HRS §315-1 Enactment of agreement
315-1. Enactment of agreement
The Interstate Agreement on Qualifications of Educational Personnel as contained herein is hereby enacted into law and entered into on behalf of the State of Hawaii with any and all other States (as defined in the Agreement) legally enacting the Agreement in the form substantially as follows:
INTERSTATE
AGREEMENT ON QUALIFICATION
OF
EDUCATIONAL PERSONNEL
ARTICLE I
PURPOSE,
FINDINGS, AND POLICY
1. The States party to this Agreement,
desiring by common action to improve their respective school systems by
utilizing the teacher or other professional educational person wherever
educated, declare that it is the policy of each of them, on the basis of
cooperation with one another, to take advantage of the preparation and
experience of such persons wherever gained, thereby serving the best interests
of society, of education, and of the teaching profession. It is the purpose of
this Agreement to provide for the development and execution of such programs of
cooperation as will facilitate the movement of teachers and other professional
educational personnel among the States party to it, and to authorize specific
interstate educational personnel contracts to achieve that end.
2. The party States find that included in the
large movement of population among all sections of the nation are many
qualified educational personnel who move for family and other personal reasons
but who are hindered in using their professional skill and experience in their
new locations. Variations from State to State in requirements for qualifying
educational personnel discourage such personnel from taking the steps necessary
to qualify in other States. As a consequence, a significant number of professionally
prepared and experienced educators is lost to our school systems. Facilitating
the employment of qualified educational personnel, without reference to their
States of origin, can increase the available educational resources.
Participation in this Compact can increase the availability of educational
manpower.
ARTICLE II
DEFINITIONS
As used in this Agreement and contracts made
pursuant to it, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
1. "Educational personnel" means
persons who must meet requirements pursuant to State law as a condition of
employment in educational programs.
2. "Designated State official" means
the education official of a State selected by that State to negotiate and enter
into, on behalf of his State, contracts pursuant to this Agreement.
3. "Accept", or any variant thereof,
means to recognize and give effect to one or more determinations of another
State relating to the qualifications of educational personnel in lieu of making
or requiring a like determination that would otherwise be required by or
pursuant to the laws of a receiving State.
4. "State" means a State, territory,
or possession of the United States; the District of Columbia; or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
5. "Originating State" means a State
(and the subdivision thereof, if any) whose determination that certain
educational personnel are qualified to be employed for specific duties in
schools is acceptable in accordance with the terms of a contract made pursuant
to Article III.
6. "Receiving State" means a State
(and the subdivisions thereof) which accept educational personnel in accordance
with the terms of a contract made pursuant to Article III.
ARTICLE III
INTERSTATE
EDUCATIONAL PERSONNEL CONTRACTS
1. The designated State official of a party
State may make one or more contracts on behalf of his State with one or more
other party States providing for the acceptance of educational personnel. Any
such contract for the period of its duration shall be applicable to and binding
on the States whose designated state officials enter into it, and the
subdivisions of those States, with the same force and effect as if incorporated
in this Agreement. A designated state official may enter into a contract pursuant
to this Article only with States in which he finds that there are programs of
education, certification standards or other acceptable qualifications that
assure preparation or qualification of educational personnel on a basis
sufficiently comparable, even though not identical, to that prevailing in his
own State.
2. Any such contract shall provide for:
(a) Its duration.
(b) The criteria to be applied by an
originating State in qualifying educational personnel for acceptance by a
receiving State.
(c) Such waivers, substitutions, and
conditional acceptances as shall aid the practical effectuation of the contract
without sacrifice of basic educational standards.
(d) Any other necessary matters.
3. No contract made pursuant to this Agreement
shall be for a term longer than five years but any such contract may be renewed
for like or lesser periods.
4. Any contract dealing with acceptance of
educational personnel on the basis of their having completed an educational
program shall specify the earliest date or dates on which originating state
approval of the program or programs involved can have occurred. No contract
made pursuant to this Agreement shall require acceptance by a receiving State
of any persons qualified because of successful completion of a program prior to
January 1, 1954.
5. The license or other acceptance of a person
who has been accepted pursuant to the terms of a contract shall not be revoked
or otherwise impaired because the contract has expired or been terminated.
However, any license or other qualifying document may be revoked or suspended
on any ground which would be sufficient for revocation or suspension of a
license or other qualifying document initially granted or approved in the
receiving State.
6. A contract committee composed of the
designated state officials of the contracting States or their representatives
shall keep the contract under continuous review, study means of improving its
administration, and report no less frequently than once a year to the heads of
the appropriate education agencies of the contracting States.
ARTICLE IV
APPROVED AND
ACCEPTED PROGRAMS
1. Nothing in this Agreement shall be
construed to repeal or otherwise modify any law or regulation of a party State
relating to the approval of programs of educational preparation having effect
solely on the qualification of educational personnel within that State.
2. To the extent that contracts made pursuant
to this Agreement deal with the educational requirements for the proper
qualification of educational personnel, acceptance of a program of educational
preparation shall be in accordance with such procedures and requirements as may
be provided in the applicable contract.
ARTICLE V
INTERSTATE
COOPERATION
The party States agree that:
1. They will, so far as practicable, prefer
the making of multi-lateral contracts pursuant to Article III of this
Agreement.
2. They will facilitate and strengthen
cooperation in interstate licensing or certification and other elements of
educational personnel qualification and for this purpose shall cooperate with
agencies, organizations, and associations interested in licensing or
certification and other elements of educational personnel qualification.
ARTICLE VI
AGREEMENT
EVALUATION
The designated state officials of any party
State may meet from time to time as a group to evaluate progress under the
Agreement, and to formulate recommendations for changes.
ARTICLE VII
OTHER
ARRANGEMENTS
Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to
prevent or inhibit other arrangements or practices of any party State or States
to facilitate the interchange of educational personnel.
ARTICLE VIII
EFFECT AND
WITHDRAWAL
1. This Agreement shall become effective when
enacted into law by two States. Thereafter it shall become effective as to any
State upon its enactment of this Agreement.
2. Any party State may withdraw from this
Agreement by enacting a statute repealing the same, but no such withdrawal
shall take effect until one year after the Governor of the withdrawing State
has given notice in writing of the withdrawal to the Governors of all other
party States.
3. No withdrawal shall relieve the withdrawing
State of any obligation imposed upon it by a contract to which it is a party.
The duration of contracts and the methods and conditions of withdrawal
therefrom shall be those specified in their terms.
ARTICLE IX
CONSTRUCTION
AND SEVERABILITY
This Agreement shall be liberally construed so
as to effectuate the purposes thereof. The provisions of this Agreement shall
be severable and if any phrase, clause, sentence, or provision of this
Agreement is declared to be contrary to the constitution of any State or of the
United States, or the application thereof to any Government, agency, person, or
circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this Agreement
and the applicability thereof to any Government, agency, person, or circumstance
shall not be affected thereby. If this Agreement shall be held contrary to the
constitution of any State participating therein, the Agreement shall remain in
full force and effect as to the State affected as to all severable matters.
[L
1969, c 47, §1; am L 2004, c 21, §1]