Report Title:
Teacher Support/Workload; Appropriation
Description:
Requires DOE accountability system to provide teachers with time for classroom planning and curriculum planning. Appropriates money for smaller class sizes, more educational assistants, increased planning time and support staff and equipment, and automatic salary increases.
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
531 |
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TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Teacher workloads in the department of education sometimes defy logic. In elementary schools, where adequate support staff is not allocated, the responsibilities of teachers are especially onerous. Extra tasks, such as yard duty, photocopying lessons, and other clerical and management chores, are usually done by teachers in addition to classroom instruction. Teachers are also required to attend conferences and meetings before and after school without additional compensation. The single most difficult challenge facing classroom teachers is high teacher-student ratios.
The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to lower teacher-student ratios and provide the related equipment and staff needed to allow teachers to focus their attention on classroom instruction.
SECTION 2. Section 302A-1004, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
"(a) The department shall implement a comprehensive system of educational accountability to motivate and support the improved performance of students and the education system. This accountability system shall:
(1) Include student accountability; school or collective professional accountability; individual professional accountability for teachers, principals, and other employees; and public accounting for other significant partners to the education process (including, but not limited to, parents, community members, businesses, higher education, media, and political leadership);
(2) Link authority and adequate resources to responsibility;
(3) Define clear roles for all parties and lines of responsibility and mutual obligation and develop a collaborative process with stakeholders, including representatives of appropriate bargaining units, parents, administration, and students;
(4) Involve fair and adequate assessment against agreed upon goals;
(5) Invoke a full and balanced set of appropriate consequences for observed performance, including rewards and recognition for those schools that meet or exceed their goals, assistance to those that fall short, and sanctions for those that given adequate assistance and ample time, continue to fail to meet goals;
(6) Involve:
(A) A statewide student assessment program that provides annual data on student, school, and system performance at selected benchmark grade levels in terms of student performance relative to statewide content and performance standards and embodies high and rigorous expectations for the attainment of all students; and
(B) An annual assessment in core subjects for each grade level, as conducted by each school;
(7) Involve a comprehensive school profile or report card for each school, which shall include, but not be limited to, student performance measures, school attendance, drop-out rates, and parental involvement. These reports shall be made available annually to the board, the governor, the legislature, the parents, and the general public;
(8) Require that teachers and administrators engage in the continuous professional growth and development that ensure their currency with respect to disciplinary content, leadership skill, knowledge, or pedagogical skill, as appropriate to their position. This requirement may be established by the department in terms of credit hours earned or their equivalent in professional development activity certified by the department as appropriate in focus and rigor; [and]
(9) Establish an explicit link between professional evaluation results and individual accountability through professional development of the knowledge, skill, and professional behavior necessary to the position, by requiring that results of the professional evaluation be used by the department to prescribe professional development focus and content, as appropriate[.]; and
(10) Provide teachers with time during the school year for classroom planning and curriculum management.
Beginning with the 2001-2002 school year, the department shall submit to the legislature, the governor, and the board of education at least twenty days prior to the convening of each regular legislative session a report of the specifics of the design of the comprehensive accountability system, as well as the fiscal requirements and legislative actions necessary to create the accountability system."
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002, to provide for:
(1) Student-teacher ratios in grades K-3 of 20:1;
(2) Part time assistants for classes over 20;
(3) Elementary and/or middle school support staff such as security, curriculum coordinators, full-time computer teachers/technicians and counselors;
(4) One additional photocopier for each school; and
(5) Other labor saving devices needed to allow teachers to focus their attention on classroom instruction.
SECTION 4. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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