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Teachers’ salaries rise,
but so does their workload

THE ISSUE Public school teachers have ratified a new two-year contract, but substitutes remain dissatisfied with their pay levels.

WHILE public employees predictably become the villains as union contracts are negotiated or arbitrated to give them raises, few taxpayers begrudge teachers their pay increases since education is the current political priority.

Starting in 2001, when teachers walked off the job for almost three weeks, they have received fair raises with the latest contract lifting salaries from an average of $47,000 to $53,000 during the next school year. The newly ratified agreement places the top scale at $73,197 and starting salaries at $39,901.

Teachers are getting their due as federal law pumps up the demand for improved student performance, a demand that will continue to intensify with the Bush administration's plan to require additional testing in high schools.

The contentious federal No Child Left Behind mandate has put more of a paperwork burden on teachers, an issue that was part of contract talks. Despite criticism that the state Department of Education is top-loaded with non-classroom employees, a new committee of educators and officials should look at ways to relieve them to spend more time with students.

In addition to raises, the teachers union has been partly successful in getting the Legislature to restore a health plan that it says will save members money. The Hawaii State Teachers Association had been unhappy with being forced into an insurance program for all public workers in 2001. A sensible compromise for a three-year trial during which costs will be weighed will likely go through next week.

Meanwhile, lawmakers haven't been able to satisfy substitute teachers with a tentative measure that will reasonably peg salaries to education levels. Instead of all substitutes receiving the same amount, teachers who are licensed or "highly qualified" -- trained specifically for subjects they teach -- would be paid $140 a day. Those without bachelor's degrees would get $119.80, a 6 percent increase, while those with degrees would draw $130, a 15 percent boost.

The plan is justified since it corresponds to how full-time teachers are paid, but a dispute about current salaries and a lawsuit over back pay have soured substitutes. However, substitutes are casual employees who can choose to work or not and cannot expect to pull down the pay and benefits of regular teachers. That said, substitute teachers, who are not represented by the HSTA, provide an essential service and lawmakers should attempt to reach a settlement next year.

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