SB 2691 Summary

• Establishes a network improvement community task force within the University of Hawaii to develop a K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teacher education degree program, coordinated through UH Maui College.

• Task force membership includes the UH Maui College chancellor, Baldwin-Kekaulike-Maui complex area superintendent, Kamehameha Schools Maui headmaster, and UH Manoa College of Education dean, with ability to add additional members.

• Task force shall generate baseline data on current K-12 STEM teachers, recruit STEM majors into teaching, build partnerships with high-need school complex areas, and develop retention strategies for underrepresented minority teachers (Native Hawaiian, Filipino, and other minorities).

• Task force must submit an interim report by twenty days prior to the 2021 regular legislative session and a final report by twenty days prior to the 2022 regular legislative session, then dissolve on July 1, 2022.

• Appropriates unspecified funds from general revenues for fiscal year 2020-2021 to support task force activities and one full-time STEM entrepreneur-resident position at UH Maui College; effective date is July 1, 2050.