STAND. COM. REP. NO. 234

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1346

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Education and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1346 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the probationary period required of licensed charter school teachers, who are not tenured in the Department of Education, upon entering or returning to the Department of Education.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission, Hawaii State Teachers Association, and Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network.

     Your Committees find that this measure provides necessary revisions to allow the Department of Education to align probationary requirements for all incoming teachers.  It corrects the existing inequity that allows a licensed charter school teacher to enter or return to the Department of Education and gain tenure after only one year, whereas licensed Department of Education teachers must serve three years of probation.  The three-year probationary period is necessary to provide sufficient time for principals to observe and support probationary teachers before awarding tenure.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1346 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Judiciary and Labor,

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

____________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair