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. 1214 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to develop and administer a program to support National Board Certification candidates in the public schools, and to appropriate funds to reimburse fees, pay bonuses, and subsidize transportation expenses of neighbor island candidates.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Department of Education, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Congress of Parents, Teachers and Students, Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, Hawaii Business Roundtable, Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii Education Council, and one private individual.

Your Committee finds that the most cost effective way to improve student achievement is to invest in the education of teachers. Many professions offer board certification for practitioners who demonstrate high levels of professional accomplishment. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, an independent nonpartisan organization, has established such rigorous standards. Twenty-four states and eighty-five school districts recognize National Board Certification as a mark of quality teaching. A 2000 study by the University of North Carolina found that teachers with National Board Certification significantly outperformed their peers.

Your Committee further finds that Hawaii has five National Board certified teachers who have undergone the arduous process on their own. This bill would provide incentives and assistance for many more Hawaii teachers to undertake the same process, enhancing teacher professionalism in Hawaii by defining and recognizing highly accomplished practice, and by encouraging and supporting candidates for this prestigious level of recognition. National Board Certification also provides a welcome means of allowing teachers to advance in the profession while still remaining in the classroom.

Your Committee further finds that, in the past, the only teacher credentialing in the State was done by the Department of Education for those employed within it. By providing a means of credentialing independent of the Department of Education, possible conflicts of interest are eliminated and the development of a readily available pool of highly qualified teachers is fostered.

Your Committee has amended this measure by adding a provision providing teachers with $1,250 of the $2,500 National Board Certification application fee upon evidence of application and the remaining $1,250 upon successful certification. As National Board Certification is a very high standard and difficult to achieve, the measure was further amended to allow for partial $1,250 reimbursement of the application fee for unsuccessful applicants. Your Committee also lowered the annual bonus of $5,000 for successful applicants to $2,500 and capped it at ten years. Your Committee has also eliminated any specific appropriation figure and made technical, nonsubstantive amendments 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. 1214, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1214, S.D. 1,

and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.