SCR140.DOC

WHEREAS, the Legislature adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 115 in 2008, requesting the Department of Education to establish a pilot project to allow a school complex to identify critical Department of Education rules and policies that impede effective decision-making, administration, and teaching and to operate free of those rules and policies over a period of three years; and

WHEREAS, the Moanalua Complex, which is part of the Aiea/Moanalua/Radford Complex Area, was selected by the Superintendent of Education as the complex to participate in the pilot project; and

WHEREAS, the Moanalua Complex Design Team, comprised of principals, vice principals, and teachers representing all schools in the Moanalua Complex, had been previously formed to develop a plan of action to transform the Moanalua Complex into a high performing complex; and

WHEREAS, in year one of the pilot project, the Moanalua Complex identified Department rules and regulations that most impede its ability and authority to promote effective learning for its students; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Business Roundtable raised funding to support year one of the pilot project by contracting with KPMG LLP (KPMG) to conduct an operations and workflow review of the major administrative and support services functions performed within the Moanalua Complex; and

WHEREAS, the KPMG review identified obstacles to the full implementation of academic and financial changes and provided recommendations that would ease the administrative burden of teachers and principals, allowing them to focus on students' academic achievement; and

WHEREAS, KPMG identified five broad categories of recommendations that include but are not limited to the following:

(1) Performance Standards, Benchmarks, Student Assessments and Curriculum: Implement a specific set of core performance standards and standards-based curriculum, and a more cost-effective and time-efficient standardized test;

(2) Administrative Support Systems: Upgrade systems, develop a longitudinal data system for student information, modify record retention requirements, and replace the financial management system;

(3) Recruitment, Hiring and Staff Development: Document how school hiring lists are maintained and distributed, move forward with implementation of the CHAP system, and shorten the teacher transfer period;

(4) Financial and Administrative Support Activities: Centralize disposition of surplus property from schools, consider increasing the walking radius for regular home-to-school transportation services and increasing the fees charged for such services; and

(5) Organizational Roles and Responsibilities: Modify reporting relationships within the Department of Education and review the role of the Complex Area Superintendent and the Complex Area Administrative Services Assistant; and

WHEREAS, the Moanalua Complex Redesign Committee identified the following as major barriers and impediments to becoming a high performing complex:

(1) Time and resources for the Hawaii State Assessment and other Hawaii State Assessment-related activities that take away too much instructional time;

(2) Financial policies and rules relating to expenditures and travel that are overly labor intensive and inefficient, and take away time from teachers and from administrators for instruction and learning;

(3) The need for more time for teachers for professional learning, collaboration, K-12 articulation, and planning;

(4) Policies and rules that prevent retention of teachers, prevent hiring of retired teachers, and uneven and unclear compliance procedures for "highly qualified teacher" status; and

(5) Barriers to technology access for students as illustrated by limited resources for technology tools for student use and school, complex, and Department of Education rules that restrict and limit the use of certain technology in schools; and

WHEREAS, the KPMG review may contain valuable lessons and findings that would be beneficial to the Department of Education as the Department consults with the Moanalua Complex Redesign Committee to develop a coherent and comprehensive plan for year two of the pilot project; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is requested to respond to each of the recommendations of the "Complex Area Administrative and Support Services Review" conducted by KPMG; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education's response to the KPMG review's recommendations include:

(1) Which recommendations the Department considers to be priorities;

(2) Whether the Department has already begun work on implementing those priority recommendations and, if so, a description of progress on that work;

(3) Whether the Department can act upon other priority recommendations and, if so, a suggested timeline for implementing those priorities; and

(4) What legislation or funding would be required to implement those priority recommendations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education submit its response to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2011; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, the Aiea-Moanalua-Radford Complex Area Superintendent, and the Chairperson of the Moanalua Complex Redesign Committee.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

DOE Pilot Project; Moanalua Complex; Response to Review

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	140
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII