SB2270 HD1

Report Title:

Education; World War II Internment of Japanese-American Citizens

Description:

Appropriates funds and allocates state and district resource teacher positions to educate public school students about the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal, and detention versus inclusion, participation, and empowerment of persons of Japanese ancestry. (SB2270 HD1)

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2270
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002		S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII		H.D. 1

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

PART I

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that as the education reform movement has gained momentum nationwide and in Hawaii over the past two decades, raising standards for all those involved in the educational realm and holding those involved accountable is necessary to strengthen the public school system. The discussion about educational accountability at the school level often begins with leadership. Countless studies show that a crucial factor in determining whether schools and districts succeed or fail is the quality and stability of their leadership. "Behind every great school is a great principal," is a notion permeating throughout school districts nationwide and in Hawaii. School administrators must be given the appropriate education, training, professional development, and support they need to be qualified leaders and to create school environments that will succeed. The legislature concludes that to strengthen the school administrator profession, standards for public school administrators must be set forth by a board that also ensures these standards are being met. This body legitimizes the school administrator profession by allowing school administrators the right to govern themselves and creates a pool of qualified school administrator applicants to strengthen Hawaii’s public school system.

The purpose of this Act is to establish the Hawaii administrator standards board to adopt school administrator certification standards and to monitor administrator quality by issuing, renewing, revoking, and suspending school administrator certificates.

This Act also strengthens the role of administrators in setting standards for the approval of preparation programs for school administrators.

SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new subpart to part III to read as follows:

" . Hawaii Administrator Standards Board

§302A- Hawaii administrator standards board established. (a) There is established the Hawaii administrator standards board, which shall be placed within the department for administrative purposes only. The board shall consist of seven members, including:

(1) Not less than four certificated school administrators regularly engaged in school administration;

(2) The chairperson of the board of education or the chairperson’s designee;

(3) The superintendent or the superintendent’s designee; and

(4) The dean of the University of Hawaii college of education or the dean’s designee; provided that the dean’s designee shall be chosen from the member institutions of the teacher education coordinating committee established under section 304-20.

(b) Except for the chairperson of the board of education, the superintendent, and the dean of the college of education, the governor shall appoint the members of the board pursuant to section 26-34, from a list of qualified nominees submitted to the governor by the departments, agencies, and organization representative of the constituencies of the board. To the extent possible, the board membership shall reflect representation of elementary and secondary school administrators from all islands.

three consecutive three-year terms; provided that the initial terms of the appointed members shall be staggered as follows:

Three members to serve three-year terms;
Three members to serve two-year terms; and
One member to serve a one-year term.

(d) Board members shall receive no compensation. When board duties require that a board member take leave of the board member’s duties as a state employee, the appropriate state department shall allow the board member to be placed on administrative leave with pay and shall provide substitutes, when necessary, to perform that board member’s duties. Board members shall be reimbursed for necessary travel expenses incurred in the conduct of official board business.

(e) The chairperson of the board shall be designated by the members of the board.

§302A- Certification standards. (a) Beginning July 1, 2004, the board shall establish certification standards that govern school administrator certification in Hawaii. Certification standards established by the board shall be adopted as rules under chapter 91 unless otherwise specified in this subpart.

(b) In the development of its standards, the board shall consider the existing school administrator applicant pool that is available in the State and the level of the qualification of these applicants, as well as the nature and availability of existing school administrator training programs. The board shall also consider alternative routes to certification.

§302A- Powers and duties of the board. In addition to establishing standards for the issuance and renewal of certificates, the board’s powers shall also include:

(1) Setting and administering its own budget;

(2) Adopting, amending, repealing, or suspending the policies, standards, or rules of the board in accordance with chapter 91;

(3) Receiving grants or donations from private foundations, and state and federal funds;

(4) Submitting an annual report to the governor and the legislature on the board’s operations and commencing with the 2009-2010 school year, submitting a summary report every five years of the board's accomplishment of objectives, efforts to improve and/or maintain school administrator quality, and efforts to keep its operations responsive and efficient;

(5) Conducting a cyclical review of standards and suggesting revision for their improvement;

(6) Establishing certification fees in accordance with chapter 91, including the collection of fees by means of mandatory payroll deductions, which shall subsequently be deposited into the state treasury and credited to the Hawaii school administrator standards board revolving fund;

(7) Establishing penalties in accordance with chapter 91;

(8) Issuing, renewing, revoking, suspending, and reinstating certificates;

(9) Applying certification standards on a case-by-case basis and conducting certification evaluations;

(10) Preparing and disseminating school administrator certification information to schools and operational personnel;

(11) Approving school administrator preparation programs;

(12) Working with the Hawaii teacher standards board on reciprocity agreements with other states relative to administrator certification;

(13) Conducting professional development related to the board's standards and promoting high school administrator standards; and

(14) Adopting applicable rules and procedures.

§302A- Powers and duties of the department. The

department shall retain all of its rights and powers except for the authority provided to the board under this subpart. The department’s powers and duties under this subpart shall be limited to:

(1) Hiring, except in emergency situations as described in this chapter, certificated school administrators;

(2) Reporting data annually to the board about the supply of, and demand for, school administrators, including the identification of shortage areas;

(3) On an emergency and case-by-case basis, hiring uncertificated individuals; provided that:

(A) A list of the names, work sites, assignments, and progress toward certification of these individuals shall be reported to the board and any changes shall be updated on an annual basis by the department; and

(B) There are no properly certificated school administrators for the specific assignments for which the individuals are being hired;

(4) Submitting an annual report to the board documenting:

(A) The number of emergency hires by schools;

(B) The reasons and duration of employment for the emergency hiring; and

and

(5) Providing any other information requested by the board that is pertinent to its powers and duties.

§302A- School administrators; certificate required;

renewals. (a) Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, no person shall serve as a school administrator in a public school without first having obtained a certificate from the board under this subpart. All certificates issued by the board shall be renewable every five years, if the certificate holder continues to satisfy the board’s certification standards.

(b) All certificates issued by the board shall be renewable every five years if the individual continues to:

Satisfy the board’s certification standards;
Show evidence of successful school administration in the previous five years; and
Satisfy the board’s requirements for renewal of certificates.

No person shall be issued a certificate or work on an emergency basis in the public schools without having first paid the fees established by the board in accordance with chapter 91.

§302A- Hawaii school administrator standards board revolving fund. There is established within the state treasury a revolving fund to be known as the Hawaii school administrator standards board revolving fund, into which shall be deposited all moneys received by the board in the form of appropriations, fees, fines, grants, donations, or revenues regardless of their source. The revolving fund shall be administered by the department and used to pay the expenses of the board, including but not limited to the payment of all operational and personnel costs and reimbursements to board members for travel expenses incurred.

§302A- Refusal, suspension, revocation, and reinstatement of certificates. (a) The board shall serve as the final adjudicator for appeals relating to certification, including the issuance or nonissuance of certificates, and the suspension, nonrenewal, and revocation of certificates.

(b) The board shall establish procedures for the conduct of proceedings for the consideration of requests filed with the board. In every case to revoke or suspend a certificate or credential, the board shall give the person concerned written notice that a request has been filed with the board. The board shall conduct a hearing in conformity with chapter 91 and shall provide for confidentiality of the proceedings to protect the parties. In all proceedings before it, the board may administer oaths, compel the attendance of witnesses and production of documentary evidence, and examine witnesses. In case of disobedience by any person to any order of the board or to any subpoena issued by the board, or the refusal of any witness to testify to any matter that the person may be questioned lawfully, any circuit judge, on application of the board or a member thereof, shall compel obedience in the case of disobedience of the requirements of a subpoena issued by a circuit court or a refusal to testify.

(c) Any applicant who has been refused a certificate or any certificate holder whose certificate has been suspended or revoked shall have the right to appeal the board’s decision to the circuit court of the circuit in which the applicant or certificate holder resides in the manner provided in chapter 91; provided that out-of-state resident applicants shall file their appeals in the first circuit court.

(d) Upon revocation of a certificate, the board may disclose the name, birthdate, social security number, and any other pertinent information about the former holder of the certificate:

(1) To the department; and

(2) For the purpose of exchanging information under chapter 315 with other national or state school administrator certification agencies about school personnel who have had certificates or credentials revoked.

§302A- Penalty. Any person who serves as an administrator in a public school without first being issued a certificate or hired on an emergency basis as defined in this chapter shall be fined not more than $500. Any person who knowingly or intentionally violates this subpart by employing an individual as a public school administrator who does not possess a valid certificate or is not a department of education emergency hire as defined in this chapter may be fined not more than $500. All fines shall be deposited into the Hawaii school administrator standards board revolving fund."

PART II

SECTION 3. The legislature finds that the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II was not justified by military necessity, and that the decisions which followed Executive Order No. 9066 were not founded upon military considerations. These decisions included the exclusion and detention of American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese descent. The broad historical causes that shaped these decisions were racial prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. Widespread ignorance about Americans of Japanese descent contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan. A grave personal injustice was done to the American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who, without individual review or any documented acts of espionage or sabotage, were excluded, removed, and detained by the United States during World War II.

For these fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of these individuals of Japanese ancestry, the United States Congress apologized on behalf of the nation in the federal Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, bombings of the World Trade Center towers, the legislature is determined that prejudice, hysteria, and politics must not be the cause of such fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of American citizens and foreign nationals.

Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds and allocate state and district resource teacher positions in the department of education to educate public school students about the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal, and detention of persons of Japanese ancestry.

SECTION 4. Act 259, Session Laws of Hawaii 2001, is amended by adding a new section to part III to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"EDUCATION

SECTION 55. Provided that of the general fund appropriation for school-based budgeting (EDN 100) for fiscal year 2002-2003, the sum of $ , and one full-time equivalent (1.00 FTE) state resource teacher position and not less than seven full-time equivalent (7.00 FTE) district resource teacher positions, shall be used to:

(1) Educate public school students about the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal, and detention of persons of Japanese ancestry versus inclusion, participation, and empowerment (e.g. nisei veterans' participation in World War II), through the development, coordination, and distribution of new educational materials and the development of curriculum materials to complement and augment resources currently available on this subject matter;

(2) Develop videos, plays, presentations, speaker bureaus, and exhibitions for presentation to public elementary and secondary schools in consultation with appropriate state and district resource teachers;

(3) Coordinate and utilize oral histories, documentary materials, and other artifacts compiled and originated by nisei veterans, their families, organizations such as the 442nd Veterans Club, Club 100, national nisei veterans' organizations, and related organizations; and

(4) Contract with the Japanese American National Museum, Hirasaki National Resource Center, Civil Liberties Archives and Study Center, Japanese American Citizens League, Oral History Project, and other related organizations through the issuance of a grant-in-aid, to provide technical assistance on this subject matter to the department of education."

SECTION 5. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2002; provided that part I of this Act shall take effect on July 1, 2004, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2009.