New laws help schools
pay for repairs
and keep faculty

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By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

Education got a boost yesterday as the governor approved bills shoring up repair and maintenance of school buildings, strengthening the teaching profession and better compensating athletic coaches.

Gov. Ben Cayetano signed 11 bills, including those rejuvenating arts education and investing in school-to-work programs, during ceremonies attended by myriad guests including Hawaii's senior U.S. senator, the state's teacher of the year and a roomful of athletic mentors.

Three of the measures try to tackle the more than $600 million in backlogged repair and maintenance work while trying to keep up with added projects.

One of the measures creates a private and public partnership between the Department of Accounting and General Services and Helping Hands Hawaii, a Hawaii nonprofit organization that will administer a fund from which grants or contracts would be awarded to private vendors for public school repair work.

The bill also provides for a tax credit for companies that do in-kind services for schools.

U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, who supported the bill, said he was pleased to see groups respond to the call and "not just sit on their hands."

The second repair measure would allow taxpayers to designate $2 of their tax refunds for school repair and maintenance, and the third bill sets a new funding mechanism for old and new school renovation projects.

Another five bills will enhance the teaching profession, supporters say.

"These five bills ... represent a package of bills that really provides the kind of incentives and support that our teachers need," said Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who headed the 17-member Hawaii policy group of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. "These are really important bills that support our teachers and give them the tools to do one of the toughest jobs around."

State schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu said these bills will enable the state to recruit and retain "the very best" teachers.

"You're seeing a package that's promoting the genuine professionalism of teaching," LeMahieu said.

The bills set up professional development schools, support national board certification, provide student loan assistance to aspiring teachers, give teacher licensing power to the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board and allow retired teachers to be rehired by the Department of Education for the classroom or for mentoring without losing retirement benefits.

The remaining three bills link coaches' pay to teachers' collective-bargaining raises, clarify the power of the Hawaii School to Work Executive Council and add 12 art resource teacher positions.