REPORT TITLE:
University of Hawaii at Hilo


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds to the University of Hawaii at Hilo for a
counseling psychology program and a special education teacher
program.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                            939         
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO 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 consent
 
 2 decree has mandated the State to provide a system of care that
 
 3 includes special education and mental health services to public
 
 4 school children.  The consent decree necessitates an increased
 
 5 number of school and family counselors, school-based behavior
 
 6 management counselors, and special education teachers.  The
 
 7 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 licensure), to meet the current need for these professionals,
 
11 particularly on the Big Island.
 
12      The legislature also finds that the Big Island faces a
 
13 desperate shortage of adequately trained counselors and
 
14 clinicians.  In an attempt to implement the Felix consent decree,
 
15 the State contracted Kapiolani Health Hawaii Behavioral Health
 
16 Services to administer the newly created Big Island demonstration
 
17 project.  An inadequate Big Island supply of trained counselors
 
18 and clinicians made it difficult to staff this project.
 
19 Subsequently, the State did not renew Kapiolani's contract and
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        


 1 therefore has assumed the needed services, including the staffing
 
 2 of thirty master's level clinical positions.  Additionally, the
 
 3 consent decree places the department of education in the position
 
 4 of needing to employ forty to fifty-five master's level
 
 5 counselors to provide school-based mental health services on the
 
 6 Big Island.  Further, the consent decree embraces principles that
 
 7 seek to preserve, strengthen, and include families as full
 
 8 participants in the delivery of services.  The proposed
 
 9 University of Hawaii at Hilo master's degree program in
 
10 counseling psychology, a two-year program which includes tracks
 
11 in school/career counseling and marriage/family counseling, will
 
12 help to resolve this critical shortage of adequately trained
 
13 counselors needed to address the concerns of the consent decree.
 
14      If the master's degree program in counseling psychology is
 
15 offered continuously at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, then
 
16 the State can expect to see an additional forty new counselors
 
17 entering the workforce per year once the program has enrolled
 
18 both first and second year students.
 
19      The legislature further finds that the shortage of special
 
20 education teachers in the State and on the neighbor islands is
 
21 widely known.  Last year, the department of education hired three
 
22 hundred ninety-four special education teachers statewide, of whom
 
23 approximately two hundred ninety lack appropriate licenses or
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        


 1 credentials.  The sixty new hires assigned to the Big Island
 
 2 either are receiving on-the-job training via distance learning
 
 3 through Chaminade University and Gonzaga University, or are not
 
 4 receiving adequate special education preparation.  According to
 
 5 the department of education's ten-year projection (1998-2007),
 
 6 four hundred special education teachers are needed per year for
 
 7 the foreseeable future, while the current local supply per year
 
 8 is seventy-five qualified teachers.  In order to meet this need
 
 9 and comply with the consent decree, the department of education
 
10 must continue recruitment on the mainland, increase alternative
 
11 preparation opportunities through existing programs, develop
 
12 endorsement programs for teachers licensed in other fields, and
 
13 encourage new programs at local universities.  The proposed
 
14 University of Hawaii at Hilo special education program, a full
 
15 year curriculum which allows licensed teachers to qualify for
 
16 special education licensure, will address the State's critical
 
17 shortage.  Of the institutions which offer teacher education in
 
18 Hawaii, including those programs from other states, University of
 
19 Hawaii at Hilo is the only one which does not offer special
 
20 education programs.  When the University of Hawaii at Hilo
 
21 program is operational, a distance learning component will allow
 
22 teachers in other areas of the State to receive appropriate
 
23 professional preparation.  Because of the difficulty in
 

 
Page 4                                         939         
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        


 1 recruiting special education teachers, an incentive that will
 
 2 provide full tuition for those teachers who complete the program
 
 3 and teach three years in a special education assignment is
 
 4 included in this proposal.
 
 5      If the program qualifying a person for licensure as a
 
 6 special education teacher is offered continuously at the
 
 7 University of Hawaii at Hilo, and if distance learning continues
 
 8 to be utilized for the purpose of providing on-the-job training,
 
 9 then the State can expect to see an additional one hundred new
 
10 teachers entering the workforce per year.  If distance learning
 
11 is not utilized for this purpose, then the State can expect to
 
12 see an additional sixty new special education teachers entering
 
13 the workforce per year.
 
14      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
15 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $        , or so much
 
16 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000, and the
 
17 sum of $        , or so much thereof as may be necessary for
 
18 fiscal year 2000-2001, for a counseling psychology program and a
 
19 special education teacher program at the University of Hawaii at
 
20 Hilo, including teacher incentives.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        


 1                                        Fiscal Year    Fiscal Year
 2                                         1999-2000      2000-2001 
 3 
 4      Counseling psychology              $261,689        $372,469
 
 5      Special education                   335,105         324,050
 
 6           Total                         $596,794        $696,519
 
 7      SECTION 3.  The sums appropriated shall be expended by the
 
 8 University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.
 
 9      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.
 
10 
 
11                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________