Education Policy

Setting policy for Hawaii’s public schools is the job of the Board of Education. On March 30^th, 2011, Governor Neil Abercrombie appointed an entirely new board of 9 members to oversee policy. With a commitment to student achievement, and a broad range of skills, the board is already at work. And while we realize that monitoring education policy and keeping up with the legislative session might not be for everyone, HEM has a devoted team to do just that. Our team will help keep you informed of critical decisions that are being made about our children’s education.

On these pages you’ll find current education bills, and examples of others that have passed and how they will impact Hawaii’s students.

2012 Legislative Session

The teacher evaluation bills, SB2789/HB2527, died in the legislature last week. On April 17, the Board of Education passed its own policies.

The 2012 Legislative session is rapidly coming to a close. All House Bills and Senate Bills needed to be heard by Friday, April 5 in order to ‘survive’. All Senate Concurrent Resolutions and House Concurrent Resolutions must be out of the final committee by Thursday April 12 and then passed by the other chamber by Friday April 20.

Here are the bills that HEM has been following and that are currently still ‘alive’. Click on the links below to find out the status of these bills.

SB2789/HB2527: Regarding a performance management system for public schools that includes an evaluation of teachers and educational officers. Requires teachers first entering Department of Education employment to serve a probationary period of three years prior to attaining tenure. Effective July 1, 2012.

SB2545: Establishes the executive office on early learning. Establishes the early learning advisory board to replace the early learning council. Repeals junior kindergarten programs at the end of the 2013-2014 school year.

SB2535: Requires the Board of Education to develop multiple standard bell schedules for elementary, middle, and high schools, with the exception of charter schools and multi-track public schools.

SCR79: Requests the Board of Education and Department of Education to collaborate with parent organizations to establish, implement, and monitor statewide policies for family engagement in Hawaii’s public schools.

Although there will be no more public hearings, comment/testimony for all of the above bills can be submitted to the Chairs for the Senate and the House Education Committees. We encourage you to submit comment/testimony directly to the Education Committee Chairs on any bill for which you feel strongly. Office visits are also highly recommended.

Jill N. Tokuda Roy M. Takumi

Senate Education Committee Chair House Education Committee Chair

Senate District 24 House District 36

Hawaii State Capitol, Room 218 Hawaii State Capitol, Room 444

phone: 808-587-7215 phone: 808-586-6170

fax: 808-587-7220 fax: 808-586-6171

sentokuda@capitol.hawaii.gov reptakumi@capitol.hawaii.gov

The 2012 Legislative Sessions began on January 18 and ends May 3.

It is imperative that the Hawaii Legislators hear from parents this session. The parent voice is critical in decisions that are made on behalf of our children. There are many education bills this session and not many parents whose voice is being heard. Is yours?

Call to Action: We want 100 parents involved in the 2012 legislative session. If you’ve never submitted testimony, give us a call. If you have submitted testimony, give us a call. We want parents involved. Don’t be intimidated if you’ve never submitted testimony, it really is easy. We are here and we want to support you. We would love to go down to the capitol with you to attend a hearing, introduce you to Legislators, help you craft and submit testimony for an issue that you are passionate about, or just walk around the capitol and talk story. Remember the legislative process is a public process and this is a great time to get involved in those areas where you’d like to make a difference.

The purpose of this Call To Action is to mobilize parents to get involved! Are you involved?

ACT NOW! Help us reach our goal of 100 parent voices. Our keiki are counting on us!

Here are some of the education bills that HEM is following this session.

Junior Kindergarten. During the 2010 legislative session, then Governor Lingle, signed in to law Act 183 which would end Junior Kindergarten at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year. With Act 183, the state would move up the date children are eligible to enter kindergarten, a change that would require thousands of late-born 5-year-olds to wait an additional year before they can start school. If Junior-Kindergarten is effectively phased out this year then approximately 5,500-6,000 children will essentially fall through the cracks. Hawai‘i’s State School Readiness Assessment continues to show the need for a four-year old program in Hawai‘i. Many children enter kindergarten without first attending preschool. Data from Good Beginnings Alliance reveals that more than 4 out of 10 (42 percent) of the current kindergarten students in our public schools did not attend preschool, an increase from 39 percent in 2008.

This session SB 2545 and HB 1683 propose to terminate junior kindergarten as of May 2014.The Early Learning Council has been charged with determining a way to implement Keiki First Steps for these four year olds and ‘late borns’. Legislators will decide this session on a potential twelve-month delay of phasing out Junior Kindergarten (2013-2014).

HEM is very concerned that not many families are aware of this issue as there has been minimal outreach to the community. This bill is moving at a rapid pace through the legislative process and it is important for families to educate themselves on the ramifications of the state terminating junior kindergarten. On February 3, SB 2545 was referred to House Education and Finance Committees.

The House Education Committee passed this bill unamended. It will now go to the House Finance Committee. Education Committee Chair Takumi said that the Senate version of this bill, SB2545, is more comprehensive. When SB2545 crosses over to the House, he will hold HB1683 (meaning it will not advance).

Instructional Hours, aka ‘Bell Schedule Bill’

Here is a brief history of this bill.

2009. Furloughs were announced for public school children and it became clear that legislation needed to be enacted to prevent student instructional time from being a negotiable item in the teachers’ contract.

2010. Research on Mainland schools and Mainland legislation was conducted and a law that was passed. The law said that students would attend school for 180 days and increased the amount of instructional hours in three phases.

The first phase was intended to maximize instructional time within the constraints of the current teachers contract. 915 hours per year for Elementary schools (5 hours and 5 minutes/day) and 990 hours per year for Secondary schools (5 hours and 30 minutes/day).

2011. The DOE was unsure how to begin implementation and met various stumbling blocks.

The law clearly states that lunch, recess, and passing periods are non-instructional but it was unclear if items like homeroom and study hall could be classified as instruction.
The HSTA contract gives teachers the right to vote on the school bell schedules and principals where challenged when they proposed increases to instructional time.
HSTA leadership stated it would cost millions of additional dollars and the DOE was unclear how to contest them.

The law was modified and the DOE was tasked with defining instructional time and accessing how much instructional time students were currently receiving.

2012. The DOE submitted a report defining instructional time and with their definition determined that Elementary schools were on target to meet the initial phase of the law 5 hours and 5 minutes a day by the 2012/2013 school year.

Secondary schools however had instructional time varying from 4 hours and 11 minutes a day to 5 hours and 38 minutes a day, but there was no implementation plan for increasing time across all schools.

Legislation has been introduced “Bell Schedule Bill” HB2007 and SB2535 to assist with the implementation of the law and increase instructional time. These bills request that the DOE create 4 different bell schedules that meet the minimum instructional time required in the law.

SB 2535 and HB 2007 state that the Department of Education will devise up to four standard bell schedules that meet the instructional time requirement for the 2014-2015 year, and a school would choose one to implement. For elementary schools, the requirement is 915 hours per year (5 hours and 5 minutes/day) and for secondary schools it is 990 hours per year (5 hours and 30 minutes/day). This would apply for all the public schools except charter schools or multi-track public schools.

Race to the Top

SB 2789 and HB2527 allows the DOE the directive, means, and flexibility to establish a performance management system that cultivates and supports highly effective educators and that implements our state’s Race to the Top commitments. The bill amends Act 51 to include all educators including teachers, provides provisions for performance contracts, and establishes a framework for performance evaluations. Race to the Top and other Doe reform efforts were initiated after the 2004 Act 51 law was established. This bill brings more recent efforts in line with the current law.

Safe Schools

Last year the Keiki Caucus introduced House Bill 688, also known as the Safe Schools Act, which requires DOE to “to maintain, monitor and enforce anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies and procedures to protect students.” This bill was signed in to law during the 2011 legislative session. Some state lawmakers and educators have expressed concern that it may not be enough to tackle the root of the problem in schools. The law requires the Board of Education to craft uniform rules for public schools to report harassment and bullying on campus and online, while monitoring occurrences and enforcing the rules. This session, Legislators will look to transfer authority of implementation over to the BOE where system wide anti-bullying policies can be put in to place. In addition, the Keiki Caucus will introduce additional bullying legislation.

Family Engagement

HEM collaborated with HE‘E and DOE staff to craft recommendations to the BOE’s current Family Engagement Policy per SCR 145 which requested the BOE and DOE to collaborate with parent organizations to develop statewide policies for family engagement for Hawaii’s public schools. The DOE submitted their official report to the Legislature at the beginning of the 2012 session. The report outlines changes recommended to the current BOE family engagement policy. Read the full report here.

Want to know more? Want to attend a hearing? Want to submit testimony? This is a perfect opportunity to get involved in the legislative process.

We’re here to help. Call or email us for more information.

HEM will keep you up to date as the legislative session unfolds. And be sure to check out the Hawaii State Legislature website. It’s gotten quite a face lift.