THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            206
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING A MANAGEMENT AUDIT ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF THE
    INCREASED WORKLOADS OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS ON THEIR ABILITY
    TO BE EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERS.



 1        WHEREAS, school principals perform critical functions, as
 2   is evident by the research finding that the school principal is
 3   the factor with the greatest impact upon the quality of
 4   education at any school; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, in recent years, the noninstructional-related
 7   workload of principals has steadily risen due to the reduction
 8   in administrative staff at the district level; and
 9   
10        WHEREAS, although some of the responsibilities formerly
11   executed at the district level were transferred to the state
12   level administration, oftentimes the state level administration
13   was unable to handle the workload due to lack of resources; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, in these cases, the schools were required to take
16   on the additional workload, taking school personnel away from
17   their school-related responsibilities; and
18   
19        WHEREAS, additionally, the mandates of the Felix-Cayetano
20   consent decree and other lawsuits against the Department of
21   Education has further stretched school administrators beyond
22   their capacity to effectively manage the day-to-day operations
23   of their schools; and
24   
25        WHEREAS, many schools are at the point where their
26   administration is in a "crisis management" mode rather than
27   developing or adjusting curricula or addressing issues that are
28   more "school-related"; and
29   
30        WHEREAS, if this problem is to be resolved, a management
31   audit that clearly delineates the responsibilities of the
32   state, district, and school administration levels needs to be
33   conducted so that school administrators can get back to
34   managing the affairs of the school; now, therefore,
35   

 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            206
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
 2   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2000, the House of
 3   Representatives concurring, that the Auditor is requested to
 4   conduct a management audit on the impact of increased workloads
 5   of school principals on their ability to be effective
 6   instructional leaders; and
 7   
 8        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the audit include but not be
 9   limited to, an assessment and categorization of existing
10   administrative and managerial responsibilities and
11   recommendations on which administrative level of the Department
12   of Education would be the most appropriate one to administer
13   the responsibility, and a determination on if additional staff
14   is necessary and where such staff should be allocated; and
15   
16        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor submit to the
17   Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of
18   the Regular Session of 2000, a report of the Auditor's findings
19   and recommendations, including proposed legislation if
20   necessary; and
21   
22        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
23   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and the
24   Superintendent of Education.
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28                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________