[ TEACHER STRIKE ]
Strike goal was WAIMEA MIDDLE SCHOOL teacher Lisa Kaneshiro will see three of her colleagues leave at the end of this school year for jobs on the mainland.
teacher retention,
educators say
Better salaries and working
conditions designed to keep
teachers in the stateBy Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin"We've been losing so many teachers in Waimea," the Big Island teacher said.
Higher salaries negotiated in the recently settled contract, which brought an end to the 20-day-old statewide teachers strike, could help turn the tide, she said.
But Kaneshiro and other education officials say more money is only part of the solution to attracting -- and keeping teachers -- in island classrooms.
"The whole strike, even though it was about money, it wasn't really about money," Kaneshiro said. "It was about retention. I think this (contract) is going to help somewhat in making it more attractive and possible to stay."
Before and during the strike, the Hawaii State Teachers Association called for higher salaries as a way to recruit and retain teachers.
With teachers leaving the profession through attrition or other reasons, schools across the nation are going to need 2.2 million new teachers.
And Hawaii is also competing with other states for those teachers during this shortage.
The new teacher contract will translate into a 16 percent pay hike for most teachers over the next two years through across the board raises and salary step movements.
An entry-level teacher, for example, who now makes $29,204 will be earning a little over $34,000 by the contract's end.
"My sense is that they've done a lot in terms of the entry salary, which deals with the recruitment issue," said Sharon Mahoe, executive director of the Hawaii Teachers Standards Board, which explores teacher quality issues. "Allowing for the middle group of teachers to make movements on the salary schedule because of step increases, I think that attempts to get at the retention issue."
HSTA Executive Director Joan Husted said that she has heard of anecdotal evidence since the contract was settled that the raises may already be having an impact on teachers who had been thinking about leaving.
Teachers who were planning to retire say they're going to put those plans on hold for now, and student teachers say they are less likely to look elsewhere for work, wanting to give the new contract a go, Husted said.
Mahoe, a former HSTA president, said after talking to one teacher, she believes the contract is an incentive for teachers at the beginning of their careers.
"He's going to be making a substantial increase in his salary, which he was pleasantly surprised to find out," Mahoe said. "If he is responding that way, I would think many of the young teachers are, too, so it becomes more attractive in terms of staying in the profession."
State schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu said when California's starting salary went above $34,000, the state received national attention. "That ought to be equally true for us here," he said. "The way they ended up structuring this deal ... ought to be something of a incentive to remain. So I'm optimistic."
The state saved $30 million in budgeted salaries during the strike, which began after the union rejected the state's proposed 14 percent raise. Teachers lost more than $1,500 in salary during the 13 missed school days.
But Husted said the gains teachers made in this dispute far outweighed what teachers lost on the picket line.
"We never promised them that the settlement will make up every dollar," Husted said.
Kaneshiro said teachers knew the suffering they'd have to endure in choosing to strike, and the results were worth it.
"In the short term, it really hurts," Kaneshiro said. "But in the long run, it's really worth it. I appreciate the fact that we're moving up. I feel more valued now."
But money isn't the only solution in addressing teacher recruitment and retention issues.
LeMahieu said there are two parts to the equation: compensation and working conditions.
"I can take you to places where people are making $65,000 a year as teachers and leaving in droves," LeMahieu said. "And what that teaches me is that if the conditions are inhuman and unprofessional, then no amount of money is going to make the working conditions satisfactory or encourage people to work there."
Teachers need more help with professional development, classroom materials and textbooks but less paperwork burdens, he said. Reducing class size and increasing attention and money paid to repair and maintenance of school facilities are also important issues that contribute to working conditions.
Husted said that a new employee committee and peer assistance and review program should help with issues on what to do to help new employees get well-oriented and acclimated.
"We bring in new teachers and we literally throw them to the wolves, and that culture has to change," she said.
Mahoe said the Teacher Standards Board, along with other groups and individuals, has been working on ways to address teacher quality issues.
LeMahieu said he believes the money being spent on special education services through the Felix consent decree should begin to level off.
"New monies from this point that come into the system, we can start to rebuild the system with and restore all that stuff. That's the agenda," he said.
A newfound political activism many teachers discovered while lobbying lawmakers during the strike should carry over to the next legislative session, Husted said.
"We now have a bigger core of teachers who like doing this."
>> HSTA Web site
>> State Web site
>> Governor's strike Web site
>> DOE Web site
>> UHPA Web site
