No agreement on drug tests
Yesterday marked a deadline to implement the testing of teachers
STORY SUMMARY »
The fate of a contract for 13,000 public school teachers is in limbo after the Department of Education and the state teachers union failed to agree on a mandatory drug-testing program.
Random drug tests were part of a new two-year, $120 million contract ratified last year.
Gov. Linda Lingle met with Cabinet members yesterday to discuss the administration's options.
State negotiator Marie Laderta said the administration is "prepared to immediately seek all appropriate remedies at our disposal."
Board of Education Chairwoman Donna Ikeda said she did not believe the failure to agree on drug testing would void the contract.
"Both sides -- the (Education) Department and the union -- have been negotiating in good faith," she said.
The department and the union sought a 30-day extension yesterday to continue talks, but Lingle denied the request.
She said negotiators had wanted to revisit aspects of the random drug testing that already had been negotiated and ratified by members.
"What they wanted to do, really, was avoid random drug testing," Lingle said.
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Pay raises for 13,000 public school teachers could be rescinded after the Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association failed to reach an agreement on a mandatory drug-testing program that was part of a new two-year, $120 million contract ratified last year.
Yesterday marked a deadline to have a drug-testing program in place.
Aside from working out the details of testing, education officials and Gov. Linda Lingle also have argued over who should pay for the program, estimated to cost more than $500,000 a year.
Lingle, who threatened earlier this year to repeal the contract if a program was not in place by yesterday's deadline, met with Cabinet members yesterday to discuss options.
"Despite consistent verbal assurances by (the) Department of Education that random drug and alcohol testing would move forward as agreed, we now find out at the end of business on the deadline date of June 30, 2008, implementation has not occurred," Marie Laderta, the state's chief negotiator, said in a statement. "Accordingly, we are prepared to immediately seek all appropriate remedies at our disposal."
It was unclear yesterday what remedies would be pursued.
Laderta was unavailable for further comment, the Governor's Office said. Attorney General Mark Bennett declined comment.
Board of Education Chairwoman Donna Ikeda said she did not believe the failure to agree on drug testing would void the contract.
"Both sides -- the (Education) Department and the union -- have been negotiating in good faith," she said.
The Department of Education and the union sought a 30-day extension yesterday to continue talks, but Lingle denied the request. She said education officials notified her over the weekend that they wanted to renegotiate a handful of items already in the contract related to the drug tests.
"What they wanted to do, really, was avoid random drug testing," Lingle said during an early afternoon news conference. "It wasn't that they just had one more thing to tweak to implement the program; they wanted to go back to the beginning and renegotiate what's already been negotiated."
Ikeda said the details of the contract require more work because of the nature of the program.
"It's affecting peoples lives, obviously, so the details become very important," Ikeda said. "It's not a simple thing like what kind of a test you use. There are many complicated issues that have to be considered."
One of the biggest issues is funding.
"When a teacher tests positive, do you pay them? Who pays for the rehabilitation?" Ikeda said. "Those issues have to be hammered out."
Other costs would include paying for substitute teachers and transportation for teachers in remote locations.
"When you have 13,000 teachers, how do you implement a random plan that makes sense?" Ikeda added.
Despite resistance from some teachers concerning drug tests, the union ratified the new contract in May of last year. It provides 4 percent raises in the current and next school years.
Lingle had argued the Education Department, with a budget exceeding $2 billion a year, could shift funds to cover the costs.
The school board unanimously voted in January against funding the drug tests, noting that funds would have to be pulled out of classrooms to cover the program. Additionally, the Legislature trimmed the Education Department's budget by about $10 million this year.
Even if the program moves forward, it is likely to face a court challenge. The American Civil Liberties Union has said it will sue the state in federal court if the program moves forward, claiming it would violate teachers' privacy under the Fourth Amendment.
