STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2670

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3209

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 3209 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to fulfill the requirements of Act 141, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, by appropriating funds to the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Education for:

(1) The establishment of seven full-time equivalent (7.0 FTE) positions; and

(2) Additional program costs for the expanded teacher cohort program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaiʻi System, Department of Education, Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, and the Hawaii State Teachers Association.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii has long suffered from a shortage of qualified public school teachers. To address this shortage, the Legislature enacted Act 141, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022 (Act 141), to require the University of Hawaii to establish kindergarten through grade twelve expanded teaching cohort programs in each county for students who are pursuing undergraduate degrees in education. However, no funding for this mandate was provided to ensure greater accessibility for program pathways. Additionally, Act 141 further required the University of Hawaii to submit an interim report to the Legislature regarding the number of faculty and associated costs needed to establish and administer additional programs before the convening of the Regular Session of 2024. Therefore, this measure provides resources necessary to fully implement the mandates of Act 141 to address the ongoing chronic teacher shortage.

Your Committee notes its concerns regarding the testimony provided by the University of Hawaii at a public hearing on this measure regarding personnel sweep practices. Presently, standing practice at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is to conduct an annual centralized position management sweep of faculty positions that occurs when vacant positions are not filled after a retirement, resignation, or inability to fill the position. The Manoa Budget Team reviews the requests of the various campus units and returns certain positions that are aligned with campus priorities. However, positions that are swept may not necessarily be returned to the campus unit where the sweep occurred. Additionally, in the last year, the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Education had 16.75 funded positions swept, with just over half that were returned to the College. Funds previously allocated to the swept positions may be redistributed based on enrollment, priorities, and other program needs across the campus, which may not necessarily return to the campus unit that had funds swept. If all positions were returned to the College of Education, the College would have already possessed adequate funding for the seven new positions established in this measure, rather than requesting funding from the Legislature.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2055, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3209, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3209, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair