Bill Text: HI SCR194 | 2018 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Education To Ensure That All Public School Students, Including Public Charter School Students, Have Equal Access To Appropriate Food Services.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-04-16 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Kobayashi, Lowen, McKelvey, Mizuno, Nakamura, Quinlan, Tokioka excused (7). [SCR194 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2018-SCR194-Amended.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	194
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ENSURE THAT ALL PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS, INCLUDING PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL STUDENTS, HAVE EQUAL ACCESS TO APPROPRIATE FOOD SERVICES.

 

 

     WHEREAS, all charter schools in Hawai‘i are chartered by the State Public Charter School Commission under the oversight of the Board of Education and subject to the operating parameters of the Department of Education for facilities and food services; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are two types of charter schools in Hawai‘i:  start-up charter schools with no operating facilities and charter schools that were converted from Department of Education schools with facilities; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are thirty-seven charter schools in Hawai‘i, of which over half are committed to Hawaiian epistemology; are community designed and controlled; and reflect, respect, and embrace ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, ‘ike Hawai‘i, and Hawaiian cultural values, philosophies, and practices; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are nearly twelve thousand charter school students in Hawai‘i, all of whom should have equal access to appropriate facilities and food subsidies, but this is currently not the case; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Education assesses the free and reduced lunch applications of all public school students and determined in the 2016 Title I status reports that seventy percent of the student population of Hawaiian charter schools is considered economically disadvantaged and qualifies for federal food subsidies; and

 

     WHEREAS, start-up charter schools have no kitchen facilities, while conversion charter schools may have existing Department of Education kitchen facilities; and

 

     WHEREAS, some charter schools, especially those in rural areas of Hawai‘i, are denied access to National School Lunch Program subsidies because there are no appropriate United States Department of Agriculture certified kitchens, besides those existing in Department of Education public schools; and

 

     WHEREAS, since 2000, the inception of start-up charter schools in Hawai‘i, the State Public Charter School Commission has repeatedly requested facilities funding for charter schools; and

 

     WHEREAS, without United States Department of Agriculture appropriate kitchens in charter schools, low income families are not able to receive federal free and reduced food subsidies that are provided to all other traditional public school families; and

 

     WHEREAS, without United States Department of Agriculture appropriate kitchens in charter schools, Hawai‘i is losing millions of dollars in food subsidies for low income families per year; and

 

     WHEREAS, the lack of appropriate free and reduced food service severely burdens and adversely impacts charter school families; and

 

     WHEREAS, beginning 2012, the Department of Education decided that charter schools would no longer have access to the nearest existing Department of Education food service, which effectively resulted in the denial of access to qualified families receiving federal subsidized meals under the United States Department of Agriculture National School Lunch Program; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2018, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is urged to ensure that all public school students, including public charter school students, have equal access to appropriate food services; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to immediately provide school breakfasts and lunches to charter school students who qualify at no additional expense to the charter school or students; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chair of the Board of Education, Superintendent of Education, and Executive Director of the State Public Charter School Commission.

 

 

 

Report Title: 

Hawaii State Legislature; Food Service; Charter Schools; Access