§302D-26 Civil service status; employee rights. (a) Civil service employees of department schools shall retain their civil service status upon the conversion of their school to a conversion charter school. Positions in a conversion charter school that would be civil service in a department school shall be civil service positions and subject to chapter 76. An employee with civil service status at a conversion charter school who transfers, is promoted, or takes a voluntary demotion to another civil service position shall be entitled to all of the rights, privileges, and benefits of continuous, uninterrupted civil service. Civil service employees of a conversion charter school shall have civil service status in the department's civil service system and shall be entitled to all rights, privileges, and benefits as other civil service employees employed by the department. Exempt employees as provided in section 76-16(b)(11)(B) of a conversion charter school shall have support services personnel status in the department's support services personnel system and shall be entitled to all rights, privileges, and benefits as other exempt employees employed by the department in their support services personnel system.
(b) The State shall afford administrative, support, and instructional employees in charter schools full participation in the State's systems for retirement, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, temporary disability insurance, and health benefits in accordance with the qualification requirements for each.
(c) The department, to the extent possible, shall provide its position listings to authorizers and any interested governing board of any charter school.
(d) The department, in conjunction with authorizers, shall facilitate the movement of instructional personnel between the department and charter schools; provided that:
(1) Comparable and verifiable professional development and employee evaluation standards and practices, as determined and certified by the authorizers, are in place in charter schools for instructional staff;
(2) Licensed charter school teachers, as determined by the Hawaii teacher standards board, who are not yet tenured in the department and are entering or returning to the department after employment at a charter school, shall be subject to a probationary period in the department pursuant to policies and practices as determined by the department, the board, and collective bargaining agreements; and
(3) Tenured department licensed teachers, as determined by the department, who transfer to charter schools shall be subject to the appropriate collective bargaining agreement.
(e) The department shall establish a process that permits employees of department public schools that become conversion charter schools pursuant to section 302D-13 to transfer to a department public school governed by chapter 302A. [L 2012, c 130, pt of §2; am L 2014, c 99, §17; am L 2015, c 112, §2 and c 114, §9]