Report Title:

Educationally Deficient Schools; Teacher & Principal Incentives

 

Description:

Allows the superintendent to intervene in the daily operations of a school that is declared to be educationally deficient. Provides incentives for teachers and principals to remain at, or accept long-term assignments to, hard-to-staff schools, special needs schools, and schools with high teacher turnover.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

789

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to education.

 

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

Part I

SECTION 1. Section 302A-101, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new definition to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

""Special needs schools" means those schools having a relatively large proportion of students exhibiting low performance, as indicated by such factors as low standardized achievement test scores, a high retention rate, and a low graduation rate for the area."

Part II

SECTION 2. Section 302A-622, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-622[]] Salary ranges, teachers. (a) Salary ranges for teachers of the department shall be [subject to the requirements of sections 302A-624 and 302A-626 and shall be as follows:

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

SALARY RANGES

POSITIONS DOESR

Class I 1

II 3

III 5

IV 6

V 7

VI 8

VII 9]

determined by the board based on the position classification/compensation plan approved by the board and salary incentives designed to encourage satisfactorily performing teachers to remain at, or accept long-term assignments to, hard-to-staff schools, special needs schools, and schools with high teacher turnover."

SECTION 3. Section 302A-630, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-630[]] Teachers with special assignments, vocational agriculture, and technical school teachers[.]; teachers at special needs schools. (a) Teachers with special assignments, where their duties and responsibilities are greater[,] than the duties and responsibilities falling within the scope of their ordinary duties and responsibilities, may be provided additional benefits by the department. In determining additional benefits for vocational agriculture and technical school teachers, the department may allow credit for practical experience.

(b) Teachers at special needs schools shall be provided additional benefits by the department."

SECTION 4. 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 2001-2002, and the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2002-2003, to carry out the purposes of this part. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education.

Part III

SECTION 5. Section 302A-623, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-623[]] Salary ranges, educational officers. (a) Salary ranges for educational officer positions of the department shall be determined by the board based on the position classification/compensation plan approved by the board. Salary ranges for educational officer positions shall be subject to the requirements of sections 302A-625 and 302A-626.

(b) The salary ranges for principal and vice-principal positions shall be determined by the board, based on the position classification/compensation plan approved by the board and salary incentives designed to encourage satisfactorily performing principals and vice-principals to remain at, or accept long-term assignments to, hard-to-staff schools, special needs schools, and schools with high teacher turnover."

SECTION 6. Section 302A-631, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-631[]] Educational [officer] officers with special assignments[.]; principals and vice-principals at special needs schools. (a) Educational officers at the state, district, and school levels with special assignments, where their duties and responsibilities are greater than the duties and responsibilities falling within the scope of their ordinary duties and responsibilities, shall be provided additional benefits by the department.

(b) Principals and vice-principals at special needs schools shall be provided additional benefits by the department."

SECTION 7. Section 302A-701, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-701[]] Incentive packages for [quality] teachers[.], principals, and vice-principals. Teachers, principals, and vice-principals in the public school system may accept incentive packages provided by local communities for the purpose of retaining those teachers, principals, and vice-principals in schools with high teacher, principal, or vice-principal turnover. Packages may include such items as:

(1) Provision of housing;

(2) Provision of mileage reimbursement;

(3) Provision of discounts at local businesses; and

(4) Other items not covered by chapter 89, and agreed upon by the community."

SECTION 8. 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 2001-2002, and the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2002-2003, to carry out the purposes of this part. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education.

Part IV

SECTION 9. The purpose of this part is to allow the superintendent of education to intervene in the daily operations of a school if the school fails to meet acceptable levels of student, program, service, and operational performance established by the board of education and is declared to be educationally deficient. This part provides consultation and assistance to educationally deficient schools in order to assist them in reaching acceptable levels of student, program, service, and operational performance as soon as possible, but also authorizes the board and the superintendent to:

(1) Revoke waivers granted to a school participating in the school/community-based management system;

(2) Revoke permission for a school to participate in the school/community-based management system;

(3) Revoke permission for a school to establish and operate a new century charter school;

(4) Withhold funds for discretionary programs and restrict funds for mandated programs;

(5) Seize all supplementary public funds generated by a local school board or school;

(6) Appoint special masters to observe the daily operations of the school; and

(7) On the recommendation of a special master, replace the school's staff, allow a private nonprofit organization to establish a new century charter school, and close the school.

The mainstay of this part is the utilization of a school improvement plan to specify an educationally deficient school's interim performance goals, process goals, areas of needed improvement, priority programs, necessary objectives and activities, and timelines for implementation.

SECTION 10. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"PART . EDUCATIONALLY DEFICIENT SCHOOLS

A. Specific Definitions

§302A-A Definitions. As used in this part, unless the context requires otherwise:

"Competencies" means the possession of skills, knowledge, and understandings to the degree that these skills, knowledge, and understandings can be demonstrated or measured.

"Education development school" means an educationally deficient school that fails to meet all the process goals or to achieve all the interim performance goals according to timelines established in the school's improvement plan.

"Educationally deficient school" means a school that does not meet the minimum standards for student, program, service, or operational performance.

"Improvement plan" means the plan developed by an educationally deficient school or education development school in consultation with the department and with the approval of the board, which establishes the process goals and timelines for correcting identified deficiencies in the achievement of the performance goals and the interim performance goals.

"Interim performance goal" means the specified amount of improvement an educationally deficient school or education development school is required to achieve toward meeting the performance goals agreed upon in the school's improvement plan.

"Performance goals" means the expected student and school outcomes approved by the board.

"Performance report" means the report published by an educationally deficient school or education development school that presents the school's performance with regard to the performance goals.

"Process goals" means the systematic and orderly procedures, including specific actions and timeframes, to be followed in achieving the performance goals.

"Standards" means the acceptable levels of attainment that schools are required to meet in student, program, service, and operational performance.

B. Educationally Deficient and

Education Development Schools

§302A-B Establishment of standards. (a) The board shall:

(1) Adopt standards for student, program, service, and operational performance before January 1, 2002. The standards shall be adopted in accordance with chapter 91; and

(2) Revise the comprehensive assessment and accountability system strategic plan, the personnel evaluation standards, and other planning documents to link student assessment and staff evaluation components so that school staff can be held accountable for student achievement.

(b) The standards for student, program, service, and operational performance shall include the following:

(1) Stanford Achievement Test stanine scores (reading);

(2) Stanford Achievement Test stanine scores (mathematics);

(3) Special education exits;

(4) Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test;

(5) Hawaii Content and Performance Standards II, standards-based assessment scores;

(6) Students of limited English proficiency exits;

(7) High school graduation rates;

(8) Scholastic Assessment Test scores (verbal);

(9) Scholastic Assessment Test scores (mathematics);

(10) Student attendance rates;

(11) School inspection reports;

(12) School climate;

(13) Class A and class B offenses (unlawful student conduct);

(14) Class C (department-prohibited student conduct) and class D offenses (school-prohibited student conduct);

(15) Fire code and safety violations;

(16) Teacher morale;

(17) Board of education recognition diplomas;

(18) Drop out rates (grades seven to twelve);

(19) Parental satisfaction;

(20) Community-school relations;

(21) Home-school relations; and

(22) Performance-based, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced, content area assessments.

§302A-C Declaration of educational deficiency. The superintendent shall declare a school to be educationally deficient if, in any school year, the school fails to meet the acceptable levels of student, program, service, and operational performance established by the board.

§302A-D Consultation and assistance. (a) The superintendent shall provide consultation and assistance to a school that has been declared to be educationally deficient. The school shall be provided with guidance relative to programs, services, finances, personnel, and other areas where appropriate changes would be reasonably calculated to eliminate or alleviate the deficiency; and with guidance in developing and implementing the school's improvement plan. The changes may include improved personnel administration, more efficient management practices, and other administrative and academic actions to improve the school's performance.

(b) The superintendent shall submit to the board a list of the services and technical assistance that the superintendent will provide to the educationally deficient school. The services may include activities and programs that are offered for the improvement of all schools. The list of services shall be attached to the school's improvement plan when the plan is submitted to the board for approval.

§302A-E Designation as an education development school; sanctions. (a) The failure of an educationally deficient school to meet the process goals, interim performance goals, or timelines established in the school's improvement plan shall constitute grounds for immediately designating the educationally deficient school as an education development school and for imposing any of the following sanctions on the school:

(1) Revocation of waivers granted to a school participating in the school/community-based management system in accordance with section 302A-1126;

(2) Revocation of board permission for a school to participate in the school/community-based management system pursuant to section 302A-1124;

(3) Revocation of board permission for a school to establish and operate a new century charter school in accordance with section 302A-1182 or 302A-1183;

(4) Withholding of funds for discretionary programs and restricting of funds for mandated programs to avoid illegal or undesirable results;

(5) Seizure all supplementary public funds generated by a local school board or school and hold the same in receivership;

(6) Appointment of special masters to observe the daily operations of the school and report back to the superintendent and the board as required; and

(7) On the recommendation of the special master appointed pursuant to paragraph (6):

(A) Replacing the school's principal or vice-principals, or both;

(B) Replacing the school's teachers or support staff, or both; or

(C) Allow a private nonprofit organization to establish a new century charter school pursuant to section 302A-1183(a); or

(D) Close the school.

(b) The superintendent shall continue to provide the education development school with consultation and assistance as provided in section 302A-D.

(c) Nothing in this part shall be construed to create a cause of action for educational malpractice on behalf of students or parents, guardians, or other persons having charge of school-age children.

§302A-F Responsibilities and functions of schools; improvement plans. Each educationally deficient school and education development school shall assume the following responsibilities and functions in implementing the requirements of this part:

(1) The school shall develop an improvement plan to improve the education of all students enrolled in the school. In developing the plan, but prior to the approval of the plan by the board, the school shall seek the involvement of community members, parents, teachers, support staff, school administrators, students, and department consultants;

(2) The school shall submit an improvement plan to the superintendent, each year or more frequently if so ordered by the superintendent, listing new process goals, interim performance goals, and timelines, until the deficiency has been eliminated or alleviated;

(3) The school's personnel shall ascertain the areas of strength and the areas needing improvement in the school's program as revealed by test results and other student assessments and, with the advice of community members, parents, teachers, support staff, school administrators, students, and department consultants, shall develop appropriate programs to address the areas needing improvement for all students enrolled in the school;

(4) The school's improvement plan shall include the following elements:

(A) Interim performance goals;

(B) Process goals;

(C) A list of the individuals, by occupation, and the groups, by interest, involved in the development of the plan;

(D) The areas of needed improvement as revealed by student assessment results;

(E) A list of priorities for program implementation;

(F) The objectives and activities deemed appropriate and necessary for alleviating the areas of needed improvement;

(G) A calendar of events and timelines for implementation; and

(H) A brief report, each succeeding year or more frequently if so ordered by the superintendent after the submission of the initial plan, of the program's status and progress made in the areas of needed improvement;

(5) The plan shall be coordinated with the statewide educational performance standards. The department shall provide technical assistance in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of this coordination; and

(6) The school, in the case of an education development school, shall cooperate fully and unconditionally with the special masters appointed to observe the daily operations of the school.

§302A-G Impairment of federal aid and bonds; severability. (a) It is the intent of this part not to jeopardize the receipt of any federal aid nor to impair the obligation of the State or any agency thereof to the holders of any bond issued by the State or by any such agency, and to the extent, and only to the extent, necessary to effectuate this intent, the governor may modify the strict provisions of this part, but shall promptly report any such modification with reasons therefor to the legislature at its next session thereafter for review by the legislature.

(b) If any provision of this part, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the part which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this part are severable."

SECTION 11. In codifying the new part added to chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, by section 10 of this Act, the revisor of statutes shall substitute appropriate section numbers for the letters used in the designation of the new sections in this Act.

SECTION 12. 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 2001-2002, and the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2002-2003, to carry out the purposes of this part. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education.

Part V

SECTION 13. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 14. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:

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