STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2661

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2163

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2163 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Require the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to adopt rules to align state teacher licensing requirements with federal standards; and

 

     (2)  Limit the duration of employment of an emergency unlicensed hire of the Department of Education to three years.

 

     Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Hawaii State Teachers Association.  The Department of Education (Department) and the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board (HTSB) submitted comments.

 

     Your Committee supports the intent of this measure to clarify any confusion among teachers and administrators regarding the state-federal licensure conflicts that have arisen under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.  Your Committee has also considered a number of requests for amendments and is pleased to note that in the last six months the Department and the HTSB have improved the alignment of Hawaii teachers licensing requirements in relation to the highly qualified teacher criteria in NCLB.

     Your Committee further finds that the adoption of new administrative rules by HTSB and the clarification that existing alternative routes to licensure do meet federal requirements under NCLB preclude the need for the legislation in this area.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending the findings and purpose in section 1 to clarify the requirements of the NCLB law; and the purpose of this Act to better align Hawaii's emergency licensure requirements with the NCLB;

 

     (2)  Deleting section 2, as this section is no longer required;

 

     (3)  Adding new language in section 302A-804(3)(D), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to allow unlicensed individuals who have been hired on an emergency basis and are teaching only non‑core subject areas prior to the approval of this measure to attain licensure no later than four years from the date of their employment; and

 

     (4)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment to conform to the preferred drafting style.

 

     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 S.B. No. 2163, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2163, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair