Committee moves forward on Leeward community college bachelor'degree language while seeking flexibility for West O'ahu

The Committee advanced SB 2802 SD1, which would appropriate funds to establish bachelor'degree programs in education and agricultural science at Leeward Community College and fund two full'time equivalent positions and equipment. The bill drew questions from members about program duplication and campus placement.

One committee member asked whether the bill should allow flexibility to consider University of Hawai'i'West O'ahu rather than singling out Leeward. A representative from the university (Debbie Halbert, vice president for academic strategy) told the committee the system is working to create coherent two'to'four'year pathways and that the university prefers to avoid duplicating four'year programs on two'year campuses where a four'year campus already exists. "As a general rule, we are trying not to do duplicate programs across the two years that would be available at the four years," Halbert said, while also noting systemwide pathway work and retention efforts.

The chair recommended removing the education preamble language that would create the bachelor's in education at Leeward (citing the existing UH West O'ahu program), moving the agricultural science bachelor's to a four'year campus as a Bachelor of Science rather than Arts per Department of Agriculture advice, and blanking out specific FTE and appropriation amounts for the committee report to the finance committee. The committee adopted the chair's recommendations and advanced the bill with those amendments.

The committee recorded the chair'recommended passage with amendments; vote tallies were read and the recommendation was adopted.