Establishes a Teacher Workforce Housing Stipend Program at public schools classified as rural or underserved. Requires the Department of Education to administer the program and report findings to the Legislature. Appropriates funds.
Establishes a two-year pilot program that, beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, requires the Department of Education to provide free school lunch to all students enrolled at a department school. Requires reports to the Legislature. Appropriates funds. Repeals on 6/30/2027.
Requires the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Health, to develop and distribute to each public middle and high school in the State guidelines for the establishment and operation of safe spaces for students to access telehealth services on school property during normal school hours. Requires each public middle and high school to establish and maintain a safe space for students according to the guidelines.
Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, requires public charter schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to provide free meals to students whose family income is no more than three hundred per cent of the federal poverty level. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
Requires the Department of Education to establish a student bus fare rate system that includes free bus passes for students whose household qualifies the student for free lunch or reduced price lunch under the free and reduced price lunch program. Requires reports to the Legislature. Appropriates funds.
Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, requires the Department of Education to provide free breakfast and lunch to students enrolled in a public school who meet certain requirements. Appropriates funds.
Creates a School Psychologists Working Group within the Department of Education to recommend actionable steps or propose legislation for an immediate pathway to licensure for school psychologists that can be acted upon in 2027. Requires a report to the Legislature. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
Appropriates funds to the University of Hawaii at Manoa to establish three additional permanent mental health practitioner positions within the Division of Student Success' Counseling and Student Development Center.
SB 821 provides state funding to the Department of Education for community schools and establishes a dedicated program manager position. This bill directly supports community schools (typically serving students in underserved areas) and the state education agency by allocating resources for their operations. The key mechanism is the appropriation of funds, enabling schools to expand existing services like after-school programs, health resources, and family support. The bill focuses solely on funding allocation, not creating new programs or mandates.
Requires the Department of Education to identify as an excused absence any absence due to the student's mental or behavioral health. Limits the number of excused absences due to mental or behavioral health that a student may take per academic year. Exempts an absence due to the student's mental or behavioral health from the enforcement of penalties relating to compulsory school attendance.
