HB2407.DOC

SECTION 1. In its efforts to ensure the development and implementation of content and performance standards for fine arts, including the four disciplines of the visual arts, music, drama and theater, and dance, the legislature enacted Act 80, Session Laws of Hawaii 1999 (Act 80), and Act 306, Session Laws of Hawaii 2001 (Act 306). In Act 80, the legislature directed the state foundation on culture and the arts to:

(1) Oversee the review, revisions, and completion of the Hawaii content and performance standards for the fine arts for all students from kindergarten through grade 12; and

(2) Develop a statewide arts-education strategic plan that incorporates and integrates fine-arts standards into the classroom curriculum.

Act 306 required the state foundation on culture and the arts to carry out its duties by working in consultation with the department of education, college of education and college of arts and humanities of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii Alliance for Arts Education, and Hawaii Association of Independent Schools. The legislature further requested the coordinated cooperation of the specified entities, because it recognized that no one individual or entity could, on its own, sufficiently develop and implement high-quality arts-education programs for the State.

By specifically focusing on the fine arts, the legislature recognizes that the fine arts constitute a fundamental component of a student's comprehensive educational experience. The legislature appreciates that the intellectual requirements of the fine arts help students develop problem-solving abilities and the critical-thinking skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. It further acknowledges that the creative demands of the fine arts improve students' verbal and nonverbal communication skills; stimulates their imagination; and increases their ability to be resourceful and pragmatic. Studying the fine arts can help students acquire and develop vocational, professional, and personal skills so they can eventually lead full and productive lives and become contributing members of their communities and society. In addition, the legislature recognizes that the arts connect people across time, culture, and place, because they are both universal and culturally specific.

The state foundation on culture and the arts, with representatives from the department of education, college of education and college of arts and humanities of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, and Hawaii Alliance for Arts Education, continues to meet the legislative mandates of Act 80 and Act 306. The administrative heads of these arts and educational institutions and organizations have formalized their working relationship by creating the Hawaii Arts Education Partners (also known as the ARTS FIRST Partners). Pursuant to the two legislative mandates, the Hawaii Arts Education Partners engaged in strategic-planning initiatives in 2001 and 2006 and established the following goals for the partnership:

(1) Guarantee a comprehensive arts education based on the Hawaii content and performance standards for every elementary-school student in the State; and

(2) Enable every high-school student to achieve the standards in one or more of the arts disciplines by grade 12.

The Hawaii Arts Education Partners are currently in the strategic planning process for the 2012-2017 period.

The Hawaii Arts Education Partners have made significant and sustained accomplishments since 1999 following the two periods of strategic planning. Major accomplishments include:

(1) The review, revision and completion of the Hawaii content and performance standards for fine arts for students from kindergarten through grade 12;

(2) The creation and distribution of the Hawaii Essential Arts Toolkit to support teachers in implementing fine-arts standards;

(3) The provision of teacher training in arts education to address the gaps in teacher preparation and ongoing professional development;

(4) Training teaching artists to provide arts education in schools;

(5) The establishment of more-stringent selection criteria for teaching artists who are admitted to the Artists in the Schools program;

(6) The continued provision of arts instruction and performances to students;

(7) Securing new funding from local and national sources, such as the U.S. Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, and major corporations and foundations, totaling approximately $17,000,000 over ten years;

(8) Increasing awareness and understanding of arts education through sustained informational campaigns; and

(9) Conducting new arts-education research that informed the Hawaii Essential Arts Toolkit, Second Edition, and student-learning and teacher-training efforts.

Whereas Act 306 has allowed the Hawaii Arts Education Partners to provide critical services, both ongoing and new resource shortfalls continue to challenge the partnership to provide equally-accessible, arts-integrated education to students in Hawaii's schools. Of particular concern is the lack of arts specialists and trained teaching artists to provide integrated educational experiences that support state and federal achievement outcomes. Currently, there are no permanent department of education complex-area fine-arts positions to serve public elementary schools. In contrast, some intermediate, middle, and secondary public schools have music and visual-arts teachers, many of whom are certified in their respective disciplines. Independent schools experience similar staffing challenges.

The legislature finds that the fine arts are integral to a fully-developed, standards-based curriculum in public schools. However, the legislature specifically notes the finding by the Hawaii Arts Education Partners of the need to significantly increase the number of qualified arts educators at all levels within the public-education system. The legislature is aware of the current situation faced by the department of education, which recognizes that the fine arts include the four disciplines of the visual arts, music, drama and theatre, and dance. However, there are currently no state-level positions for arts-education specialists.

This problem is particularly acute at the elementary-school level, where teachers need targeted and specialized training to enhance their ability to provide consistent, high-quality instruction in the fine arts to students. Recent research conducted by the Hawaii Arts Education Partners revealed that all elementary and charter schools have the opportunity to employ instructional-resource-augmentation teachers in one of the fine-arts disciplines. However, based on school-level decisions, many decide not to avail themselves of these opportunities. As a result, the level of arts integration with core academic subjects is low. These instructional-resource-augmentation positions are instead often used in the areas of technology or physical education. There will not be a consistent delivery of appropriate arts instruction in Hawaii's public schools until teachers receive targeted and specialized training in arts education.

In accordance with the two legislative mandates, the Hawaii Arts Education Partners have been tasked to provide a standards-based, arts-integrated education for students from kindergarten through grade 12. Training for educators to provide content and pedagogical expertise in the classroom is essential to fulfilling this mission. The ability of the Hawaii Arts Education Partners to provide such training is limited by a lack of financial resources. Whereas the Hawaii Arts Education Partners have secured federal, state, and private funding at an average of $1,698,899 per year for direct services, the total amount spent per child per year averages only $9.43. Recent research conducted by the Hawaii Arts Education Partners indicated a dearth of arts education and performances provided by schools across the State. Too many students do not receive any kind of instruction in the arts.

Furthermore, the Hawaii Arts Education Partners understand that funding for Artists in the Schools, a partnership program administered through the state foundation on culture and the arts that supports teaching artists in schools, may soon be rescinded. The cancellation of funding for the Artists in the Schools program would mean a loss of services to over 12,000 students in the State and a loss of the one-to-one private matching funds that the program generates every year.

The legislature recognizes that the intended goal of developing and implementing fine-arts standards is to enable every student to study and experience the fine arts by means of sequential, consistent, and meaningful arts-infused, standards-based curricula delivered by qualified arts educators, arts specialists, and artists as educators. The legislature further acknowledges the need to augment statewide resources for standards-based classroom instruction in all disciplines of the fine arts, particularly in the under-served areas of visual arts, music, drama and theater, and dance.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Appropriate funds to increase professional-development opportunities for public educators and teaching artists to address the shortfall of trained educators available to teach integrated, standards-based curricula in Hawaii's schools; and

(2) Appropriate funds to ensure that the Artists in the Schools program remains in existence so that it can continue to provide broad access to arts education to students in Hawaii.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $750,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2012-2013 for the training and professional development of arts educators in schools from kindergarten through grade 12.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the state foundation for culture and the arts for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $250,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2012-2013 for the Artists in the Schools program.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the state foundation on culture and the arts for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2012.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2407
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII