Bill Text: HI SB2498 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating To Ka Papahana Kaiapuni Complex Area Superintendent.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-23 - Referred to EDU/HWN, WAM. [SB2498 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-SB2498-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2498
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to KA PAPAHANA KAIAPUNI COMPLEX AREA SUPERINTENDENt.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, the Hawaiian language, has long been used by the indigenous inhabitants of Hawai‘i to communicate and pass down the customs and traditions that are the foundations of the Hawaiian culture.  The Hawaiian language was a thriving one used by native Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike.  By the latter half of the twentieth century, however, it was pushed to the brink of extinction by a number of factors.  One of these factors was a law passed by the newly formed Republic of Hawai‘i in 1896, three years after the 1893 United States-backed overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, officially declaring that "[t]he English language shall be the medium and basis of instruction in all public and private schools . . . Any schools that shall not conform to the provisions of this section shall not be recognized by the [d]epartment."  Fortunately, several historic initiatives, including the Ka Papahana Kaiapuni program (Kaiapuni program), established under board of education policy 105-8, have helped to preserve and revitalize the islands' native language.

     The legislature further finds that the Kaiapuni program is intended to provide students with Hawaiian bicultural and bilingual education.  The program contributes to the continuation of Hawaiian language and culture and offers students an education in the medium of the Hawaiian Language.  The comprehensive program combines the use of Hawaiian teaching methodologies, language, history, culture and values to prepare students for college, careers, and to be community contributors within a multicultural society.  Today, the Kaiapuni program is offered at twenty-four Hawai‘i public schools and as of the 2017-2018 school year, educates more than two-thousand eight-hundred students statewide.  Board of education policy 105-8 contains the mandatory goals of the Kaiapuni program, including:

     (1)  The development of Kaiapuni curriculum and standards;

     (2)  Establishment of the office of Hawaiian education under the office of the superintendent with the head of the office serving as a member of the superintendent's leadership team;

     (3)  The requirement that teachers be qualified in both English and Hawaiian as mediums of instruction and be adequately compensated for these additional; qualifications; and

     (4)  Development and proper administration of Kaiapuni program assessments.

     Despite the many successes of the Kaiapuni program, and the mandatory goals enumerated in board of education policy 105-8, numerous longstanding issues continue to impede the success and growth of Kaiapuni program schools.  These issues include the use of lotteries and waiting lists because existing Kaiapuni program schools do not have the capacity to enroll all interested applicants; closing of Kaiapuni program schools and programs within these schools; inconsistent and incongruent use of weighted student formula allocations for Kaiapuni program teacher positions; insufficient facilities and curriculum; shortage of qualified Kaiapuni program teachers; lack of department of education issued report cards based on board of education approved Kaiapuni program standards; lack of special education services; inequitable access to Kaiapuni program schools due to inequities in busing and use of geographic exemptions; and insufficient support and expertise in department of education complex areas.  Many of these issues are overlooked or left to individual Kaiapuni program schools to address.  The ‘Aha Kauleo Kaiapuni Hawai‘i, the advisory board to the superintendent to guide and support the Kaiapuni program schools, has taken and continues to take a proactive approach for the development and growth of Kaiapuni program schools.

     The legislature further finds that in 2014 a parent of two school-aged children brought a lawsuit against the department of education due to the lack of a Hawaiian language immersion program on the island of Lāna‘i.  The lawsuit maintained that the provision of the Hawai‘i State Constitution obligating the State to provide for a Hawaiian education in public schools requires the state to provide the plaintiff's children with access to Hawaiian immersion education.  According to the lawsuit, while there are Kaiapuni programs providing instruction in the Hawaiian language on the islands of O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i and Kaua‘i, there are no such programs for students on Lāna‘i.  The Hawai‘i supreme court agreed with the plaintiffs, holding "that the Hawaiian education provision was intended to require the State to institute a program that is reasonably calculated to revive the Hawaiian language.  Because the uncontroverted evidence in the record demonstrates that providing reasonable access to Hawaiian immersion education is currently essential to reviving the Hawaiian language, it is a necessary component of any program that is reasonably calculated to achieve that goal.  The State is therefore constitutionally required to make all reasonable efforts to provide access to Hawaiian immersion education."

     The legislature further finds that currently, there are fifteen complex areas in the state's K-12 public education system, and each is overseen by a complex area superintendent.  A complex includes a high school plus the elementary and middle schools that feed students into it, and a complex area is a grouping of two or more complexes.  The twenty-four Kaiapuni program schools are in various complex areas based on their region.  The existing framework is not conducive to the support of Kaiapuni program schools.  Establishment of one complex area for all the Kaiapuni program schools and programs will enable greater cohesion and more consistent servicing of the Kaiapuni program.

     The purpose of this Act is to codify the position of the Kaiapuni program complex area superintendent within the office of the superintendent to further meet the intent of board of education policy 105-8 relating to Kaiapuni education and aid implementation of the state constitutional requirement that the State make all reasonable efforts to provide access to Hawaiian immersion education.

     SECTION 2.  Section 302A-604, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§302A-604  Complex area superintendents.  The superintendent of education, with the approval of the board, shall appoint complex area superintendents for schools[.], including a Ka Papahana Kaiapuni complex area superintendent.  The complex area superintendents shall supervise the delivery of administrative and instructional support services within their respective complex areas, including:

     (1)  Personnel, fiscal, and facilities support;

     (2)  Monitoring of compliance with applicable state and federal laws;

     (3)  Curriculum development, student assessment, and staff development services; and

     (4)  Special education programs and special schools within the complex area."

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Department of Education; Ka Papahana Kaiapuni Program; Complex Area Superintendent

 

Description:

Establishes the position of Ka Papahana Kaiapuni program complex area superintendent in the office of the superintendent of the department of education.

 

 

 

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