STAND. COM. REP. NO. 899

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1614

       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 Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1614 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to improve recruitment and retention of licensed teachers in the Waianae complex schools.

     Specifically, the measure appropriates funds to implement a pilot project in human resource management for the Waianae complex schools, including Waianae High School and its elementary and intermediate feeder schools.

     The Department of Education, Hawaii Teacher Standards Board, and a community member of the Waianae High School Community Council submitted comments in support of the measure.

     Your Committee finds that improving the quality of teachers for schools in the Waianae complex is an issue that needs urgent resolution.  The inability to retain a qualified workforce denies our children the education they need and deserve.  Only fifty-six per cent of teachers at Waianae High School are fully licensed by the State.  To improve teacher quality, a multi-year federal Native Hawaiian Education Program grant was awarded to the Waianae High School Alumni Association to aid in establishing a new human resource management model for Waianae High School.  Your Committee finds that this measure will allow additional implementation of the new human resource management model into all schools in the Waianae complex.

     Upon consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by clarifying that the report to be submitted to the legislature by the Waianae complex schools will include teacher qualification data from all schools in the Waianae complex and that the appropriation is for the implementation of the human resource management model for all Waianae complex schools.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1614, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1614, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair