Thursday, November 21, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, July 1, 2022
Governor tells HSTA he will OK $164.5M teacher pay funds
By News Release @ 10:00 PM :: 1878 Views :: Education K-12, Labor

Governor tells HSTA he will OK teacher pay funds

Implementation may take time, but HSTA will ensure retroactivity to July 1

News Release from HSTA,: June 28, 2022

Important teacher pay initiatives in the state budget are a step closer to reality.

Monday was the deadline for Gov. David Ige to indicate his intent to veto any bills passed during the 2022 legislative session. While the state budget bill (HB1600) is on the governor’s intent to veto list for line-item vetoes, the governor confirmed to the Hawaii State Teachers Association Tuesday morning that none of the teacher compensation items will be line-item vetoed. In fact, he said more money needs to be allocated toward education spending to comply with federal maintenance of effort requirements to spend the same proportion of the state budget on education compared to what the state spent several years prior to the pandemic.

The state budget takes effect July 1 and contains $164.5 million in teacher compensation line items that the HSTA has worked so hard to secure with the support of legislators and the governor.

Fixing salary compression, funding shortage differentials (for hard-to-staff geographic areas, Hawaiian immersion, and special education), and restoring 21 hours of job-embedded professional development are contained in the following lines of the state budget worksheets:

EDN100 107-001 BONUS/INCENTIVES: $32.5 million
EDN100 3002-001 REPRICING AND OTHER COST ITEMS: $121.7 million
EDN600 3000-001 REPRICING AND OTHER COST ITEMS: $8.3 million
EDN612 3000-001 HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE IMMERSION TEACHERS FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS: $2 million

The budget worksheets, linked above, compare what the governor included in his initial budget request (under “HB1600 GM,” right column) prior to the legislative session with what was allocated by the Legislature at the end of the legislative session (under “HB1600 CD1,” left column).

While the HSTA has already had some preliminary discussions with the employer, once the budget is signed into law, your HSTA Negotiations Team will immediately begin supplemental bargaining with the employer to work out the details of getting these funds to bargaining unit members. Earlier this month, the Hawaii Board of Education approved its representative to engage in supplemental bargaining.

It’s unclear how long negotiations with the employer will take to work out reinstatement of 21 hours of job-embedded professional development as well as reaching agreement on the implementation details to fix salary compression, but the HSTA will push to ensure that any pay increases will be retroactive to the first working day of the new school year, when the funding starts.

Members have many questions about whether they qualify, how much they will receive, and when will they see higher pay in their paychecks. As soon as implementation details become available, we will immediately share them with you.

With regards to shortage differentials, the Hawaii State Department of Education issued a memo yesterday afternoon announcing the continued implementation of shortage differentials for school year 2022–2023.

There are so many people to thank for reaching this milestone. Your HSTA Government Relations Committee and HSTA Board of Directors were instrumental in making sure members’ needs could be met. Your testimony contributed to explaining the importance of these teacher pay initiatives to lawmakers, the media, and the public. Our relationships with legislators also proved to be key in this process. We send special mahalos to Senate President Ronald Kouchi and Senators Michelle Kidani and Donovan Dela Cruz, along with Speaker of the House Scott Saiki and Representatives Sylvia Luke and Justin Woodson. Finally, mahalo to Gov. David Ige, who made sure that these unprecedented funds would be available to make a difference in recruiting and retaining Hawaii’s public school educators and provide stability for our keiki who will be better able to thrive as a result.

In HSTA’s recent Question of the Week, more than two-thirds of respondents indicated that they would alter their plans to remain teaching in the next few years based upon salary compression being addressed, the continuation of shortage differentials, and/or the restoration of 21 hours of job-embedded professional development. We are grateful that these gains will make a positive difference for so many of our members.

Please take a moment to send your legislators and the governor a note of thanks for what they have done.

We look forward to your continued participation in the upcoming school year as we begin negotiations for our next contract. Thank you for standing strong as a member of HSTA.

We are HSTA!

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii