Bill Text: HI HB2180 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Department of Education
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-22 - (H) Referred to EDN, LMG, FIN, referral sheet 3 [HB2180 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-HB2180-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
2180 |
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TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the Department of Education receives nearly a quarter of the State's entire operating budget, the largest amount of any state agency, and that the department's appropriations, in fiscal years 2003 through 2008, increased nearly sixty-four per cent from $1.5 billion to $2.4 billion, while enrollment has stayed roughly the same, but that Hawai`i's public schools' test scores repeatedly rank among the lowest in the nation despite the increased funding.
The legislature also finds that according to the January 2007 Department of Budget and Finance report on the adequacy of federal funding for the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, although, in the school years, 2005 through 2006 approximately 85 percent of the public schools did not meet various NCLB performance standards, the Department of Education spent less than half the federal school improvement grant money it received", and that the available federal grants allotted to by the No Child Left Behind Act and not spent by the Department of Education over a four-year period resulted in a substantial carryover balance - $42 million in FY 2003, $50 million in FY 2004, $60.6 million in FY 2005, and $53.8 million in FY 2006. Also, in a 2005 independent audit of Department of Education programs conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, the audit concluded that "the lack of transparency made it difficult, and in some cases, impossible, to determine whether many public-school programs were achieving their objectives and whether taxpayer dollars were being spent wisely". The audit went on to state that "roughly one-third of the department's 278 state-funded programs had inadequate systems in place to monitor their effectiveness and at least one in five suffered from insufficient oversight of program spending and many programs completely lacked either."
The legislature further finds that the last comprehensive audit of the entire organization, management processes, and personnel administration of the Department of Education happened in 1973. Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to mandate periodic comprehensive audits of the Department of Education in order to assist the Department, the Legislature, and the Executive Branch in making the needed changes to improve the delivery of public education services.
SECTION 2. Starting with 2010, the Office of the Auditor shall conduct a comprehensive review of the Department of Education's operations every five years to determine if, as now structured, it can effectively carry out its responsibilities under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and the State's Reinventing Education Act. The comprehensive review shall, at a minimum, consist of a full management and financial audit of the Department of Education.
SECTION 3. The comprehensive review shall be compiled into a report and shall be reported to the Hawaii State Legislature at least twenty days prior to the beginning of the 2011 legislative session. Subsequent reviews shall be compiled into reports and shall be reported to the Hawaii State Legislature at least twenty days prior to the beginning of the regular session in the year following a comprehensive review.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Department of Education
Description:
Mandates a periodic comprehensive review of the Department of Education, consisting of, at a minimum, a full management and financial audit of the Department of Education.
The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
