Bill Text: HI HB2486 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3010

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2486

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2486, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to establish a minimum number of instructional days and hours per school year for all public and charter schools, beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.

 

     More specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Requires a minimum of one hundred eighty instructional days per school year at six instructional hours per day (total of 1,080 instructional hours per school year) for kindergarten through grade six;

 

     (2)  Requires a minimum of one hundred eighty instructional days per school year at six and one-half instructional hours per day (total of 1,170 instructional hours per school year) for grades seven through twelve; and

 

     (3)  Provides that if the implementation of the minimum number of instructional days and hours per school year results in varying schedules for the transportation of students, the Department of Education shall consider pick-up and drop-off times that optimize the department's transportation services while minimizing costs to the State.

 

     Your Committee finds that the recent teacher furloughs have resulted in Hawaii public schools providing the lowest number of instructional days in the nation.  Your Committee finds that the reduction in instructional time threatens the overall quality of public education and places students at a grave disadvantage when compared against the achievement levels of other public school systems throughout the nation.  Your Committee believes that establishing a mandatory minimum number of days of classroom instruction per school year will confirm the State's commitment to quality public education.

 

The written comments may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by replacing its contents with the contents of S.B. 2470, S.D. 2, which was previously adopted by this Committee.  As amended, this measure requires all public schools, including charter schools, to implement a minimum of two hundred days of classroom instruction, or an equivalent number of instructional hours, per school year, beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.  Your Committee believes that this measure will provide a simpler and more manageable system for not only the Department of Education but for teachers and parents as well.

 

     Your Committee has also provided an effective date of January 1, 2099, to allow further discussion on this measure.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2486, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2486, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

		____________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair