Bill Text: HI HB2486 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Education; Student Instructional Hours
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-0)
Status: (Passed) 2010-06-15 - (S) Act 167, 6/15/2010 (Gov. Msg. No. 626). [HB2486 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-HB2486-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2806
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: H.B. No. 2486
H.D. 2
S.D. 1
Honorable Colleen Hanabusa
President of the Senate
Twenty-Fifth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2010
State of Hawaii
Madam:
Your Committees on Education and Housing and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2486, H.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to establish a minimum number of instructional hours per school year for each grade from kindergarten to grade twelve beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.
Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by one state agency, one private organization, and ten individuals. One state agency, four organizations, and two individuals support the intent of this measure. Comments were submitted by one private organization. Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.
The scheduled loss of seventeen instructional days for the 2009-2010 school year makes Hawaii the state with the fewest number of instructional days in the nation. Establishing a minimum number of instructional days and hours per school year requires students to be in the classroom more often, increasing their opportunities for learning through contact with instructors.
Your Committees have considered information on instructional time in various countries and states and is cognizant of the additional financial burden on the Department of Education and the State in mandating additional instructional time. Your Committees have weighed the above considerations in making the following amendments to this measure:
(1) Amending the mandatory minimum of instructional time for kindergarten to grade six to be 180 days at 6 hours per day, for a total of 1,080 instructional hours per school year;
(2) Amending the mandatory minimum of instructional time for grades seven to twelve to be 180 days at 6.5 hours per day, for a total of 1,170 instructional hours per school year;
(3) By directing the Department of Education to consider pick-up and drop-off times that optimize the Department's transportation services while minimizing costs to the State if the implementation of the mandatory minimum instructional hours results in varying schedules for the transportation of students; and
(4) By making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity and consistency.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Housing and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2486, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2486, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Housing and Labor,
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____________________________ DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair |
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____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair |
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