Hawaii Codes

§302A-1001 . in the State, on the basis of sex, shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational or recreational program or activity receiving state or county financial assistance or utilizing state or county facilities. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2]

(a) The department shall implement a comprehensive system of educational accountability to motivate and support the improved performance of students and the education system. Data shall be reported as required by this section when the number of students in a particular data subgroup is greater than ten and shall be redacted when the number of students in a particular data subgroup is ten or fewer; provided that the personally identifiable information of each student shall be kept private. This accountability system shall:

(1) Include student accountability; school or collective accountability; individual professional accountability for teachers, principals, and other employees; and public accounting to parents, community members, businesses, higher education, media, and political leadership;

(2) Link authority and resources to responsibility;

(3) Define clear roles for all parties and lines of responsibility and mutual obligation and develop a collaborative process with stakeholders, including representatives of appropriate bargaining units, parents, administration, and students;

(4) Assess and track measures of academic achievement, safety and well-being, and civic responsibility of individual students at selected grade levels, and annually report trend data from the past three years on these measures;

(5) Invoke a full and balanced set of appropriate consequences for observed performance, including rewards and recognition for those schools that meet or exceed their goals, assistance to those that fall short, and sanctions for those that, given adequate assistance and ample time, continue to fail to meet goals;

(6) Involve an annual statewide assessment program that provides a report card containing trend data from the past three years on school, school complex, and system performance at selected benchmark grade levels with performance indicators in areas relating to student achievement, safety and well-being, and civic responsibility. These performance indicators shall include but not be limited to:

(A) Student performance relative to statewide content and performance standards;

(B) School attendance and dropout rates; and

(C) Student discipline, seclusion, and restraint information, in total and by unduplicated counts, disaggregated by subgroups consisting of race, including by Asian subgroup; ethnicity; national origin; gender; sex; English learner status; low-income status; students whose achievement is below grade level for the school year on literacy benchmark assessments, math benchmark assessments, or end-of-course assessments; and disability status based upon an individualized education program or upon section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), including but not limited to the following:

(i) In-school suspensions;

(ii) Out-of-school suspensions of one day or less; of two to five days; of six to nine days; of ten to twenty days; and of twenty-one or more days;

(iii) Expulsions;

(iv) Removals to an alternative education setting by school personnel;

(v) School-related arrests;

(vi) Referrals to law enforcement authorities;

(vii) Withdrawals for other reasons;

(viii) Number of parent or guardian-initiated withdrawals under section 302A-1132;

(ix) Number of school resource officers, either full-time or part-time, and the number of hours assigned to the school per week; and

(x) Other data that the board may approve;

(7) Require that teachers and administrators engage in the continuous professional growth and development that ensure their currency with respect to disciplinary content, leadership skill, knowledge, or pedagogical skill, as appropriate to their position. This requirement may be established by the department in terms of credit hours earned or their equivalent in professional development activity certified by the department as appropriate in focus and rigor;

(8) Establish an explicit link between professional evaluation results and individual accountability through professional development of the knowledge, skill, and professional behavior necessary to the position, by requiring that results of the professional evaluation be used by the department to prescribe professional development focus and content, as appropriate;

(9) Include an annual statewide fiscal accountability program, which includes a published report card that contains trend data on school, school complex, and systemwide plans and results, including:

(A) Amounts allocated;

(B) Amounts expended;

(C) Amounts carried over; and

(D) Any significant changes to the budget, with an explanation for the change; and

(10) Include an evaluation of the effectiveness of complex area superintendents and principals in supporting:

(A) Students’ academic achievement, safety and well-being, and civic responsibility; and

(B) The satisfaction of stakeholders affected by the work of the complex area superintendents and principals, which may be measured by broad-based surveys; and

(C) Fiscal accountability.

(b) The department shall annually post on the department’s website:

(1) Information on the specifics of the implementation of the comprehensive accountability system;

(2) Information on the fiscal requirements and legislative actions necessary to maintain and improve the accountability system; and

(3) Data collected pursuant to subsection (a)(6)(C) on student discipline, as follows:

(A) The total number of students enrolled in the State by complex, school, and subgroup;

(B) The percentage of the school, complex, and State’s total enrollment that the subgroup represents;

(C) The number of students who appear in more than one subgroup;

(D) The disciplinary rate for each discipline measure described in subsection (a)(6)(C), based on the total student enrollment in each school and each complex;

(E) The disciplinary rate for each discipline measure described in subsection (a)(6)(C) with respect to each subgroup; and

(F) The rate of disciplinary disparity for each discipline measure described in subsection (a)(6)(C), with respect to each subgroup, as compared with the subgroup with the lowest disciplinary rate.

(c) The department shall also annually post on its website a state-, complex-, and school-level report for each school that details the past three years and includes an analysis of any disproportionality among student subgroups using the performance indicators in subsection (a)(6). Each report shall be uniformly formatted and designed by the department so as to provide school-based users and the public with all pertinent information. Report data shall be downloadable in raw form. Report information shall include:

(1) Results of school-by-school assessments of educational outcomes;

(2) Summaries of each school’s standards implementation design;

(3) Summary descriptions of the demographic makeup of the schools, with indications of the range of these conditions among schools within Hawaii;

(4) Comparisons of conditions affecting Hawaii’s schools with the conditions of schools in other states;

(5) Other assessments deemed appropriate by the board;

(6) Student discipline, seclusion, and restraint information by school, as required by this section; and

(7) Any other reports required by this section.

(d) The department shall provide electronic access to computer-based financial management, student information, and other information systems to the legislature and the auditor. The department shall submit to the legislature and to the governor, at least twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session, a school-by-school expenditure report that shall include:

(1) The financial analysis of expenditures by the department with respect to the following areas:

(A) Instruction, including face-to-face teaching, and classroom materials;

(B) Instructional support, including pupil, teacher, and program support;

(C) Operations, including non-instructional pupil services, facilities, and business services;

(D) Other commitments, including contingencies, capital improvement projects, out-of-district obligations, and legal obligations; and

(E) Leadership, including school management, program and operations management, and district management; and

(2) The measures of accuracy, efficiency, and productivity of the department, districts, and schools in delivering resources to the classroom and the student.

(e) The superintendent of education is responsible for the development and implementation of an educational accountability system. The system shall include consequences and shall be designed through a collaborative process involving stakeholders that shall include parents, community members, the respective exclusive representatives, as well as others deemed appropriate by the superintendent.

For the purposes of this section, negotiations under chapter 89 shall be between the superintendent or the superintendent’s designee and the respective exclusive representative and shall be limited to the impact on personnel arising from the superintendent’s decision in implementing the educational accountability system. After the initial agreement is negotiated, provisions on the impact of the accountability on personnel may be reopened only upon mutual agreement of the parties.

(f) The department shall:

(1) Annually submit a report to the board and to the legislature, as follows:

(A) The report shall identify discipline-related strategies, alternatives, and resources available to schools and complexes, and shall include the following:

(i) Student discipline, seclusion, and restraint data collected pursuant to subsection (a)(6)(C);

(ii) Data collected in accordance with the data elements shown in the United States Department of Education’s 2015-2016 civil rights data collection relating to school finance, teacher experience and absenteeism, all early childhood education items, advanced placement test-taking items, references to gender identity in the definition of “harassment on the basis of sex”, number of English language learner students enrolled in English language programs by disability status, participation in credit recovery programs, and any civil rights concerns or complaints from children with disabilities placed by school districts in nonpublic schools; and

(iii) Information regarding staffing and contact information for school- and complex-level equity specialists; and

(B) The report may include additional information, as determined by the department, that would assist in better understanding the disciplinary rate or rate of disciplinary disparity of a particular school or complex;

(2) Track the progress made by schools and complexes over the past three years in reducing the disciplinary rates and rate of disciplinary disparity that are referenced in subsection (b)(3)(D) through (F);

(3) Assess the changes in student academic achievement and absenteeism rates over the past three years that correspond to any reduction in disciplinary rates and rates of disciplinary disparity that are referenced in subsection (b)(3)(D) through (F);

(4) Track the use of restraints over the past three years; and

(5) Report annually to the board, and make public on its website, the following:

(A) Changes in the use of discipline over the past three years; and

(B) Information on the extent to which schools and complexes are implementing evidence-based strategies, including positive behavior interventions, support systems, or restorative justice. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2; am L 1999, c 74, §2 and c 199, §2; am L 2000, c 238, §1; am L 2004, c 51, §56; am L 2014, c 232, §9; am L 2020, c 76, §3]

(a) Notwithstanding collective bargaining agreements, memorandums of agreement, or memorandums of understanding, the superintendent may reconstitute a public school, except a charter school, that has been in restructuring under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Public Law 107-110, for four or more school years and has not made significant advancements toward improving academic performance as determined by a statistical analysis of academic data; provided that the following have been considered:

(1) Student proficiency in reading and math in the period during which the school is in restructuring;

(2) Interventions and other programs being used by the school to address student proficiency;

(3) The number of highly qualified or effective teachers at the school;

(4) Professional development being conducted at the school;

(5) Input from school faculty and staff, complex specialists, and state office program specialists; and

(6) Input from the school community council;

provided further that the superintendent has made a recommendation to the board to reconstitute the school, taking into consideration the recommendation of the complex area superintendent, if any.

(b) In reconstituting a public school, the superintendent may take actions that include:

(1) Replacing all or most of the staff, including teachers, principals, and other support staff;

(2) Entering into a contract with a private entity to manage the school; and

(3) Changing the membership of the school community council.

(c) The department shall negotiate with the respective unions the process of reassigning employees of the school to be reconstituted to other positions within the department for which the employees are qualified.

(d) The department shall follow the current hiring and recruiting procedures for all employees to be employed at the reconstituted school.

(e) The board shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 as may be necessary to implement this section. [L 2011, c 148, §2]

The board shall formulate policy and exercise control as may be necessary to define a common set of educational goals that the schools shall be responsible for fulfilling. The board shall also be responsible for formulating standards for measuring the efforts of each participating school toward achieving those goals each year. The participating schools shall be free to use all reasonable means to accomplish those goals with the resources available to them. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2; am L 2012, c 133, §15]

(a) The department shall inform all parents and guardians of the student code of conduct and of their responsibilities with respect to ensuring that their children comply with the code. The department also shall provide assistance and advice to parents and guardians in meeting their responsibilities under the code.

(b) The failure of a student to meet the requirements for regular attendance and punctuality shall subject the student’s parent, parents, or guardian to the penalties provided in section 302A-1135. Destruction of school property by a student, in addition to all other legal action that may be taken, shall subject the student’s parent, parents, or guardian to proceedings under section 302A-1153, as appropriate. [L 1997, c 361, §2; am L 2006, c 38, §5; am L 2012, c 133, §19]

A child may be exempted from the required immunizations:

(1) If a licensed physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse certifies that the physical condition of the child is such that immunizations would endanger the child’s life or health; or

(2) If any parent, custodian, guardian, or any other person in loco parentis to a child objects to immunization in writing on the grounds that the immunization conflicts with that person’s bona fide religious tenets and practices. Upon showing the appropriate school official satisfactory evidence of the exemption, no certificate or other evidence of immunization shall be required for entry into school. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2; am L 2009, c 151, §9; am L 2014, c 45, §7]

If at any time there is, in the opinion of the department of health, danger of an epidemic from any of the communicable diseases for which immunization is required under sections 302A-1154 to 302A-1163, no exemption from immunization against the disease shall be recognized. Quarantine shall be a legal alternative to immunization. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2]

The department of health shall provide all immunizations and tuberculin tests to comply with sections 302A-1154 to 302A-1163, as far as public funds will permit, to each child whose parents, guardians, or custodians cannot afford to have the child immunized or tested for tuberculosis, and who have not been exempted under section 302A-1156. Nothing in this section shall preclude the department of health from distributing immunizations and vaccines to physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, or other authorized persons as required by law or by the rules of the department of health. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2; am L 1998, c 60, §3]

(a) No child shall attend any school for the first time in the State unless the child presents to the appropriate school official a report from a licensed physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse of the results of a physical examination performed within twelve months before the date of attendance at school. A child may attend school provisionally upon submitting written documentation from a licensed physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse, or other authorized representative of the department of health stating that the child is in the process of undergoing a physical examination. Further documentation showing that the required physical examination has been completed shall be submitted to the appropriate school official no later than three months after the child first attends the school.

(b) Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, every child entering seventh grade shall present to the appropriate school official written documentation from a licensed physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse showing completion of a physical examination performed within twelve months before the date of attendance. The department shall send notification of the physical examination requirement to the child’s parents or guardians, upon the child’s entrance into sixth grade, and post the requirement on the department’s website. By December 31 of each year, the department shall provide to the department of health a list of students attending seventh grade who have not submitted appropriate written documentation, along with directory information as allowed under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2; am L 1998, c 60, §4; am L 2000, c 109, §3; am L 2014, c 16, §5 and c 232, §13; am L 2016, c 185, §2]

(a) The department of health shall adopt rules under chapter 91 relating to immunization, physical examination, and tuberculin testing under sections 302A-1154 to 302A-1163. Immunizations required, and the manner and frequency of their administration, shall conform with recognized standard medical practices. The list of diseases and minimum requirements for protection under sections 302A-1154 to 302A-1163 may be revised whenever the department of health deems it necessary for the protection of public health.

(b) The department shall establish by rule standards for documentation of compliance with school health requirements under sections 302A-1154 through 302A-1163.

(c) The department may adopt, amend, or repeal rules pursuant to chapter 91 to establish a list of specific vaccines that are available or may become available. Notwithstanding the notice, public hearing, and comment requirements of chapter 91 and the provisions of chapter 201M, the director of health, in consultation with the state epidemiologist, may adopt, amend, or repeal as rules, the immunization recommendations of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, including interim recommendations, as they apply to the list of specific vaccines, if any, described in this subsection. The department shall make the adoption, amendment, or repeal of rules regarding United States Department of Health and Human Services, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices immunization recommendations known to the public by:

(1) Giving public notice of the substance of the proposed rules at least once statewide; and

(2) Posting the full text of the proposed rulemaking action on the Internet as provided in section 91-2.6.

The rules, when adopted, amended, or repealed pursuant to chapter 91 as modified by this section, shall have the force and effect of law. The department may defer the effective date of adopted, amended, or repealed rules to allow sufficient time to ensure compliance with the new, amended, or repealed rules. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2; am L 2000, c 109, §5; am L 2013, c 231, §2]

(a) Beginning with the 1995-1997 fiscal biennium, the department’s administrative expenditures shall not exceed 6.5 per cent of the total department operating budget, excluding expenditures for agencies administratively attached to the department, unless approved by the legislature.

(b) Not less than seventy per cent of appropriations for the total budget of the department, excluding debt service and capital improvement programs and appropriations for agencies administratively attached to the department, shall be expended by principals. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2; am L 2004, c 51, §57; am L 2014, c 232, §15]