STAND. COM. REP. NO.1344

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 1021

H.D. 1

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1021, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow the board of regents of the University of Hawaii to operate new century charter schools that use the Hawaiian language as their primary medium of education and establish the basis for a laboratory school program in the College of Hawaiian Language.

The purpose of the laboratory school program is, among other things, to:

(1) Train prospective public school teachers and administrators in Hawaiian language, Hawaiian immersion, and Hawaiian studies; and

(2) Serve as an experimental base for the development of teaching techniques and methods, and the conduct of research related to education, in the Hawaiian language.

In addition, this measure:

(1) Exempts teachers and other personnel of the college of Hawaiian language laboratory school program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo from regulation by the Hawaii teacher standards board and the requirements of the teacher licensing law;

(2) Exempts educational officers and other personnel of the college of Hawaiian language laboratory school program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo from the Department of Education's certification and experience requirements for principals and vice-principals;

(3) Specifies that licensed, tenured public school teachers and certified, tenured public school educational officers who transfer to new century charter schools:

(A) Are to continue to earn and accrue service credits as if they were in their regular positions; and

(B) Are to be placed in the appropriate range/step of the salary schedule as if they had remained in service when they return to the department;

(4) Specifies that licensed, probationary public school teachers and certified, probationary public school educational officers who transfer to new century charter schools can earn up to four semesters of probationary credit toward tenure;

(5) Exempts the procurement of services and goods by the laboratory school program from the Procurement Code if the services and goods are procured from not-for-profit Hawaii corporations that use the Hawaiian language as their primary medium for conducting business;

(6) Requires Hawaii interscholastic athletic associations funded with public moneys to allow the laboratory school program to participate in association activities to the same extent that nonpublic schools are allowed to participate in association activities;

(7) Allows the laboratory school program to contract with the Department of Education or form an educational service agency in order to provide a free appropriate public education, including special education and related services, to students with disabilities;

(8) Places teaching and administrative personnel of the College of Hawaiian Language Laboratory School program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo in the same collective bargaining units as teachers and educational officers of the Department of Education;

(9) Requires the Attorney General to prepare recommended legislation to designate the University of Hawaii as a local educational agency in order to establish the basis for a laboratory school program in the college of Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaii at Hilo;

(10) Appropriates funds to the University of Hawaii for the establishment of a laboratory school program to train prospective teachers and administrators, develop teaching techniques and methods, and conduct education research, in the Hawaiian language; and

(11) Establishes a charter school education agency to provide administrative oversight of charter schools, creates a separate program (budget) for charter schools – EDN 110, changes the funding formula for and method of distributing moneys to charter schools, allows charter schools to purchase central services from the Department of Education, specifies the roles and responsibilities of charter schools and the Department with respect to special education students, and appropriates funds for charter schools through EDN 110 – the charter school education agency.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting those provisions establishing a charter school education agency, creating a separate budget for charter schools, changing the funding formula for and method of distributing moneys to charter schools, allowing charter schools to purchase central services from the Department of Education, specifying the roles and responsibilities of charter schools and the Department with respect to special education students, and appropriating funds for charter schools through EDN 110; and

(2) Changing the effective date of the appropriation to the University of Hawaii for the establishment of a laboratory school program to July 1, 2054, in order to facilitate continued discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1021, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1021, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair