HI SB155

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 the University of Hawaii Maui College campus.

Task force membership includes the chancellor of UH Maui College, the Baldwin-Kekaulike-Kulanihakoi-Maui complex area superintendent, the head of school of Kamehameha Schools Maui, and the dean of the UH Manoa College of Education, with authority 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 areas, and develop retention pathways for underrepresented minority teachers, with emphasis on Native Hawaiian and Filipino teachers.

Requires interim progress report to legislature by twenty days prior to 2024 regular session and final report by twenty days prior to 2025 regular session; task force dissolves July 1, 2025.

Appropriates funds for fiscal years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 for task force operations, one full-time STEM entrepreneur-resident position at UH Maui College, and UH Maui College's Office of International and Regional Partnerships study abroad programs (specific amounts blank in bill).