STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2664

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2359

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Higher Education and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2359 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the University of Hawaii to establish in each county, K-12 expanded teaching cohort programs for students who are pursuing undergraduate degrees in education.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, University of Hawai‘i System, University of Hawaii at Hilo, and Hawaii State Teachers Association.

Your Committees find that due to a variety of factors, Hawaii has long suffered from a shortage of qualified public school teachers. Recent data reflect another long-term trend: teachers leaving Hawaii or resigning for other non-retirement reasons has outpaced retirement as the top reason for attrition in the last three years. During the 2020-2021 school year, seven hundred seventy-one teachers resigned for non-retirement reasons, compared with six hundred seventy-four in 2019-2020 and seven hundred fifty-five in 2018-2019. In total, 1,199 teachers separated from the Department of Education in the 2020-2021 school year, compared to nine hundred sixty-one in 2019-2020.

Your Committees also find that the University of Hawaii System does not offer a sufficient number of classes required for students majoring in education and pursuing undergraduate degrees, especially on the neighbor islands. Expanding the pipeline to "grow our own" educators for the State builds capacity on all islands, including the neighbor islands where shortages are most severe, and provides residents with an opportunity to remain in Hawaii and support local communities. As the University of Hawaii serves as a major pipeline to produce teachers for the State, this issue is a matter of statewide concern pursuant to article X, section 6, of the Hawaii State Constitution.

After hearing the concerns from the University of Hawaii System regarding the $600,000 implementation costs for this measure, your Committees respectfully requests that your Committee on Ways and Means investigate the possibility of appropriations being needed to support the expanded cohort program.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Higher Education and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2359, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2359, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education and Education,

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair