STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2337

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2781

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Education and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2781 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1)  Clarify that funds for bonuses required by statute or collective bargaining shall not be paid out of a charter school's facilities funding or out of per-pupil funds; and

(2)  Appropriate funds for teacher bonuses for hard-to-fill placement incentives and National Board certified teacher incentives for charter school teachers.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission; Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Kualapu‘u Public Conversion Charter School; Ho‘okako‘o Corporation; KanuOKa‘Aina Public Charter School; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; and nine individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

     Your Committees find that public charter schools are important education providers for Hawaii's students.  Administrators, staff, and teachers each have vital roles to play in creating an environment of educational excellence.  Teachers at public charter schools who have earned National Board certification or who have committed to work at hard-to-fill schools are entitled to receive incentive bonuses.  Unlike Department of Education schools, charter schools do not currently receive funding for these bonuses.

     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. 2781 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your 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