Senate Majority Caucus

Over 400 children, parents and educators participated in interactive learning centers yesterday at the Capitol, demonstrating for legislators the importance of early childhood education.

Studies have shown that children enrolled in early learning are more successful throughout their later school years, and legislators are considering several early education measures this year. U`ilani Batalona and her children Pukona and Kaichah painted together at the event, which included stations in reading, science, music, art and many other subjects.

Senate Education Committee Chair Norman Sakamoto attended the event and displayed art made by Joshua Chun. Chun’s mother Tammi is the executive director of the Hawai`i P-20 statewide education partnership and is enrolled with her son in interactive early education. This year, Sakamoto (Salt Lake, `Aiea, Kalihi, Foster Village) introduced Senate Bill 2878, which establishes a statewide early learning system and a council to oversee it. The bill has passed three Senate committees and two House committees and how awaits a conference committee hearing.

 
Sen. Norman Sakamoto, Education Committee chair, discusses legislation with committee member Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland during a session recess.

The Senate Education Committee received referrals for 90 bills this session. Over the past few weeks, the committee held public hearings and determined which of the 90 bills would best serve Hawai`i’s education system. Bills are now being heard by their final committees before they will be voted for on the Senate floor and passed to the House of Representatives. Education Committee highlights so far this session include:

Addressing the Teacher Shortage
Each year, the state of Hawai`i hires around 1,600 new teachers. However, approximately 50 percent of those teachers leave their jobs within five years. Teachers from the baby boomer generation have also started to retire, further expanding the state’s teacher shortage. The Education Committee passed Senate Bill 3252 earlier this month, which proposes a multi-faceted program to increase the number of education graduates in the state and aims to keep them in the profession once they begin teaching with more professional support. The bill also passed its last Senate committee, Ways and Means, last Friday.

Student Input
On Feb. 11, the Education Committee invited high school students to testify on bills of high interest to them. The committee expected around 20 students, but over 60 attended. Students overflowed the room and followed the proceedings on a television monitor outside. They testified on legislation concerning alternative energy, physical education, recycling and fine arts in their schools. Students from outer islands remained to testify until they had to leave for the airport.

Securing Educational Funding
Senate Bill 3251, introduced by Education Committee Chair Norman Sakamoto, originally proposed a 1 percent general excise tax increase for education funding and tax relief for low-income families. Sen. Sakamoto and the committee gathered lots of information and held many meetings to develop the language of the bill. The committee amended the bill to create a task force that will first determine how much money is needed to fund specific educational programs instead. The bill passed its final committee hearing last Friday.

E-Books
School textbooks typically cost between $60 and $90. Because of a textbook shortage in many Hawai`i schools, Sen. Donna Mercado Kim and Education Committee Vice Chair Jill Tokuda introduced Senate Bill 2254 this session, aiming to reduce both the textbook shortage and the weight in children’s backpacks with e-books. E-books are text documents published in digital format that can be read on laptops, pocket computers and e-book reading devices. According to the bill, one gigabyte of storage space in an e-book can contain 200 illustrated reference books, 350 legal volumes or about 2,500 novels of 600 pages. The bill directs the Department of Education to conduct a study that considers substituting e-books for textbooks. The Senate Education Committee voted to pass the bill last Friday.

In an effort to avoid tragedies like today’s school shooting in Illinois, state senators adopted Senate Bill 2902 yesterday.

The bill requires the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace at University of Hawai`i-Manoa to expand its staff, research and operations.

“We live in an era that will be remembered for the war in Iraq and violence in our schools and neighborhoods, as in the case of the Virginia Polytechnic and State University killings,” Senate Education Committee Chair Norman Sakamoto said in a report dated Feb. 12. “The legislature continues in its dedication to promoting peace and peace education in Hawai`i through supporting peace education programs.”

This afternoon, a gunman killed five students, wounded 16 others and then killed himself at Northern Illinois University. The incident was the fourth shooting at a U.S. school within one week.

“We are living in unsettled times and it is essential that our students learn how to recognize and address conflict before it leads to tragic consequences,” Matsunaga Institute for Peace’s Interim Director Carole Petersen said today.

Petersen said that the institute’s graduates will go on to be professional mediators or will apply their conflict resolution skills to careers in education, social services, government or business.

Senate Bill 2902 also provides $10,000 for Hawai`i case studies in peacemaking in the 2008-2009 school year and for planning an international conflict resolution conference in the Asia Pacific Region.

Kaua`i High School senior Briana Bailey testified yesterday opposite DOE Assistant Superintendent Randolph Moore on Senate Bill 2166, which she drafted during the 2007 Secondary Student Conference.

High school seniors are among the writers of Hawai`i’s legislation. During a two-day Secondary Student Conference that occurred in November, student representatives drafted resolutions that were made into bills and introduced in the state legislature this session.

Several high school students from Kalaheo, Kailua and Kaua`i high schools were among those who followed their legislation to hearings yesterday before the Senate’s Education and Energy and Environment committees.

Senate Bill 2274, which appropriates funds for a task force within the Department of Education to conduct an analysis and create a school recycling program, passed the hearing with amendments.  

Kaua`i High School senior Briana Bailey was responsible for drafting Senate Bill 2166, which asks for grants for alternative energy utilities on public school campuses. The state Department of Education and Bailey were the only parties to testify during the hearing, and SB2166 passed with amendments afterward.

The Education and Health committees deferred Senate Bill 2136 yesterday, which would require the Hawai`i Department of Health to give Hawai`i children the option of a vegetarian school lunch. Various community members, including Hesh Goldstein of K-108 Radio and a representative from the Hawai`i Medical Services Association, spoke in support of the bill.

The Hawai`i Department of Education testified that while it supports the notion for the DOH to develop vegetarian meal options, it doesn’t support a law that requires it. The DOE said that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has set standards that are nutritionally sound and that the Hawai`i School Food Authority serves over 100,000 school meals a day that meet those standards. The Department of Health also opposed the bill. Testimony, Late Testimony

Sen. Norman Sakamoto receives a lei from a child at Kaua`i Independent Day Services Center.

Battling a repair and maintenance cost backlog list of $257 million for the University of Hawai`i system and a Department of Education repair and maintenance cost backlog list of $420 million, the Senate Education Committee will process legislation and hear testimony concerning a number of unique initiatives this session. (more…)

This morning at Waimea Canyon Middle School on Kaua`i’s west side, ambulances rushed 10 students to local hospitals with complaints of nausea and nasal and eye irritation thought to be the result of nearby pesticide use. The school closed shortly and students were treated and released.

This morning’s incident is not isolated. In response to similar past problems with alleged pesticide and herbicide impact on the health of students and staff, Sen. Gary Hooser introduced a bill last week in the State Senate that establishes three different pesticide-free buffer zones around schools. (more…)

By The Garden Island Writer Lester Chang

Legislators visited Kauai Independent Day Services Center in Kapa‘a Friday and came away impressed by a program they said could help strengthen pre-school and special education programs in Hawai‘i’s public school system.

“For the young people being able to fully develop as a person, both analytical and creative skills, this program is apparently unique but is certainly successful,” said Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-District 15, chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “The people are very, very fortunate to have a program like this.”

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Spending restriction burden must be shared

By Hawaii State Senator Norman Sakamoto

The recent Advertiser article, “Hawaii residents say environment worth tab,” raised a vital point that rated barely a mention in the text, but was glaringly obvious in the accompanying table: Hawaii’s people place a very high premium on education. Just over 80 percent of respondents agree that we need to improve our public education system, no matter how much it costs.

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