Bill Text: HI SR126 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Compact of Free Association; Federal Funding for Education

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-07 - Certified copies of resolutions sent, 06-07-13. [SR126 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SR126-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	126
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

STRONGLY URGING HAWAII'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO SEEK AND OBTAIN additional federal aid to the State of Hawai‘i for the provision of EDUCATIONAL services to migrants from the Compact of Free Association nations.

 

 

     WHEREAS, migrants from the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau are allowed to enter the State of Hawai‘i under the Compact of Free Association; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Compact of Free Association between the Federated States of Micronesia and the United States provide for economic assistance (including eligibility for certain U.S. federal programs), defense of the Federated States of Micronesia, and other benefits by the United States, including educational services, in exchange for defense and certain other rights for the United States in the Federated States of Micronesia; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Compact of Free Association provides federal funding to states for educational, health, social, or public safety services, or infrastructure related to such services provided to migrants from Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau; and

 

     WHEREAS, many Hawaii state agencies provide a broad range of educational, health, and social services to migrants from the Compact of Free Association who have moved to Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, the cost to the State to provide various state services to the Compact of Free Association migrants continues to increase each year; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State Department of Education self-reported to the federal government that in the 2010 school year that there are an estimated 4,400 Micronesian students enrolled in public and charter schools in Hawaii and that the numbers have since grown because the federal government only recently required schools to use newly implemented ethnic codes for self-reporting, including separate categories for Micronesian, Chuukese, Marshallese, and Phonpeian; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State Department of Education spent approximately $53,586,418 in 2007 to educate students from the Compact of Free Association nations who typically require specialized language services that utilize extra resources, including hiring more teachers and building more schools and expanding existing school facilities; and

 

     WHEREAS, the federal government must address the issue of additional federal support for the State to continue providing state educational services arising from the unique federally created relationship the United States has with the Compact of Free Association nations; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, that Hawaii's Congressional Delegation is urged to seek and obtain additional federal aid to the State of Hawaii for the provision of educational services to migrants from the Compact of Free Association nations; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to members of Hawaii's Congressional Delegation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Compact of Free Association; Federal Funding for Education