Allows the department of education to hire former teachers, vice-principals, and principals for hard-to-fill positions; applies department of education incentive package law to administrators as well as teachers; establishes a 2004 sunset date for incentive package law.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§302A- Post-retirement employment; classroom teachers and school administrators. (a) Beginning with the 2001-2002 school year, the department may employ in hard-to-fill positions, former teachers, principals, or vice principals who have retired from state service. The superintendent shall identify these hard-to-fill positions based upon the lack of qualified candidates after advertisement of the vacant positions. In addition to their salary, retired employees who are employed in these hard-to-fill positions shall continue to receive all accrued retirement benefits; provided that they shall not accrue additional retirement benefits based upon their post-retirement employment."

SECTION 2. Section 302A-701, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-701[]] Incentive packages for [quality] classroom teachers and school administrators. [Teachers] (a) Classroom teachers and school administrators in the public school system may accept incentive packages [provided] offered by the state or local communities for the purpose of attracting and retaining [those] classroom teachers and school administrators in schools with high [teacher turnover] vacancy rates. Packages may include such items as:

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval and shall be repealed on June 30, 2004; provided that section 302A-701, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is reenacted in the form in which it read on the day before the approval of this Act.