REPORT TITLE:
SCBM 


DESCRIPTION:
Legislative Conference on School Community Based Management.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           1533
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR A LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL
   COMMUNITY BASED MANAGEMENT. 


BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The purpose of this bill is to provide for a
 
 2 statewide conference of schools that participate in the
 
 3 school/community based management system.  The conference shall
 
 4 be sponsored by the legislature during the summer of 1999.
 
 5      School/community based management (SCBM) is a legislative
 
 6 initiative that was authorized ten years ago.  As of January
 
 7 1999, one hundred ninety-four schools have fully implemented
 
 8 SCBM, twenty one additional schools have filed letters of intent,
 
 9 and thirty schools have not yet applied.
 
10       When SCBM was passed in 1989, the purpose of the initiative
 
11 was to encourage decentralized decision making in the department
 
12 of education and to give individual schools more control over
 
13 their programs by allowing them to request waivers and exemptions
 
14 from certain board of education rules and policies and collective
 
15 bargaining contract provisions.  The legislature held that this
 
16 empowerment would increase accountability at the school level and
 
17 result in improved student performance.
 
18      When a school applies for SCBM status it presents the board
 
19 of education with a school plan adopted by its school council.  
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1533
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 The council is made up of the principal of the school and
 
 2 representatives of the teaching staff, support staff, students,
 
 3 parents and members of the community. The council acts as the
 
 4 governing board of the school.  Decisions are made by council
 
 5 members reaching a consensus.  
 
 6      The purpose of the 1999 conference called for in this bill
 
 7 is for the legislature to assess the current status of the
 
 8 implementation of school/community based management and be
 
 9 informed of any major problems the schools are experiencing that
 
10 present barriers to school improvement.
 
11      Problems brought to light last year in the Legislative
 
12 Auditor's report, Audit of the Decentralization Efforts of the
 
13 Department of Education include:
 
14      1.   Few principals report obtaining training or information
 
15           for teachers and parents on school governance.
 
16      2.   No guidance from the department or board on what
 
17           schools are accountable for achieving, to whom schools
 
18           are accountable, possible consequences and who at the
 
19           school level is responsible for decisions made the SCBM
 
20           councils.
 
21      3.   No clear and accepted definition of consensus.  Reforms
 
22           can be easily derailed and waivers can be challenged by
 
23           minority members of school councils.
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1533
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      Another complaint often heard from council members
 
 2 themselves is that there is too much turnover on the councils and
 
 3 it is difficult to recruit people to serve.
 
 4      These and other problems that emerge from the conference
 
 5 must be acknowledged by the legislature and addressed by the
 
 6 board of education, if we are to have a system that creates the
 
 7 kind of climate for change envisioned by the original
 
 8 legislation.
 
 9      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
10 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1, or so much thereof
 
11 as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000 to cover the
 
12 expenses of the legislative conference on school/community based
 
13 management, to be matched by private donations.
 
14      SECTION 3.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
15 legislature for the purposes of this Act.
 
16      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999. 
 
17 
 
18                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________