STAND. COM. REP. NO. 337

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 939
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Higher Education and Education, to which
was referred H.B. No. 939 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT
     HILO,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to appropriate funds to the
University of Hawaii at Hilo for a counseling psychology program
and a special education teacher program.

     Testimony in support of the bill was submitted by the
University of Hawaii at Hilo and the Hawaii State Teachers
Association.  Testimony in specific support of the proposed
master's degree program in counseling psychology was submitted by
the Department of Psychology of the University of Minnesota
(Duluth), the Office of the District Superintendent of the
Department of Education (DOE), Catholic Charities of the Diocese
of Honolulu, the Queen Liliuokalani Children's Center, E Ala Ike,
the Institute for Family Enrichment, and a clinical psychologist.

     Your Committees find that the Felix consent decree has
mandated the State to provide public school children a system of
care that includes special education and mental health services.
According to the DOE's ten-year projection (1998-2007), 400
special education teachers are needed per year to comply with the
consent decree.  Because Hawaii is currently able to supply only
75 qualified teachers per year, alternative preparation
opportunities through existing programs must increase,

 
 
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endorsement programs for teachers licensed in other fields must
be developed, new teacher education programs at local
universities must be encouraged, and the DOE must continue
recruitment of qualified teachers on the U.S. mainland.  Of the
educational institutions that offer teacher education in Hawaii,
including those programs from other states, the University of
Hawaii at Hilo (UHH) is the only one that does not offer special
education programs.  This bill addresses UHH's specific need to
establish such operational programs.

     UHH is poised to offer two specific academic programs--a
master's degree in counseling psychology and a special education
program that qualifies a person for licensure.  UHH projects that
an additional 100 new teachers are expected to enter the
workforce per year if distance learning is utilized, or 60 new
special education teachers if distance learning is not utilized.
Because of the difficulty of recruiting special education
teachers, UHH has included an incentive that provides full
tuition for those who complete the program and teach three years
in a special education assignment.  

     Your Committees find that UHH's proposed program has a very
attractive cost to graduating teachers ratio, as shown below:

                                     Fiscal Year  Fiscal Year
                                      1999-2000    2000-2001
     Counseling psychology             $261,689     $372,469
     Special education                 $335,105     $324,050
     Total                             $596,794     $696,519

     Your Committees have amended the bill by removing the
specific appropriations and leaving unspecified appropriations.
Other technical, nonsubstantive amendments were made for purposes
of style and clarity.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Higher Education and Education that are attached to
this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and
purpose of H.B. No. 939, as amended herein, and recommend that it
pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 939,
H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 337
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Higher Education
                                   and Education,

                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
KEN ITO, Chair                     DAVID MORIHARA, Chair