STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3448

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 98

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Higher Education, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 98 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PARTNER WITH THE HAWAII STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION AND TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS AT LOCAL UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES TO PROVIDE PATHWAYS FOR SCHOOL SUPPORT PERSONNEL TO BECOME FULL-TIME TEACHERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Education to partner with the Hawaii State Teachers Association and teacher education programs at local universities and colleges to provide pathways for school support personnel to become full-time teachers.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hawaii State Teachers Association, and one individual.

Your Committees find that the State is experiencing a chronic shortage of highly qualified, licensed teachers. In the 2021-2022 school year, the Department of Education experienced a 12.3 percent increase in public school teacher turnover, with nine hundred twenty teachers who resigned and three hundred ten teachers who retired. Additionally, the Department of Education is also experiencing a high rate of turnover of school support staff. While many school support personnel have extensive experience with classroom operations, pedagogy, and instructional delivery, many personnel who enroll in teacher certification programs do not receive course credit for their classroom work and experience. Therefore, this measure supports developing pathways to enable school support personnel to achieve their academic and professional goals while ensuring adequate staffing in Hawaii's public schools.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 98, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 98, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Higher Education,

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair