Bill Text: HI HB224 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended


Bill Title: Hawaiian Language Immersion Program; Student Assessment; Appropriation ($)

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Enrolled - Dead) 2013-04-24 - Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-25-13 1:30PM in conference room 312. [HB224 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HB224-Amended.html

 

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 915

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 224

       H.D. 3

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs and Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 224, H.D. 3, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE IMMERSION PROGRAM,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Education to develop annual assessments in the Hawaiian language for language arts, mathematics, and science subjects that are to be administered to students in grades three through six of the Department's Hawaiian language immersion program.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Department of Education, Kamehameha Schools, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Awaiaulu, Ke Kula o Samuel M. Kamakau, Hawaiian Affairs Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Oahu Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Nā Leo Kākoo, and twenty-eight individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from four individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that the Hawaiian language is one of the two official languages of the State and is a critical component of preserving the Hawaiian culture.  Your Committees further find that the Board of Education has acknowledged that its Hawaiian language immersion program is an essential part of revitalizing and continuing the Hawaiian culture.  To uphold its obligation to perpetuate the Hawaiian language, the Board and the Department of Education must provide Hawaiian language immersion program students with an assessment system that most accurately measures their academic achievement.

 

     Once Hawaiian language assessments are developed, it will be critical that the Department of Education request a waiver from the United States Department of Education from its requirement that there be only one uniform statewide assessment.  Your Committees urge the Department of Education to impress upon the United States Department of Education the State's right to have two official languages and the need to have a Hawaiian language assessment system that most accurately measures the academic achievement of those children who embrace their right to learn in the Hawaiian language.

 

     Your Committees also note that the Department of Education has requested an appropriation in the amount of $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2013-2014 and the same sum for fiscal year 2014-2015 to assist the Department with developing Hawaiian language assessments.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adding language to phase in the testing requirements as follows:

 

(A)  Math and language arts assessments in the Hawaiian language for third and fourth graders shall begin with the 2015-2016 school year;

 

(B)  Math and language arts assessments in the Hawaiian language for fifth and sixth graders shall begin on an unspecified date; and

 

(C)  The science assessment in the Hawaiian language shall begin on an unspecified date;

 

     (2)  Clarifying that the Hawaiian language assessments shall meet all applicable federal requirements;

 

     (3)  Removing references to any specifically-named assessment or content standards;

 

     (4)  Requiring the Department of Education to report to the Legislature on the status of the procedures for developing assessments in the Hawaiian language prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2015, in addition to reporting to the Legislature prior to the Regular Session of 2014;

 

     (5)  Inserting an appropriation for an unspecified amount to the Department of Education to assist with the development of the Hawaiian language assessments;

 

     (6)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2013; and

 

     (7)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 224, H.D. 3, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 224, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs and Education,

 

____________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

 

____________________________

BRICKWOOD GALUTERIA, Chair

 

 

 

 

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