Report Title:

Principals; Exclusion from Collective Bargaining; LRB Study

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

143

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

requesting the Legislative Reference Bureau to study the implications of excluding principals from collective bargaining.

 

 

WHEREAS, it has been reported that the appointment of school principals through a political crony system--or at least the fear of political cronyism--led to the unionization of public school principals more than twenty-five years ago; and

WHEREAS, despite its obvious shortcomings--such as basing appointments to principalships primarily on seniority rather than ability--collective bargaining has provided a buffer against political pressure and favoritism; and

WHEREAS, what has been lost in the process, however, is total accountability to the chief executive officer of the public school system--the Superintendent of Education, and shared decisionmaking with school communities; and

WHEREAS, there is no other individual person in the entire public school system who is deemed by a community, whether fairly or unfairly, to be more responsible for the success or failure of a school than its principal; and

WHEREAS, principals form the foremost echelon of an immense management team whose sole purpose is to carry out the policies of the Board of Education and the programs of the Superintendent of Education, through shared decisionmaking; and

WHEREAS, although many school/community-based management councils have a substantial say in the selection of principals today, it must be remembered that Board of Education members--and not principals--are accountable to the public and community; and

WHEREAS, excluding principals from collective bargaining and treating them as managers would enable the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Education to hold principals accountable for the implementation of policies and programs; and

WHEREAS, on the other hand, excluding principals from collective bargaining could encourage some individuals to transfer to more secure positions at a time when the Department of Education is struggling to fill vacant principalships; and

WHEREAS, making principals excluded civil service employees and setting their compensation and benefits in accordance with chapter 89C, Hawaii Revised Statutes, like employees under the excluded managerial compensation plan, could provide the security that some principals desire and the accountability that the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Education require; and

WHEREAS, making principals excluded employees and exempting them from civil service, but establishing an appeals process, allowing removal only for cause, and specifying the order of layoffs, could also provide the security that some principals desire and the accountability that the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Education require; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to study the implications of excluding principals from collective bargaining; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to determine how principals can be excluded from collective bargaining but still be provided protections typically associated with civil service and tenure, such as an appeals process, removal only for cause, and the order of layoffs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to survey the twenty-five largest school districts in the United States or selected national school administrator organizations, or both, to determine how being excluded from collective bargaining has affected principals in the United States or these school districts; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Human Resources Development and the Office of Collective Bargaining, are requested to assist the Legislative Reference Bureau in understanding and subsequently explaining the implications of excluding principals from collective bargaining; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to submit its findings and recommendations to the Legislature not less than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2002; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to Acting Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Governor, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Education, the Director of Human Resources Development, the Office of Collective Bargaining, and the Executive Director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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