Bill Text: HI SB1384 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Kindergarten; Student Assessments; First Grade Prerequisites
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-12-01 - Carried over to 2012 Regular Session. [SB1384 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2012-SB1384-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 376
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 1384
S.D. 1
Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui
President of the Senate
Twenty-Sixth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2011
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1384 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to, beginning on July 1, 2012:
(1) Make attendance in kindergarten mandatory;
(2) Lower the compulsory education age from six to five years; and
(3) Require children who are home-schooled or enrolled in alternative school programs for kindergarten to pass a standardized test approved by the Board of Education prior to entering first grade in public school.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Education, the Hawai‘i Educational Policy Center, and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Early Learning Council and the Good Beginnings Alliance.
Your Committee finds that some children do not yet have the requisite skills, including social and emotional skills, to help them succeed in the first grade. Your Committee further finds that children entering the first grade should be assessed by certified early education teachers or the Department of Education to ensure that they are placed in an academically appropriate grade level.
Your Committee recognizes that going forward, this measure will need further discussion; however, it is your Committee's intent to ensure that children are entering school with the requisite skills to succeed.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Removing the mandatory kindergarten requirement;
(2) Reestablishing the compulsory education age at six years;
(3) Deleting the language requiring children who are home‑schooled or enrolled in alternative school programs for kindergarten to pass a standardized test approved by the Board of Education prior to entering first grade in public school;
(4) Deleting the language that would have established a task force to develop a standardized test;
(5) Inserting language to require, beginning with the 2014‑2015 school year, that:
(A) A child between four and six years of age on or before August 1 of the school year who has attended a kindergarten program pursuant to section 302A‑411, Hawaii Revised Statutes, or a private kindergarten program shall be assessed by a qualified early education teacher prior to entrance to the first grade;
(B) The Hawaii Association of Independent Schools or the Early Learning Council shall certify all assessments conducted by a private kindergarten program prior to a child's entrance to the first grade; and
(C) A child who will be at least five years of age on or before August 1 of the school year who did not attend any type of kindergarten program shall be assessed by the Department of Education to ensure the child is prepared to enter the first grade; and
(6) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1384, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1384, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,
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____________________________ JILL TOKUDA, Chair |
