That's because his boss - the state of Hawaii - told him he's worth more than the $28,000 a year he earns as a counselor at Aina Haina Elementary School.

He will get a 17 percent raise by 1999 if most of Hawaii's 11,700 public schoolteachers join him today in voting to accept a tentative contract reached between the state and the Hawaii State Teachers Association on Feb. 20.

Young, like the vast majority of his colleagues, was prepared to strike at 5 a.m. that day if a satisfactory agreement had not been reached. It would have been Hawaii teachers' first walkout in 24 years.

Minutes before the deadline, union leaders joined Gov. Ben Cayetano to announce the settlement.

"I think it makes us feel that we're wanted as well as needed, and that the people feel that our job is important and that we are doing it well," Young said.

He said teachers are aiming for "100 percent ratification" of the four-year contract, which would add seven days to the 181-day school year in 1998-99.

The ratification vote will take place at sites around the state after school today.

Results are expected to be announced late this evening.

If teachers say yes - as union leaders predict they will - they will be working with a contract for the first time since June 30, 1995. The agreement now before them covers the 1995-99 school years.

It would raise entry-level salaries from $25,436 to $29,204 and top-level salaries from $50,606 to $58,167 by Feb. 1, 1999, according to the union. Average salaries will increase from $35,800 to $41,396.

While Cayetano got most of the 10 extra school days he initially sought in negotiations, the contract gives teachers all the noncost items they wanted.

It lets them take five days from their already allocated sick leave for professional development or personal leave and lets them take their 45-minute preparation periods where and when they decide.

Cayetano also agreed to form a blue ribbon panel to investigate why teacher morale is so low.

In Young's case, that question may be moot.