HI HR171

Requests the Department of Education to establish a task force to study and make recommendations on enhancing safety in all Hawaii schools, prompted by the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut school shooting.

Task force must study effectiveness of current safety measures, the need for funding law enforcement professional development, and the feasibility of installing interior locking mechanisms on classroom doors.

Task force must examine whether classroom door locking policies should be set by school administrators or the Superintendent of Education, and whether safety committee duties should be codified in Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Task force membership includes the Superintendent of Education, Attorney General, Director of Finance, legislative committee chairs, representatives from all county police and fire departments, and representatives from public, charter, and private schools.

Department of Education must submit task force recommendations and any proposed legislation to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the 2014 Regular Session convening, with the task force dissolved by June 30, 2014.