State librarian due State librarian Virginia Lowell is slated to get a pay raise from the Board of Education tomorrow, which would boost her annual salary to $108,000 from the current $85,302.
to receive raise
boosting pay
to $108,000
New powers let the school board
adjust the position's salaryBy Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.comThe salary for the state librarian's position hasn't gone up in more than 10 years.
For the first time, the school board has elected to exercise new powers it received from the state Legislature to set the salary of the state librarian and the superintendent of schools.
Previously, the salaries of both positions were established by state law.
Last year, a new law gave the board the authority to set the superintendent's salary up to $150,000, but the board so far hasn't dealt with the superintendent's pay. Superintendent Paul LeMahieu currently makes $90,041 a year.
This year, a similar law went into effect giving the board the power to set the state librarian's salary up to $120,000.The board is set to add language to Lowell's four-year contract tomorrow to allow the panel to do just that.
Lowell was hired in 1998 to head the 50-library Hawaii State Public Library system, replacing Bart Kane, who was fired after 16 years at the system's helm.
Kane was dismissed after a controversy about whether the state was getting its money's worth receiving books through a contract with Baker & Taylor. The school board also faulted him for lack of communication with his employees and not giving them an opportunity to provide input on decisions that affect their work.
In 1999, Lowell was given a four-year contract, the first time the law allowed the board to enter into a contract with the state librarian.
"I think that in the two (contract) years she has been here, she has done a great deal," board Chairman Herbert Watanabe said. "I think she has done very well overall."
Lowell received a "more than satisfactory" evaluation from the board earlier this summer.
"It makes me feel wonderful," Lowell said. "I always thought it was a disconnect that the group that hires me, who evaluates me didn't also have the authority to set the salary."
A study done for the Legislature showed that the heads of library systems comparable in size and with similar responsibilities make an average of $106,000 a year, Lowell said.
"It has given the board reason to address recruitment and retention issues," Lowell said. "You want to get and keep a good state librarian or state superintendent or teacher. These are issues that come up everywhere in the employment sector."
Just as the state is facing a shortage of teachers, the library system also faces a shortage of librarians in the near future, Lowell said. "It really points up the need some way of addressing the market situation in terms of recruitment and retention."
Watanabe said the board is also looking at a raise for LeMahieu and has discussed it informally.
Given the $442,000 salary received by University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle, a pay raise for the superintendent should also be considered, Watanabe said. "The position itself deserves a raise."
But Watanabe said it's difficult to talk about a pay raise for the superintendent when the teachers contract remains unsettled. The state and the teachers union are taking their disagreement over bonuses for advanced degrees to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board.
"I hope they settle it right away," Watanabe said.
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