Bill Text: HI HB243 | 2020 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Education Funding.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 22-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-12-01 - Carried over to 2020 Regular Session. [HB243 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2020-HB243-Amended.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
243 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO EDUCATION FUNDING.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Article X, section 1, of the Hawaii State Constitution requires the State to provide a system of public education. Unlike all of the other states, in Hawaii, the State, rather than a county or other local jurisdiction, is responsible for providing public education. As a result, funding for public education in Hawaii comes primarily from the general fund of the State.
Adequate funding is crucial to providing each of Hawaii's children with the opportunity for a high-quality education. However, some studies have found that educational funding in Hawaii may lag in comparison to districts on the mainland of similar size and cost of living. According to an analysis of real property taxes in Hawaii performed by the department of business, economic development, and tourism in 2017, for instance, Hawaii's educational expenditures, as a share of combined state and local government expenditures, is 27.3 per cent and ranks as the lowest in the nation.
Underfunding public schools undermines the State's goal of providing a high-quality education to all of Hawaii's children. Insufficient funding for education results in larger class sizes, a lack of adequate classroom supplies, elimination of arts and career-and-technical education courses, budget cuts for special education and English-language-learner programs, and an increasing number of vacant teacher positions. To prepare Hawaii's children to meet the economic and social demands of the twenty-first century, it is crucial to understand the amount of funding necessary to support student learning.
The purpose of this Act is to require the department of education to contract with a consulting firm that specializes in school finance, particularly with respect to adequacy studies of public education systems in multiple states, to perform a study on the adequacy of funding for education in Hawaii.
SECTION 2. (a) The department of education shall contract with a consulting firm that specializes in school financing, particularly with respect to adequacy studies of public education systems in multiple states, to perform a study on the adequacy of funding for education in Hawaii. The study shall:
(1) Employ multiple methods to evaluate school financing, which shall include the evidence-based method but may also include the professional judgement method, the successful schools method, the cost function method, comparable wage analysis, and hedonic wage analysis;
(2) Identify variables most closely associated with a high-quality education and estimate the amount of additional funding needed to provide all public school students with an equal educational opportunity;
(3) Compare Hawaii teacher salaries with teacher salaries in districts on the mainland of similar size and cost of living to determine compensation characteristics that affect the department of education's ability to recruit and retain qualified teachers;
(4) Evaluate the impact of school funding on student achievement, special-education programs, the availability of arts-and-culture curricula, access to public preschool and afterschool programs, the provision of wraparound care and student support systems, and any other issue related to the operation of Hawaii's public school system; and
(5) Assess the equity of funding among schools throughout the Hawaii public school system.
(b) The department shall report the findings and recommendations of the study, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2022.
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $100,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2019-2020 to contract with a consulting firm that specializes in school finance, particularly with respect to adequacy studies of public education systems in multiple states, to perform a study on the adequacy of funding for education in Hawaii.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 4.
This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.
Report Title:
Education Funding in Hawaii; Study
Description:
Requires the Department of Education to contract with a consulting firm that specializes in school finance, particularly with respect to adequacy studies of public education systems in multiple states, to perform a study on the adequacy of funding for education in Hawaii. Appropriates funds. (HB243 HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
