House Standing Committee on Education

Aloha and good afternoon. Welcome to your Committee on Education. Today's date is April 16. It is 02:11PM for our 2:05 agenda, and we are in Room 309.

We have several measures, I think over maybe a dozen or so, Senate Resolutions on the agenda. And we also have a second, joint education agenda at 03:05PM.

So with that, let's get started. So first item on our agenda is SCR 78, urging the Department of Education to strengthen natural health education initiatives and to adopt a comprehensive menstrual cycle curriculum. As up, we have the Department of Education offering comments.

Good afternoon, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica. Heidi Armstrong, Department of Education. We stand on our written comments supporting the intent. We've also provided some technical amendments to help scaffold the curriculum between the grade levels. Thank you.

We have Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women in support.

Hi. Good afternoon. Yasmeen Cheney for the Commission on the Status of Women. The commission stands on its written testimony in support of this resolution and would just comment that research and best practices indicate that inclusive menstrual education can reduce misinformation, promote self confidence, and help students better manage their health. We thank the committee for its consideration and support.

Thank you.

We have Menstrual Equity Initiative in support.

Aloha, Chairs and committee members. My name is Leila Mae Gonzalez. I am a 2024 graduate of McKinley High School, and I currently attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa. As a product of the DOE system that has grown up in, you know, the DOE system since since forever, I can recall the traumatic events that I've gone through towards my menstrual health as well as friends who are also products of the DOE system.

A lot of the times when I talk to my friends, a lot of them have not to worry when they say that they haven't had their period in months, but that really shouldn't be the case.

And personally, I experienced a traumatic experience of having my period for more than thirteen days. And when I talk to them, including myself, a lot of the times, it's because of the women in our lives that we've been able to kind of get a grasp about how to control our menstrual health and kind of the complexities of it.

But in reality, a lot of the students, in K to 12 don't have the resources of a woman that they can look up to and say, you know, that they know their menstrual health well. So that's why in reality of a product that, you know, has can say that they graduated almost two years ago from, you know, high school. That's why we're really urging for the DOE curriculum to really strengthen its efforts for menstrual health.

Because, again, a lot of the times, a lot of young girls who start their periods more earlier than me don't have the opportunity to really have a deeper understanding of how complex measure health is, especially considering stigma that might be faced or just anything in regards to abnormal periods that go on.

And so, yeah, because, you know, for something that a lot of us have to go through for such a significant time of our lives, a lot of the times my peers and I ask ourselves why was it more done within the DOE system towards this. Mahalo.

Thank you. Thank you for being here in person and sharing.

Next, we have, Hawaii Movement Hawaii in support.

Aloha, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair La Chica, and members of the committee. My name is Nikki-Ann Yee, Co-founder of Ma'i Movement Hawaii. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify and I stand on my written testimony in strong support. I wanna start by recognizing the young people who helped bring us here today, Joelle and Leila. This measure reflects what students are asking for, standardized and comprehensive menstrual health education.

In our work, we meet people from all ages who say they felt unprepared before their period started or who don't know how to use products that are available to them or just felt too embarrassed to ask for help. And it surprises me that even now, after we worked so hard to pass law, and make sure implementation was going right, that students are saying that what they are learning in school is limited, coming too late, or just not inclusive of their experiences.

That's why I want to express my agreement with the Senate and House Committee's recommendations on this resolution and its companion. You've acknowledged that the current approach is consistent. There are some areas for improvement, and we fill that gap every day.

What's powerful is that students like Joelle and Leila aren't just identifying the problem. They're leading the solution. This is about listening to our youth and giving them the system that they deserve. The products are in the school. The infrastructure is there.

SCR 78 is making sure that the knowledge follows. So I respectfully ask for your support and appreciate your continued, sorry. Your continued time and efforts to help our kids. Thank you.

Thank you, Nikki. We also have support from the Democratic Party Education Caucus, and we have an individual on Zoom in support, Joelle Watanabe.

Hi, everyone. I'm Joelle Watanabe. I am a 2024 graduate of Mauna Loa High School, and I currently attend Boston University. I signed on my written testimony in support of SCR 78. I got my first period when I was nine years old, and it was extremely traumatic for me to see blood when using the bathroom because I was not educated at the time on what a period was.

I don't remember receiving any information about menstrual cycle in my sex ed course in elementary school, nor I imagined how classes in middle or high school. I remember attempting to look up information about the menstrual cycle and what it tells on the Internet. However, at first, I felt ashamed about even looking it up using internalizing web. I pushed for a menstrual education in Hawaii public schools as I generally didn't have the opportunity to learn at home.

I didn't have much older woman figures in my life as a child.

I only had my mother. However, like many students in the public school system, my mother, the main provider of my house with 3 kids would come home from eight hours of emotionally taxing work as a social worker. She did not have the time as a working mother to not only me, but two other children, one of whom who had an actual intellectual disability and emotional capacity to sit down with us to talk about a sensitive and important topic such as this.

She relied on my sex ed classic fifth grade to teach me, but as I said earlier, mental education was not in the topics. Everything I've mentioned learned was from my own, like, the different resources.

I know I'm not the only one who is in these circumstances, and I'm sure that other mentoring persons like me who are in the system would appreciate menstrual education. Thank you for taking this into consideration.

Thank you, Joelle. Members, we also have individual testimony and support from 10 other individuals. Anyone else wishing to testify on SCR 78 in person or online?

None. Members any questions?

Seeing none, let's move on to SCR 194. Urging the Department of Education to meet the criteria necessary to officially recognize cheerleading as a Title IX sport in Hawaii. First up we have Department of Education in support.

Good afternoon, chair Woodson, vice chair La Chica, members of the committee. Sean Bacon speaking on behalf of the department. We stand on our written testimony in support. And just to give a little bit of information, in 2024, the DOE recently initiated girls' flag football. Additionally, this past year, surfing was recognized as a sport.

And now recognizing cheerleading as a sport will provide additional opportunities for our students. We stand by for any any questions or comments. Thank you.

Thank you. We also have testimony support from Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women on Zoom.

Good afternoon. Again, Yasmin Cheney for the Commission on the Status of Women. We stand on our written testimony in support and would just comment that recognizing competitive cheerleading as an athletic opportunity under Title IX can help address disparities in sports participation, resource allocation, and representation for female students. Thank you very much for your consideration and support.

Thank you, Yasmin. Webinar, that's it for testimony. Anyone else wishing to testify on the pleasure? K. Seeing none.

Questions? Okay, seeing none, let's move on to SCR 195. Requesting the Board of Education in collaboration with the Department of Education to revise public high school graduation requirements to include successful completion of a stand-alone financial literacy course. First up, we have Board of Education offering comments.

Roy Takumi on behalf of the board of education, you have the written testimony. I just want to embellish a little bit about the testimony. I suspect that the inference for this resolution is that a stand-alone credit course is superior to any other pedagogical delivery of course content. We can have a debate on that. And I suspect the reason for this resolution is that over the years, there's been bills introduced to mandate, in this case, financial literacy.

I know over the years there's been bills introduced to mandate that the Department of Education teach bicycle safety training, swimming, computer science, Hawaiian language. I mean, there's been a number of bills that would mandate what the department should do. I would urge the committee some caution about that because all due respect to the legislature and given your portfolio, whether or not you are the best body to decide what should be required to students. And, frankly, that's why you have a board of education.

But I do realize and I'm very well aware that Article 10 of the state constitution clearly says that the board shall formulate and promulgate education policy except as provided by law, which is all of you.

So at any time the legislature wants to decide to do something to the school system, that's your prerogative, obviously. So when this resolution passes, if this particular one requests that the board take a look at whether or not financial literacy should be a standalone credit card, the Department of Education will testify after the board, and they will lay out to you what exactly the department has done on financial literacy.

As you well know, it will be a requirement for all graduating seniors in the from the class of 2030 to take a financial literacy class. However, the department are Lee is leaving it up to each individual school to decide how that course content will be delivered. Is it online?

Is it part of the student's personal portfolio? Is it a standalone credit course? Is it a they're gonna decide, and each school will decide based upon the needs of their particular students. Again, just be sensitive as to whether or not the legislature believes, well, that's all well and good, but the one and the only way and the best way to do it is a standalone credit course.

Because, quite frankly, I think all of you are well aware of how course units have stood up over time, you know, back in 1906.

We were talking about a 120 years ago, for God's sake, when Carnegie units were stood up, and course content was developed, traditionally a thousand eighty school hours and a hundred eighty school days, and course content generally is a hundred twenty hours of instruction. That is still the dominant mode of delivery in our country. But more and more schools, including the DOE is realizing that's not the one-size-fits-all way that's optimal for students.

And so, as a result, you have ideas such as portfolio-based learning, competency-based learning, as opposed to seat time learning. Because logically, what the Carnegie units is asserting is that all students can master algebra one in a 120 hours.

Not a 115 because then you're going too fast. Not a 125, because then you'll fail. Life doesn't work that way. And I think more and more schools and systems, including the department, is realizing we have to try to appeal on a much more personalized basis, because every student progresses and learns in different ways. That's it.

Thank you, Chair. We have testimony from Department of Education, Aubrey Collins.

Good afternoon. Chair Woodson, Vice Chair LaChica, Heidi Armstrong, Department of Education. We do, the Department stands on its testimony. We support the intent of SCR, SCR 195. And I'd like to reiterate, starting with the class of 2030, so they would be freshmen next school year, 26-27, all students will be required to have taken and passed a course in financial literacy that is aligned to our robust financial literacy standards before they graduate.

So at this time, we do offer standalone courses. We also have online options available, and we're looking into more of our, our Hawaii online courses to be available, supporting financial literacy. So our robust options will continue. But I would agree with the board chair that a one-size-fits-all approach will hamper the ability for schools to move forward with ensuring that by the class of 2030, all students do graduate with a course in financial literacy.

Okay. We have HawaiiKidsCAN in support.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, members committee. David San Miyashiro from HawaiiKidsCAN. I wanna stand on our written testimony and maybe offer a few additional points. We were honored to serve on the working group back in 2024, looking into this matter. We had some robust conversations at the time.

I'll say what stuck with me the most was actually a student member of that task force who said, you know, we're arguing whether or not to make something required or mandatory, but the reality is once we graduate, once we're on the real world, it is mandatory whether or not we're prepared for it. We've been also working on a number of grants over the last few years to really go and talk to community members, talk to families about how they feel about economic uncertainty in Hawaii.

As we know, it's a very expensive place to be. We also have a changing landscape with cryptocurrency, online gambling, AI. So there's a lot happening very quickly.

And again, we just hear over and over again that students do not feel prepared, with the the options that they have in the status quo. The New York Times recently, wrote, young graduates face the grimmest job market in years. So the stakes are very high. I do wanna give a shout out to the Department of Ed. I think moving forward with the PTP graduation requirement is something to be applauded.

I think it's a great, great, great first step. I think the question I keep asking myself is in terms of equity and access, is it enough? And we put in our testimony questions that we have about how do we measure access and outcomes. Right? What is the balance between each of those four offerings?

I think that'll be really important to report on as this requirement kinda gets rolled out. You know, anything about a portfolio of schools. If every school had to, you know, offer algebra in a different format, I think it would be quite confusing, and it would create disparities across schools. The DOE did collect a survey of various stakeholder feedback. We're very curious to hear that goes.

And again, we think the board is the right place to have that conversation. There's a deeper, more meaningful, holistic, nuanced conversation to be had. So we'd be really excited to see this year the board take that measure up again and have a conversation about how do we really make sure we're answering the questions that I think are still out there.

But thank you so much.

Thank you so much, David. We also have testimony from three individuals in support. Members, oh, is there anyone else wishing to testify on SCR 195, in person, or online? Okay. Seeing none of the members' questions.

I have a question for Sherman, please.

Yes, Chairman.

Thank you for being here. So in your testimony, you alluded to the a question between time and mastery. And just we're not taking hypothetical. And so one of the options for the, the new requirement in writing financial literacy is to afford students asynchronous, a asynchronous option. We can do work online.

How do you think that compares to like this in-class option in terms of mastery of the subject matter?

Yeah. If you.

Based upon your like extensive policy research.

Yeah. Two, two responses to that, Chair. First, there are numerous studies regarding whether or not students master each content area, by whatever method. And the conclusions are, yes, you might imagine. It really depends on the student.

I mean, I think we saw during COVID that some students continued to learn at grade level or higher, and other students struggle because at that time, it was a 100% asynchronous learning. So my only point is that I think when we start delivering content area to our students, we have to ensure that they have options in order to learn. And, again, second observation, when Act 51 passed 22 years ago, for all of you who wait a minute. None of you was here. I'm sorry.

But for those of you who were here, remember is that the basic premise of Act 51 was to give schools, individual schools, as much autonomy, flexibility, and authority as possible. Because, after all, more than the chair of education or the vice chair of the education committee, the chair of the board of education, each school at the school level knows what's best for their children. I don't, I don't actually parachute into Pope Elementary School in Waimanalo on a daily basis.

So, we hope that the staff and the school leadership at that school knows what's best for their students in their community. So if they decide in their wisdom that they want to deliver this financial literacy requirement asynchronously, I'm not going to second-guess that.

And so because at the end, the proof is going to be in the results. How the students achieve, whether it's in math, language arts, or financial literacy. And let me make one last comment. Every time the legislature introduces a bill that mandates certain credits for graduate to graduate, please keep in mind that it has an unintended effect. And what is the unintended effect?

That in this case, the board then, not the legislature, will have to decide what gives. In this case, because there's going now going to be a requirement for financial literacy, it meant that the six credits that are electives has gone down. Right? Because, as you well know, 24 credits are required to graduate high school in the state of Hawaii. 18 are required: English, math, and so on.

Six, students can decide with their families what's best for me. Dance, art, auto mechanics, Hawaiian language, whatever the case may be. Every time there's a mandate, either the legislature should stay, you should give up a history class, or you should reduce the number of electives because we've decided that this is what's best for all kids. That's a policy call for the legislature. I'm not gonna second-guess that because, again, ultimately, you have the authority to do so.

I don't know if I would make that conclusive statement because look, Chair, if you have a hundred kids and 95 kids learn best with seat time, 55 blocks, but then you have five kids who struggle with that, and if those five kids are given an opportunity to learn asynchronously, why would we insist that all 100 kids learn by seat time? I'm not saying that asynchronously today I think in the future, it will be frankly, but today will be the dominant delivery system for students.

But I am saying in today's world, the technology, I'll give you one small example. My son, he failed typing. This is back in the day.

Yeah. They actually taught typing. And but then on his own, he, he bought Mavis Beacon. It was a program for typing. He learned how to type in a month.

Right? If he was going to a traditional school, it would be an entire semester. And so that fit his learning curve for that particular content area. So, depending on the content area depending on the student, yeah, I say that we should offer multitudes of opportunities for students to learn. Again, one size fits all, I think will be a diminishing model as opposed to an expanding model.

Just real quick. Would you support would you support this as an elective?

As you heard from the department, it's no longer an elective. It will be required for graduation. So by the time students graduate in the 2030 class, all seniors in that class will have, must have taken a financial literacy course. So it's not it's no longer it's today it's an elect, but it won't be. Well, yeah.

From next school year, it won't be an elect.

In the resolution board chair, it says here that you did release is it a memo or an announcement of the requirement, but it wasn't formally put up for a formal vote to approve the new requirement.

Yeah. It didn't it didn't come up for a vote because it wasn't a votable, if you will. I, I just need up that word. A matter that had to be voted on. The board did discussion.

There were four separate meetings last year and earlier this year, both in the student achievement committee and at the general business meeting, where the department presented the plan as a result of the fine financial literacy task force as to how they would like to deliver the content area in a way that ensures that students will learn and be required to, to fit that into the academic plan.

I think the board if the department came and said, oh, by the way, we're going to reduce algebra one by one credit to half a credit, then, of course, the board would have to vote on that.

But to put this as a is it currently a half credit requirement as part of the PTP? Is that the list would not be

It's half credit.

The PTP is not a credit.

Right now, the PTP is half credit now. On which financial literacy can be the PTP is more than just one area, though. It's kids come up with their life plan, if you will. As a and as a part of that, if a school wants to use the PTP to infuse financial literacy, they would have the ability to do so. No question.

Thank you, Chair. All questions from the department, please. Part of the plan that was, was it September that it was released? I don't remember when it was released. But the does that include some of the questions that were raised by HawaiiKidsCAN earlier on, like does it include a plan to evaluate both the I think it was quality and impact and then also the standard for what.

Like yeah, what, what is the, what is this gonna be the department's definition for what the standard would be since we're allowing for flex

The stand, the, the standard are the our jump start literate or financial literacy standards. So any program that's used to teach financial literacy, has been vetted and has been, recognized as addressing all of the adopted standards. So whether I'm taking a face-to-face course, a synchronous virtual course, an asynchronous virtual course, the content is standard no matter what mode the course is delivered in.

If the to keep track of the different options to ensure that every student graduates with a course in financial literacy, That information will be recorded in the PTP, which is a half the Personal Transition Plan, which is a half credit course that a student needs to complete in order to graduate.

If I take financial literacy or a student takes it as a standalone course, it would be right now, it's an, an elective course, and they would get credit, graduation credit for taking that course, but that would also be recorded in their PTP, which is our one-stop shop for ensuring that all graduates in 2030, have taken financial literacy.

The feedback we've had over, I think this year, about 5,000 teacher or 5,000 students, participating in one of our online options, and the feedback has been very positive to ensure that students master. It's not they sit there and watch it, and then they say, we're done with the course. There's quizzes. There's activities to be done. The one advantage, and there's advantage in face-to-face.

The one of the a major advantage of one of these on, asynchronous courses is the, simulations that the kids are able to do. They're able to fill up the tax return. They're given a scenario, and they have to they're taken through it, you know, in this virtual world and have to solve, balance the budget, you know, whatever the task is. So the vetted online curriculums are also very valuable.

And then the community feedback survey that this department has- is there any plans to either provide a report or an update on how that feedback is gonna be utilized by the requirement and the grant? HawaiiKidsCAN earlier testified that you the department collected community survey data, but that that that serve the result of the re the results of that survey hasn't been shared publicly yet. And so I wanted to ask if you're aware of that and if or you look.

I, I will have to get back to you on when that data if it, if it's available, when it's done.

Yeah. If you have that data and how it will be utilized.

Okay, I'll have to get back to you on that.

Okay, thank you.

Sure.

Okay.

Members, any other questions?

I mean, I think at the end of the day, I appreciate what chairman Takumi said is that it is a complicated, nuanced topic in conversation. And so I think again that I understand the intent of the resolution.

It's really how do we bring some of those topics and that conversation into the light before the board of education to say, alright, if we choose a standalone one credit financial literacy course that every student is expected to complete in person before they graduate, and that means one less elective for students to take, or to have available for them. Like, let's debate the pros and cons and the trade offs of that. I think that's important.

I think with the question that you raised about even, how the credit would be recognized within that PTP, a question that comes into mind for me then is, is it a pass fail, kind of recognition for that, FinLit within the PTP versus if a student takes a full course, are they getting a letter grade? How is their kind of equivalence there?

How do we know that, again, not the students are just completing the course, but there's some kind of quality assurance that it's actually helping them feel prepared for all of the things that they share that they're anxious about? You know, we have algebra, biology, participation in democracy. These are all important.

I wouldn't change any of those. But, again, we just Kinda take some of these as gospel that they are part of the core experience for every single student in our system. And I don't believe, I could be wrong, but I don't believe that we offer that range of flexibility to schools to how they wanna offer courses like that. Again, we just assume that these are core things that we expect students to learn and know and that are important for them.

So I think financial literacy based on the feedback we've gotten is making its way into that conversation.

Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none, let's move on to our next item, next measure on the agenda. SCR 162 requesting the Department of Education to convene a shared decision making committee to develop an action plan to establish a k through 12 high school in Kapolei. First up, we have, Department of Education on

My name is Courtney Sang, and I'm with the Hawaii Department of Education. The department stands on its written testimony. And can be available for comments or questions if you can.

In here, we have office of Hawaiian Affairs offering comments on Zoom.

Aloha, Chair Woodson, Vice Chair LaChica, and members of the committee. Sharde Freitas, Public Policy Advocate with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. OHA stands on its written comments. We commend all of the various stakeholders involved who support the state of holding its constitutional Kuleana to provide access to Hawaiian medium education. We look forward to continuing to being a partner with the various stakeholders to work together towards solutions as demands for Kula Kaiapuni continue to increase.

And mahalo for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you so much. We also have testimony support from miss Duran from the Toll City neighborhood of Ford. We also have testimony in support from on Zoom Kiana Rodriguez.

Aloha, everyone. My name is Kiana Rodriguez. I live with my in ohana in Halawa. I'm the Hope Palakikana of Keolohi Oava and a strong supporter of Hawaiian immersion education. I'm here today to reaffirm my support for SCR 162.

Accessibility to Hawaiian immersion education is an important issue to my Ohana, especially as a Kanaka Oiwi who was raised in the diaspora. When Ke Kula Kaiapuni opened its doors, my daughter was given back the opportunity to continue her Kaiapuni education after graduating from Wai'au. For many Ohana in our position, traveling to Palolo, Kaneohe, or Kahuku to attend other Kula Kaiapuni is not a feasible option due to due to the distance from home and work.

My son will be entering kindergarten this upcoming school year, and currently, the high demand for Hawaiian immersion in the means that the only elementary option is at capacity. This resolution creates an actionable plan so that Ohana will not have to face uncertainty around if Kai Pune is attainable.

Mahala for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you, Kiana, we also have testimony and support from, miss Diaz Machado from and testimony and support from six other individuals. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on SCR 162, online or in person? Seeing none, there's questions.

Seeing none, let's move on to SCR 203, urging this body to establish a public charter school working group to examine the support systems available to state public charter schools and determine whether the establishment of a centralized public charter school district or similar service cooperative would provide improved support to public charter schools. First up, we have, Public Charter School Commission in support.

Good afternoon, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. Ed Noh, executive director of the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission, and we stand on our written testimony for to support the intent, and we'll be available for any questions.

Thank you so much, Mike, sir. We also have testimony support from the the Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on SCR 203? Any member's questions? Seeing none, let's move on to SCR 130 urging the Department of Education and Department of Ag and Biosecurity to jointly develop a farmer's institution coordination plan that is aligned with the INA Extension Network rollout.

First up, we have general education upgrade process.

Hello, chair Woodson, vice chair of the Chika, and members of the committee. Shanta Jima testify on behalf of the Department of Education. The department stands on our written testimony, which provides comments on this measure. The department is already rolling on a new school food service software in June 2026 to monitor our local purchasing goals and replace handwritten records. The department is already part of an ongoing multi agency collaboration to support the nursing Hawaii's future effort.

We will be forming formally signing an MOA sometime very soon. The department would request additional funding to develop any new plans in addition to what we're already doing. Thank you for this opportunity to testify. We stand

by for questions.

Thank you so much, Sunsuper Clinic. We have, Hawaii Farm Bureau in support. We have Hawaii Food Industry Association also in support.

Thank you, chair, vice chair, committee members. Laura and Sargent on behalf of Hawaii Food of Hawaii Food Industry Association, we will stand on our testimony in strong support. Mahalo.

Thank you. We also have testimony in support from One Indivitrol. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on SCR 130? Seeing none, numbers, questions? Okay.

Seeing none. Let's move on to SCR 196 urging the Department of Education to develop a proposal for a tiered, coordinated, and standardized bell schedule framework for department schools. First up, we have Department of Education in opposition.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. I'm Elizabeth Hidashi, testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. The Department would just like to reiterate its concerns regarding this resolution, knowing there's a lot of intention that goes behind every bell schedule, balancing not only school design, academic needs, and contractual obligations, but also community needs. And our concern would be that a standardized bill schedule would be disruptive and make it challenging for our communities to design bell schedules that best fit their needs. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We also have testimony from one individual in support. Anyone else wishing to testify on SCR 196? Members, questions?

What are you putting in permits? DOE, please. Are there still schools that are on staggered start time?

So, we do have some complex areas that do decide to stagger their start time. So, an example would be the Kalani area, and the reason why that community does it is traffic. One of the things primarily that if all the schools started on the same time, it would be challenging for them in the traffic patterns in addition to bus scheduling. So, sometimes there's operational needs that come up in certain communities that force us, in the best interest, to stagger those times.

Are there any, in terms of stacker start times and, and bell schedules, are there any schools on this island, like central...that have staggered start time still, or no?

I would have to get back to you. I think that was one of the examples that I really wanted to highlight. But I do know that for all of our schools, that when they do it, it is a rigorous process, and there are many considerations that can come into play.

So, what I can share is I know when I formally worked at my high school, one of the things that we really looked at in our bell schedule was that many of our students were caretakers and supported their elementary siblings in walking to school.

So, a lot of considerations that had to come into place was making sure that our time as well allowed for many of our kids to be able to do that, in coordination with our feeder schools.

So, I think that would just be a concern about thinking about our standardized elementary, middle, and high is that there oftentimes are community needs that are very specific, even looking at rural areas that we would be concerned that may be disruptive or make it challenging for our schools to meet those needs.

Thank you.

Few follow-up questions. What is the—should an individual school choose to move forward with adopting a new bell schedule, what is the current consensus requirement for that...school?

That's a great question. So, first off, to initiate that process, when they create the proposal for that bell schedule, they'll need to take it to their faculty. And what, before a part of that, there's a lot of work that goes into discussion ensuring that there are 10 critical areas in alignment not only to statute, but the collective bargaining agreement that they would need to make sure it's fulfilled.

And so, they would vote, and I believe it's a two thirds vote would need to pass from the staff in order for the bell schedule to be adopted.

Right. So, one of my area schools, Pearl City High School, has initiated and failed multiple times, and they're one of the schools that was impacted by the school bus crisis. So, out of the seven routes, only one has been restored. And given where they are, which is, like, you know, at the top of the mountain, like, it's, students are arriving late anyway. So, has this been a strategy that the department has taken a look at as a potential tool that could be used to kind of, with the limited student transportation resources that we have for certain areas? You know, Ii there data, for example, that's collected or feedback to kind of determine which areas might need this the most?

I, I think that's something we can definitely look into.

I do wanna reiterate that when it comes to school schedules and bell schedules, it's that challenging balance between operations and things like transportation and also school design and thinking about what are the academic goals and what are the programming that a school feels will best meet and provide for the appropriate planning time or credits and fitting all those periods into the appropriate credits and priorities within that time constraint.

So, I think those are always some of the things that as faculties go through the consensus process does become a challenge in weighing the between maybe operational pieces, in addition to what are things that academically are in the best interest that they feel programmatically for the students.

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Members, any other questions? Okay. Seeing none.

Thank you. Let's move on to, SCR 200 requesting the DOE to implement a National Education Association micro credential pilot program developed in collaboration with the department's office of curriculum and instructional design and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. First up, we have Department of Education in support.

Good afternoon Chair, Vice Chair, members of the committee. Sean Beacon speaking on behalf of the Department. We stand on our written testimony in support of this. And just to let you know, we've been working with the HSTA on this, back in February. We started the consultation process, As it indicates in our testimony, we did hear back from the HSTA on April 7.

We had a few questions that they had. We're very close to being completed with that consultation process, and we're on track to beginning this type of credential project for the beginning of next school year. We stand right for any questions. Thank you.

Is there anyone thank you for being the one and only testifier. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? SCR 200. Seeing none members questions. Okay.

Let's move on to SCR 201, requesting the Department of Education to reissue requests for proposals for the job order contracting program, contractors and prequalified small contractors to ensure the continuity of the future schools now program. We have one do we have testimony in the department for two zero one? Check.

I have one individual in support of two zero one. Submit testimony. Please go ahead. No. We don't have it on our test file list.

Jesse Suki, deputy superintendent of operations for the department of education. We did submit testimony supporting the intent. We may have submitted late, maybe that's why you didn't get it.

Okay. Yeah.

Can you get a copy? Yes.

We are issuing a job order contract RFPs to update the contracts we already have in place. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah. I don't believe we have your testimony, so if we could get a copy. Thank you so much. That's it, members.

Any other person wishing to testify on SCR 201? Okay. Seeing none, members, questions? Okay. Seeing none, we are on SCR 199, requesting the Department of Education to establish a framework in the Office of Facilities and Operations that improves responsibility and accountability for monitoring all capital improvement projects and repair and maintenance projects. First up, we have DOE offering comments.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, members of the committee. Jesse Souki, Deputy Superintendent of Operations. We stand on our testimony with comments. Generally, as an overarching comment to summarize the testimony, we'd like to ensure that CIP managing deployment is centralized within the department.

We work closely with principals and complex superintendents-- complex area superintendents on the projects that are happening at these schools in the district, so we believe that this reso might be duplicative of some of that, but, again, it is important that these decisions are centralized within the department as it is now at the direction of the Board of Education. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much. We also have one person in opposition, Ms. Susan Davis. Are you here?

Please go ahead.

Yes.

When I say I'm in opposition, it usually has to do with the wording, and I do support the Department of Education's written testimony. However, if the resolution remains the same, I have made some recommendations for your consideration. There are confusing words: framework and monitor. Office of Operations is being asked to develop a framework, and the CASs and their staff are being asked to monitor.

And what needs to happen first is, if you don't have a framework, you can't monitor, and the framework determines who does what. And currently, there's consternation as to be able to--in your district--be able to track CIP and deferred maintenance, okay? So that's one problem.

So, you know, this is trying to fix the ability for reps and senators to keep track. And there are some other things that are in here that I would like to see changed. One of them is that the Department of Education will develop a framework and that the CASs will be monitoring. So that implies that the monitoring is keeping track of the project-- of the type of project, when it started, how it's do doing, the cost, and things like that.

If there's a difficult time to get that information, then nobody becomes satisfied, okay? So it causes a lot of problems. There was something else in here called Jobs Tracker, and the use of the word jobs tracker implies a computerized something to be able to track. But until that happens, and until it's public, even I can't look at, like, Pearl City High School's projects.

So-- and I do follow with this stuff. So for me, as a member of the public, I would like to be able to have access to that. As far as reporting, I understand where that's coming from because people aren't-- people are not getting information. So when you require a report, at least you have a piece of paper that you can say, well, you told me this was gonna happen. This was scheduled just like this like this.

Right now, it's mostly making telephone contacts to find out what's going on. Also, it takes a time requirement, which doesn't make people happy when they can't get the answers to their questions quickly. In that case, the monitoring by the CASs may not be the proper place for the monitoring to occur if the expectations are more than what the committee wants. Do you want down to the detail information and expect the CASs to get that? And can they get that?

So it all depends on really what you wanna see. You've been asking for it forever, okay? And I'm gonna just put one more thing in there. Thank you for bringing up Pearl City High School. Yes. Kids are coming in late. I'm a grandparent. I would have testified, but I didn't get up here fast enough. To get up that hill and get through the last red light to get your kids on time, you truly have to leave the house 45 minutes early, and I only live in Waipio. So you're going up that hill, and it's just crazy. So, you know, bringing that up is a great idea. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Davis. Thank you for your testimony and being here in person. Members, we also have testimony from an individual. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on SCR 199? Okay.

Seeing none, members questions? Okay. Seeing none, we are on second to the last measure, SER 197, requesting the office of the auditor to conduct a comprehensive performance audit on the Department of Education's capital improvement program. First up, we have Department of Education offering comments.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, members of the committee. Jesse Souki, Deputy Superintendent of Operations. The Department of Education stands on its comments.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Again, feeling energized here with the background music that we're hearing outside. Okay. We have one individual submitting testimony in support. Anyone else wishing to testify on SER 197?

Online?

Okay. Seeing none, members questions?

Okay. Seeing none, let's move on to our last measure, SCR 114, requesting the DOE to DOE's Internal Audit Office to conduct semi annual performance and management audits of the department and its attached agencies.

We have Department of Education offering comments. Hi, Superintendent.

Hello, Chair, vice chair, members of the committee. Keith Hayashi, superintendent testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. I'd like to offer some amendments to our testimony. Just to clarify that, the Internal Audit Department, actually supervised by the Board of Education and not by the DOE. And the Board of Education has recently reestablished the audit committee meeting of all meetings.

My understanding is that internal audit is currently expanding its capabilities to include performance audits with recruitment already underway. The office is prepared to conduct semi annual audits, rotating through key categories, including academic performance, management structures, and federal funding. I stand by for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Superintendent. We also have testimony from one individual in school. Anyone else wishing to testify on SCR 114?

Okay. Online?

Okay. Seeing none, members questions?

Okay, seeing none. We're gonna recess for decision making. Recess.

The committee of education for our 02:05pm agenda. We are in Conference Room 309. It is Thursday, April 16. Okay. So for the first item on the agenda, first measure, STR 70 SD 1, menstrual site comprehensive menstrual cord curriculum.

We did hear members the companion measure SCR 118. So we will make the same amendments we made for the house companion measure, which we previously heard, which basically includes clarifying language on skills based content, age appropriate goals, and culturally relevant views provided by the department. The members' questions, comments, or concerns? Seeing none, chair for the vote, please.

Thank you, Chair. Members voting on H or SSCR 78 SD 1. Chair and Vice Chair vote aye. Representative Amado, Aye.

Representative Esland. Aye. Representative Garrett. Aye. Representative Coppella.

Excused. Representative Keila. Excused. Representative Holtz. Aye.

Representative Marolta. Aye. It's aye. Representative Souza. Aye.

Your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Thank you, chair. Next measure SCR 194 SD 1, recognizing cheerleading as a Title 9 sport. We are going to adopt this as is.

Comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none, chair for the vote.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Members voting on SCR 194 SC 1. Recommendation is to pass an amendment noting the excused absences of representatives Kapela and Olds with the rest of the

I'm here.

Oh, sorry. Not Olds. Is missing. Representative Kila. Capella.

For the rest of the hearing, members with any reservations or no's? Recommendation is adopted, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Chair. Next up, we have SCR 195 on financial literacy. Members, we're gonna adopt an HD 1. We are gonna amend the first be it resolved clause just to add that the this be implemented beginning with the 2026 to twenty twenty seven school year, And we will also add, new clauses to include data collection and a report to the legislature. That's it.

Members, comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none, chair for the vote.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Voting on SCR 195, the recommendation doesn't pass with the Nimitz. I need to excused absences. Members, are there any reservations or annos? Your recommendation is adopted, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Next up, SCR 162, SD 1 on Kayakuni education access. Members, we also heard the companion measure, HCR 11 in committee, and I proposed to make the same amendments we made, which is to just update the progress and final report to the legislature deadlines. With that, members comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none, Chair for the vote.

Thank you, Chair. Members voting on SCR 162 SD 1. Recommendations that pass with amendments, none of the excused absences. Members, are there any reservations or no's? Recommendation adopted.

Thank you, Chair. Next up is SCR 203. On the charter school working group, members, we are gonna adopt an HD 1. On page three, we will add that the, make an edit so that the working group members may be invited by either the chairperson or the members of the working group. We will also add that a representative from Hawaii Kids can be included in the list of working group members, and that is it.

Members, comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none, Chair for the vote.

Thank you, Chair. Fetting on SCR 203, recommendations to pass with your limits. I think the excused absences and bridge under any reservations are no's. Adopted.

Thank you, Chair. Next up, SCR 130. We are going to adopt an HD 1. Same amendments that we made when we heard SCR 94 to include additional findings regarding the state nourishing Hawaii's future initiative and requesting that DOE and Department of Ag and Biosecurity ensure that the farm to farmer's institution plan be complementary to the nourishing Hawaii's future initiative. That's it.

Members, comments, questions, and concerns? Ok, I see none. Chair for the votes.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Voting on SCR 130. Recommendations in the past with amendments, unexcused absences. Members, are there any reservations or noes? Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Moving on to SCR 196 SD1, on the bell schedules. We're gonna make, we're gonna pass up an HD1. We're gonna make a couple amendments.

So the first one is we're gonna include additional findings regarding the ongoing school bus service disruptions and that improved coordination of school bell schedules is a practical strategy to maximize our limited transportation resources.

And we also will include a second amendment noting the concerns of the department and make sure that we include a clause to clarify that collective bargaining representatives be consulted and that any proposal must comply with existing agree agreements.

At the same time, we also want to allow for adoption at the complex area or regional level as included in the department's testimony. And those are my amendments. Members, comments, questions, concerns?

Seeing none, chair for the vote.

Thank you, Madam chair. Voting on SCR 196 SD 1. Recommendations to pass with amendments. [Inaudible]...

Thank you, chair. On SCR 200 on the micro credential pilot program. It's very exciting. Thank you to the department for your, initiating these efforts. We are gonna pass this measure as is.

Comments, questions, concerns? Okay. Seeing none, chair for the vote, please.

Thank you. Members voting on SCR 200. The recommendation is to pass as is. Noting to excused absences. Members are there any reservations or no's?

Recommendation is adopted, manager.

Thank you, chair. SCR 201 SD 1 on the job order contracting program. We are also going to pass this as is. Comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none, chair?

Thank you madam chair. Voting on SCR 201 SD 1. Recommendation is passed unamended. Noting the excused absences. Members, are there any reservations or no's?

I'm sure your recommendation is adopted.

K. Thank you. On SCR 199, on the monitoring and accountability for CIP, members, we still have a few measures that currently examine accountability and transparency with the current capital improvements program, both in the House and Senate. So and thank you, miss Davis, for being here. So at this time, we will be deferring this measure.

K. Next up, we have SCR 197 SD1. We are adopting an HD one. So on page two, we will update this to include any CIP projects that have lapsed since 2021. And we will also include that the audit, include an assessment of how, CIP projects are initiated and managed, and separately an assessment of any prior state or department initiated or contracted studies, reports, or assessments related to school facilities, capital improvement planning, or repair and maintenance backlogs.

And as well as the extent to which the DOE has implemented those findings. And that's it. Comments, questions, or concerns? Thank you, madam chair for the vote.

Thank you, madam chair. Voting on SCR 197 SD 1. Recommendations are passed by limits. Public excused absences members, are there any reservations or no's? Recommendation is adopted madam chair.

Thank you, chair. And then final measure, SCR 114 SD 1, we are gonna pass as is. Comments, questions, concerns? Thank you. Seeing that, chair, for the vote, please.

Thank you, madam chair. Putting on SCR 114 SD 1. The recommendation is to pass by the minute. Noting the excused absences. Members, any reservations for our notes.

Your recommendation is not to madam chair.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. We're gonna gavel out of this agenda. Join.

Aloha. Good afternoon. Welcome to your joint committees on education and higher education. I am are we not me, but we are here in Room 30 Room 309, and it is 03:22pm, and it is April 16. We have one item on our joint agenda, SCR 140 SD one, urging the Department of Education and University of Hawaii Manoa to adopt energy savings performance contracting as a primary strategy to to address deferred maintenance and infrastructure modernization and improve energy efficiency statewide.

Okay. I am misplacing, of course, my testifier sheet. Thank you, chair. First up, we have, Hawaii State Energy Office offering comments.

Chairs, vice chairs, Gail Suzuki Jones on behalf of the Hawaii State Energy Office. We're sending out our written testimony

with comments. Thank you. We also have University of Hawaii offering comments. Okay. And that's it for our list of testifiers.

Anyone else wishing to testify on SCR140SD1? Yes.

Apologies. Our testimony didn't get in at this time. But chair, vice chairs, members of the committee is Jesse Souki, deputy superintendent of operations for Department of Education. We provide or we'll provide testimony and support. We are in the process of issuing energy savings performance contracts and coordinating with the energy office.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, and we'll make sure we would get that testimony. Anyone else wishing to testify on SCR 140 SD one? K. Seeing none, measure members questions. Okay.

Seeing none, we are going to roll right into decision making. For SCR 140 SD one, recommendation is to pass as is. Members, comments, questions, concerns? Okay. Seeing none, chair for the vote, please.

Thank you, madam chair. Members funding on SCR 140 SD 1. The recommendation is to pass unamended. Chair and vice chair vote aye. Representative Amato?

Aye. Representative Esland. Aye. Representative Garrett. Aye.

Representative Coppella. Excuse. Representative Keeler. Excuse. Representative Olds.

Aye. Representative Mara Oka. Aye. Representative Souza. Aye.

Your recommendation is adopted, madam chair.

Thank you. I will pass it on to vice chair to chair Amato. Thank you, acting chair LaChica.

For the House Committee on Higher Education, same recommendation, please. Chair, could you both?

Sure thing. Chair and vice I'm sorry. Ace SCR 140 SD one. Recommendation is passed unamended. Chair and vice chair vote aye.

Representative Evelyn? Aye. Representative Cappella is excused as is representative Kima. Representative LaChica? Aye.

Representative Holtz. Aye. Representative Woodson. Aye. Representative Moraoka.

Aye. And representative Souza.

Aye.

Thank you. Recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. We are adjourned for the three zero five agenda.

Good afternoon. This is your joint committee of House Higher Education as well as education. We are on the 3:18 agenda. We have only one item on this agenda, SCR 112, requesting the University of Hawaii System in collaboration with the Department of Education and other institutions of higher education to require a comprehensive coursework in reading, language, and literacy as a condition for graduation from any state approved educator preparation program leading to teacher licensure.

Wow. It's a mouthful. Today, we have one testifier assigned to testify and that is UH on Zoom. Are they there?

In person?

Oh, in person. Please go ahead. Thank you for being here today.

Good afternoon, chair, chair Woodson, vice chairs Amato, and La Chica, members of committee. Nathan Murata, the Dean of the College of Education, UH Manoa. On behalf of Deb Halbert, vice president for academic strategy for the system, the University of Hawaii stands on its written testimony offering comments for Senate Resolution 112 SD 1. Myself and my colleague, doctor Stephanie Beulah, are available to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here today. Is there anyone else that would like to testify on SCR 112? Members, any questions? See none. Let's just go right into decision making.

That's good.

So for this measure, I really appreciated the work that Chair Kim put in on the Senate side and so my recommendation is to pass it as is.

Members, any questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none. Thank you, chair for the vote, please.

Of course. Thank you. Members voting on SCR 112 SD 1. Chair's recommendation is to pass as unamended. Chair and vice chair vote aye.

Representative Evslin? Aye. Representative Kapela is excused as is Rep Kila. Representative La Chica? Aye.

Representative Olds? Aye. Representative Woodson? Aye. Representative Muraoka?

Aye. Representative Souza. Aye.

Thank you, Chair. Recommendations adopted.

And for your house committee on education, same recommendations.

Thank you, madam chair. Members voting on s SCR 112 SD 1. Recommendation is to pass and amended. Chair and vice chair vote aye. Representative Amato?

Aye. Representative Evslin? Aye. Representative Garrett? Aye.

Representative Kapela? Excused. Representative Kila? Excused. Representative Olds?

Aye. Representative Muraoka. Aye. Representative Souza. Aye.

The recommendation is adopted by the chair.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah. Before we adjourn No. Please.

Okay. Before we adjourn, we just wanted to for the audience that's still here and pretending that we still have an audience, today is our last hearing for the committee house committees on education and I believe higher education. So we just wanted to extend a big mahalo from the bottom of our hearts to all of our committee staff, our IT staff, our HMSO staff, and everyone to help make this happen. If we could just give them a thank you. Thank you, everybody.

Can't do this without you. And my mahalo to my chair, chair Woodson for, putting up with me for the last three sessions. So it's been an honor to serve as your vice chair.

It's been an honor to be my chair.

Thank you, Rep. La Chica. I just wanna take a brief brief moment to thank you, your guys' leadership, and we've shared so many joint committee sessions. It's really been a pleasure. I've enjoyed learning from you and our chair.

Thank you. Thank you for the hard work this session. Thank you, IT and staff and and auxiliary staff that steps in when members can't be here. And thank you, members, for your steadfast participation and for your attendance. Thank you so much.

Looking forward to more work to come in the interim. And we are adjourned.