HB1722

PART I

SECTION 1. (a) The early learning educational 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 system is the following statement regarding workforce development:

Skilled and knowledgeable early care and education practitioners are an essential key to quality; they must have access to education and training opportunities and receive equitable compensation and opportunities to succeed.

The task force noted five key elements to proactively increase early educator capacity, namely:

(1) Expand the availability and reach of scholarship, 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 work force;

(4) Establish a mentoring and coaching program, in conjunction with early learning programs, to improve quality in 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.

(b) The legislature finds that an effective incentive program can be designed based on the model used for the annual incentive pay that is awarded licensed teachers who receive national certification.

The legislature also finds that according to a 2006 junior kindergarten pilot program evaluation report commissioned by the Hawaii educational policy center, additional funding is needed for junior kindergarten to enhance professional development, modify classroom environments, and assure appropriate student teacher ratios according to national standards. These provisions would further support the intent of Act 219, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004, to offer a quality educational program to those four-year-old children born after August 1 and before December 31, who are ineligible to enter kindergarten.

The legislature also finds that there is an insufficient supply of classrooms for early childhood programs statewide and that the pre-plus initiative successfully constructed an additional seventeen early childhood classrooms that will serve over three hundred fifty disadvantaged children.

(1) Enhance the quality of early education programs serving three- and four-year-old children by:

(A) Establishing an early educator incentive program to:

(i) Support the professional development and licensure of early childhood educators and administrators in the private sector;

(ii) Encourage better program alignment between private preschool programs operating on public elementary campuses and the elementary school program;

(iii) Provide wage subsidies for licensed private early childhood educators to continue their employment in a preschool aligned with a public elementary school for a minimum of three years; and

(2) Enhance the quality of the junior kindergarten program by:

(A) Reducing the student-to-teacher ratio per four-year-old classroom to meet national standards;

(B) Providing for developmentally appropriate classroom equipment and materials;

(3) Increasing the offering of college coursework to the early childhood education workforce by funding additional online and distance learning courses; and

(4) Increasing the supply of suitable early childhood facilities located on public elementary campuses through the continuation of the pre-plus classroom construction initiative.

PART II

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

"§302A - Early educator incentive program. There is established an early educator incentive program that shall be administered through a qualified nonprofit organization awarded through a competitive process. The department of education shall award a nonprofit organization a contract to administer a program with the following characteristics:

(1) The administrator shall create a competitive award system for early education schools that are willing to participate in the incentive program and become aligned with a public school;

(2) Early education schools may receive up to $ per designated employee per year for the following:

(A) Designation of one or more employees who do not yet have a license recognized by the Hawaii teacher standards board to teach in a Hawaii public school, who agree to complete a prescribed program of state-approved professional development courses leading to licensure in elementary education with an early childhood endorsement, and who further agree to continue to be employed in a early education workforce incentive program preschool, or aligned public elementary schools for no less than three years following the receipt of a license; and

(B) Costs for the professional development of the designated employee or employees and pay for a wage subsidy of up to $ per employee for up to five years following receipt of a license;

(C) Development of a memorandum of agreement with a department or public charter school to develop a collaborative and seamless educational plan that would maximize continuity between the child's early education and public school learning environment and curriculum;

(D) Provision for the part-time assignment of the early education employee in the public school as an assistant to the regular teaching faculty; and

(E) Creation of opportunities for the movement of participating personnel with the children as they move from the pre-school to the public school to minimize disruptions and maximize the readiness of children to enter public school, and the readiness of the schools to receive them.

§302A– Early childhood education facilities; identifying sites; inspections. (a) The department shall identify unused public school land or facilities for use by state early childhood education programs. Suitable empty classrooms, as determined by the department, shall be prepared and utilized for state early childhood education programs; provided that the classrooms 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.

(b) The department shall assist in the identification of possible construction sites for the development of pre-plus facilities.

(c) All early education program facilities shall be open at all times to visitation and inspection by representatives of the departments of education, human services, and health, and by designated representatives of the respective county fire departments.

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

PART III

SECTION 3. 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 of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for the early educator incentive program.

SECTION 4. 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 of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for the junior kindergarten faculty and professional development and classroom materials; provided that the ratio of students to facility shall not be greater than national standards for student age levels.

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 sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for additional early education courses for teachers.

SECTION 6. The sums appropriated in sections 3 to 5 shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

PART IV

SECTION 7. The director of finance is authorized to issue general obligation bonds in the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for fiscal year 2007-2008, for the plans, design, and construction of additional schools as part of the pre-plus initiative.

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

SECTION 8. The appropriation made for the capital improvement project authorized in section 7 shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal year for which the appropriation is made; provided that all money from the appropriation is unencumbered as of June 30, 2011, shall lapse of that date.

SECTION 9. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 10. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1722
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII