Report Title:

DOE; Teachers' Salary Schedule; Credits for Degrees and Courses

Description:

Requires the department of education to report to the legislature on the number of teachers hired after 8/1/07 who are adversely affected by not receiving credit for post-baccalaureate and post-master's degree credits upon hiring.  (SD1)

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	650
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that upon hiring, new teachers do not receive credit for coursework completed in excess of that necessary to attain a bachelor's or master's degree.  Therefore, these teachers do not receive any financial enhancement, although they have completed coursework beyond their degrees that may also be directly related to teaching in their specific subject matter areas or fields. 

     The purpose of this Act is to require the department of education to conduct a study on the number of and the extent to which newly hired teachers are adversely affected by the inability to receive credit for coursework completed in excess of that required for their degrees.

     SECTION 2.  The department of education shall report to the legislature on the number of newly hired teachers with a start date of August 1, 2007, or later, who possess either bachelor's or master's degrees and credits in excess of those degrees for which they will not receive credit from the department of education in determining their salary or position classification.  The report shall also include information on the types of credits earned, the number of credits in excess of degrees earned, the subject matter areas of the credits earned, the relevance of the credits earned to teaching, and the cost impact of providing compensation to those teachers with excess credits.  The department of education shall submit its report to the legislature on the foregoing no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2008.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.