Thank you, deputy.

I think I see the librarian shaking your head. Do you want to come up and respond?

Thank you.

So in this particular case, we the new library project which is around on the Keaupahoa Road is gonna utilize use of two out of the three driveways. About a year and a half, no more than two years prior to us starting construction, the school did start using it for pick up and drop off. But prior to that, it was not a regular transit hub or anything for the school.

They also had another very large parking lot on the other side of the campus which they use for pick up and drop offs. I I think what what and and Mister Souki here was not there when we were going through and starting this whole project with the Department of Education.

But we spent many months years chasing, to get responses from the DOE to help us figure out this project. And it got to the point where we we had a environmental assessment done, and notifications went to the DOE, and the DOE did not respond at all. So at that time, if the DOE had submitted comments about the transportation, the traffic issues, we could have tried to address something, but we didn't get any response.

Okay. Thank you. Member, any other questions? Vice chair, go ahead.

Deputy state, so in this case, like, is there a process in place when you are kind of planning for something like this, and do you kind of know that there are these outstanding things that you need to assess and provide comments on so that things don't get further delayed.

So I don't want to debate the facts. I think we have different facts. But but the pick up and drop bucket earlier was and is being used and now it can't be used in the way that it was because the library is there. And that's not, you know, the library's benefit for the community, so there's no doubt about that. But the speaker drop off needs to be figured out.

As far as planning, these development projects just generally, you know, they go through a due diligence project, figuring process figuring out if the land is suitable for the project you're proposing, just testing, do to the soil, this community outreach.

It sometimes gets wrapped up. It usually gets wrapped up in the environmental review process. I can tell you that I've done work on many developments, and I I don't know the facts of the history on this one, but if I'm a developer coming in to develop something and it's gonna impact a particular property owner, we don't close that environmental document until we get some feedback.

If we have to, like, track them down and corner them in the in the elevator because it's going to impact them and whether or not they respond, just impacts if you need to mitigate and address. So I mean that's that's part of the process and it wasn't, this is not a DOE plan, it was a public library system plan process.

So

I think my request is if you can work with the libraries because we do have some projects that are work gonna come online and that the the legislature would like to see funded, so maybe some type of review and see, like, this is your jurisdiction, this is leverage, and there has to be a way that we both anticipate and then prepare for how we respond to it.

I agree. The earlier you start on any type of land project, the better. And talking about, you know, this is going to be impacted, that's how we address it, this is how it's, you know, that's important, usually reduced to a memorandum of agreement And, you know, then the project starts and you have all that figured out.

That is a process we like to do.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, chair.

Quick question, chair.

Please go ahead.

Sorry, thank you so much. I think I think that some of the issues have already kind of been brought up, but at what point do you folks bring in the complex area superintendent or someone that's working on the ground in community to try and alleviate some of these pressure points?

Because I think that was one of the issues that we saw with the KL library, that there were just multiple people that didn't fully understand the project even though the library had really gone through the process of making sure they had all of their ducks in a row, and then it seemed like on the DOE side, that's where there was a lot of miscommunication between, like, I wanna say I wanna call it the bureaucracy of the department because it is so large.

At what point in time do does the complex area, the principal get involved in this project? Because that seemed to be the point where we were able to turn the project around. Because you had people who were trying to do a groundbreaking and then being stopped by the principal essentially because there was no communication.

So I I wouldn't say there wasn't any communication from my own observation. I wasn't here in the very beginning of this particular project, but there were a lot of thorny issues that they were trying to pick up, work through. The pick up drop off was a a big issue that they're still, I think, working on. The noise from construction and how the silk net's gonna be put up. It's, like, right next to some portable classrooms. They figured that out.

But so, you know, there was this there was a slope that went down into a drainage area that had to be figured out. So, you know, it was just complicated in that way.

Yeah. And I recognize that, but I also feel like these are issues that should have been resolved almost years before we had gotten to that point. So it was kind of like a last ditch effort to get things put together when you had contracts that were meant to have already started and principles that are saying no no no because we're not set with this.

And I think that it's really on the department to make sure that those are the ducks that are in a row so that we don't like, there could have been a lot of issues with the library project in KL, and I have a lot of people that are looking forward to that project.

Yes. Yeah.

But I really do feel like it was on the department to have not prepared local leadership on island and on the campus back and I'd like to see as this moves forward I'd like to see you folks work a lot harder to make sure that those projects actually align.

It's only been a few months but I I hope that we're working good.

I think one of I just wanna share this. And the reason for this bill is that when we were trying to get started on the project, like, the contractor was got given NTP that we were told we had to stop. The first thing that we were told is it's not your property.

Even though we already have a PL public and school library in the center of the campus, we're now building a new public library away from the school children and other school buildings, but we were told this is not your property, it's DoD property.

So that's why we had we there was the two months of delay before we could really start the construction because we needed to get a we had to negotiate our our right of entry and then they also required us to execute the MOA before we even got they would let us on the property.

And the MOA was for future use, which we were a little concerned about because at that point, you know, it was still we still had time to do it, but it was a requirement that we do all of these things.

And, you know, I mean, to be honest, some of the provisions in there we were not that comfortable with because it would require us to get DOE approval if we do any future renovations to the library building, which is gonna be a future building, it's gonna be a public library only, not a school and public library. So we have some issues and that's why this clarify the language would clarify that it's really the board of ed through the state librarian that have oversight over these projects.

Because one of the things that we might not be able to fund right away is EV charging stations, so we've had it planned out, but it depends on what the bids come in at, but that would be a future issue or if like we have to change out the air conditioning or something like that that's so that would be a little concerning to get timely responses from the DOE.

Okay that's a lot of discussion. Thank you so much. Unless there is any other questions, please come up. Please come up and state your name and your affiliate.

Sorry, hello. My name is, Pepo Dez. I just wanted to just let you know that me and my all are a traveler only from Kapolei. We can barely hear hear you talking. So I don't know if you could just talk a little louder, you know, because we don't wanna miss anything.

Like, miss, you talk very loud and clear. We can hear you clearly. That's awesome. I don't wanna no. We don't wanna miss anything. Sorry. I that's why I said we'll just see it back then.

Thank you for your feedback. Thank you, Nikki. Any other questions, members? Okay, seeing none. We're gonna go to the next bill, which is HB 1764.

This is with regards to the music accessibility pilot program. First up, we have on our list is state libraries in support in person.

Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for being here. That's for your employee sympathy, our VISTA operating testimony and support. We have Servco Pacific INC in support, and we have 65 individuals all offering testimony and support. Anyone else?

...

Okay. Thank you. Chair of Mesa Chair, members of the committee, I'm Amy Iwano, president and CEO of the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra. And this bill would provide for more live performances for citizens across the state through the library system. Music feeds the soul while books feed the mind.

Music has also been shown in many, studies to support the education and better test scores among students. So this bill would bring more music, the joy of music, and the healing power of music to people across the state from Keiki to Kokona. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for being here. Anyone else? HB 1764. Okay.

Seeing none, members members of the committee, oh please come up. Please state your name and affiliation

Aloha, my name is Debbie Smith, and I am a student on Alana. My siblings are have been blessed by this youth symphony program and

I believe that it's also improved them with their schooling as well, especially the memorization aspect of music, and so I believe that I'm in support of this bill because it is greatly impacting my family individually.

Thank you for your testimony, thank you for being here. Anyone else? HB 1764. Seeing none, members, are there any questions? Any questions?

Any questions? Okay. Seeing none, we're gonna move on to the next bill, which is HB 2577. This is with regards to licensure, for electronic materials. First up, we have DOE offering comments in person.

Aloha Chair, vice chair, members of the committee, Terry Shijima. We stand on our written testimony providing comments, so thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you for being here. Next, we have State Library System in in support of person. Sorry. Sending okay. You're sending me your testimony?

Yes. I submitted the testimony department testimony by just three points to make on this specific bill. The purpose of the legislation is to ensure that contracts for library ebooks and digital audio books are governed by Hawaii law and reflect Hawaii public policy. The bill relies on existing state authority over contracts, unconscionability, and unfair and deceptive acts and practices to establish enforceable standards that allow libraries to continue to provide open, nondiscriminatory access to information, education, and culture as technology evolves.

This ebook bill does not regulate copyright and or compel publishers to license materials or affect consumer ebook markets.

Publishers remain free to decide whether to offer digital materials to libraries. The bill regulates only the fairness and enforceability of contract terms when publishers choose to license electronic literary materials to libraries serving the public. Digital access is now essential to education workforce development, cultural continuity, and equal opportunity throughout Hawaii. Without intervention, libraries will continue to spend public resources on expiring licenses that are inflated in crisis and non negotiable contract terms, which undermine our long term mission to provide access and preservation. Mahalo for this opportunity.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for your testimony. Next, we have Kobayashi Sugita & Goda, LLP. So can you testify?

Thank you, chair Woodson, vice chair La Chica, members. I represent the American Association of Publishers, and I strongly oppose this bill. The bill is very, very flawed. It's gonna raise many, many legal challenges. First, it violates federal law.

It's preempted. That is, federal law takes precedence. It's The US copyright law because you cannot restrict how, authors want to contract with others about their works. This essentially tries to rig or establish a playing field where authors cannot negotiate for contracts. They just have to accept the terms that the libraries want to give them, and it outlaws a number of things.

So this has been challenged in court before in Maryland. It's gonna, lead to challenges, and it will be bad for Hawaii because it will, preclude Hawaii authors from, making their own contracts, and it's likely going to result in libraries not getting access to books. So thank you. I oppose this bill.

Thank you for your testimony. Next, we have the Independent Book Publishers Association offering testimony in opposition. We have the Association of American Publishers in opposition, Copyright Alliance, opposition, News Media Alliance, in opposition, Protect the Creative Economy Coalition, in opposition, and one individual in support.

Anyone else? HB 2577. Seeing none, members, are there any questions? Vice chair?

Libraries, please.

If you can kindly, respond if you've gotten a chance to see the testimony that was submitted, most of which were in opposition, just commenting on the federal preemption and then the copyright laws. Are you familiar? Was it something that you encountered as you were looking at the legislation?

There are multiple states that have actually tried to pass legislation, and Connecticut has been successful. It has not been Challenge. Has not been challenged. That one just passed last year. Maryland was challenged on copyright and it was was cancelled as legislation.

So, when you look at copyright, yes, there is copyright and libraries support copyright. We're palaces of authors. We want authors to make money. But the argument that we're denying authors the ability is not the author. The publishers make the deals with the authors.

The publishers determine how much money an author gets from ebook and also from paper sales. So we're not involved in the process of determining how much the author is making. What we're looking at is making sure that libraries have access to materials so that our public has access to all the same materials that the public does. And just to give you a sense of how much it costs. So Stephen King's never flinched.

The paper book for a consumer costs $32 and libraries, we pay $32 An ebook costs the consumer $16.99. It costs libraries $67.99 for one copy to to circulate that copy. We don't even own it. And then for the audiobook,

$19.99 for a consumer, and we pay $84.99. And again, we only have it for a limited time. We don't own that that actual book. So for us in Hawaii with six islands, being able to have access to digital materials expands collections, gives more people more opportunities to access the same stories.

You and then do you track what is the turnover rate in terms of what's expiring when you have the as as you can as you shared, it's no longer in your possession and so what what what happens? It gets returned? Or

so after so many, usages well, there's about five different models. There's usage, there's, something like 26 usages, there's, you can use it for a year. Depending on, when it finishes the usage, then we get a little note that determines if there's any holds, then we'll buy it again, to make sure it's accessible to the people waving. If there aren't any holds, then it it disappears from the collection.

Do you have data on how much how much of this is a vacancy issue?

I can get that to you.

Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Please go ahead. You said individual consumer pays, unless you see the round number, is $16. The library has to pay 60. $67.89.

$67.89. Okay. On that $67.89 purchase, how many users get to use them?

Well, if you, if you think about twenty one days, for a hold, and if, if it's a 26 you can use it 26 times, then it's just 26 times.

It just depends on the model. Or if it's a year, it's 21 holds. So depending on how many users are waiting in line at twenty one days, it's not very many people if you think about it. It's like one a month.

Used 26 times. I'm not the smartest person in this room, but only six times divided into the 67 and some change. Seems like a pretty significant savings.

I don't know if it's a savings considering for paper, we're still charging the same amount. And we we circulate items over and over and over again in paper.

Thank you, rep members. Any other questions? Go ahead. Rep Evslin.

Thanks for being here. The effective date of the bill provide sorry, includes language that says provided that the enforcement of its provisions shall not commence until at least one other state enacts a law similar in purpose to its act, regulating contractual licensing of electronics and literary materials to libraries. You referenced the Connecticut law, so is the Connecticut law broadly similar and apply with that last component, meaning that this would go into effect?

It's broadly similar, but they have a the trigger includes, same population of the state passing law for several states. So it's a little more specific. So even if we passed it, if Connecticut wasn't triggered, we wouldn't trigger until Connecticut triggered.

I see. And the point of that language is to ensure detensibility. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, rep. Members, any other questions? A couple of questions. One of the testifiers did indicate that if this proposal passed, you know, because of some of the provisions, it would potentially open them up to liability, specifically regarding the specifically regarding the broadness of the copyright act, what it covers, and then the contractual provisions that are in the statute. If there's a conflict, what is your response to that?

Conflict with the federal. I think that would have to be taken up in the courts.

Okay. Do you know what the result was? Do you do you know when court struck down this law per the Maryland decision?

For the Maryland? I can get back with you on that.

We don't know what level of court. And did you say per the Connecticut, all that was passed, it has not been challenged in court?

No. Not in. It just passed.

Just passed this year or last year.

Last year.

Interesting. Okay. Thank you so much. Okay, member, any other questions? Thank you.

Okay. Seeing none, we're gonna go on to the next bill—thank you—which is HB 2376. This is with regards to homeschooling and DLP testing. First on our testifiers list, we have superintendent offering testimony in support, in person. Thank you for being here. Next, we have DHS offering testimony in support.

Department of Human Services in support. Next, we have Oahu Inclusion Co-Op, offering testimony in opposition. Homeschool Legal Defense Association offering testimony in opposition.

Yeah, we have a new— we have a new, like, microphone system. We're trying to figure out the triangulize—triangulization. It sounds better if you're there than it is here. So, we're, we're, we're, we're...

It's hard to hear in your wonderful voice. Yeah. We can hear her clearly. Thank you. But your handsome voice is very hard for us to hear. So, thank you.

Thank you. Please go ahead.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, and members of the committee. My name is Will Estrada. I'm Senior Counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association. I'm a homeschool graduate, homeschool dad, and it's a privilege to be here and speak in opposition to HB 2376. I submitted written testimony. I'm happy to answer any questions throughout the day but just want to hit four quick things.

The first one is Hawaii has very high regulation on homeschoolers. This bill has—is unnecessary. The current law has worked for decades. Second one, this bill will hurt homeschool families by reducing the flexibility that homeschooling offers. It's one of the reasons why homeschooling works so well and why so many families are continuing to choose to homeschool, including many of the ones behind me and in the hallways as well.

Number three, my dad spent thirty seven years as a New York state special education public school teacher. This bill will hurt our public schools. 5,000 more students will be coming in. Our public schools don't receive enough services and support. And then number four, this bill is potentially unconstitutional.

It's the only—it would make Hawaii the only state in the nation to require homeschoolers to take public school tests. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much. Next testimony. Thank you so much. Next, we have Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii, in opposition.

Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica, and members of the Health Education Committee, my name is Daniel Mather, and I serve as President of Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii. We've been serving as homeschoolers in the state of Hawaii since 1988, and we respectfully testify in opposition to this bill. Homeschooling in Hawaii is already governed by a comprehensive accountability framework under Hawaii Administrative Rules: Chapter 12. Parents are already required to submit standardized test results in grades three, five, eight and ten, along with annual progress reports in all other years.

Accountability already exists in law. The bill does not create accountability that duplicates it and no evidence has been provided that shows current accountability is insufficient. It also requires homeschool students to test at a public school that the child would otherwise be required to attend. Testing environment matters. Students placed in unfamiliar institutional settings may experience anxiety or distraction, producing results that reflect stress rather than academic mastery.

Parents possess a fundamental constitutional right to direct the education of their children and Hawaii's existing framework appropriately balances that liberty with accountability. This bill disrupts that balance and addresses no demonstrated failure. For these reasons, we respectfully urge your opposition. Thank you. Mahalo.

Thank you for your testimony. Next, we have Kupa'a Homeschool Academy, in opposition via Zoom.

Aloha. This is Ashley Oyama. I am the Founder for Kupaʻa Homeschool Academy, and I stand in strong opposition to HB 2376. Low enrollment in public schools is not happening because families reject accountability; it is happening because families are responding to lived experience.

Parents do not want their children in classrooms where violent or chronically disruptive behavior is tolerated without meaningful consequences. They do not want their children subjected to bullying that goes unaddressed while academic instruction suffers. Families are seeking safe, stable environments where learning can actually take place. They are also seeking transparency and respect for parental authority and deeply personal areas, including religious beliefs, moral instruction, and medical decision making. If parents may choose public charter or private school without this additional condition, why are homeschool families being singled out?

That is unequal treatmet; tthat's discriminative. So, we must ask, is this about academic improvement or about expanding state control in response to declining enrollment? Children are not funding units. No funding formula should override constitutional parental rights. I urge you to reject this bill, HB 2376. Mahalo.

Thank you for your testimony. Next, we have Coalition for Responsible Home Education, offering testimony in support via Zoom.

Hi. Thank you for having me. My name is Tess Ulrey. I'm the Executive Director of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education. We are a homeschool-founded—we are homeschool alumni-founded and powered organization, and we are in strong, strong support of this bill.

I mentioned that our work is child-centered, not parent centered because we believe strongly in a child's right to an open future, and we believe that legislative guideposts like these are needed for responsible homeschooling. Homeschool alumni that participate in our regular focus groups overwhelming—overwhelmingly—tell us that regular checkpoints, like the ones that are proposed here in HB 2376, would have provided a more robust system of support for their future and in understanding their own progression and educational journey.

Our research team shared specific with you about the reality of educational neglect in homeschooling, as well as the critical math gap that is showing more and more. And we firmly believe that with regular assessment, like HB 2376 proposes, that this is a reasonable and effective mechanism for ensuring that homeschooled students are on pace with their peers.

At CRHE, we believe the children of Hawaii deserve the same access to an open future that their traditionally school peers have, and we thank you for considering this.

Thank you for your testimony. Next, we have Saint Benedict Hall Kailua in opposition. Next, we have Curious Keiki Homeschool Co-Op, in opposition. Please come up.

This is my spokesperson.

Aloha, members of the committee. My name is Stephanie Chow, and I am speaking in representation of 124 families here on Oahu who are part of the Curious Keiki Homeschool Co-Op. We stand on our written testimony in opposition to this bill, and I would also like to emphasize two of the points that we brought up in that written testimony. We believe that this bill is going to be, first of all, ineffective in perhaps one of the, the impetus behind the bill.

We do recognize that there are cases that have happened where children were removed from the school system under suspicious circumstances, ostensibly to homeschool, and unfortunately, those children's lives were lost.

But you may also be familiar with the maxim—hard cases make bad law—and we think that that is going to be the case here. If you look at the CDC's report on what are the risk factors that lead to abuse, we're looking at things like poverty, single parents, young parents. And we think that resources should be going in these directions rather than taking the parents who are caring for and being responsible for their children's education. And I apologize, I know my time is up.

The last thing I would like to say is that educators are spending one thousand and eighty hours with these children every year, and yet, educators, as mandatory reporters, are only responsible for ten percent of child abuse cases that are reported. And on top of that, only fourteen percent of those cases are confirmed to be cases of abuse.

So, if we're gonna take these teachers who are already overworked and stressed and ask them to spend a couple of hours with strangers, we don't think that this bill is going to be effective in helping against the harm of child abuse. Thank you.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for your testimony. Next, we have Moms for Liberty, offering testimony in opposition, in person. Moms for Liberty. Are you here?

The outside? We have several hundred individual testifiers offering testimony in opposition.

If you want to provide testimony, please come up and state your name while I go through this list.

Please feel free to start lining up. Thank you.

It was gonna be sergeants organizing online.

Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon. We are reconvening for HB 2376. Please state your name and your affiliate, the next testifier.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair. My name is Brian Dalton. I'm in opposition of this bill and kind of taking a different approach with it. A lot of these things has been shown today from the librarians that were asking about being-- you know, have more librarians and the support of librarians, about the kids that are coming from public school. They can't even make it into college. If you go and look at right now, I have two of my older children that have gone and they were in public school. Now they're--

Quick recess.

--doing homeschool.

Sorry, sir. [Recess].

Just to sum it up is to say that we've already seen testimony showing how public schools are failing their children right now. We've had committee meetings weeks ago with some-- showing that our public schools are failing. So now you're asking us to take homeschool children and put them into a failing system to be tested by a failing system when we already test-- like my children, we test them off of a-- we use Bob Jones University.

So we are using college stuff to test our children, and they're exceeding-- you know, my children now are exceeding the college level. They're exceeding the grade levels where they're at already. My kids that already graduated, they've already-- I had ones that could have graduated two years earlier if I really wanted them to graduate early. So, I coach sports. I have-- some of these kids I have coached and support that way. They're ahead of public school kids, so you're asking us to take our children into an environment where it's failing them, not helping. So that's why I'm opposed to this.

Thank you for your testimony. Please state your name and your affiliate.

Laura Burbidge. I'm a Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii, the legislative liaison, and so I'm here in opposition to this bill. My husband and I actually helped put this law into place 38 years ago, and it has-- we've seen such huge success with students. I have four children, they're all grown and married, and I have grandkids, and our families are homeschooling also. So for 38 years, we've seen what's in place now actually work.

So for 38 years, the DOE actually has our data because we have to submit a progress report every year. So annually, we've already been doing what's being asked as far as assessing our academics. So 38 years worth and we know across the board nationwide that homeschoolers are doing well. So we feel like this bill truly is unnecessary because it's already being done, tracked, and our homeschoolers are doing well. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your testimony. Next testifier, please state your name and your affiliation.

Hello. My name is Alicia Ortiz. Hello, representatives and Chair and Vice Chair. I appreciate that the legislature is trying to fulfill their responsibilities for homeschooling students' progress, but a certain problem I find the most concerning is that standardized tests will be centered around the public school curriculum which will be different from what homeschoolers are taught. Homeschooling is loved for being flexible and being able to learn what you want to learn, but sadly, with HB 2376, I fear that contradicts homeschooling's goal. Thank you for listening.

Thank you for your testimony.

Aloha, committee. O Kristie Duarte ko'u inoa. I'm a graduate from the University of Hawaii with a bachelor's degree in elementary education, and I strongly oppose this bill. Why? Because in 2022, the legislature passed Resolution 102, which specifically cited the murder of a child in Waimanalo, and in response, requested the state auditor to conduct a performance audit, not of homeschoolers, but of child welfare services.

This 82-page audit was released in April 2024, concluding with this sentence: quote, worst of all, children were put at risk, end quote. The auditor gave 17 recommendations to keep these children safer. None of those recommendations were associated with homeschoolers because the children that have suffered are the children who are already recognized by the state in need of help from CWS. Instead of focusing on homeschoolers, let's pass bills that help our public schools out and the child welfare system. Mahalo.

Thank you for your testimony.

Hi.

Hi.

Thank you, representatives. My name is Lisa Polis. I have a written testimony, but I'm gonna actually give a little bit of my personal experience. I also have three-- four children. One of them was dyslexic. I didn't need the DOE to tell me that my son was dyslexic. I knew he was dyslexic. As a mother, there are many more metrics than just a test that tells me what are the needs of my children. I believe homeschoolers know that. I got him tested myself, I found what he needed, I sent him to summer school at West Oahu.

So I don't feel that that's something we need you folks to tell us. If you have the resources, great. Offer it. And if we want it, we will find it. Secondly, I have a question about the efficacy and accuracy of your DOE's kindergarten entry assessment. My granddaughter was evaluated and given a below average score because she didn't know her letters.

That was not true. She actually could identify the alphabet, all of the sounds of all of the letters, because that's how you read phonetically, not by the name A, B, C, D, E, and F. She was reading at four-and-a-half before I sent her to kindergarten. Put her in kindergarten in Mililani Mauka Elementary, and within three years, she lost every game that she had. She is now in a private school because she can't read very well now.

So I don't know that your testing is what really is going to provide what our children need. They're already very aware of what's going on in their lives, and we care a lot, and we are very, very resourceful. That's what we do as homeschool parents. Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much for your testimony. Next, please come up.

All right. Chair Woodson, Vice Chair Chica, and members of the committee, my name is Elijah Scott. I'm 16 years old, and I've been homeschooled my entire life. Now, I agree with all of the past opposition claims when it comes to there not being enough of a problem and that this bill will not solve those specific problems and how the tests that would be taken at the schools would not accurately reflect how the students will perform academically, but specifically here, I would like to point out how this bill claims to help with the early identification of developmental delays, and my own experience proves that the parents of these students are far better equipped to identify and accommodate learning struggles than a once-a-year test.

See, leading up to 4th grade, I consistently struggled to finish, like, all of my math problems on time, and in a public system I might have been held back. However, when my mother observed me closely, she saw that I was not slow at finishing these but bored. The next year in 4th grade, she decided to move me up to 7th grade math, and I excelled at this and became instantly intrigued in this. I'm currently about to graduate math, even as a sophomore in high school, and will begin taking college math next year as a junior. Now, none of this would have been possible without homeschooling and as this bill takes away the flexibility of homeschooling, I believe, and would strongly urge you to defer it. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Honored Chair and members of the committee, my name is Mikai Viola De Peralta, and I'm a 16-year-old senior homeschooled student from Honolulu, Hawaii. I am here to respectfully oppose HB 2376. Homeschooling has shaped not only my education but who I am as a person. It has allowed my parents to tailor my learning to my strengths and my challenges. Through tools like the California Achievement Test, I have been able to test at higher academic levels and demonstrate measurable progress.

Beyond academics, homeschooling has prepared me for real life. It has taught me discipline, critical thinking, and the confidence to speak publicly, including sitting before you today. I believe that in a traditional public school setting, I would not have been able to thrive in the same way. So while accountability matters, I believe this bill removes flexibility from families who are already demonstrating educational success and shifts decision-making away from parents who know their children best.

So as a student who has directly benefited from homeschool freedom and hopes one day to homeschool my own children, I respectfully ask you to preserve the flexibility that has allowed students like me to thrive. Please vote no on HB 2376. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you for your testimony. Okay. Thank you so much. Next two, please come up. Please go ahead.

Hi. My name is Padia. I'm 10 years old, and I strongly oppose this-- what it's about. I have very shy and very introverted friends, and I can't imagine putting them in a room full of strangers that they don't even know. Another reason is I play sports, and sometimes I come home with bruises. Now the teachers, they don't know if I come home with bruises every day, so if they-- if they try to fine or do anything to my grades, that would cause a disaster. Thank you.

Thank you. That's a good point. Please go ahead.

My name is Sally, and I would not like to do this law because I can say that I'm already homeschooled and I did not want to waste my mom's money with buying all school books, so I have to avoid this.

Thank you for your testimony. Well done. Good job. Good job. Good job. She's, like, five years old or something like that.

Yeah. Hey. Get one meal for that.

Hello. My name is Brandy Simon. I'm a homeschool mom to two. We actually began our homeschool journey when we were in Hawaii-- when we were previously stationed in Hawaii. We began that homeschool journey because the school system that we belonged to let us down, and when I say let us down, I mean financially.

We were having to pay extra tutoring, extra services, things that were covered through our health insurance because we couldn't get it through the school system. We stuck with homeschooling because we found that, one, with the military lifestyle that we lived, it worked for us. I read through this bill. I don't think it's a great idea.

Currently this year, I'm on track to spend about $28,000 on my two children's education. They both consistently test above grade level. They're very smart, very intelligent. They're at the orthodontist, which is why they're not here with me today, but for my two children, for us to be required to take them to the school, afford them the test, and participate in a system that they receive nothing from, my high schooler--Hawaii Department of Education, you know, they cover the cost for dual enrollment for public school students--it's a cost that we pay.

All of the services that they cover, we pay. So for-- to have them participate in a system that they do not benefit from at all--and it also kind of begs the question as who is going to benefit from their test scores and for them-- for their enrollment and participating--I just-- I strongly encourage you guys to oppose this. Like I said, we homeschool because this is what we have determined is best for our children.

Thank you for your testimony. Next two, please come up.

Aloha, Chair and members of the Education Committee. My name is Cheryl Toyofuku, and I'm a grandmother kupuna and I live with the four grandchildren from ages 8 to 20. So I'm really proud of my daughter and son-in-law who are homeschooling my two grandsons. And my daughter, Jamie, she did submit a testimony. So because she took the time to submit a testimony, I would like to read it real quick.

I strongly oppose HB 2376. The DOE has failed and is currently failing many of our keiki and their ohana. I'm a homeschooling parent for almost five years. My children were able to thrive through the success and tremendous support that the homeschool communities provided when the DOE could not. They will continue to thrive without the interference of more regulations and restrictions from the Hawaii DOE.

And so I'm a grandparent, and I feel the same way because there were also some different restrictions and health mandates that we didn't agree with so we were so glad to homeschool and we want to continue to do so. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Aloha, Chair and members of the committee. My name is Tiare Kaleiwahea. I'm a mother of five. I have my son, Kaena, who's eight years old that's also homeschooled. We respectfully oppose HB 2376. This bill would require homeschool students to take mandatory in-person testing at the public school they would otherwise attend. Many families choose homeschooling for important reasons, including safety, bullying concerns, medical needs, or the need for a more personalized education. Requiring children to return to the same school environment for testing can create unnecessary stress and hardship.

Homeschool families already follow state laws and submit annual progress reports. Additional in-person testing requirements are not needed and may place unfair burdens on families. So, Kaena, I ask you, how do you feel about having to go back to your old school just to take a test?

No, I don't want to.

He doesn't want to. Will you go back-- will going back to your school to take a test stress you out as a test taker?

Yes.

There you hear it. So please allow parents to continue educating their children with the flexibility and oversight already provided under the current law. Mahalo for your time and consideration.

Thank you for your testimony. Next group, come up, please.

Hi. My name's Alaeni Hiaban, and I'm a 12-year-old who opposes HB 2376 for these three reasons: our parents, not the government, should be able to choose and administer our assessments. It is not an accurate measure of educational well-being of school-age children and this bill would create additional homeschool restrictions. Another reason is because we are learning different things than those students at the public school.

We could-- there's a bunch of different ways of learning, right, but to put them all into one silent room to take the same exact test doesn't make sense. You would get a bunch of different results and it wouldn't be too much fair. Another reason is because it would not help with monitoring abuse. Some legislators said that one of the reasons is because to check on kids to make sure that they're not being mistreated or abused, but I know this happens. But how does this bill really help that situation?

The kids could just be skipping the bill at that day. Would they really come to take the test? What about the yearly requirement to submit an annual report or test scores? You could use that to follow-up with children's educational progress, but as far as abuse and mistreatment in the tragic cases in recent years, the children exhibited red flags before being withdrawn from the school to be homeschooled.

School officials should follow-up with those families, not target the homeschool community just because they're being abused after being in public school. I oppose HB 2276 and I hope that you will help me stop this bill. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Hi. My name is Kalea, Miss Kalea Hiaban. I am 10 years old and I oppose HB 2376. I would not like to go to another school to have to take another test. I have-- I am not familiar with the work that will be on the test, the other kids, the teachers, and the classroom. Who knows what would happen if I don't pass the test. Who knows what they'd say, what would happen?

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Yeah. Thank you. Good job. Good job. Give them a hand. Give them a hand. I'm gonna start with these claps. No time for you, sir.

Hard act to follow. Aloha. My name is David Hiaban. These are my two daughters. We've been homeschooling for 15 years. We have-- our oldest girl is a senior at Grand Canyon University. She's graduating in April. She was also homeschooled to the curriculum that we use. We oppose Bill HB 2376. For the opposed--sorry--the aforementioned opposition, we agree with all of that, as well as just for us as a family. We are kind of always hesitant about anything that the government will come in and start directing what happens in my household.

We are looking to raise good people of character, and what we experience in our homeschool communities and here in the islands is that they are-- they're doing the same. We're not just trying to educate these people. We're trying to make good-- build good characters in these people, and we don't think that our children should go through these kinds of restrictions. I would like to offer up a-- just rather an alternative. Rather than your guys' standardized testings, maybe you guys come and check out what we're doing in homeschool because I think our success rate compared to what's happening-- sorry to say, Department of Education has not been doing a good job.

In the United States alone, we're in mid to low-level tiers compared to other countries. Hawaii, in particular, we're very bad in not just mathematics, but grammar, and I would like to challenge, maybe instead of going where the Department of Education is making these tests, maybe you come back and consider in the community let us pour into you guys and maybe try some of our tests. So we oppose this bill. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Next testifier, please come up.

How do annual assessments adequately show what we are learning? Aloha. My name is Saraya Akhona. I'm 15 years old, and I have been homeschooled for the past five years. I oppose HB2376 for three reasons.

The first reason I oppose HB2376 is I don't believe this test will properly assess what I learn through homeschooling. The work I do at home is completely different from what is taught in public and private schools. Tests don't prove actual knowledge and understanding. The second reason is that tests are stressful. When I had to take tests, I would study for it, which caused a lot of unnecessary stress for me.

In homeschooling, I remember the things I have learned because of the conversations and interactive activities I have in our homeschool community. It's not stressful because only my parents and I see the assessment and it's just to show how much I've learned without anyone's judgment. If I was to get something wrong, my mom will just tell me and tell me to try and figure it out. Why I was wrong and correct, I wouldn't just fail.

The last reason is these tests are not created for individual learning types.

The first sentence in this bill states that the legislator finds that homeschooling is a valid and beneficial educational

option that offers flexibility, that offers flexibility, individualized instruction, and strong family engagement. If this is true, how can this test validate individualized learning when it is the same test that every DOE student takes across the state. I firmly, earnestly, and passionately oppose HB2376. Thank you for your time and allowing me to testify.

Thank you for your testimony.

Hi. My name is Kalamu Musakiono. I am a 12 year old homeschool student, and I oppose HB2376. The first reason I oppose HB2376 is that standardized tests do not cover what I learn in homeschool. Standardized tests are one size one size fits all that fits all, and that's not what I what learning and understanding is.

The second reason is that forcing me to take a test in an unfamiliar setting would be uncomfortable. This would make me extremely nervous and would put unnecessary stress on me. Being in a home being in my home environment makes me feel comfortable and not judged. I'm free to make mistakes and learn from it. The third reason I oppose HB2376 is that not everyone is a good test taker.

I have been homeschooled for the last five years. Previously, when

I was in a classroom setting, I was easily distracted and unable to focus, especially on tests. However, even though someone is not good at test taking, that doesn't mean they aren't learning the material. In homeschool, we have conversations and play games that test our knowledge. I oppose HB2376. Mahalo for the opportunity opportunity to submit testimony.

Thank you so much for being here, and talk to the audience.

Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

Next, please come up.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair La Chica, distinguished Members of the Committee. My name is Parker Akiel. I'm here not only as a current, what you consider, a traditional classroom educator, but also as a father of six. And I'm in strong opposition of HB2376 for the same reasons that have already been proposed to you along with just one additional statement. In the language of the bill, in the opening line, it says HB2376, the legislature finds that homeschooling is a valid and beneficial educational option.

By standard definition, valid is to produce the desired result. The definition for beneficial is to produce or promote a favorable result, possibly even advantageous. Thus, based on the opening language of the bill, homeschooling has already achieved the student success that you guys are searching for. So again, along with the reasons of my constituents in opposition, I respectfully urge the committee to to kill this bill. Also, you guys have a very hard job.

I understand. You guys have to make a decision for a small group that affects another small group, possibly in mind of a greater group. Yeah. So again, my all my aloha, respect, and love to you all. Mahalo.

Thank you for your testimony. Okay. Next testifier, please come up.

Hello. My name is Kehaa Keona, and I'm a hopefully mom of six, and I oppose HB2376. This bill would impose unnecessary stress on homeschooling families like myself who already juggle a lot. Testing a child also using using a standardized test does nothing to show the knowledge they have learned. Testing is not a means to assess unless you take the whole child individually, in mind and assess them that way, not in comparison to others.

This bill is also government overreaching parental rights. Parents should have the right to teach our children how and what we want to and assess them in the ways that we want to. Our children do not learn what is taught in DOE schools and homeschools or private schools. That's why we homeschool them. Standard teaching in schools is not enough and we believe very inadequate to prepare our children for the world.

And like I said, this is the reason we all homeschool.

So, mahalo for your time and I strongly urge you to support homeschoolers in Hawaii and vote no on HB2376 [unintelligible].

Thank you so much. Please come up.

Aloha. My name is Joseph Ching. I am a 18 year old senior homeschooled, and I'm an oldest out of 10 kids in my family. All educators recognize that different children learn back in different ways, and homeschooling gives my parents the freedom to determine how each of their children learns best and it lets them individualize our curriculum and teaching methods accordingly. Unlike in public school, my parents know what's my strengths and weaknesses, skills, efficiencies, and goals are.

I have lived with them for all eighteen years of my life after all. So, under the current state laws required testing, my parents are already better equipped than public school teachers to determine my my siblings' educational needs. In the state of Hawaii, public school students with special needs or disabilities are given individualized educational plans or IEPs. Homeschooling is basically a highly customized IEP with the curriculum chosen, personalized, and taught by the people who know and love their student the best.

Public school students with IEPs are allowed to take the test with special modifications for each child and in some cases they can take a completely different test.

Because the state of Hawaii has no ability or responsibility to know each homeschooler's learning plan, there is no way that they can also provide testing that appropriately measures our individual educational growth. That is why that is one of the reasons why I oppose this bill. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Christian. Okay. Next testifier, please come on.

Aloha, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica, and Members of the Committee. My name

is Solea Keolalopakoletta Sibarosa. I'm 14 years old and I have been homeschooled for the entirety of my life. I'm here in respectful bill HB2376 and the restrictions it would place on homeschool families. I currently test at a tenth to eleventh grade level even though I am only freshman age. I have achieved this through the freedom to learn at my own pace and to take evaluations in a way that fits my education.

Passing HB2376 would take away that. Moreover, one of my greatest aspirations is to become a homeschool mother one day. There's almost nothing I want more than to do so. Those like these worry me because I hope to one day choose what is best for my children. I want the freedom to provide them with the tools and assessments that truly serve them.

So I respectfully ask you all this afternoon. Will you give students like me the freedom to excel? Will you allow homeschool parents, present and future, the ability to educate and evaluate their children without unnecessary restrictions? As a growing student and a future parent, I respectfully ask you to choose freedom. Please vote no on HB2376.

Mahalo for your time and consideration.

Thank you so much.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, and Committee Members. My name is Ariel Sato, and I'm a 15 year old homeschooler from Hawaii Kai. I am here to respectfully yet firmly oppose House Bill 2376. I'm sure you are all all aware about the requirements of this bill. And while I strongly agree with accountability, this bill would in this bill wouldn't benefit homeschoolers.

Research consistently shows that homeschoolers have been scoring 15 to 25% of of percentile points higher than the standardized tests on their public school peers and enjoying and enjoying higher college acceptance rates. House Bill 2376 needs to fill the burden of proof as does any other argument brought up for the reason of changing the status quo.

Burn of proof means that there must be significant harm in the system, that this plan provides a viable solution to that harm, and that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. There's been no evidence of a widespread issue regarding homeschool grades. This bill would produce more disadvantages than advantages and are and to produce a more influx for our public school system.

Committee members, it is for all these reasons I urge you to cast no on House Bill 2376. Mahalo for your time.

Thank you for your testimony. Next two, please come up.

Hi. My name is Sharon Amin. And I Sorry. What's your name? My name is Sharon Amin.

And I was a public school teacher for three years. I was a private school teacher at Hanawali for three years, and I've been a homeschool mother of six for twelve years. So I have been through all of what we're talking about, and there are wonderful kids in public school, public school is wonderful and private school is wonderful and homeschool is wonderful. What we're really dealing with in this bill of 2376 is not the question of quality or what we're dealing with is freedom.

Do parents have the freedom to put their child in public school?

Do they have the freedom to put them in private school? Do they have the freedom to homeschool them according as they see fit? And as Laura Burbage, spoke and said that for thirty seven years or thirty four years we've had a very excellent system of reporting and every year I turn in standardized tests for my children, especially in grades three, five, eight, and ten as has been previously stated I agree with all of the points

and so I just urge you to vote no and oppose this bill because these like like it's been stated it is just redundant. We already have testing in place. What we're really doing is we're taking freedom from homeschoolers and we're limiting freedom and we're discriminating against homeschoolers. Has my time ended? So sorry. Alright.

It's okay. Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

I missed the blinking.

I missed it too.

Hello. My name is Zoe Smith, and

I am a constituent a constituent living in Millewani Town as well as Ala Moana part time. I'm here today to talk about my experiences as a homeschooler living on the Island Of Oahu and why I believe that this bill will not be beneficial to any of us. Personally, I've had many stressors, being placed upon me as I've gone to test in public schools. My public school for testing is McKinley High School and, in the sixth grade, we're not in the sixth grade.

In my freshman year, I went through the test and I've been called racial slurs by the children who are actually there in the schools, basically almost as soon as I walked in.

And it's a very stressful testing experience for me, especially being in a room by myself with a teacher in a pooled room where I'm essentially, placed in an environment that I'm not particularly used to. And so that can also affect my testing scores. And so as a student who places in college level, who has been has passed many college level examinations, I find that implementing more testing will not necessarily be beneficial or necessary for any of us.

And I believe that the current system or the status quo is able to essentially fulfill all everything that we that we have needed or will ever need.

Thank you for your testimony.

My name is Brianna Lawton. I'm a

constituent of, Ewa Beach, and I would just like to say that this bill will not only violate my rights as an American citizen for the First Amendment, but it will also cripple my, peers who have mental issues learning. I have a, we know a child who is blind, and his mother homeschools his mother teaches him. And if he were put excuse me. If he was to be

put back into public school, he would be labeled beyond belief, and the teachers would not be able to help at all. So I believe that this bill will hurt more people than it is supposed to help. I'm sorry. I don't know. But also, this schools don't really help with bullying, with, very, inappropriate things that are done for the students to both boys and girls, and schools don't really care.

Or children, fighting back against bullies, those are feared, victims. So I believe this bill will not help anyone at all. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Please come up. Okay.

Aloha kapou. My name is Sogren Fort, and some of you may know of me here. And I but I am a homeschool sophomore, and I'm finishing up my associate's degree in Hawaiian studies. Because of homeschooling, I have been able to have many educational opportunities that children in the classroom do not get.

Oh, over many years, I have been able to get to know a lot of legislators here in the capital and learn about the ways that laws are passed, and it has inspired me to become a lawmaker myself.

HB2376 would take away the experiences I was able to have from other children as it does not allow for other children to learn the way that they learn best and thrive and grow in understanding of the life around them. Please do not pass this bill for the children who would come after me. Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much for your testimony.

for your time.

Aloha. My name is Lorraine Yuan, and I worked in the public schools as an educational assistant with SBED children watching them taking this exact same test that you want homeschoolers to take. I also homeschooled my child for three years after the pandemic. I oppose HB2376 for the following reasons. Majority of homeschooling parents do not teach their children based on Common Core State Standards.

Therefore, the results of any SBA test based on Common Core State Standards for a homeschooler will be inconclusive. Also, this bill does not respect parental choice as stated in your bill as many homeschooling parents will now be forced to follow the traditional DOE calendar rather than have a choice of when to homeschool. And I can assure you, most of them don't, which is a wonderful part of homeschooling community.

Also, I wanna know why does the DOE wanna monitor a homeschooling child for developmental delays, learning differences, or other educational needs that may benefit from an additional evaluation, resources, or supportive services offered by the DOE when the DOE forfeits these services to homeschoolers when they withdraw from the eDOE system. Did you know that?

And if they are offered, parents of homeschoolers also may refuse because the implementation of these services do not align with the benefit of the child to learn. Hence, why the parent, especially of special needs children, withdraws from their children from the DOE system. Also, did you know that Hawaii's public schools will receive funding when the schools perform below the average of other schools nationwide? You don't believe me? Look up Strive High Hawaii for the individual report cards of each of these public schools.

So this funding for these schools that perform below average is used to help the schools implement programs that help the students catch up to the level of their peers. However, this funding is not extended to homeschoolers taking the test. Yet, the public schools that are zoned to, you're gonna take the homeschoolers' results along with the public school. That's inconclusive. Also, finally, I could oppose this bill because of the under added stress that my child faced when taking this test.

I also oppose this because I've seen many children struggle that compared to their peers, they're wondering why. I've seen parents say, my child is scared to take this test because she's not a measure with their peers when God created each of us individually and uniquely. A homeschool child learns individually and very differently, which is why we homeschool. I ask you, please do not please honor our flexibility, individualized instruction, and strong family engagement offered to homeschooling families.

Please respect our parental choice of homeschooling families and drop this bill.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much for your testimony.

Aloha, and greetings, esteemed Chair Woodson, esteemed Vice Chair La Chica, Members of the House Committee on Education, and all the families represented here today on Zoom and in person. My name is Tisha Lisa. I am a wife, a mother of four, born and raised in Heather Beach, Hawaii. I'm a homeschooling parent, and I come before you today to respectfully but firmly oppose HB2376.

First and foremost, this bill is built on flawed a flawed premise that the DOE is primarily responsible for the educational well-being of my children.

With respect, that responsibility belongs first and foremost to us parents. Only in situations where a child is unsafe or neglected should the state step in. But when parents are capable and committed, as so many homeschooling families are, the authority to direct the child's education should remain in the home. There is no one more invested in my children's success than my husband and I. the state, not the DOB.

We know our children best, and we are already recognized under Hawaii law as qualified instructors. Second, HB2376 undermines existing homeschooling protections under HRS e8-12-15, 8-12-18, and 8-12-19. These laws affirm our right to choose curriculum based on our child's needs and to determine appropriate methods for evaluating mastery. We already, are accountable. We already submit testing in certain grades, but current law allows flexibility with principal approval in how that testing is conducted.

But HB2376 removes that flexibility and mandates specific in person state assessments on the state's timeline administered by the state. My objection is not to assessment itself. It is to the removal of the parental choice and how, when, and where that assessment happens. Finally, this bill claims to respect parental choice while expanding state monitoring. True respect for parental choice means allowing parents to determine what is appropriate for their children.

When I noticed my two year old son, as an example, had delayed speech, I didn't wait for the state to tell me. I sought help. I connected with local programs and secured in home services for him because that's my responsibility as a parent. And I take it seriously. Homeschooling parents are not avoiding accountability.

We are exercising responsibility. We're embracing it. And today, it is mandate testing, but tomorrow could be mandated curriculum. Where does it stop? For these reasons, I respectfully urge you not to advance HB2376.

Please preserve the rights and freedoms currently protected under Hawaii law and allow parents to remain the primary decision makers in their children's education. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much for your testimony. Okay, next please come up.

Hi, aloha.

Aloha mai kakou everyone. I'm Leilani Soon. I'm also in opposition to this bill. When I was growing up, I was homeschooled from first to twelfth grade, and I can attest that my mom and other homeschool parents truly do do their best to educate their children, and that the testing that is currently in place is more than sufficient to track their progress.

This bill would cause unnecessary hardship on parents, especially ones with younger students, by putting them in an unfamiliar environment that could significantly affect their testing performance. So I ask that you please oppose this bill,

and continue to uphold the parents' rights to educate their children in the best ways for their individual's education.

Well, thank you for your testimony.

Aloha, Chair Woodson, Co-Chair La Chica, and Members of the Health Committee on Education. My name is Rachel Pohatsu and I'm a homeschooling mom of a seven year old daughter. We're in our third year of homeschooling and I am testifying in opposition to agent twenty three seventy six. I would like to appeal to the fact that legislature the legislature finds homeschooling to be a valid and beneficial educational option by reducing the educational options by offering flexibility, individualized instruction, and strong family engagement.

And, for me personally, passing this bill would make that very difficult to do.

We have been able to homeschool only because of the fact that we can work around major family transitions and family crises and to have to abide by the testing schedule that would severely limit our ability to do that. We have also, on occasion, taken advantage of opportunities for educational travel, and this would impede that as well. So, if legislature truly believes that this is a valid option for education, I would like to ask that you, not pass this.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify in strong opposition for HB2376. I agree otherwise with all the testimonies prior. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Hello. My name is Kalei Velados. I'm in my twentieth year homeschooling my children, and I'm in opposition of this bill. I'm gonna give more of a

personal experience, I guess. I know I'm not the only homeschooling family here in the state. However, I have done my job for all of these years that I've had the responsibility of Multiple times throughout our educational journey, I've been told by the counselors and registrars of our children's registered schools that, this is quote, you know, quote unquote, but thank you for submitting your children's scores in a timely manner. You are one of the families we do not have to worry about.

So as you can imagine, being met with that statement more than once is a little alarming.

Is that an oversight on the school's part? The district, the state? That really is a question for our, people in power to answer. Is the answer to impose new regulations for homeschoolers? Are the public school test scores a strong example of success?

I think not. What I would like to know is how do these regulations benefit the TV? How do they benefit homeschoolers? What exactly is testing homeschoolers alongside their public school counterparts going to prove? I strongly oppose this bill.

I believe that we should find other ways to fix the lack of educational success in our, in our children. God bless.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here, representatives.

It's been a long afternoon.

My name is Courtney Stersnock and this is

my youngest daughter, Violet. I am a homeschool mother of four and have been doing this for nearly twenty years. I had a medical doctorate, and my husband is

in the military. We want to remind you that you you are also part of a massive military community here. You're doing a wonderful job by serving

the public. We too serve. We serve here and we serve around

the world, and we choose most of us choose to homeschool our children to give them consistency and a high level of education. When we're stationed here, having a very specified test would naturally change the curriculum that we would have to do and would put a massive undue burden on our military children. We We want to be here. We want to pour into our families while we're here. We want to pour into the people of Hawaii while we're stationed here.

We want to make sure we give our children this high level of education while we are here, so they can continue to be servants around the world. But having to change and force the curriculum change in order to accommodate one specified test is a massive undue burden on a big portion of your constituents on this island. So please ask that you oppose HB227.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Jason.

Thank you for your service also.

Thank you.

Aloha. My name is Henry Green, and I do oppose this bill. I graduated from elementary to high school through high school. I was fortunate enough to be part of a co-op who did testing together. My experiences with testing were positive and fun.

I got to do it with my peers. I got to do it in an environment that I was familiar with, and I got to be tested by the aunties who volunteered to do it. It would make me sad

It would make me sad

to know that no other homeschool kids would get to have this fun, this positive experience about testing of all things because of this bill passing. I agree with the sentiments expressed by the others in opposition, and I thank you for your time.

Thank you, Miss Green.

Hello, everybody. My name is David Kahele. So I live in Ewa Beach. My wife was born and raised at Ewaianae High School. My wife went to Theolani.

I'm a father of six children, and we have been homeschooling for seventeen years. When my children got into high school, we reported to Campbell High School every time. They did not, not once, ever send us information on testing or if we're or if we were compliant. To my knowledge, that school is heavily overpopulated and, you know, do they even have the time or capacity to even take care of homeschooling test homeschoolers testing every year? Again, we've been homeschooling for seventeen years with no problems, no issues.

Our graduating children are successful and contribute well to society. If there's nothing wrong with the system, why why change it? Mahalo for your time. Thank you, mister Kelly.

Aloha. I am a devoted homeschool mom for three years, and I just wanna say that I affirm all the testimonies and opposition to House Bill 2376, and I firmly oppose, and I value that you value our place,

So you can make a good decision. Thank you, guys.

Thank you. Well done.

Hi. My name is Naliah. I am eight years old. I would like to oppose House Bill 2376. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Good job, guys. Good job.

Good afternoon, Chair Woodson and Vice Chair La Chica and education Committee Members. My name is Maile Higashi. I'm from Hiaonia Valley in Hawaii Kai, and I have been homeschooling my children for over twenty years. I have graduated two. I have a current senior in high school and freshman in high school that were homeschooling.

And I stand before you today in strong opposition of HB2376 for all of the reasons that have been given earlier. And I just thought I'd just share just a little personal testimony of just why how it's been working for us so far. And our our older two are, you know, graduated, working, and

thriving in their careers. My senior in high school has had the blessing of the flexibility of homeschooling, which has afforded him being able to be, get his private pilot's license at 18. And, you know, he started flying at 16 because of the flexibility that homeschooling allowed for him. And so, yeah, for all of the reasons that were stated earlier, what the status quo is doing right now works well, and I just urge you to oppose this bill. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. Thank you for bringing us some money. Okay. We have some testifiers via Zoom, but we're gonna take a recess break, and then we'll come back in about four, four or five minutes. Recess.

Okay. We are reconvening. We are still on HB 2376. What we'll do is we're gonna transition into the Zoom testifiers. If you're on Zoom, get ready please.

So first testifier, please. Please just go ahead and state your name and your affiliation if you have.

Hello. My name is Mike Plowman. I'm an ʻEwa beach resident. I have a neighborhood board member. I stand by my written testimony and strong opposition to this bill. Mainly because it fails to identify or provide any evidence of a problem in need of solution. Our homeschoolers are doing great. And I worry that and I would also say that I haven't heard a single persuasive argument in favor of the bill. And what I fear is that by making Hawaii the new worst state in in the nation for homeschooling, it's gonna exacerbate the ever growing problem of local families finding themselves in the position of having to leave behind.

bill. Mainly because it fails to identify or provide any evidence of a problem in need of solution. Our homeschoolers are doing great. And I worry that and I would also say that I haven't heard a single persuasive argument in favor of the bill. And what I fear is that by making Hawaii the new worst state in in the nation for homeschooling, it's gonna exacerbate the ever growing problem of local families finding themselves in the position of

Think it might be the straw that breaks some of these families' backs. And I'm just gonna say, please defer this bill indefinitely. Thanks for your time, Terry.

Thank you for your testimony. Next, please.

Hi. Thank you for the privilege of testifying. Are you able to hear me?

We can hear you.

Okay. I do not take this, freedom for granted, so thank you for that. Freedom is the most important right we have as Americans. My name is Raquel Werk, and I represent and professionally support all homeschoolers in Maui. And it's been amazing to hear my fellow homeschool parents give their reasons for opposing HB 2376.

The evidence is outstanding why this bill is not a good idea. I oppose it along with my fellow colleagues. I oppose the bill HB 2376. Overall, Hawaii has historically struggled with education ranking thirty seventh in proficiency rates for reading and math compared to other states. Achievement gaps persist year after year and in some communities the math proficiency rate for native Hawaiian students has been reported as low as 3% at certain campuses.

Despite this, rather than addressing the real causes inside the system, the bill reaches outward to impose additional mandates on families who have already withdrawn from the very system because it failed their children. Homeschooling in Hawaii has grown significantly. There are more than 5,000 homeschool children in the state. These families have chosen an alternative because they are dissatisfied with public education. National independent research consistently shows that homeschool students score 15 to 25 percentile points above public school peers on standardized measures.

The evidence of success is clear, yet this bill treats homeschool families as though they are the problem. We have only been testing our we have also been testing our own children for years. We don't need help with that, and we don't want the burden of having to change our programs to make it work.

I speak to you not only as a concerned parent and former homeschool parent, but as someone who has served six years in Hawaii public schools. I stood in classrooms committed to raising achievement. What did I encounter? Confusion, inadequate training, constant changes in testing tools and measurements. What was required in one school was replaced in the next.

Teachers were given shifting expectations without clear guidance. Administrators dedicated as they were did not have consistent tools or support. Now this bill demands that homeschool students report to public campuses to take in person state assessments. Logistics alone make this untenable. The very administrators who lack consistency will now be tasked with this added burden and a further burden the education education system of the public schools.

Another added problem homeschool parents are concerned with is the public school environment as many have stated previously. In a classroom setting, one careless or obscene comment by a student can expose other children to language or ideas that student can expose other children to language or ideas that parents would never willingly want their kids to be introduced to. I have witnessed this firsthand as a classroom teacher. That experience, that risk is precisely why many parents choose to homeschool to protect their child's hearts and minds.

So I ask why now?

Why this bill now? If the system has failed to deliver on its promises after decades of reform, why is the answer to expand its reach into homes that are that are succeeding? Does the state lack financing? If that is the motivation, academic standards of homeschoolers is the responsibility of homeschool

Can you please truncate your testimony?

Yes. I'm right at the end. This is not about academic improvement. It's about control. Homeschool freedom in Hawaii was hard one.

It is grounded in parent responsibility, not bureaucratic mandate. As a homeschool mom of twenty plus years to two homeschool kids who are successful high achieving adults, I urge you to reject bill 2376. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Next, please state your name.

I think from the list that I'm next. Hi. My name is Sarah Badat-Richardson, and I'm a resident of Waimanalo. Thank you. I want to focus on two points that, want to emphasize today.

The first one being logistics. First for the schools, this sounds like a big burden to put on school officials. My own experience shows that what they already have to do is a lot. I submitted a letter of intent when my daughter was in kindergarten. The early evaluation was in first grade, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.

And at the end of second grade, I got a call asking me if I had done all of that because they didn't have a file for my daughter. At which point they asked me to send them my records so that they could get up to date. For the parents, we homeschool because we can travel for my husband's work. So when my daughter was 12, we were gonna go to Italy. We studied Romeo and Juliet, and then we stood in Verona on Juliet's balcony.

And no test is gonna test her for that. Okay? Then the double standard on the bill itself is that it burdens us with having to go to the public school for testing that is does not specify additional benefits such as us being able to access sports, clubs, or resources for special services if they were to be screened for disabilities. So for all of those reasons, I oppose the bill and thank you for the reading. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

We have two we have two we probably have two. Yeah. That's better.

Alright. My name is June Mather. I am on the board of Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii, and I oppose a house bill 2376. It's not us, my husband says.

Keep going.

Okay. I don't have my testimony in front of me. I submitted a written testimony. I agree with what the parents and the children have stated about why they oppose House Bill 2376. I would like to also add, I don't think this has been mentioned beep yet, that the Chapter 12 rule, which regulates homeschoolers in Hawaii, already includes safeguards if a child is not making satisfactory academic progress.

Standardized test scores for homeschool students must fall in the upper two thirds stay nines. If a principal determines that progress is not adequate, in other words, if it falls below two thirds stay nines, the principal shall meet with the parents to discuss the educational plan for improvement for the child. That's already in Chapter 12, section 81218D. So, yes, as you can see, there are already safeguards there.

I would also like to add that I visited the capitol on our homeschool capitol day on February 3 and met with an aide from Senator Fevella's office.

Something she said about the in person in public school testing was concerning to me. In an attempt, could this bill be, something to help teachers, the mandatory be mandatory reporters to identify abuse or neglect of homeschool children when they come in for the in person public school testing? HB 2376 casts a large net and will not catch the fish that you want.

Consider, children who experience abuse and neglect also have a history of chronic absenteeism or truancy in Hawaii, an indication that education is not taking place. Public schools document the absences and have procedures for addressing this issue with parents.

If a parent with such a documented history withdraws a child to homeschool, the Department of Education should require parents to submit an education instructional plan and monitor the child's academic progress over a period of time. Such monitoring could include meetings with the child's parents to discuss the educational plan and the child's academic progress. The State of Colorado already has a similar provision in their homeschool statutes. Please check out CRS 22-33-104.5.

Any legislations or revisions to Chapter 12 should protect parental rights to direct the education for their children, as you've heard from many of the parents today, as well as the children.

It should also protect children from abuse by their parents or guardians. HB 2376 does not meet this criteria. I urge lawmakers to reconsider, and I that is why I oppose this bill. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your testimony. For the online testifiers, we are trying to stick to a one minute limit. This is to allow everyone to testify, and we realize that might be difficult if you have pre prepared remarks. Try to stick within the one minute if you can. Thank you.

Next testifier.

Hi. My name is Alex. I'll I'll just cover the, I guess, the abuse portion. I'll change it up a little bit since everybody kinda covered some other things. So I just wanted to say that decade after decade, peer reviewed studies consistently show that homeschool students k through 12 outperform their conventional school peers, and in many of these studies, it's significant.

And this is regardless of parents' education level or household income. Additionally, there are many other studies including the Harvard releasing their own of 12,000 children that despite stereotypes, having on average better social emotional health. And I think this is important because what we know of children, what we know how I how I say this? What we know regarding abuse and how it impacts a child and how it impacts their academic performance.

Introducing this will throw in another high stakes variable that unintentionally reduced these advantages, narrows teaching to adhere to the testing requirements, and negates what made homeschool students successful to get to begin with.

It would also not acknowledge the 44% of Hawaii residents, 85% of principals, 91% of teachers that the DOE themselves surveyed opposing the testing program. This bill is disregarding what is working and it substitutes it with a measure that has no demonstrated benefits. My last comment, nationwide, abuse is chronically underreported and undetected, and that's even by teachers that are meeting with their students daily. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

Thank you so much. Next testifier. Go ahead.

Aloha. Is it me, Sarah?

Yes.

Okay. I am in to another meeting and I'm about to testify there as well. So I'll take the telematics. I'm just here in strong opposition to this bill. As you heard, the countless KP, the countless parents, and the community dating the region wide.

It is our chose to choose the educational path. Redestically can use is what the students are taking. As other testifiers have mentioned, you're undermining the very reason for homeschooling. Wanna know if the state wants to take a call as dynamite test to go, then resources, optional support, and access should be provided, not mandates and compliance structures. Regarding control and compliance and confundates, that's not only the goal.

So, again, centralized system that don't meet the needs of all members are the reason why many of us choose this in the press space. For this and we the reason that everybody else has mentioned as well, I oppose this bill. Please eliminate.

Thank you, Sara. Access prior? Go ahead. I believe that's it. Okay.

That's all we have on Zoom. The Zoom is still open. Anyone else wishing to testify in person, please come up You come to the table and twos if you're comfortable.

Good afternoon. My name is Clarisse Miguel Hamakua. I'm actually a homeschool graduate. I was from school in some preschool all the way through high school. Never attended a formal class.

Other than attending community college when I was 16 years old. I'd like to say I'm a well adjusted adult. I just wanted to point out the one of the perks of homeschooling is the flexibility and the personalization of education for the children. As we know, Hawaii is a very expensive state to live in. Most parents have to both work in order to continue living here.

My husband and I both work full time, but with our particular jobs and shift schedules, we could actually make it work to homeschool our child should we choose to do so. But that would require us to be able to be flexible with our schedule, and being forced to follow DOE's school schedule would not work. Many people choose other schedules to work for them and their families, and being forced to have the end of the school year be in the summer or in the late spring does not work for everyone. People travel, people learn at different rates. Home schooling is also not based on grade, it's based on mastery.

So to say that a student at a particular grade needs to know a certain piece of information is not necessarily correct because you cannot learn a piece of information without mastering the information before it. Those are just a couple of reasons. I agree with most everybody else prior to being in opposition of this bill. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Hamakua. Next.

Mahalo. Mahalo for having me. My name is Lalani Teal, and I am a homeschooling parent of two, now adult, now young adults. I want to, I wanna say that when I brought my children out of the regular school system, and homeschooled them, it was extremely important because my children, they're both transgender. And, of course, this happened before we knew that, but they were already experiencing extreme trauma within the school system.

And because, their time for testimony is so short, this is the point that I want to focus on because there are a lot of people who are saying that this bill needs to move forward for safety.

But as a parent of transgender children, I will tell you that the real safety issues and as somebody who also has worked for many years with child with the child welfare system and, you know, and with child abuse, this would not protect the children that it speaks about protecting, and it would traumatize children who are very much in danger because of trauma that they've experienced already.

You know, I don't think that this would that this bill would have saved any of the children who have died of child abuse, but it could potentially contribute to the deaths of children who are actually dying as teenagers by suicide because of bullying that is not controlled in the school system, because of systemic pressures that exist within the school system.

I come from the Aloha Aina movement, and my children, when they were homeschooled, while kids were studying what the United Nations is, my kids were going to the United Nations.

You know, they've they were learning science. They were learning history. They were learning these things in real life in ways that they could never learn outside. And when they returned to the regular school, their scores brought their entire grades up. The entire grades because of their single testing scores.

So and this is not, unusual. All of these parents that you're seeing here today, all of these children, they're brilliant examples of spirits and sovereign thinkers who will be the future that we need collectively what in whatever capacity they have. What my oldest child is now the the premier transgender playwright for Hawaii, and my youngest child is about to graduate from Pacific University in Oregon. I think you've heard from a lot of children who are shining examples of what we want to see.

And that can't happen if they are traumatized and repressed, and this practice goes into some kind of hiding or is in some kind of battle.

What we need is we need to integrate, to support, to make the school system better. And we can do that, and we can build better solutions with this community. Mahalo.

Thank you. Any other testifiers? HB 2 376, please come up.

My name is David Ching. I'm a Taniyo in a resident, born and raised here in Hawaii.

I've spent almost twelve years overseas, learned a second language after high school. I was homeschooled from fourth grade on. My wife was homeschooled all the way through. She has a master's degree in English education. We met overseas as English teachers, and we now have 10 children. One of them testified just a little while ago, and I didn't testify earlier because I thought I had to pre present written testimony. But I just want to come and say thank you, first of all, for having this hearing and allowing us to make public our statements. As a dad of 10, we're already homeschooling several of them, and we already fulfill all requirements every year, sending in our letter of intent to respective schools in different grades.

spent almost twelve years overseas, learned a second language after high school. I was homeschooled from fourth grade on. My wife was homeschooled all the way through. She has a master's degree in English education. We met overseas as English teachers, and we now have 10 children.

One of them testified just a little while ago, and I I didn't testify earlier because I thought I had to pre present written testimony. But I just want to come and say thank you, first of all, for having this hearing and allowing us to make public our statements. As a dad of 10, we're already homeschooling several of them, and we already fulfill all requirements every year, sending in our letter of intent to respective schools in different grades.

And they are aware that our grades, ours kids, are up there. A few years ago, when we tested, we didn't tell the kids what their scores were, but they were testing way into college level with their reading alone, not to mention other subjects.

So as a dad of 10, as a homeschool dad, as a second generation homeschooler who is about to graduate his first, I wanna say thank you and we do close this meeting.

Hello. My name is Matthew Ching, and I oppose this bill because I had to take a look and take a test and go to school and I was really nervous to take the test

Thank you so much. Thank you for your testimony. Good job. Thank you. Anyone else?

HB 2376. And we have someone on Zoom. Zoom testifier, go ahead. Hello.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay. Great. Alright. Hi. My name is Anumhea Maeda, and I'm a homeschool mom on the Big Island.

And I currently homeschool my six children. I'm also a second generation homeschooler. My mom homeschools me and my siblings, and some of us actually went on to college. And, like, one of my brothers, he went to the Naval Academy, and he became an officer. He's now currently retired.

And, all of this was under the current laws. We were successfully homeschooled. I decided to get married and have my children, and I have six children I homeschool, and I strongly oppose this bill. Standardized tests are not an accurate form of measurement, like, for example, some of my boys, they just they're like walking encyclopedias, they just go around spouting facts about all kinds of things, but maybe they're not gonna score well on a test.

And so, for those reasons, and I agree with what everybody else has said in opposition to it, I think, our homeschooling community is just so great, and I just ask that you please, vote no on this bill. Thank you so much for the chance to testify.

Thank you for your testimony.

Hello. Hi there, distinguished committee members. Thank you so much for the time to speak today. I'm here in opposition of bill 2,376. I'll just make it very brief.

Main reasons I do affirm the testimony of the other parents and children who are concerned about the inflexibility of this. I myself am a single parent, so it's really important that the flexibility for myself and my family is maintained, that I can be there for my children, maintain that open communication with them about what they're being taught in school, and from just personal experience, I was really hopeful when my boys sitting behind me were entering high school as freshmen.

I'm a recent homeschool parent, just transitioned out of the public school, so it's really important that I maintain that, but there's such a huge difference that they were coming home every single day with fear and worry about the racial discrimination they were experiencing in school, the gang activity they were exposed to, that also promoted abuse. There was violent threats made against them. And so for me, it was not really much of a choice but to transition into the high school or to the homeschool arena.

So now they're they're doing so well and I just would like to affirm the rest of the testimony and oppose bill 2376. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you for your time. Anyone else?

Hi, thank you for your opportunity to speak before you. My name is Mike Higashi. I'm a school dad of four. I also have the blessing to say that I'm a grandpa as well. It's been a true my wife I was private private school educated, here in Hawaii.

My wife was public school educated. We're not we have chosen this route to educate our kids, homeschool, round because we felt like it was a privilege. It was an opportunity for us to spend as much time, pouring into them, speaking, truth and and, winning their sales so that they could be the best people that they could be to contribute to, making Hawaii and our country as good as possible.

And this, this, bill that's being passed is something that is questioning the the motives of parents like myself. That's that's how I feel because it's questioning why we're doing what we're doing and and whether it's effective or not by putting a test that is, that has the right intentions, but it's it's putting us in a situation where we're having to give up a lot of the freedoms that we as parents have enjoyed for many years.

And I I know you're one of the the, the key sponsors for this, and I see that you have four beautiful children, and I know you love your children dearly. And I think you would agree that no one would love your children more than you could ever, and no one would ever want the best for you kids as much as you. I'm sorry. I've never done this before.

But we all love our kids more than anyone else could ever do that, and we have the best intentions for them.

And so for us to have this this freedom that we have to live in this country and this state and to to continue to hold school the way we have for nearly to 18 years, and to have it changed and to risk future generations of of students and parents having losing their freedoms like this is gonna be more harm to our state than good.

And so I'd ask you to consider what's in the best interest of the next generation and whether this is truly in the best interest. And as a homeschool dad, I don't agree with what you're what you're proposing.

Thank you for your testimony.

Anyone else? HB 2376? Seeing none, any questions?

I have a quick question, Chair.

Please go ahead.

For the department.

You're not mistaken. Thanks. You take care of silence. Okay.

Thank you so much for your testimony. And also just I do wanna thank every single individual, child, family member, parent that came out and testified as well. One of the things I think that is one of the most beautiful parts of the legislative process is to watch people share their voices, their opinions, and how legislation will impact their lives. One of the things that came up was bullying and that a lot of families pull their children out of the DOE system because of bullying.

I think while not necessarily stated in this measure, I think part of this, and it also came up in bits and pieces of testimony, was the issue around how do you protect kids who are either truant in the system or maybe are experiencing hardship or neglect at home, and those parents pull their kids out.

Today, we witnessed the immense love that I think parents have for their children, and the extent that they're willing to go to to protect their kids by homeschooling. What was not present, and I think what is usually never present, are the parents who pull their kids out because they are neglecting them. What protocols are in place to protect those kids? Because I think that this measure is probably not the right way to address that specific issue, especially after all of the testimony.

But are there measures in place to protect those kids who are pulled out because of neglect at home?

So currently, there's not. And, you know, listening to all the testimony today, reading all the testimony, I think there are a lot of good ideas about other measures that can be put in place. I think this is something that we are really looking into, homeschool students. There's a huge increase. Some schools have over a 100 kids in homeschool, and I was really shocked at that volume.

So it is something that we are really looking and trying to address, and I think, getting the input from this community is very important.

Chair, if I can ask one more question.

Going back to thank you for that. I'm glad the department's looking into it. I certainly think that's something that's really important. I think the other portion that comes up a lot is the bullying aspect. And we have a couple of other measures that this committee has looked at.

I know I have one that I've introduced as well around Chapter 19 and protection for students on campus. But really, you're seeing this massive influx of people who are pulling their kids out because their kids don't feel safe on campus. What are we doing to protect the kids on campus, and what safety measures are in place around creating, like, a safety plan for kids.

And, I mean, I've had my own experience now that's really kinda shocking, and I have a like, my own family member is now potentially gonna be pulled out of the DOE system. We're looking at virtual options because they don't feel safe on campus.

So at what point does the department step in if there's, I think, neglect potentially on I don't wanna say the complex level, but maybe at the school level by not protecting kids with a safety plan or anti bullying efforts.

So bullying is a problem, and it's one that, our office does try to address. We start with looking at social emotional learning, positive behavior supports to try and build that foundation, and create classrooms and campuses that are safe and nurturing. When these issues come up, it is the school's responsibility to address it. We do have some procedures in place, but I think every case is unique, but it does require the school to address it, to everyone's satisfaction.

And it is, disheartening when there are cases in schools where children are being bullied.

I've experienced that as a parent, you know, my own children and it's a difficult thing to contend with. But I do believe that schools have the resources and my office does stand ready to support them, because when we hear about these cases, we certainly will trust them.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Brett. Any other questions? Please go ahead.

You know, a lot of these testifiers, I mean, the shots, eight years old. Yeah. But one thing that stood out to me that that one lady I mean, it it was mentioned several times, but that one lady really she said it really well. That if her child is showing signs of speech impediment or a slow learner, they immediately could take it to a doctor and get an assessment.

The DOE and, you know, not you, but the system, a teacher may not recognize that because he's got 20 to 30 students in the class. So that may go unnoticed for a while for a while. And then by the time you catch it, it's two or three years later. How do you what's your take on that?

Well, child find. Right? We do try to assess all of our students. We have the kindergarten entry assessment that's given to all of our kids. That can show some delays that are evident.

Having a class of 20 is also a way to compare if students are on the same level or not. So I do believe our schools can identify delays and then address them, through our child find process.

I have another question, but I don't know how to ask it.

Please go ahead.

You know, with the whole assessment situation, why would the DOE why did the DOE get rid of the HISTEC? The HISTEC was a really good assessment test for school, and it covered a lot of what you guys are asking, English, language arts. It also covered other steps that would help identifying. Why would we get rid of an assessment program, but now we wanna implement a different one?

So I personally don't know the answers to that question. The HISTEC, I think, was before I became a teacher, I think. I was a teacher.

Sorry. Sorry for showing my age.

So, but I I can get the answer to that question when we transition to another test.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rep. any other questions? Vice chair.

Thank you. I echo Capella's sentiment. Again, mahalo to everybody who took the time to spend, with us today and share your voice and your testimony. It is the, I think, what I believe is the intent of this committee, and everybody here in the room, we all share the same goals. I believe that, we all have, compelling interest in the absolute security and, safety of our kids as well as getting the, best quality education.

And, yeah, perhaps this is not the right vehicle, but what currently is in place? As you mentioned, some schools have up to a 100 homeschooled kids, but do you have definitions for what you would determine to be a child falling, like, through the cracks, and what mechanisms are in place as you check these at the third, fifth, eighth, grade, tenth level, to see whether there's, at least on that side, educational possibly, neglect or, like, falling behind, for educational assessments.

But yeah, what is what how do you define what could be, like, a child falling through the cracks and what is currently, your process?

I think there's a lot of challenges around, homeschooling for the department. If a family does not send in a report, they don't have to come to our testing. Some do. When I was a principal, I had kids come for courtesy testing. But if they don't come, that is noted.

And I think that becomes the challenge as a department how to follow-up if we don't hear. A lot of times, families move out of state, and, don't let the school know. So the numbers are it's a challenging, component. And I think this year, we've really just started to quantify how many kids. We're we're putting it into our information system, so that we can track that.

We can track if we receive their report and see how they're doing, and then also be able to perhaps, work with DHS about ways that we can move forward if we have a concern about ethnic equity.

So currently, as we you just shared, there's no system in place to track that and a current understanding between you and DHS on how to navigate, like, these types of potential cases.

Well, currently, we do have a system. It's just a year old, really, where we are putting this information into a into our student information system. We used to track when kids did do a 4140 to exit. So we've kept that information, but now we're trying to keep, a better track of whether they're reporting, their progress, annually. We send out letters.

Some people talked about that in their testimony about the letters that are sent out. Send out one letter was announced, second letter, third letter. And that has basically been the extent of our follow-up with these interviews.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. That's my question.

Can I follow-up, Chair?

Please go ahead.

Department? Just wanna follow-up what you were just describing. So after someone 4140s out to homeschooling, are you saying that they now you're gonna track them in Infinite Campus?

In Infinite Campus, there's a, homeschooling module now. We just started it this year.

Yep.

Just this year?

Okay, And to to kind of follow-up with Rep Chica's question, so my experience with 4140 Homeschool, school administrators that I used to work with basically didn't do anything to follow-up. It was kinda like the students off my books. So that's changed in the last year.

I can tell you that. When I, came into this position, I think homeschooling was an issue that concerned me and that I tried to address this year. So we are making changes in the way that we're collecting information and then trying to form, a strategy that supports homeschooling, families but also helps us to make sure we know where they are and that they're safe.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, representative. Any other questions? Please go ahead.

Just on the the data, you're you're talking about the collection. Is that gonna be reported anywhere on the website, the DOE website, on how many students specifically are exiting the DOE system?

I have the number that have, applied for 4140s. I don't know about the annual reporting. I think it's prob probably something we can do, but I can also get that information.

Perfect. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Amber, any other questions? Okay. We're moving on to the next bill. We'll do do session making at the end of the agenda.

Next bill is HB 1634. This is regarding homeschooler children participating in the old e-sports. First up on our testifiers list, we have Department of Education offering comments in person.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, and members of the committee. Terry Shijima, testifying on behalf of the department, and we stand by our written comments.

Thank you so much. Next, we have O’ahu Inclusive Co-op offering testimony support in person.

We have nine individuals all offering testimony in support, a conclusion of two in opposition. Anyone else in the 1634?

Seeing none. Members, any questions?

Any questions?

Time's getting late, so we're gonna move on to the next bill.

Next bill we have is HB1891. This is with regards to universal dyslexia screening. And then you'll be first, we have this department of education offering comments in person.