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.  (HB939 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        939  
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
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 supply of trained counselors and
 
18 clinicians on the Big Island made it difficult to staff this
 
19 project.  Subsequently, the State did not renew Kapiolani's
 
20 contract and therefore has assumed the needed services, including
 
21 the staffing of thirty master's level clinical positions.
 
Page 2                                                     939  
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        


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

 
Page 3                                                     939  
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        


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

 
Page 4                                                     939  
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        


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