Report Title:

Teachers; Performance Pay; Salary Increases

Description:

Establishes increment salary increases for teachers and creates a comprehensive evaluation process for teachers. (SD1)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1636

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

  

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

Relating to teachers.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that staff evaluation and teacher improvement are essential to ensure quality education. The primary responsibility of any teacher evaluation program should be to improve student learning by assisting teachers and staff to improve their skills. The legislature also recognizes that educational improvement is best assured when evaluation is viewed as a mutual and positive responsibility. Evaluations must also be concluded by the end of each school year to provide certainty for employees and administrators. Those teachers who receive negative evaluations may be provided with a new position outside of their school but within department schools.

The legislature further finds that teachers who receive positive evaluations should be rewarded with salary increases commensurate with their higher quality of skills, which enhance the educational system. Furthermore, it is necessary to ensure that accomplished teachers who have reached their maximum increment or longevity step be rewarded salary increases for their positive evaluations.

The purpose of the Act is to establish salary increases for teachers and create a comprehensive evaluation process for teachers.

SECTION 2. Chapter 89, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§89-   Teacher compensation. Except as provided in chapter 302A, an employee of the department of education paid under the salary schedule contained in the unit 05 collective bargaining agreement shall receive an annual increment or longevity increase, as the case may be, for a year's satisfactory service in any fiscal year."

SECTION 3. Section 89-9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§89-9 Scope of negotiations; consultation. (a) [The] Except as provided in subsection (g), the employer and the exclusive representative shall meet at reasonable times, including meetings sufficiently in advance of the February 1 impasse date under section 89-11, and shall negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, the amounts of contributions by the State and respective counties to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund to the extent allowed in subsection (e), and other terms and conditions of employment which are subject to collective bargaining and which are to be embodied in a written agreement as specified in section 89-10, but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or make a concession; provided that the parties may not negotiate with respect to cost items as defined by section 89-2 for the biennium 1999 to 2001, and the cost items of employees in bargaining units under section 89-6 in effect on June 30, 1999, shall remain in effect until July 1, 2001.

(b) The employer or the exclusive representative desiring to initiate negotiations shall notify the other party in writing, setting forth the time and place of the meeting desired and the nature of the business to be discussed, sufficiently in advance of the meeting.

(c) Except as otherwise provided in this [chapter,] section, all matters affecting employee relations, including those that are, or may be, the subject of a rule adopted by the employer or any director, shall be subject to consultation with the exclusive representatives of the employees concerned. The employer shall make every reasonable effort to consult with exclusive representatives and consider their input, along with the input of other affected parties, prior to effecting changes in any major policy affecting employee relations.

(d) Excluded from the subjects of negotiations are matters of classification, reclassification, benefits of but not contributions to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund, recruitment, examination, initial pricing, and retirement benefits except as provided in subsection (g) or section 88-8(h). The employer and the exclusive representative shall not agree to any proposal which would be inconsistent with the merit principle or the principle of equal pay for equal work pursuant to section 76-1 or which would interfere with the rights and obligations of a public employer to:

(1) Direct employees;

(2) Determine qualifications, standards for work, and the nature and contents of examinations;

(3) Hire, promote, transfer, assign, and retain employees in positions;

(4) Suspend, demote, discharge, or take other disciplinary action against employees for proper cause;

(5) Relieve an employee from duties because of lack of work or other legitimate reason;

(6) Maintain efficiency and productivity, including maximizing the use of advanced technology, in government operations;

(7) Determine methods, means, and personnel by which the employer's operations are to be conducted; and

(8) Take such actions as may be necessary to carry out the missions of the employer in cases of emergencies.

The employer and the exclusive representative may negotiate procedures governing the promotion and transfer of employees to positions within a bargaining unit; the suspension, demotion, discharge, or other disciplinary actions taken against employees within the bargaining unit; and the layoff of employees within the bargaining unit. Violations of the procedures so negotiated may be subject to the grievance procedure in the collective bargaining agreement.

(e) Negotiations relating to contributions to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund shall be for the purpose of agreeing upon the amounts which the State and counties shall contribute under section 87-4, toward the payment of the costs for a health benefits plan, as defined in section 87-1(8), and group life insurance benefits, and the parties shall not be bound by the amounts contributed under prior agreements; provided that section 89-11 for the resolution of disputes by way of arbitration shall not be available to resolve impasses or disputes relating to the amounts the State and counties shall contribute to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund.

(f) The repricing of classes within an appropriate bargaining unit may be negotiated as follows:

(1) At the request of the exclusive representative and at times allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, the employer shall negotiate the repricing of classes within the bargaining unit. The negotiated repricing actions that constitute cost items shall be subject to the requirements in section 89-10.

(2) If repricing has not been negotiated under paragraph (1), the employer of each jurisdiction shall ensure establishment of procedures to periodically review, at least once in five years, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties, the repricing of classes within the bargaining unit. The repricing of classes based on the results of the periodic review shall be at the discretion of the employer. Any appropriations required to implement the repricing actions that are made at the employer's discretion shall not be construed as cost items.

(g) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (d) to the contrary, movement between incremental and longevity steps within the salary range for employees in appropriate bargaining unit 05 shall be specified by law, including chapter 302A."

SECTION 4. Section 302A-626, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§302A-626 Salary increases; annual[, longevity.]; performance. (a) Teachers [and educational officers] who have completed a year's satisfactory service and who have complied with the other requirements of sections 302A-602 to 302A-640, and 302A-701, shall be entitled to an annual increment[.] of 3.14 per cent of their annual salary; provided that they earn an annual salary of less than $50,000.

(b) Teachers [and educational officers] who have [served satisfactorily for three years in their maximum increment step or in any longevity step and who have complied,] accomplished the following:

(1) Earned an annual salary of $50,000 or more;

(2) Received positive performance evaluations as determined by the principal or immediate supervisor; and

(3) Complied with the other requirements of sections 302A-602 to 302A-640, and 302A-701;

shall receive [longevity stop increases;] a biannual performance step increase of 3.14 per cent of their annual salary; provided that the board may grant principals and vice-principals [longevity] performance step increases more frequently than once every three years pursuant to section 302A-625."

SECTION 5. Section 302A-638, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-638[]] Evaluation of teachers [and educational officers]. (a) The department shall establish [an evaluation program] a comprehensive evaluation process for all teachers [and educational officers]. The evaluation shall be performed at least [once] twice in each school year. The program shall define the criteria for evaluation and assign responsibilities for the application of the criteria. The evaluation of a teacher [or educational officer] shall be on the basis of efficiency, ability, and such other criteria as the department shall determine.

(b) The department shall establish evaluation procedures that are based upon the goal of improving the teacher/learning process through the enrichment of professional staff development and to assist in the success of their teaching assignment.

(c) In developing the comprehensive evaluation process for teachers, the department shall consider the following:

(1) The teacher's experience;

(2) The teacher's workload;

(3) Ability level of the students;

(4) Class size;

(5) Assistance by other support personnel;

(6) The physical space;

(7) Assignments;

(8) Materials, supplies, and equipment; and

(9) Extra duties of the teacher.

(d) The comprehensive evaluation process shall include a conference between the evaluator and teacher at a reasonable time following the completion of the evaluator's observation of the teacher and evaluation.

(e) The department shall establish evaluation indicators and standards to assist the evaluator in their determination of the teacher's performance.

(f) The department shall establish a three person teacher advisory team to be composed of the following:

(1) Two exemplary teachers as determined by national board certification, past teacher of the year status, or designation by the superintendent; and

(2) One administrator.

The teacher advisory team shall work with the principal and the teacher, following a negative evaluation, to address possible improvements or to locate a suitable position for the teacher's abilities."

SECTION 6. This Act shall not be applied so as to impair any collective bargaining agreement existing as of the effective date of this Act in a manner violative of either the Hawaii Constitution or Article I, section 10, of the United States Constitution.

SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020.