Report Title:

Teacher Quality and Recognition Demonstration Act

Description:

Establishes teacher quality and recognition demonstration programs wherein participating school complexes are granted funding for the purpose of creating new models of teacher hiring, professional growth and development, compensation, and recruitment. Appropriates funds.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2673

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to teacher quality and recognition.

 

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

SECTION 1. The need for quality teachers in improving student achievement is generally recognized as one of the most crucial elements of state education reform efforts. A primary concern in the quality of the performance of teachers is the forecast for an increasing need for more teachers. This Act is directed toward creating a new structure of the current teaching system that will promote the retention and reward of good teachers and attract new talent to the profession. This Act establishes teacher quality and recognition demonstration programs wherein participating school complexes are exempt from administrative rules regarding teacher licensing, tenure, recruitment, and compensation, and are granted funding for the purpose of creating new models of teacher hiring, professional growth and development, compensation, and recruitment.

This Act may be cited as the Teacher Quality and Recognition Act.

SECTION 2. The purpose of this Act is to support teacher quality and recognition demonstration programs in which staffing models are reorganized from ones built around fixed salary levels to ones built on a multi-tiered approach with increasing salary flexibility and incentives, new career paths, performance-based appraisal, and new models of professional development.

SECTION 3. For the purposes of this Act:

"Applicant" means the district superintendent of the departmental school district in which a school complex is located.

"Board" means the board of education.

"Demonstration program" means a teacher quality and recognition demonstration program.

"Department" means the department of education.

"School complex" means a grouping of schools established by the department for instructional, administrative, and organizational purposes.

"Superintendent" means the superintendent of education.

"Teacher" means a person whose duties in the public educational system are primarily teaching or instruction of students or related activities centered primarily on students and who is in close and continuous contact with students, and shall include classroom teachers, school librarians, counselors, registrars, and special education teachers.

SECTION 4. (a) Not less than eighteen months prior to the school year during which demonstration programs are scheduled to begin, the department shall make available to applicants all information on program requirements.

(b) The board shall approve the participation of school complexes that develop a system for attracting, retaining, rewarding, and motivating teachers.

(c) Each school complex shall meet the following requirements:

(1) Multiple career paths.

(A) Placement of all teachers in expanded roles, which may include school leaders, directors of programs, master teachers, mentors, and other instructional positions approved by the superintendent; and

(B) In expanding the roles of teachers, the superintendent shall take into consideration the interests, ability, and accomplishments of teachers.

(2) Market-based compensation. Establishment of a flexible salary and reward system for teachers in which compensation levels are based on the accomplishments and performance of teachers, student academic achievement, and evaluations from peers, senior teachers, and principals.

(3) Performance-based accountability.

(A) Elimination of tenure and establishment of three-year contracts; and

(B) Establishment of a system for teacher hiring and advancement that is based on reviews and evaluations conducted by peers both within and outside the departmental school district.

(4) Professional development. Establishment of ongoing professional development activities that meet the following requirements:

(A) Directly related to the curriculum and content areas in which the teacher provides instruction;

(B) Tied to the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards II;

(C) Related to the instruction in methods of disciplining students; and

(D) Related to proven, effective instructional strategies and methods for improving student achievement.

(5) Mentoring. The establishment of a formal system of mentoring, such as from master teachers to newly hired teachers or teachers identified through evaluations to be in need of assistance.

(6) Alternative licensing.

(A) Establishment of an alternative licensing program to train and hire individuals who possess academic degrees and demonstrate expertise in the fields in which they will be teaching; and

(B) Make available national certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards or the National Council on Teacher Quality.

SECTION 5. (a) An applicant who has a school complex that wishes to carry out a demonstration program shall submit an application to the board, at such time and in such manner as the board may reasonably require.

(b) Each application shall contain:

(1) A description of how the demonstration program will assist the department, the departmental school district, the school complex, and the individual schools in achieving their respective goals;

(2) An identification and description of the schools comprising the school complex;

(3) A description of the demonstration program, including how the school complex and the individual schools will comply with the program's requirements in accordance with section 4;

(4) An assurance that the department will increase the instructional salaries for teachers in the school complex, as required by the various career positions and performance-based evaluations;

(5) A detailed description of the cost of the demonstration program, including how the department, the departmental school district, the school complex, and the individual schools will reallocate or raise funds to cover the costs associated with the implementation of the program; and

(6) A description of the administrative rules to be waived in order to comply with the program's requirements as set forth in section 4.

SECTION 6. (a) The department shall award grants to school complexes having applications approved pursuant to section 5 to enable the school complexes to conduct demonstration programs in accordance with this Act.

(b) The department shall award an amount that is not less than fifty per cent of the costs associated with implementation of a demonstration program, of which at least ten per cent of the current teacher salary budget shall be designated specifically for increases in instructional salaries in the school complex.

(c) The department shall not award grants under this Act for a period to exceed five years.

SECTION 7. Grantees shall be exempt from:

(1) All applicable state laws except those laws regarding discriminatory employment practices, health and safety requirements, and implementation of the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards II; and

(2) All applicable administrative rules related to education, including those regarding teacher recruitment, tenure, and compensation.

SECTION 8. The department, the departmental school district, the school complex, and the individual schools shall periodically evaluate the outcomes of a demonstration program and shall submit copies of the evaluations to the board.

SECTION 9. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $        , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2002-2003, to carry out the purposes of this Act. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education.

SECTION 10. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2002, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:

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