STAND. COM. REP. NO. 183-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 2097
                                     




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No.
2097 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to require teachers and other
personnel of the Department of Education under the same salary
schedule to receive their normal annual increment or longevity
increase, as the case may be, for a year's satisfactory service
in any fiscal year that an increase in the appropriate salary
schedule is effected.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this bill
from the Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers
Association.

     Your Committee finds that there are regional shortages of
qualified teachers in the United States.  More specifically, some
regions have an oversupply of qualified teachers and other
regions--like Hawaii--have an undersupply of qualified teachers.
These regional shortages are caused, in part, by the
maldistribution of qualified teachers in the United States.  In
order to recruit and retain qualified teachers, the State must
ensure that the benefits of living and teaching in Hawaii
outweigh the costs of moving to another state or changing
professions.  The retention of qualified teachers will become
absolutely critical if the State wants to eventually eliminate

 
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the practice of allowing teachers to teach outside their areas of
certification because of the lack of certified teachers, and of
allowing non-teachers to teach in Hawaii's public schools because
of the lack of qualified teachers.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
2097 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred
to the Committees on Labor and Public Employment and Finance.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   KEN ITO, Chair

 
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