Bill To Boost Veteran Educator Pay Gets Pushback From Labor Unions
The resistance makes the road to passage more difficult for Senate Bill 2819, which proposes a one-time salary adjustment for veteran teachers whose pay does not reflect their years of experience.
A proposal the Hawaii teachers union says is critical to retaining experienced educators in the state faces a significant new hurdle imposed by labor groups that oppose the measure, with the bill now having to clear the House Labor and Tourism Committee before it can advance.
, backed by the Hawaii State Teachers Association, proposes a one-time $94 million appropriation to adjust salaries for roughly 8,700 Hawaii teachers whose salaries do not reflect how long they’ve served in the profession. The funds, to be doled out in the fiscal year starting July 1, would boost pay for eligible educators next year in amounts ranging from $7,700 to $26,000 to account for their years of service.
But some other labor unions are raising concerns about implications for pay equity across all jobs in the public school system and say a legislative move to increase pay would sidestep the collective bargaining process.
“All DOE employees play a critical role in educational excellence and similarly, all government employees equally serve our community,” Hawaii Government Employees Association executive director Randy Perreira said in written testimony. “This divisive mentality of elevating some (job) classifications over others is destructive and hampers morale.”
Ryker Wada, the chief negotiator for the governor’s Office of Collective Bargaining, said the measure is “premature,” arguing in written testimony it diminishes agencies’ ability “to collectively bargain on the compensation of not only teachers, but all public sector employees.”
Despite the opposition, Rep. Richard Onishi, the chair of the House Labor and Tourism Committee, has . He expressed some sympathy for the underlying issue prompting the measure.
“I am concerned about the negative impact the current salary schedule has on teachers who have reached the maximum class level with little or no compensation for additional years of service,” Onishi said via email Friday. “This is why we are hearing the bill.”
Among the key education legislative priorities this session, SB 2819 crossed over to the House on March 8, after clearing the Senate Education and Ways and Means committees with no votes in opposition at either stop. The bill was originally slated to be heard on the House side by the Education and Finance committees but at crossover it was additionally referred to the Labor and Tourism committee.
While it’s not usual for a bill to have to pass three committees in the House, it does make its chance of passage that much harder.
HSTA: Teacher Retention a Big Need
The HSTA argues that inadequate pay for veteran teachers is causing educators to leave the profession, especially in states with a high cost of living such as Hawaii.
Those departures have accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic: voluntary teacher separations increased by 25% in Hawaii from the 2019-20 to 2020-21 school years, or from 961 to about 1,200, according to the union, which represents roughly 13,500 educators in the state.
With regard to experienced teachers, Hawaii differs from many other states in that it does not automatically increase teacher pay for each year of service. As a result, on a state salary schedule where pay adjustments are determined by professional development credits earned and pre-negotiated step increases incorporated in the collective bargaining agreement.
Groups that back the pay boost proposal include the Hawaii State Teacher Standards Board, the state Executive Office on Early Learning, the University of Hawaii College of Education and the state Public Charter School Commission, all of which say the salary adjustment will help retain qualified teachers in Hawaii, which suffers from a revolving door of teachers recruited from the mainland due to lack of an adequate home-grown supply.
The DOE, meanwhile, has not taken a definitive stance on the bill. Interim superintendent Keith Hayashi said in written testimony that the Legislature should “consider providing equity to the dedicated members of each union” whose workers serve the public school system.
In addition to HSTA, the DOE also negotiates with HGEA and United Public Workers on employee bargaining contracts.
HSTA President Osa Tui Jr. said Thursday there is urgency for this bill to pass.
“If we don’t get this kickstarted, nothing’s ever going to change in terms of teacher recruitment and retention,” he said.
Several other teacher-related measures passed out of the House Education Committee Thursday, including , which would fund a one-time $34 million appropriation to continue salary boosts ranging from $3,000 to $10,000 next year for hard-to-staff roles in Hawaiian language immersion, special education or those located in remote regions.
That bill, which was also referred to the Labor and Tourism Committee, will also be heard Tuesday. Labor groups are also pushing back against this measure based on an “equal treatment for all employees” argument. For instance, HGEA contends there is similarly a high vacancy rate among such positions as clinical psychologists, educational interpreters and physical therapists, who do not receive a salary differential.
The teacher salary boosts, which began January 2020, have helped to retain special education teachers, in particular, and entice more people into that line of teaching. There was a 43% decrease in the number of special education teaching vacancies in one year’s time, .
Meanwhile, , a measure that would allow the DOE to hire remote employees without a Hawaii residency requirement, cleared the House Education Committee and would next head over to House finance.
