Bill Text: HI SCR38 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 38

Introduced

Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Education To Implement A Hawaiian Language Requirement As Part Of The High School Graduation Requirements, Consistent With Existing English Graduation Requirements

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-14 - Referred to EDU/HWN. [SCR38 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2024-SCR38-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	38
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

urging the Department of Education to implement a Hawaiian language requirement as part of the high school graduation requirements, consistent with existing English graduation requirements

WHEREAS, olelo Hawaii, the Hawaiian language, is the native language of the Native Hawaiian people; and

WHEREAS, once spoken throughout Hawaii by Native Hawaiians and foreigners alike, olelo Hawaii was considered to be nearly extinct by the 1980s, when fewer than fifty fluent speakers under the age of eighteen were left; and

WHEREAS, a major reason for the deterioration of the Hawaiian language was an 1896 law that required English instruction in Hawaii schools; and

WHEREAS, in practice, this law functioned to "ban" students from speaking olelo Hawaii at their schools; and

WHEREAS, to save the Hawaiian language, a number of historic initiatives were launched, including Aha Punana Leo's Hawaiian language immersion preschools, the Department of Education's Hawaiian language immersion program, and the Hawaiian language programs of the University of Hawaii system; and

WHEREAS, in 1978, the Hawaii Constitution was amended to recognize the Hawaiian language as one of the two official languages of the State; and

WHEREAS, several important gubernatorial proclamations on olelo Hawaii were issued in the 1990s, including gubernatorial proclamations in 1994 and 1995, written in both Hawaiian and English, that were issued recognizing February 1994 and February 1995 as "Hawaiian Language Month in Hawaii"; and

WHEREAS, the proclamations urged people to participate in Hawaiian language activities held in February; and

WHEREAS, while the Hawaiian language revitalization movement has made major strides in the last thirty years, for olelo Hawaii to not just survive, but also to thrive, more people need to speak Hawaiian; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is urged to implement a Hawaiian language requirement as part of the high school graduation requirements, consistent with existing English graduation requirements; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent and Chairperson of the Board of Education.