STAND. COM. REP. NO.309
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2001
RE: S.B. No. 1212
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2001
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1212 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACt rELATING TO EDUCATION,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to transfer the duty of licensing public school teachers from the Department of Education (DOE) to the Hawaii Teachers Standards Board (HTSB).
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, the DOE, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, the Hawaii Congress of Parents, Teachers and Students, the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, the Hawaii Business Roundtable, and the Dean of the University of Hawaii College of Education testifying on his own behalf. One individual submitted testimony in opposition to this measure, and another individual provided comments.
Your Committee agrees that the HTSB is the appropriate body to license our public school teachers. As an independent board, the HTSB would not have the inherent conflict of interest that the DOE faces as employer of the teachers it licenses.
In addition, the HTSB already establishes the criteria applied by the DOE in licensing teachers, and your Committee finds that teachers should be more involved in implementing the criteria as well.
Your Committee amended this measure to incorporate the following specific recommendations of the DOE:
(1) To allow the Teacher Education Coordinating Committee to select its own representative for the HTSB;
(2) To give the DOE greater flexibility in hiring in times of emergency;
(3) To allow the DOE to hire unlicensed individuals on a year-to-year basis;
(4) To delete the requirement that the HTSB report to the Governor and to the Legislature;
(5) To require notification of a teacher when a request has been filed to revoke the teacher's permit;
(6) To delete the requirement of reporting on the numbers and types of students taught by out-of-field teachers; and
(7) To require HTSB reports only semi-annually, not monthly.
Your Committee also made several technical, nonsubstantive amendments to this measure for clarity.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1212, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1212, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,
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____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair |