SB613 SD1

SECTION 1. The early learning education task force, established by Act 259, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006, was assigned the following task:

The task force shall develop a five-year plan with annual increments for a coherent, comprehensive, and sustainable early learning system that shall ensure a continuum of quality early learning opportunities for young children in the State from birth up to age five, and which maximizes public and private resources.

Among the guiding principles for the design of an early education system is the fact that skilled and knowledgeable early care and education practitioners are an essential key to quality and they must have access to education and training opportunities as well as receive equitable compensation and opportunities in order to succeed.

The task force found there are five key elements to proactively increasing early educator capacity, namely to:

(1) Expand the availability and reach of scholarships, with state-funded financial aid, to support early educators in completing college degrees and early childhood education-related coursework;

(2) Expand distance learning options for all early educators;

(3) Expand offerings of early childhood education-related college courses and community-based training to meet the needs of early educators and junior kindergarten teachers who are currently in the workforce;

(4) Establish a mentoring and coaching program to improve the quality of early childhood programs statewide, starting with a focus on programs for four-year-olds; and

(5) Establish a recruitment and retention initiative to attract new entrants to the early childhood field, encourage practitioners to improve their qualifications, and entice highly-qualified early educators to remain in Hawaii's early learning community.

The legislature further finds that an effective incentive program can be designed based on national models currently used in states with successful programs.

The legislature also finds that additional funding is needed for teachers for junior kindergarten programs to ensure an appropriate adult-to-student ratio of one adult for every ten students.

In addition, more can be done to identify unused public school land or facilities for use by state early childhood education programs.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Establish an early educator incentive program that will provide funding for professional development, as well as subsidies for employees of early education schools who agree to continue their employment for a minimum of one year in an early education school affiliated with a public school;

(2) Encourage collaboration between state funded early childhood education special education programs and private early childhood education providers;

(3) Develop early childhood education inclusion programs in special education early childhood education classrooms subsidized by the department of education and the parents of the participating children;

(4) Require the department of education to identify unused public school land or facilities for use by state early childhood education programs; and

(5) Appropriate funds.

SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§302A- Early educator incentive program. (a) There is established an early educator incentive program within the department for administrative purposes.

(b) The program shall be administered by a nonprofit organization, the contract for which shall be awarded through a competitive bid process.

(c) The administrator of the program shall create a competitive bid system for early education schools that are willing to participate in the program.

(d) Scholarships shall be awarded to residents of the State who are currently caring for or employed to care for three or more unrelated children in private, public, or not-for-profit settings that are either licensed or licensed-exempt while pursuing an associate's degree or bachelor's degree in early childhood education or certification as an early childhood education teacher, including certification as a special education teacher, at a college or university within the University of Hawaii system.

(e) Eligibility for scholarships shall be limited to persons who:

(1) Provide direct early care and education to three or more unrelated children, including but not limited to persons employed as teachers, aides, assistant teachers, or family child care providers;

(2) Have been employed in their positions as early care and education professionals for a minimum of one year prior to applying for the scholarships;

(3) Are enrolled in and pursuing courses of study that will lead to an associate's or bachelor's degree as an early childhood care and education professional or certification as a teacher, including certification in special education; and

(4) Commit to teach in an early childhood care and education setting for at least one year following the course completion date; provided that if scholarships are provided for two or more courses during the same school term, the commitment to teach shall remain one year.

(f) The nonprofit organization shall establish guidelines approved by the department governing the implementation of the scholarship program. The guidelines shall include but not be limited to the following:

(1) The level of academic achievement scholarship recipients shall be required to maintain while participating in the scholarship program;

(2) The maximum scholarship a person may be awarded in a designated period of time;

(3) The allowable expenses, including tuition, fees, books, and travel stipends;

(4) The financial responsibilities of scholarship recipients should they fail to complete their course requirements; and

(5) The duties and obligations of scholarship recipients upon graduation, including the minimum number of years that they shall be required to work in early childhood care and education in the State.

(g) The nonprofit organization shall also provide wage supplements to staff in licensed and licensed-exempt settings that serve a minimum of three unrelated children; provided that all teaching staff and administrative staff who supervise teachers' work with children in center-based programs, including for-profit, faith-based, private, nonprofit, and subsidized programs, shall be eligible for wage supplements, regardless of job or program title.

Subject to the availability of sufficient funds, the wage supplements shall be paid to early childhood practitioners in the form of bonuses at six-month intervals. Six months of continuous service with a single employer shall be required to be eligible to receive a wage supplement bonus.

Wage supplements shall be paid directly to program organizations, who in turn shall be responsible for paying these supplements to their eligible employees. Organizations shall be responsible for providing the nonprofit organization with the required qualifying documents, including transcripts, to demonstrate their qualifications for a particular wage supplement level. Individuals receiving the wage supplements shall be currently working in a licensed or licensed-exempt setting that serves three or more unrelated children or they shall not be eligible to receive wage supplements. Wage supplements plus an individual's wages shall not exceed an amount equal to the wages of a public school teacher with commensurate education and experience."

SECTION 3. Section 302A-401, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) For the purposes of this section:

"Eligible student" means a high school student in the eleventh or twelfth grade who:

(1) Has passed a standardized test administered by the college that demonstrates the student's ability to succeed at the college level;

(2) Is under the age of twenty-one as of September 1 of the school year in which the college course is taken; and

(3) Has other qualifications deemed appropriate by the department of education or the University of Hawaii; provided that subsequent qualifications do not restrict any student from taking the standardized test.

"Qualified course" means any vocational or academic course offered by the University of Hawaii system that also applies to the department's graduation requirements or is otherwise permitted by department rule or policy[.]; provided that "qualified course" shall include any professional and career education for early childhood course offered by the University of Hawaii system at the one-hundred level and above."

SECTION 4. Section 302A-1506.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-1506.5[]] Early childhood education facilities; identifying sites[.]; inspections. (a) The department of education shall identify unused public school facilities for use by early childhood education programs. Suitable empty classrooms, as determined by the department, shall be [~~inventoried for potential use in~~] prepared and utilized for early childhood education programs[.]; provided that the classrooms shall meet the licensing standards determined by the departments of education and human services. Priority shall be given to land or facilities on sites with sufficient space for three or more classrooms to be renovated or constructed.

(b) The department shall assist in the identification of possible construction sites for private providers to build early childhood education facilities.

(c) The department shall inspect each early childhood education facility as frequently as it deems necessary for the proper operation, sanitation, and safety of the facility. The inspections shall be made at least once each year. All early childhood education facilities shall be open at all times to visitation and inspection by representatives of the departments of education, human services, and health, and by the designated representatives of the respective county fire departments.

(d) The department may adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to effectuate this section."

SECTION 5. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same amount, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for the early educator incentive program.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 6. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same amount, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for junior kindergarten teachers, to ensure that the student-to-teacher ratio in junior kindergarten programs shall not exceed ten students for every one adult.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 7. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for the department of education to provide subsidies to private early childhood education providers to accept early childhood education special education students and to hire early childhood education intervention specialists to provide direct services to special education early childhood education students in private programs.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 8. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050; provided that sections 4 and 5 shall take effect on July 1, 2050.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	613
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII