Posted on: Saturday, June 23, 2001

Cayetano signs bill to help principals

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Gov. Ben Cayetano has signed into law a bill that tries to encourage recruiting and retention of school principals and vice principals.

Senate Bill 530 provides salary incentives and other benefits to encourage "exemplary" principals and vice principals to stay at the school level as well as accept long-term assignments to special needs and hard-to-staff schools.

The new law also allows the superintendent of education to award tuition assistance to teachers who want to earn advanced degrees to become vice principals in public schools. Details of the incentives and tuition assistance will be left to the Department of Education.

Greg Knudsen, spokesman for the Department of Education, said the legislation — which appropriates $400,000 over two years — gives the department more options to recruit and retain administrators.

As many as 64 percent of Hawai'i's principals are eligible to retire in the next five years. The state auditor has said the salary structure for principals does not encourage them to stay.