STAND. COM. REP. NO. 52

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 199

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 199 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)  Require that teacher bonuses required by statute or collective bargaining be a separate line item in a charter school's budget and not be paid out of facilities funding or per-pupil funding; and

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

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network, Kamehameha Schools, Kualapu‘u Public Conversion Charter School, Ho‘okāko‘o Corporation, and five individuals.

     Your Committee finds that public charter schools rely on the dedication of their administrators, staff, and teachers to create an environment of educational excellence for students in Hawaii.  Like their counterparts at Department of Education schools, teachers at public charter schools who have earned National Board certification or who teach at schools determined to be hard-to-fill are entitled to incentive bonuses.  Your Committee further finds that, while the Department of Education has established a dedicated fund for incentive bonuses, public charter schools must pay these bonuses out of per-pupil funds.  Your Committee additionally finds that incentive bonuses are not calculated into the monies provided for per-pupil funds, resulting in significant strain to the budgets of public charter schools.  Requiring that bonuses be a line item in the state budget will help alleviate this fiscal strain on charter schools.

     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 S.B. No. 199 and recommends that it pass Second Reading 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,

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MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair