STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1207
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: H.B. No. 1014
H.D. 2
S.D. 1
Honorable Colleen Hanabusa
President of the Senate
Twenty-Fourth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2007
State of Hawaii
Madam:
Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1014, H.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to support the education and professional development of teachers in the public schools, through funding and improvements to programs under the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii.
Specifically, this measure:
(1) Changes the Performance Standards Review Commission membership and reporting schedule;
(2) Clarifies the intended purpose of the Hawaii Educator Loan Program and amends the program's loan forgiveness incentive provisions; and
(3) Appropriates funds to the University of Hawaii for various programs and objectives, including the Office of School Redesign, teacher education and professional development, the Master of Education in Teaching degree program, additional staff for the Hawaii Educational Policy Center, and the Hawaii Educator Loan Program.
Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Education, the University of Hawaii, the Office of School Redesign of the University of Hawaii, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Center on Disability Studies, the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Leeward Community College, the Hawaii Educational Policy Center, and seven individuals.
Your Committee finds that the needs of schools and administrators have changed over the years, particularly with the advent of the Reinventing Act of 2001, Act 51, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004, as amended, and other federal mandates. Your Committee further finds that increased responsibilities of school administrators, including financial responsibilities, particularly with regard to the weighted student formula approach, requires the need for increased funding to provide greater autonomy within complex areas that will allow for the more efficient use of resources to increase professional development, particularly in the areas of performing arts education, physical education, and virtual education.
Your Committee finds that in Hawaii a critical teacher shortage currently jeopardizes the education of the students in the public school system. Recruitment and retention of qualified teachers also poses a real problem for the public schools. The State must focus on growing and developing a qualified teaching workforce through not only the continued professional development of educators but also teacher mentoring programs.
Additionally, your Committee determines that provisions of this measure regarding current statewide performance standards, the Performance Standards Review Commission, and reporting schedules; appropriations for the Hawaii Educational Policy Center; and appropriations for the University of Hawaii programs supporting teacher development have been previously addressed in other measures by this Committee. Therefore, they should be deleted from this measure to further focus the attention on issues relating to the provision of assistance in the education and professional development of teachers.
Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Changing the language of the purpose section to focus on the need to provide funding for and emphasize the importance of professional development, particularly in the areas of visual and performing arts education, physical education, and virtual education;
(2) Removing the appropriation of funds for various programs to increase the capacity of the University of Hawaii, College of Education, to educate qualified teachers, meet federal requirements for institutional support of disability studies, and expand teacher professional development and mentoring;
(3) Removing changes to the statewide Performance Standards Review Commission composition, the requirement for the development of assessments, and reporting requirements;
(4) Removing the appropriation for the Hawaii Educational Policy Center;
(5) Removing amendments to the Hawaii Educator Loan Program that clarified the program's intended purpose and loan forgiveness eligibility requirements;
(6) Including appropriations for each complex area to establish the capacity to coordinate and expand complex-level resources for professional development, alignment of curriculum, and mentoring in schools; provided that funds appropriated in this section shall be allocated to each complex area based on the per pupil enrollments in each complex area; provided further that a portion of the funds allocated to individual schools by complex areas shall be for professional development and support of curriculum in visual and performing arts education, physical education, and virtual learning materials and programs;
(7) Removing the appropriation for the Hawaii Teacher Cadet Program; and
(8) Clarifying that the appropriation for the induction teacher mentoring is for new teachers and teachers who are new to Hawaii and that induction mentors shall be recognized as educators who have demonstrated exemplary performance, have the opportunity to be induction teachers, have their participation be flexible, and have full return rights to their previous teaching positions.
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 H.B. No. 1014, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1014, H.D. 2, 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,
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____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair |
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