Bill Text: HI SCR209 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Education To Report To The Legislature Regarding The Amount Of Public School Space Available To Be Used For Preschool Classrooms And The Number Of Public School Teachers Certified To Teach Early Childhood Education.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-30 - The committee on EDU deferred the measure. [SCR209 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-SCR209-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	209
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the department of education to report to the legislature regarding the amount of public school space available to be used for preschool classrooms and the number of public school teachers certified to teach early childhood education.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, investments in early childhood education pay dividends for the formal preparation of children as learners and future citizens, while also benefiting taxpayers and boosting economic vitality; and

 

     WHEREAS, research on the benefits of quality pre-kindergarten programs indicates that for every dollar invested in such opportunities, society saves four to eight dollars on remedial classes, special education, welfare programs, and criminal justice costs; and

 

     WHEREAS, in Hawaii, every dollar spent on high quality early childhood education realizes a $4.20 reduction in costs for future educational and social interventions; and

 

     WHEREAS, at the national level, every dollar spent on early childhood education saves taxpayers on future social costs, including lowered healthcare costs, reduced rates of educational remediation and prison incarceration, and higher productivity; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to modern neuroscience, roughly eighty-five percent of a child's brain develops from birth to age five, emphasizing the importance of providing a quality learning environment during these formative years; and

 

     WHEREAS, access to quality pre-kindergarten programs not only helps working parents fulfill their child rearing responsibilities, but is essential for building a twenty-first century labor force; and

 

     WHEREAS, early childhood education is especially important for at-risk students; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the High Scopes/Perry preschool longitudinal study, at-risk children with access to quality early learning programs are twenty percent more likely to graduate from high school, fourteen percent more likely to be employed, and twenty-four percent less likely to have been incarcerated by age forty than peers without such access; and

 

     WHEREAS, during the COVID-19 pandemic, preschool enrollment declined precipitously, with Hawaii's public preschool system operating at approximately fifty-five percent capacity in March 2021, and the State's private preschool enrollment decreasing by nearly a third during the same time period; and

 

     WHEREAS, this body has made the expansion of preschool opportunities a high priority in recent years by passing measures to strengthen the State's prekindergarten network, including passing Act 46, Session Laws of Hawaii 2020, and other measures aimed at funding additional public preschool classrooms; and

 

     WHEREAS, expanding quality preschool offerings is a central component of the current President's Build Back Better agenda; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is urged to report to the Legislature regarding the amount of public school space available to be used for the establishment of public preschool classrooms; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is urged to include in its report an analysis of the amount of administrative space and vacant classroom space available in public schools, and the number and current disposition of classrooms that were utilized for junior kindergarten before the program ended in 2013 pursuant to Act 178, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is urged to include in its report information about the number of current public school teachers who are licensed to teach early childhood education; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is urged to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2023; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Chairperson of the Board of Education, interim Superintendent of Education, and interim Director of the Executive Office on Early Learning.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Department of Education; Public School Space; Public Preschools; Teachers; Prekindergarten Certification