STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3404

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2597

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2597, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to improve the quality of education in Hawaii public schools.

     More specifically, this measure:

     (1)  Authorizes, under the teacher national board certification incentive program, an additional category under which a teacher may receive an annual bonus if the teacher maintains current national board certification and teaches at a school in a focus, priority, or Superintendent's zone; and

     (2)  Deletes obsolete references in the statute governing the teacher national board certification incentive program.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Education, 1,978 "Conventional People," and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the teacher national board certification incentive program recognizes and supports public school teachers who have achieved certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.  This measure aligns the incentive program with the Department of Education's current method of evaluating school performance and will help to ensure that students in all public schools are taught by highly motivated, highly qualified teachers who are fairly compensated.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2597, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2597, H.D. 2, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair