STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1203

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1345

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1345, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii grant a tuition waiver to a resident student pursuing a degree in education for the semester or term that the student enrolls in a State-Approved Teacher Education Program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and one individual.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from two individuals.

Prior to decision making on this measure, your Committee made available for public review a proposed S.D. 1 of this measure, which amends this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have required the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii to grant a waiver on all tuition and mandatory fees for resident students enrolled in a four-year college campus of the University of Hawaii with an education program or that offers an education degree for the semester or term that the resident student chooses to complete the student teaching requirement necessary to earn a degree in education;

(2) Inserting language authorizing the Department of Education to subsidize all tuition and mandatory fees for resident students enrolled in a four-year college campus of the University of Hawaii with an education program or that offers an education degree for the semester or term that the resident student chooses to complete the student teaching requirement necessary to earn a degree in education; and

(3) Specifying that the Department of Education shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to administer the subsidies.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the proposed S.D. 1 from the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to the proposed S.D. 1 from six individuals.

Your Committee received comments on the proposed S.D.1 from the Department of Education and University of Hawaiʻi System.

Your Committee finds that the State is experiencing a shortage of qualified educators. Your Committee further finds that offering tuition assistance for resident students enrolled in an education degree program at the University of Hawaii would incentivize more students to pursue a degree in education. Your Committee additionally finds that the Department of Education currently provides tuition stipends for University of Hawaii teacher education programs through various memorandums of agreement and funding provided through the Department's budget, including the Grow Our Own Program. The Grow Our Own Program requires that a tuition stipend recipient commit to three years of dedicated, full-time teaching within Hawaii public schools following the recipient's licensure recommendation. Thus, the Grow Our Own Program has increased the number of qualified educators in the State while ensuring that these educators remain in the State to continue their careers. Given the success of the Grow Our Own Program, your Committee believes that it is more appropriate for the Department of Education, rather than the University of Hawaii, to administer the tuition subsidy program proposed by this measure.

Your Committee notes that the University of Hawaii awards tuition waivers to students totaling more than $106 million annually. Your Committee requests that the University of Hawaii consider including areas of shortfall, such as nurses and teachers, when granting the tuition waivers.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by adopting the proposed S.D. 1 and further amending the measure by:

(1) Inserting language requiring that resident students who receive a tuition subsidy from the Department of Education commit to an unspecified number of years of full-time teaching at a department school following licensure recommendation;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1345, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1345, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair