CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 168-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                 , 2008

RE:    S.B. No. 3252

       S.D. 2

       H.D. 2

       C.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam and Sir:

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 3252, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHERS,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

     The purpose of this bill is to address the teacher shortage problem in the State through various initiatives.

     Specifically, this bill:

     (1)  Appropriates funds for public school teachers and teacher candidates to take PRAXIS preparatory courses, tutorials, or programs to become highly qualified under the No Child Left Behind Act;

     (2)  Provides teachers with at least ten years of prior teaching experience with ten years of service credit when determining the classification of a teacher hired to teach in a hard-to-fill school or subject area;

     (3)  Provides local private school or out-of-state national board certified teachers with full credit for the teacher's total number of years of teaching experience;

     (4)  Appropriates funds to establish Professional Development Schools for Hawaii public school teachers;

     (5)  Appropriates funds to complex areas for academic coaches, professional development, and the retention of teachers;

     (6)  Establishes the Teacher Housing Allowance program to provide housing assistance to teachers employed in schools in geographically isolated areas or hard-to-fill positions within the State and appropriates funds for the program;

     (7)  Appropriates funds for the Hawaii Teacher Cadet Program to address the teacher shortage; and

(8) Appropriates funds for a Hawaii Beginning Teacher Induction Pilot Program within the department of education.

     Your Committee on Conference finds that the shortage of qualified teachers in our public schools continues to remain an issue of critical importance, which is not easily remedied.  Instead, a comprehensive approach to developing, maintaining, and expanding a qualified teacher workforce is necessary to truly address and resolve the problem.  This bill contains various programs and initiatives to reduce the teacher shortage, each of which addresses a different facet of the issue.  However, adequate funding for all of theses initiatives is not currently available.  Therefore, funding priorities dictate that only specific initiatives may be funded at this time.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee on Conference has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Inserting an appropriation amount of $100,000 for public school teachers and teacher candidates to take PRAXIS preparatory courses, tutorials, or programs to become highly qualified under the No Child Left Behind Act;

     (2)  Inserting an appropriation amount of $200,000 to establish Professional Development Schools for Hawaii public school teachers;

     (3)  Deleting the provision that provided teachers with at least ten years of prior teaching experience with ten years of service credit when determining the classification of a teacher hired to teach in a hard-to-fill school or subject area;

     (4)  Deleting the provision that provided local private school or out-of-state national board certified teachers with full credit for the teacher's total number of years of teaching experience;

     (5)  Deleting the appropriation to complex areas for academic coaches, professional development, and the retention of teachers;

     (6)  Deleting the provisions that established the Teacher Housing Allowance program to provide housing assistance to teachers employed in schools in geographically isolated areas or hard-to-fill positions within the State and the appropriation for the program;

     (7)  Deleting the appropriation for the Hawaii Teacher Cadet Program to address the teacher shortage; and

(8)  Deleting the appropriation for a Hawaii Beginning Teacher Induction Pilot Program within the Department of Education.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3252, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3252, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________ ROY TAKUMI, Co-Chair	____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair
____________________________ ALEX M. SONSON, Co-Chair	____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Co-Chair
____________________________ MARILYN B. LEE, Co-Chair