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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, May 6, 2001

Education/Social services


PASSED

Principal incentives
(SB530 HD2 SD2 CD1)
Allocates $400,000 for salary incentives for "exemplary" principals and vice principals to encourage them to remain at hard-to-staff schools, special needs schools and schools with high teacher turnover. The money also can be used to pay for continuing education of teachers who want to become vice principals.

Felix financing
(HB200 HD1 SD1 CD1)
Provides $172 million in additional money over the next two years to comply with the Felix federal court consent decree, which requires the state to provide services to special education children with mental diabilities.

Welfare assistance
(SB1113 HD1 CD1)
Authorizes the Department of Human Services to create a welfare safety net program called "Keeping Hope Alive" to help working families who are pushed off of welfare because they have reached the five-year time limit for assistance. The bill does not appropriate any money for the department to implement the program.

Retired teachers
(HB1668 HD1 SD1 CD1)
Would allow the state Department of Education to rehire retired teachers to fill shortage areas. The bill would allow the teachers to continue receiving retirement benefits while they also draw teacher pay, but does not allow the teachers to accrue additional retirement benefits.

School maintenance
(HB200 HD1 SD1 CD1)
Allocates an additional $60 million over two years for school repairs and maintenance.

Homeless assistance
(HB200 HD1 SD1 CD1)
Allocates an extra $1.8 million for assistance to homeless people.

Student loans
(HB1667 HD2 SD1 CD1)
Creates the Hawai'i Education Loan Program, and allocates $100,000 for student loans for people studying to be teachers and agree to teach in the Hawai'i public school system.

Charter schools
(HB946 SD2 CD1)
Streamlines application process for charter schools by establishing a charter school review panel and submittal process timeline. Establishes the BOE as final appeals and approval authority.


FAILED

School computers
Would earmark $27.5 million for new computers for schools to reduce the student-to-computer ratio from six-to-one to four-to-one. Lawmakers expect to consider this measure again next year.

Textbook money
Would set aside $4.5 million for new textbooks for public school children. Lawmakers expect to consider this measure again next year.

Private school assistance
Would propose a constitutional amendment to allow the state to issue special purpose revenue bonds to assist nonprofit private and secular elementary schools and secondary schools serving the general public.

Unionized principals
Would remove public school principals from all union representation, instead hiring principals on limited-term contracts. The bill also offered principals raises of 20 percent or more under the new hiring arrangement.

Local school boards
Would create eight regional school boards to govern the schools. Lawmakers expect to consider this measure again next year.

Merit pay
Establishes a merit pay program under which principals are awarded additional pay if their school improves in measurable areas of performance.

Education autonomy
Would propose a constitutional amendment to make the state Department of Education a political subdivision headed by the Board of Education and would have given the board the authority to enact an education excise tax.