Senate committees back creating a credentialing work group for school psychologists; DOE supports bill

The Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection and the Committee on Education voted to pass House Bill 624, House Draft 1, to establish a work group to evaluate credentialing for school psychologists in Hawaii.

The Department of Education told the committees it stands on its written testimony in support. Leslie Bonnick, legislative chair for the Hawaii Association of School Psychologists, said Hawaii is the last state without a credentialing pathway for school psychologists and described that absence as a consumer-protection gap for students and families. She noted that other mental-health professions in Hawaii are credentialed; credentialed school psychologists could also be eligible for school-based Medicaid claiming that supports mental-health services in schools, a point raised by testifying school psychologists.

A school psychologist from the Big Island, Alec Marentek, emphasized that credentialed school psychologists are eligible for reimbursement under school-based Medicaid claiming and noted other states’ regulatory arrangements where specialist-level school psychologists are regulated under psychology boards. The committees set a defective effective date of July 1, 2050, in their recommendation and recorded votes in favor of passing the measure with amendments.

CPN members voting in the joint session adopted the recommendation. Senators asked that future working group membership include relevant stakeholders such as the Hawaii Psychological Association and other licensure groups; one senator specifically requested adding the Hawaii Psychological Association to the working group in future consideration.