206
THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING A MANAGEMENT AUDIT ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF THE
    INCREASED WORKLOADS OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS AND OTHER
    ADMINISTRATORS 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   

 
Page 2                                                     206
                                  S.C.R. NO.            S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 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 and other administrators on their ability
 6   to be effective instructional leaders; and
 7   
 8        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the audit include but not be
 9   limited to:
10   
11        (1)  An assessment and categorization of existing
12             administrative and managerial responsibilities;
13   
14        (2)  Recommendations on which administrative level of the
15             Department of Education would be the most appropriate
16             one to administer the responsibility;
17   
18        (3)  A determination on if additional staff is necessary
19             and where such staff should be allocated;
20   
21        (4)  An evaluation, in light of the additional workload of
22             schools, of the current responsibilities of
23             principals and vice principals in relationship to
24             their expanded responsibilities; and
25   
26        (5)  Given the results in item (4), consideration of
27             expanding responsibilities for future administrators;
28   
29   and
30   
31        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor submit to the
32   Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of
33   the Regular Session of 2000, a report of the Auditor's findings
34   and recommendations, including proposed legislation if
35   necessary; and
36   
37        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
38   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and the
39   Superintendent of Education.