SB3112 SD1 SSCR2455

STAND. COM. REP. 2455

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 3112

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. 3112 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Allow the Department of Education to hire professionals as exceptional teachers;

(2) Authorize alternative routes to licensing based on performance-based standards and experience; and

(3) Establish a tax credit for businesses whose employees are hired by the Department of Education as exceptional hires in an amount of two per cent of their employee's annual salary.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of Education. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to the measure from the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board and Department of Taxation.

Your Committee finds that having high standards that help generate quality teachers is one of the most crucial aspects in promoting the academic achievement of students. However, in light of the teacher shortage, the Department of Education must occasionally fill positions on an emergency or exceptional basis as a stop-gap measure.

Your Committee has amended the measure by:

(1) Adding a requirement that any individual hired on an exceptional basis must complete a Department of Education-approved training program;

(2) Correcting a statutory cross-reference; and

(3) Deleting the provision allowing for a tax credit.

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. 3112, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3112, 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