REPORT TITLE:
UH


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds for psychology and special education programs
at UH Hilo.  (HB1800 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                             1800
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                     
STATE OF HAWAII                                                 
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT HILO.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the Felix v. Cayetano
 
 2 consent decree has mandated that the State provide a system of
 
 3 care that includes special education and mental health services
 
 4 to public school children.  The consent decree necessitates an
 
 5 increased number of school and family counselors, school-based
 
 6 behavior management counselors, and special education teachers.
 
 7 The University of Hawaii at Hilo is poised to offer two specific
 
 8 academic programs, a master's degree in counseling psychology and
 
 9 a special education license (i.e. a program qualifying a person
 
10 for state licensure), to meet the current need for these
 
11 professionals, particularly on the Big Island.
 
12      The legislature also finds that the State, in particular the
 
13 Big Island, faces a desperate shortage of adequately trained
 
14 counselors and clinicians.  The consent decree places the
 
15 department of education in the position of needing to employ
 
16 forty to fifty-five master's level counselors to provide school-
 
17 based mental health services on the Big Island.  In addition, the
 
18 department of health has identified a severe shortage of master's
 
19 level mental health professionals on the Big Island.  
 

 
Page 2                                                     1800
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      If the two-year master's in counseling psychology program is
 
 2 offered continuously at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, then
 
 3 the State can expect to see an additional twenty new counselors
 
 4 entering the work force per year once the program has enrolled
 
 5 both first and second year students.
 
 6      The legislature further finds that the shortage of special
 
 7 education teachers in the State and on the neighbor islands is
 
 8 widely known.  Statewide, almost one-half of the two thousand
 
 9 currently employed special education teachers are not licensed.
 
10 The combined efforts of all institutions of higher education fall
 
11 far short of the need for trained professionals in special
 
12 education.  According to the department of education's ten-year
 
13 projection (1998-2007), four hundred special education teachers
 
14 are needed per year for the foreseeable future, while the current
 
15 local supply per year is seventy-five teachers.  In addition, the
 
16 educational assistants who augment instruction in special
 
17 education classrooms are insufficiently trained.  To meet the
 
18 need for special education professionals and comply with the
 
19 consent decree, the department of education must continue
 
20 recruitment on the mainland, increase alternative preparation
 
21 opportunities through existing programs, develop endorsement
 
22 programs for teachers licensed in other fields, and support new
 

 
 
 
Page 3                                                     1800
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 programs at local universities.  Of the institutions which offer
 
 2 teacher education in Hawaii, including those programs from other
 
 3 states, the University of Hawaii at Hilo is the only one which
 
 4 does not offer special education programs.
 
 5      The proposed University of Hawaii at Hilo special education
 
 6 program, a full year curriculum which allow licensed teachers to
 
 7 qualify for special education licensure, will address the State's
 
 8 critical shortage.  When the University of Hawaii at Hilo program
 
 9 is operational, a distance learning component will allow
 
10 approximately one hundred teachers and educational assistants in
 
11 other areas of the State to receive appropriate professional
 
12 preparation.  Because of the difficulty in recruiting special
 
13 education teachers, an incentive that will provide full tuition
 
14 for those teachers who complete the program and teach three years
 
15 in a special education assignment is included in this Act.
 
16      SECTION 2.  The University of Hawaii at Hilo may offer
 
17 students in their counseling psychology or special education
 
18 programs tuition waivers; provided that:
 
19      (1)  Any student accepting a tuition waiver for the
 
20           counseling psychology program shall agree to teach for
 
21           a period of at least five years in a department of
 
22           education counseling psychology position following the
 
23           successful completion of the program; 
 

 
Page 4                                                     1800
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (2)  Any student accepting a tuition waiver for the special
 
 2           education program shall agree to teach for a period of
 
 3           at least three years in a department of education
 
 4           special education position following the successful
 
 5           completion of the program; and
 
 6      (3)  Any student in either program who accepts a tuition
 
 7           waiver, but does not fulfill the student's obligation
 
 8           of service to the department of education shall be
 
 9           liable for all waived tuition moneys.
 
10      SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
11 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $261,689 or so much
 
12 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 for a
 
13 counseling psychology program at the University of Hawaii at
 
14 Hilo.
 
15      The sum appropriated shall be expended by the University of
 
16 Hawaii at Hilo for the purposes of this Act.
 
17      SECTION 4.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
18 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $335,105 or so much
 
19 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 for a
 
20 special education program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.  
 
21      The sum appropriated shall be expended by the University of
 
22 Hawaii at Hilo for the purposes of this Act.
 
23      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.