Dispute threatens If the unresolved contract dispute between the state and the Hawaii State Teachers Association continues, it could have an effect on whether special education in Hawaii is taken over by the federal government after Nov. 1, observers say.
Felix plan
A contract controversy is affecting
the retention of special-education
teachers, the HSTA saysBy Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.comU.S. District Judge David Ezra vowed to start the process to appoint a receiver if most of the schools in the state are not in compliance with the Felix consent decree and key benchmarks are not reached by then.
"I am told that these levels can be met," he said.
The 1994 consent decree came about as a result of a lawsuit filed on behalf of special-needs student Jennifer Felix. The lawsuit charged the state with violating federal law by not providing adequate education and mental health services for special-needs students.
Ezra extended the compliance deadline for the consent decree by three months, pushing the final deadline back to March from December, which means the state must be in "substantial compliance" by then.
But two-thirds of the school complexes -- high schools and the schools that feed into them -- must be in full compliance and meet certain benchmarks by Nov. 1, or the court will begin the process of "placing special education under the control of the United States," Ezra said.
Court-appointed monitor Ivor Groves said there is a possibility the state can meet the deadline if it pulls out all the stops, thinks out of the box and does what needs to be done.
"There is a lot of work," Groves said.
Benchmarks call for the special-education information system to be up and running, getting certified special-education teachers in all schools, making sure reading is appropriately addressed and seeing that kids are not falling through the cracks in the transition to school-based services, Groves said.
Of 41 school complexes, nine are in full compliance and 12 in substantial compliance. Groves said another six or seven would need to be in compliance by Nov. 1.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs had asked for the green light to appoint a receiver immediately because kids need the help now.
"I think they will have a difficult time meeting those benchmarks," attorney Shelby Floyd said. "They're already a year over on some of them, and there are new benchmarks coming up, including increased percentage of licensed and certified special-education teachers."
The plaintiffs' attorneys are among those concerned that the contract dispute between the teachers and the state could impede progress toward compliance.
"I'm very concerned that the state is not going to get the message or that the governor, particularly, or the attorney general or the Legislature, who have not been helping this process in any manner, are going to understand how serious it's going to be come Nov. 1, or in the meantime how serious it's going to be if they don't resolve the problems with the teachers," attorney Eric Seitz said.
HSTA Executive Director Joan Husted said those concerns are well founded. "It's going to hinder compliance," Husted said.
Husted said the Department of Education has 250 special-education vacancies this week, and that number is expected to climb.
That is because the collective-bargaining agreement was supposed to provide incentives to recruit and retain teachers with a higher starting salary and bonus incentives.
Instead, because the contract has not been implemented, special-education teachers who were attracted to Hawaii because of the contract are now deciding to look elsewhere, and seasoned special-education teachers are thinking about taking retirement at the end of the year.
"We know of teachers who are resigning or refusing placements over this contract," Husted said.
The teachers and the state thought they had reached a contract settlement following a three-week strike by the HSTA.
The strike had become an issue in the consent decree because it closed schools and halted efforts to meet benchmarks.
But even after a settlement, the contract remains in limbo and no raises or bonuses have been paid because of the dispute centering on a 3 percent bonus that was supposed to be paid to teachers with master's degrees or professional diplomas.
The union says the contract language clearly says the raises are to be paid this year and next year.
The governor and state negotiators say the actual agreement reached at the bargaining table was a one-year payment that now amounts to $9.7 million.
The union filed a complaint with the Hawaii Labor Relations Board, asking the board to order the state to implement the contract.
Husted said special education is directly affected by this dispute because the largest group of teachers with master's degrees are special-education teachers.
"Now we have an unsettled labor contract, and teachers are told they have to give up their 3 percent," Husted said.
The main agencies charged with carrying out the consent decree are the state departments of Health and Education.
State Health Director Bruce Anderson said the time frames the judge laid out are tight, but his department will step up the pace to meet the required goals.
"I was pleased (the judge) didn't appoint a receiver immediately," Anderson said. "I think the state's come a long way over the last two years, and I'm confident that we will comply with federal law."
Kim Murakawa, the governor's press secretary, said the governor had no comment.
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