STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3104

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2524

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 2524, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHER INCENTIVES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Ensure a fair allocation of funds meant to benefit students who attend public schools established and maintained by the Department of Education and students who attend public charter schools by mandating that incentive bonuses shall not be paid from per-pupil funds; and

     (2)  Appropriate funds for placement bonuses for public charter school teachers in certain designated schools and national board certification incentive program bonuses.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Ho‘okāko‘o Corporation, Hawaii Public Charter School Network, Kamehameha Schools, and Office of Hawaiian Affairs.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

     Your Committee finds that national board certification is widely viewed as the gold standard of teaching certification.  Placing and retaining national board certified educators in Hawaii's schools, particularly those designated as hard to fill, benefits the State's students and the public in general and existing law provides for bonuses to board certified teachers placed in such schools.  These incentive bonuses have historically not been calculated into the funds provided to charter schools each year by the State, which places an undue financial burden on charter schools and makes it difficult for them to retain highly qualified teachers and maintain a balanced budget.  Your Committee further finds that some charter schools require more incentive bonus funds than others and that the funding request for these funds should specify the amount allocated to each charter school.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by requiring, beginning with the 2017-2018 fiscal year, that the funding request for teacher incentive bonuses be a separate budget line item in each charter school's funding request.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2524, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2524, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair