STAND. COM. REP. NO.166

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 16

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 16 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to create the Hawaii educator incentive program to provide tuition reimbursements for teachers who graduate from an accredited teacher education program and who upon graduation are employed as teachers in the public schools.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Education, the University of Hawaii College of Education, the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, the Hawaii Parent Student Teacher Association, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, and the University of Phoenix. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Budget and Finance and a private citizen.

Your Committee finds that the State of Hawaii is facing an increasing shortage of certified teachers due to increased teacher attrition and retirement and decreased interest in the teaching profession. Your Committee further finds that this measure is an incentive being offered by the State of Hawaii to encourage local students, who are more likely to remain in Hawaii upon graduation, to become teachers in the public school system.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Correcting language in Section 1 to reflect that the program is for persons who have graduated from, rather than are enrolled in, a state-approved teacher education program;

(2) Clarifying language in Section 2 to delineate that the persons must be employed as teachers in Hawaii public schools; and

(3) Making technical, non-substantive changes for the purposes of clarity and 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. 16, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 16, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair