STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1041

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 25

       H.D. 1

       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. 25, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHER LICENSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to increase the number of qualified teachers in Hawaii by requiring the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to pursue full teacher license reciprocity with all other states.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Education and the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii State Teachers Association.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii is currently experiencing a teacher shortage problem, which often seems to be exacerbated by the prescriptive requirements for teacher licensure in the State.  The State must explore methods for developing, recruiting, and retaining qualified teachers from both within and outside of the State.  Your Committee believes that there are many highly qualified teachers who are licensed outside of Hawaii and willing to teach within the State, but are unable to readily obtain a Hawaii teaching license.

     Under existing law, the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board is required to pursue full teacher license reciprocity with the mid-Atlantic states, as well as with California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Washington.  Your Committee believes that efforts to increase the teacher pool can be more fully realized through the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board's pursuit of full teacher license reciprocity with all states.

     Your Committee recognizes the concerns that some or many of the other states may have standards for teacher licensure that are less than those necessary for licensure in Hawaii; however, each state would have to be examined on an individual basis to determine the appropriateness of licensure reciprocity.  Additionally, the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board has indicated that it is currently in the process of adopting new administrative rules to allow a teacher with an out-of-state license who has undergone similar testing requirements to be automatically licensed in Hawaii.  Your Committee believes that these new administrative rules would help to provide a larger qualified teacher applicant pool for Hawaii's schools.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to adopt policies for the issuance of licenses to teachers with out-of-state licenses who have passed similar testing requirements to those required in Hawaii; provided that upon adoption, administrative rules for that purpose would supersede the statutory requirement; and

     (2)  Requiring the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to provide notification to the Chairs of the Senate Committee on Education and the House of Representatives Committee on Education of the adoption of administrative rules for out-of-state teacher licensure.

     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. 25, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 25, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair