WHEREAS, substitute teachers are a vital part of the public workforce and provide relief to the State's more than 12,000 public school teachers; and

WHEREAS, in the 2004-2005 school year, the State's substitute teachers collectively worked over 180,000 school days for public school teachers who were called out of their normal, classroom duties; and

WHEREAS, substitute teachers are currently not represented by any union; and

WHEREAS, substitute teachers have challenged the State's substitute policies in areas such as compensation, benefits, and professional development; and

WHEREAS, in a December 2005 lawsuit brought against the State by substitute teachers, the circuit courts ruled in favor of substitute teachers, pointing out that the State had been shortchanging substitutes of nearly $15 million in compensation since 1996; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature responded to the needs of substitute teachers through Act 70, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005, which required the Department of Education (DOE) to create a three-tiered compensation schedule based on a substitute teacher's educational qualifications and also required substitute teachers to take a substitute training course; and

WHEREAS, although past measures have sought to rectify many of the challenges previously faced by substitutes, there still remains an inequity of compensation and benefits for long-term substitutes, who either replace permanent teachers called away from the classroom for long periods of time for reasons such as maternity leave, military duty, family leave, and continuing education, or fill teaching positions for which the school cannot find a permanent, qualified employee; and

WHEREAS, each year, DOE employs approximately 200 to 400 long-term substitutes who fill vacant positions on a full-time basis; and

WHEREAS, long-term substitutes are expected to perform all the duties of a permanent classroom teacher, such as planning lessons, assessing student work, attending faculty meetings, communicating with parents, and participating in professional development, yet are neither compensated nor given benefits comparable to the compensation and benefits of permanent teachers; and

WHEREAS, in 2005, DOE's Substitute Teacher Task Force (Task Force) recommended that the State provide a one-time, end-of-the-year bonus of $700 to substitutes who worked more than 90 days, to be applied toward participation in a healthcare program, if necessary; and

WHEREAS, under the federal, No Child Left Behind mandate, schools are required to employ "highly qualified teachers" in core subject areas, the qualifications of which are determined by individual states and the Act strongly recommends that long-term substitutes meet the requirements of "highly qualified," as defined by each state; and

WHEREAS, as a result of the State's continued struggle with teacher shortages and a pending explosion of "baby-boom" retirees, the need for highly qualified, long-term and short-term substitutes will increase and it is therefore necessary to establish:

now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) is requested to:

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the LRB is requested to submit the study and recommended legislation, if any, to the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Legislative Reference Bureau, Superintendent of Education, and the Department of Education Office of Human Resources.

Report Title:

Requesting the legislative reference bureau to conduct a study of different wage classes and medical benefits for long-term and short-term public school substitutes, and of the need for a collective bargaining unit or union for substitute teachers.