STAND. COM. REP. NO. 462

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1614

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 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 teacher recruitment and licensing by appropriating funds for the implementation of a new human resource management model for Waianae High School and its feeder elementary and middle schools.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Education, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board, Waianae High School, and three individuals.

     Your Committee finds that a critical teacher shortage currently exists in Hawaii.  The State must focus on efforts to grow and develop a teacher workforce, as well as recruit and retain qualified teachers in the public schools today.  The issue of recruitment and retention of qualified teachers is most apparent at Waianae High School where only slightly more than half of the teachers are fully licensed.  Your Committee further finds that Waianae High School currently serves approximately two thousand students with only one hundred fifty teachers.  Many of the students in Waianae are living at or below the poverty level, and the academic achievement of most Waianae public schools demonstrates a lack of learning.

     Your Committee recognizes the need for action in the Waianae public schools and believes that the utilization of a human resource management model could be beneficial to the school, its students, and the community at large.  However, your Committee notes that several other measures have been introduced this session that address the teacher shortage problem and provide incentives and programs to increase qualified teacher recruitment and retention.  Your Committee believes that, to the extent that these alternative initiatives would duplicate similar efforts provided under this measure, any funding received by Waianae High School and its feeder elementary and middle schools to achieve similar results in increasing teacher proficiency should be off-set by the appropriation made in this measure.

     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 S.B. No. 1614 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair