Hawaii to hire 145
By Debra Barayuga
teachers next year
Star-BulletinHawaii will receive $5.6 million for the 1999-2000 school year so it can hire an additional 145 teachers as part of President Clinton's initiative to reduce class sizes in the elementary schools.
But how the funds will directly affect Hawaii's class sizes of 21-to-1 in K-3 is still unknown. "It's going to happen in some way, but the short-term and long-term effects -- that's to be seen," said Meredith Maeda, personnel specialist with the state Department of Education.
Clinton on Wednesday signed the bill that would provide $1.2 billion to help school districts hire and pay the salaries and benefits of more than 30,000 teachers nationwide during the next school year.
The funds are just a portion of Clinton's plan to hire 100,000 teachers nationwide in the next seven years.
As with other grants, the U.S. Department of Education likely will have certain requirements on how the money will be spent and have not yet notified the states directly, Maeda said.
It will then be up to the state Board of Education to prioritize where and how the money will be spent.
The department currently has a shortage of certified special education teachers.
If the intent of the funding is to reduce class size for one year, it's unclear at this time whether Hawaii will continue to receive more funding to continue paying newly hired teachers after 1999-2000, Maeda said. If not, the school districts will have to take over paying the salaries and benefits.
The state Legislature last year raised the classroom ratio in K-3 from 20-to-1 to 21-to-1 because it would have cost millions of dollars per grade level to lower class sizes by just one pupil.
"We have to consider this is just temporary monies," Maeda said. "We have to look at the effects after it goes away."
With regular education enrollment dropping this year and special education students being mainstreamed into regular education classes, some classrooms could be made available for newly hired teachers, said Al Suga, interim deputy superintendent.
Hiring 145 new teachers doesn't necessarily mean the schools need 145 new classrooms.
Some teachers may be hired to teach supplementary programs that don't require an additional classroom, but will use some space that is not in use at a particular time. Other new hires may assist teachers who already have a classroom.
