REPORT TITLE:
School Clerical Staffing; DOE


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds to the department of education for 292.00 FTE,
temporary, school clerical positions to partially implement the
recommendations of the 1990 school and district office clerical
staffing study.  Requires the department to allocate these
temporary positions according to pupil enrollment. (SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        318
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR ADDITIONAL SCHOOL CLERICAL POSITIONS.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that local, systemwide
 
 2 educational initiatives such as:
 
 3      (1)  School/community-based management, which attempts to
 
 4           bring schools closer to their communities by localizing
 
 5           the governance structure of the schools; and
 
 6      (2)  Restructuring (formerly Ke Au Hou), which attempts to
 
 7           bring the department of education closer to its schools
 
 8           by decentralizing state and district personnel and
 
 9           program resources;
 
10 have substantially increased the amount of administrative,
 
11 technical, professional, and paraprofessional work that must be
 
12 performed by school personnel.  This increase, in turn, has
 
13 greatly increased the amount of clerical support needed to
 
14 operate the schools in an efficient and effective manner.
 
15      The legislature also finds that federal laws such as the
 
16 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and section 504 of
 
17 the Rehabilitation Act have increased the amount of clerical
 
18 support needed to assist school personnel who service exceptional
 
19 children with disabilities and qualified students with
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 disabilities, respectively.  The procedural and documentary
 
 2 requirements imposed by these laws, as well as the time limits
 
 3 for their completion, place heavy demands on available clerical
 
 4 personnel.  In most cases, however, school personnel who service
 
 5 these students must devote a substantial percentage of their time
 
 6 to routine clerical work since clerical support is either
 
 7 unavailable or insufficient to meet demands.
 
 8      The legislature further finds that ongoing local educational
 
 9 initiatives such as school-based budgeting, which attempts to
 
10 improve learning by giving schools greater control over their
 
11 discretionary spending, have increased the amount of accounting
 
12 work performed by schools' clerical personnel.  In addition to
 
13 handling large sums of money, these clerical personnel must
 
14 account for the expenditure and receipt of state, federal, and
 
15 student funds by program and function to meet specific reporting
 
16 requirements.  The complexity of the school budget--with its many
 
17 separate accounts and different reporting requirements--requires
 
18 the full and undivided attention of clerical personnel to prevent
 
19 the accidental misuse of these funds.
 
20      The department of education's 1990 school and district
 
21 office clerical staffing study concluded that an additional
 
22 429.50 full-time equivalent clerical positions would be needed to
 
23 bring all schools into compliance with the recommended school
 

 
Page 3                                                     318
                                     H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 clerical staffing standards.  The study also concluded that
 
 2 159.50 full-time equivalent clerical positions would be needed to
 
 3 bring all schools into compliance with the recommended priority
 
 4 staffing guidelines.  The priority guidelines were established in
 
 5 recognition of the belief that creating an additional 429.50
 
 6 full-time equivalent clerical positions was neither reasonable
 
 7 nor attainable at the time.
 
 8      Since the foregoing numbers were based on enrollment figures
 
 9 and the number of schools in 1990, it was understood that they
 
10 would be subject to immediate and constant change.  The
 
11 recommended school clerical staffing standards and priority
 
12 staffing guidelines, however, are still valid and can be used to
 
13 determine the number of additional clerical positions needed to
 
14 bring all schools into compliance with the recommended staffing
 
15 standards and priority guidelines.  If the department of
 
16 education's clerical shortage is not alleviated in the near
 
17 future, then problems relating to employee morale; the
 
18 recruitment and retention of clerical personnel; and the
 
19 effective and efficient utilization of administrative, technical,
 
20 professional, and paraprofessional school-level personnel, will
 
21 only worsen with time.
 
22      The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the
 
23 department of education for 292.00 full-time equivalent,
 

 
Page 4                                                     318
                                     H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 temporary, school clerical positions to partially implement the
 
 2 recommendations of the 1990 school and district office clerical
 
 3 staffing study.  This figure represents the number of clerk
 
 4 positions needed to bring all schools into compliance with the
 
 5 recommended staffing standards for clerks, based on projected
 
 6 enrollment figures for 1997.  This figure does not include the
 
 7 number of clerk typist and account clerk positions needed to
 
 8 bring all schools into compliance with the recommended staffing
 
 9 standards for those positions.
 
10      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
11 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1, or so much thereof
 
12 as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000, for two hundred
 
13 ninety-two full-time equivalent (292.00 FTE), temporary, school
 
14 clerical positions to partially implement the recommendations of
 
15 the 1990 school and district office clerical staffing study;
 
16 provided that the department of education shall allocate these
 
17 temporary positions according to pupil enrollment.
 
18      SECTION 3.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
19 department of education for the purposes of this Act.
 
20      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.