Bill Text: HI SB1249 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Teachers; Omnibus; Appropriations
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [SB1249 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-SB1249-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 185
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 1249
S.D. 1
Honorable Colleen Hanabusa
President of the Senate
Twenty-Fifth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2009
State of Hawaii
Madam:
Your Committee on Education and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1249 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHERS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to provide incentives for the recruitment and retention of public school teachers.
Specifically, the measure:
(1) Establishes a teacher housing allowance program to assist teachers willing to work at geographically isolated schools or schools with hard-to-fill vacancies;
(2) Appropriates funds to repair and maintain teacher housing;
(3) Establishes and provides funds for a teacher peer review program;
(4) Adds a section that requires the Department of Education to provide incentives to experienced teachers to relocate to Hawaii;
(5) Establishes and funds a Hawaii beginning teacher induction center pilot program; and
(6) Requires the Dean of the University of Hawaii College of Education to develop a teacher shortage elimination plan.
Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by three state agencies and two individuals. One state agency submitted comments. Copies of written testimony are available for review on the Legislature's website.
Your Committee finds the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers is a priority for Hawaii's public schools. This is particularly difficult for teaching positions in geographically isolated areas or schools with hard-to-fill vacancies within the State.
Your Committee further finds that addressing the problem successfully will require a variety of alternatives and urges continued legislative discussions on the components included in this measure.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Amending the Teacher Housing Allowance Program to provide a maximum of $300 per month for the first three years of employment;
(2) Establishing a Homeownership for Educators Program and a second mortgage revolving trust fund, originally contained in S.B. No. 730;
(3) Amending the peer review program provisions of the measure to require the Department of Education to expand its existing induction and mentoring program to all schools, complex areas, and districts and include a peer review program for new teachers, and deleting references to the Hawaii State Teachers Association;
(4) Deleting the Hawaii Beginning Teacher Induction Center pilot program, and requiring the Department of Education to report to the Legislature regarding its teacher induction and mentoring program;
(5) Deleting development of a teacher shortage elimination plan by the College of Education at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, and requiring the Department of Education to report to the Legislature on statewide efforts to reduce teacher shortages; and
(6) Making a technical amendment to reflect the preferred drafting style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1249, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1249, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education and Housing,
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____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair |
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