STAND

STAND. COM. REP. 2498

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2428

S.D. 1

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2428 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish the Hawaii Administrator Standards Board.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of Education, Hawaii Teacher Standards Board, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Government Employees Association, Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, and a private individual.

Your Committee finds that Act 249, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, mandated the Department of Education to convene a working group of key stakeholders and take foundational steps towards establishing an independent body to set and monitor standards for education administrators, with July 1, 2005 as the target date for implementation. This is congruent with a positive national trend towards the professionalization of education administrators and administrators that is proceeding apace with a similar trend in the teaching profession. Such an independent body could provide a uniform criteria for competency system-wide and eliminate the appearance of a possible conflict of interest in having the employing agency serve as the licensing agency.

Your Committee has amended the measure by:

(1) Deleting any authority of the Hawaii Administrator Standards Board over private schools;

(2) Stipulating that all members shall be appointed by the Governor, except for the Superintendent of the Education or designee, the chairperson of the Board of Education or the chairperson's designee, and an active faculty member of a university-level education administration training program, appointed by the dean of the University of Hawaii College of Education, who shall serve a three-year term;

(3) Staggering the terms of five education administrators appointed by the Governor as such: two for three years, two for two years, and one for one year;

(4) Assigning the community member appointed by the Governor a three-year term;

(5) Replacing all references to "educational officers" with "education administrators";

(6) Replacing all references to "certification" with "license";

(7) Making conforming amendments to the Hawaii Revised Statutes to reflect the change in terminology from "certification" to "license" and the change in responsibility for licensing from the Department of Education to the Hawaii Administrator Standards Board; and

(8) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity and style.

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. 2428, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2428, 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,

		____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair