SUPPORTING EDUCATION
As our economy transforms into one that is fueled by innovation, demanding creativity and a highly-skilled workforce, we must provide outstanding opportunities in education for current and future generations. The Lingle-Aiona Administration continues its commitment to public education by promoting innovation in education, championing the evolution of charter schools, expanding opportunities for individuals to teach in Hawaii public schools, and empowering local government and communities to become actively involved in public education.
Local School Districts
The Lingle-Aiona Administration believes voters should be allowed to decide if they want to control the future of public education in their community. Communities want to be able to establish local school districts that provide quality public education to their residents. This Administration is proposing a constitutional amendment to allow voters to give local jurisdictions this choice. It would be exercised through their county councils.
Specifically, this measure would propose to amend the State Constitution to give voters the ability to decide if county councils should have the authority to establish local school districts. The bill also grants voters in a county the ability to vote for local school board members who will formulate policy and exercise control over the local school district, gives them authority to appoint a local school district superintendent, and transfers to them jurisdiction over the internal organization and management of the local public school system.
One or more counties may opt to establish a local school district and the balance of the State's public school system would continue to operate for the remainder of the counties. Already the County Council of the Island of Hawaii has unanimously passed a resolution requesting authority to set up its own school district.
Supporting Charter Schools
Charter schools provide a meaningful, challenging, and critical alternative to traditional public schools. Act 115 passed in 2007 provided increased autonomy and authority to the Charter School Review Panel and clarified the roles and responsibilities of both the Panel and the State Board of Education. Its implementation has identified the need to further clarify the charter school statute. The Lingle-Aiona proposed amendments recognize the important relationship between charter schools, charter school applicants, the Charter School Review Panel, the Board of Education, and students attending charter schools.
Specifically, this bill enhances the expertise of the Charter School Review Panel members by adding a member who has a background in accounting or finance in lieu of the State Board of Education member. The bill also authorizes the Governor to appoint members of the Charter School Review Panel and clarifies that the Charter School Review Panel must conduct open meetings in accordance with the Sunshine Law.
Additionally, this measure empowers the Charter School Review Panel to adopt criteria for the approval or denial of new charter applications, including whether there should be limitations on the number of applications approved each year. Additionally, the proposal updates the charter school funding formula and ensures that projected start up charter schools receive funding without reducing funding to existing charter schools.
Support Teachers
To increase the number of teachers in the State of Hawaii, the Hawaii Educator Loan Program provides tuition loans to individuals who attend the State-approved teacher education program at the University of Hawaii. However, this limits the number of prospective teachers by restricting the loan program exclusively to attendance at the University of Hawaii. The Hawaii Teacher Standards Board approves teacher education programs throughout the State. The Administration proposes to allow recipients of the Hawaii Educator Loan Program to attend any university or college with a teacher education program that has been approved by the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board. We also propose to clarify that recipients of the loan may fulfill their obligation to pay it back by teaching for six years at a charter school, as well as a traditional public school.
Educational Opportunities for Military Children
Every year over 15,000 military dependent students attend Hawaii’s public schools. Due to different education requirements imposed by local school systems, children in military families relocating from out-of-state often have difficulty transitioning into their new schools. To help the process along, the Lingle-Aiona Administration is introducing an interstate compact supported by the U. S. Department of Defense to be adopted by each state. The compact provides standards addressing issues such as enrollment, placement and graduation of children whose parents are active duty service members or recent veterans of the military.
The compact provides detailed requirements that must be met by sending and receiving schools of children of military personnel. These requirements include specific rules and timelines regarding timely transfer of educational records, timely immunization for communicable diseases prior to enrollment, flexibility on age restrictions for kindergarten and first grade enrollment, flexibility for inclusion in extracurricular activities, flexibility in course and educational program placement, facilitation of comparable special education services, and facilitation of on-time graduation for military dependents who are in their senior year. This compact, along with the Joint Venture Education Forum, will have a positive impact on learning and will open opportunities for more direct engagement between the military and Hawaii’s schools on how best to serve our military children.
Higher Education Commission
The twenty-first century has seen the increased presence of technology in almost every facet of daily life. There is a growing need for a skilled workforce that has basic science, technology, engineering, and mathematical knowledge, as well as graduates with specialized science and engineering degrees. Specifically, this bill establishes a State post-secondary Higher Education Commission comprised of representatives from public and private institutions of higher education, government, business, and the general public.
The Commission will be responsible for developing and managing a program that provides incentives in higher education to meet the workforce needs that will lead Hawaii toward excellence in the twenty-first century. In addition, the Commission will have the authority to evaluate Hawaii's public schools, analyze their ability to prepare Hawaii's students for post-secondary education, and recommend policies that increase the number of high school students who continue on to attend college.
Innovation in Education
Providing a higher education system that is globally competitive and reflects of the needs of today's economy is critical to delivering a skilled workforce in Hawaii. The competitiveness of a university is determined by the strength of its faculty. One proven way to enhance that strength is by retaining and recruiting distinguished faculty through the endowment of faculty chairs.
This bill provides $2 million dollars to establish a program that creates endowed chairs at the University of Hawaii in science, technology, engineering, math, and energy disciplines. The monies will be matched on a dollar for dollar basis with private funds. The first endowed chair will be in power generation and distribution at the University of Hawaii College of Engineering to cement the State's commitment to clean technologies and renewable energy resources research and build our expertise in this critical field.
Studies reveal that Hawaii students experience a sharp decline and interest in math and science, particularly after sixth grade, signaling a need to find new ways to engage young minds in the core skills needed to develop innovative businesses or find high paying jobs in the twenty-first century. There is a need improve public education infrastructure to ignite the interest of those students who may learn these core skills better through contextual learning.
This bill provides approximately $1.6 million dollars to develop a creativity academies program that will blend creative exploration and creative expression, focusing on the intersection of these disciplines. The creativity academies program will fuse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education with the arts in order to: (a) broaden student learning opportunities, (b) better prepare high school students to attend college, and (c) offer students the opportunity to learn high technology skills needed to succeed in Hawaii's workforce.
The proposed creativity academies program expands the existing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics/new media arts programs by incorporating creative curricula in the arts, animation, game development, web design, digital media, and creative writing in a project-based, contextual learning program for middle school, high school, and community college students statewide. The program features dual credits for high school students, as well as an annual teacher training boot camp, using the University of Hawaii community college campuses as partners in the delivery of programs.
